Early Trip to the Dump

Whew... it has been quite the week!

President Mcconkie is down to 2 months. Yikes. Things are gearing up for a change. A lot of things will be changing. I’ll keep you posted as they happen.

Speaking of post. Fort Jackson last Sunday was such a great day. I met and taught a man named Brother J. He is so awesome. He is really simple. And humble. As I taught him the simple and humble truths of the restored gospel, he recognized them as truth. He would say things like, "that sounds really good." or "that makes a lot of sense." He told me that the church is something he's been thinking about joining as he's heard his battle buddies talk about it throughout the week. Also... he loves the BoM. He graduates this week from basic training. BUT he is staying at Ft. Jackson for additional training. So he will continue to come and worship and prepare for baptism. He is so excited. He may not make it tomorrow with all that goes on with graduation week. But when he returns, he will be baptized.

R is doing well. We taught him and he is very humble and sincere.

Tuesday I had probably one of the best exchanges ever. I was on a bike. It was hot. And I was with Elder W. We had so much fun. The second door we knocked on was a man from Liberia. SO sweet... he was really open and accepting of our message. As I began to commit him to be baptized I said, “We will be holding a baptismal service on the 28th of May..." he then cut me off and said,” OH! I better write that down." He strongly accepted. The rest of the day was a little slower. I viewed it that we were working hard to thank the Lord for that wonderful blessing. It was super hot. I got burned big time. (Bytheway aloe vera has been my best friend this week). Then out of nowhere, it dumped rain! Holy cow. It had been sprinkling here and there. The sky was a little overcast throughout the day. Elder W and I came around this corner, and just saw the blackest sky ever. I pulled over so that I could quickly throw all valuables into a zip lock bag... as I stepped off my bike I looked over and this HUGE wall of rain just flew towards us. hahahahaha It was nuts. BOOM we were hit. We biked and worked in it for about 2 hours. Man! It was fun.

Zone Leader Council. The mission is very successful. We have been staying very consistent this whole year. Last week when Elder Posey came... he told us that we are the number 2 baptizing mission in the south! The zone leaders are great! Really funny and enthusiastic. Elder P is definitely our strongest. He is in east Columbia (where I was) as a traveling zone leader and works on post with us. He has grown a lot and I am super impressed with him. He goes home in July. I will definitely miss him. Elder P leaves too. These next few transfers will be killer on us. We are losing some of our best missionaries.

Speaking of Elder P, he doesn't have a bed... so he's been complaining for the past few months about sleeping on the couch. It's pretty funny actually because when he complains, he'll do it in his English accent. haha. So Elder Douglas and I had a free morning so we took some beds from an apartment where they weren't being used and took them to his apartment. We broke in and set them up to surprise him like we did with Elder T. haha We're regular bed deliverers. Well we took the couch he'd been sleeping on. It was nasty - time to chuck it. Well, that day and the next day were going to be super busy... so only solution - the next morning, we got up really early and drove it to the dump. What an experience!!

Well after zone leader council... Elder Douglas and I had an interesting night. The BYU Young Ambassadors are touring the south. They came here to do a performance. One of President's old assistants was in it - they set it up for investigators to come and all that. About an hour before it started, President called and said - Hey we need you and four other missionaries to come and be ushers. haha So we booked it there and ushered.

Whew! I think I got it all.

Love you guys!

Elder Stoneman