Dear
Family and Friends, Monday,
July 15, 2013 at 11:42 a.m. (EDT)
Monday
we went hiking on Prospect Rock. There are some really awesome views from up
there. It is a giant rock up on the mountain above the church. It is nice
because there are so many trees here that usually you cant see out over the
valley but once youre up on this rock you can. After that we hung around the
apartment and went shopping. Then we taught Brother Emerson and Jay.
Tuesday
is our day that we get to go on mormon.org so that is always fun. We tried to teach
Jaime but she wasnt home. We went to her friends house that said that
she might be interested. Her husband came out and told us that they werent
interested in us stopping by. Then we drive up to Bakersfield. They are
doing road construction between Jeffersonville and Bakersfield and it is
terrible. Vermont has to be environmentally friendly when they do construction
so it takes forever to do anything. This road isnt going to be done until
October and they have been working on it since I got here. We did some service
for someone in Bakersfield named Rosalie. We planted a garden for her. She runs
a food shelf up there. After that we taught a less active member named Cathy. She is always giving us Whoopie pies which are pretty much like ding
dongs. After that we met the St Albans Elders for an exchange. Elder Walker
went to St. Albans with Elder Caserio, while Elder Keller came to Lamoille with
me.
Wednesday
was an interesting day. In the morning me and Elder Keller knocked on some
potential investigator's houses. Then we did some service at the municipal
building. They had us taking the old tax records and had us take the staples
out and prepare them to make scans of them. That was a lot of fun... After that
we went to Ken's house. We followed up with him to see if he was
reading the Book of Mormon. Then we went to see Jason, one of
Jeremy's friends. Jason is a pretty cool guy. He used to have the
missionaries over there teaching him, but some of the Elders were a little
pushy, and he didnt like that, but he likes me and Elder Walker. After we saw
Jason we went with Travis to see Kirby and Wendy. Wendy is
a member but Kirby was never baptized. I was always told that he was just a
less active member. Back in December the missionaries gave him a Book of Mormon
and he finished it last week, so we taught him about the Restoration of the
gospel and about Joseph Smith and where the Book of Mormon comes from. It was
pretty good. Afterwards Travis showed them a bunch of Indian tools and weapons
that he had made. He had a couple of handmade bows and arrows, and a bunch of
stuff made out of deer hide. It was really cool. After that he took us to see
Morgan and we taught her a little about Faith. It went well. He wanted to take
us out to eat, so he took us to Wicked Wings. Before we went in he locked his
Indian artifacts in the truck so no one would steal them. Wicked Wings was a
pretty good place and we had a really good conversation with him. Afterwards we
realized that he locked his keys in his truck, so we tried to find a metal
hanger so he could pull up the lock. He told us to go home and finish our
things for the night and that he would be just fine. He called us at about 11:30
and told us that he finally got in. He and some college kid used a skateboard
to pry open the door.
Thursday
we had District Meeting. The Polls were finally able to be there. I like Elder
Poll because I can talk about Snowmobiles with him. He said that he could hook
me up with a good job with Polaris, but he told me I would have to convert
from Arctic Cat first. After District meeting we went to Waterville. On our way
we got a flat tire. The road construction in Cambridge is just brutal because
they use this sharp rock on the sides of the road that is always giving us flat
tires. This is the second one and our vehicle coordinator wasnt too happy. We
contacted a few former investigators in Waterville. We then stopped by Brother
Wells. He is kind of funny. He knows that drinking beer and smoking is against
the Word of Wisdom, but he does it anyhow, and thinks that we dont know. One
time we went over to his house and suprised him. He threw his cigarette away
really quick. There was smoke everywhere so he told us that he burned his
toast. Even though the smoke clearly smelled like tobbacco so that was funny.
After that we taught a lady named Alice. Her daughter is a member and she has
been going to church with her. When we got there the first thing she did is
tell us that she wasnt getting baptized. On Sunday Bob got up
behind the pulpit and told her that she was going to get baptized eventually.
She thought that he was calling her out and she asked if she could still go to
church even if she didnt get baptized. We told her of course.
Friday
we got our flat tire repaired. We went to the dealer first because that is
where the mission wants us to go, but they were busy so we took it to a local
tire shop. The guy gave us a great deal and he was a lot nicer to us than the
dealer. He has been in that shop for about 6 months and I was pretty impressed
with the service he gave us. I guess he knows he can get some return business
from us. After that we went to Eden and talked to some people there.
Saturday
we stayed in Johnson. We went up to the Baker's house. Their son Addison was
baptized 2 years ago and he is 11 now. He really likes the missionaries, and he
has a great imagination. Last time we were over there he had us play star wars
with him. This time it was pokemon. It was great. After that we went to the
Elmers for dinner. They gave us Navajo tacos which were pretty good, especially
for New England, no one knows how to cook mexican food up here. They also gave
us goat milk, which was a first for me. It was alright but I still like cow
milk better.
Sunday
was good. We taught Adam and Faith. It was a great lesson. Jim came
with us and they are really starting to like him. We talked about a modern day
prophet and about following the commandments. It went really well. In church
Cleve told us that Vermont mountains are no different than
Mountains out west and that they have the same vertical. So I researched it
with the maps mom and dad sent me. I took the elevation of Burlington, the
lowest point in the state. It is 200 feet. The tallest mountain in Vermont is
Mt. Mansfield which is 4393 feet tall. So that is a vertical of about 4193
feet. Montrose is at 5806 feet and Mt.Sneffels is at 14309. So that is a
vertical of 8503, so in all reality our mountains are twice as big as theirs.
Also I was wondering if dad could send me the populations of the towns out here. Montgomery, Enosburg, Enosburg Falls, Fletcher, Cambridge, Underhill, Johnson, Waterville, Belvidere, Eden, Wolcott, Craftsbury, Hyde Park, Morristown, Stowe, Elmore, Hardwick, Essex Jct, and St Albans. If you could do that it would be great.
Well I guess that is it for this week.
Elder
CWJensen