Week 7: spiders

Following is Garrett's email from his seventh week of his mission. His email address is garrett.brothers@myldsmail.net.

Week 7 Journal

This is week 4 on the field!

August 15th, 2016:

P-day!  We did a zone activity in one of the church gyms.  It featured a bunch of projectiles--mostly dodge balls.  With no clear purpose in mind, we just threw them around.  It was fun.

Later today we taught a recent convert who's been less active.  He loves both games and video games, but doesn't really want to stay in the church.  He's 16.  I want to be his friend!  Anyway, I hope to be able to game with him after my mission.

August 16th, 2016:

Today we did exchanges.  I was paired with an elder who was only on his second transfer, and he came to my zone, so I had to be in charge.  It was hard & stressful.  Near the end of the day, I felt super drained.

However, I then got a care package from my mom, another from my grandma, and an email from my sister.  My mood was completely turned around!  Thank you all so much--your timing was perfect.

August 17th, 2016:

Back at it again!  Today went super fast.  We helped out at the storehouse, stocking & stacking boxes by expiration date, which was actually really fun.

I want to clarify to grandma--the cookies are great, I was NOT disappointed.  I just found it funny when I opened the package and found it packed full of cookies!  I did not mean to criticize the kindness you showed to me, grandma; I was trying to make it clear that I had no negative emotions toward it.

Although yes, I do have a ton of cookies now.  The thing is, at the MTC an elder got about 12 boxes of sweets from a local pastry shop, so our district was saturated on sweets for the whole MTC.  So, I still haven't finished the original cookies, and my companion doesn't want any... [Note: at this point, sending the email, I have, but I haven't started on the new batch!]

Also, there are spiders in my apartment.  I've killed 3 so far.  They're not web-based, but I don't think they're wolf spiders...are there poisonous spiders here?

August 18th, 2016:

Ugh!  Forget poisonous spiders, I need protection from the barking variety!  I'm on exchanges with Elder Wilkins (last time [Monday?] it was Elder Holmes, if I forgot to say that earlier) and when I came out of the bathroom our bedroom smelled SO BAD!  Ugh!

On the upside, this exchange went much better.  We had a solid plan and I felt more confident.

Also, two of our investigators are back on date and the third will be ASAP, but he's months out so he's not "on date."  One will hopefully be in this transfer!

By the way, yesterday I had an embarrassing moment.  There was a little kid at the door with his mom & siblings, and as we finished talking, the kid started talking about a stick on the ground.  Only, he couldn't quite say "stick."  I tried to keep a straight face, but the more the mother tried to stop the boy from saying it, the more fascinated he became with the word.  Fortuitously, Elder Owen was finishing the conversation at that moment and so we left, but not before I broke out in snickers.  I was so embarrassed but at the same time it was very funny.  ...Anyway, I'm going to have to visit that house again later, so we'll see!

August 19th, 2016:

Me and my companion had a rough time working through a disagreement today.  It was primarily about quality of notes versus time spent on it.  We worked it out pretty well.

Also, bravo once again on the timing of the care packages.  I knew this one was coming but it still helped a ton.  That is my favorite jacket [I didn't understand what you meant when you said my black fleece jacket].  Dad wrote that there were a few surprises, and I think I've found them but I don't know...

I don't think he heard about my request for the pen in time because I haven't seen it in there, but I'm still super grateful for the continuous support.

Okay, no.  There was one of those spiders IN THE BATH.  I just can't--nope nope nope nope nope.  Good night.

[Note: reading over my journal, I should clarify: these are pretty big spiders.  This particular one had the leg span somewhere around the size of a half-dollar coin, if you've seen one of those.  It was big.  The other creepy thing about them is they are a brown color strikingly similar to our carpet color, so it's hard to see them.  Which really sucks.]

August 20th, 2016:

There was another spider in the trash can last night, and another one on the floor in the bedroom this morning.

~Later~

There was another one on the bedroom floor this evening.  I don't want it!  Anyone know of a way to eliminate spider infestations?  

It was at this point that our young hero reflected on what he just wrote; the possibility that he was living in an apartment that was infested with spiders.  He sat back in his chair, shaken, and looked around him on the floor for more of the vile things.

Things have been going a bit rockier with my companion.  As I've been in the field longer I've come up with ideas for how to change, but Elder Owen insists not doing it sometimes.  They haven't been like "It's actually a rule that we can't do that"--it has been that sometimes but then we just don't argue--but it's been "that will not work."  We'll work things out eventually, as we have already done.

...after I got our of the shower, I found yet another spider.

August 21st, 2016:

YAy!  Today was exhausting but good.  Sunday's are tiring--long sacrament marathon followed by just enough tracking/teaching...

Our dinner tonight was awesome.  I asked for some crockpot recipients and they gave me a ton, and also T-bone streaks AND rump roast.  Yum!  It's also super quality meat--small farm, lots of individual animal attention.  And tomorrow is P-day, so I can go shopping for it!

***

Some thoughts on the past week:

First, spiders suck.  See my journal.

Second, we can't go to the new temple.  I think it's outside our area.  All the sisters are allowed to give tours, rotating in 6 day shifts.  So that's a bummer :P

Third, does anyone have good crock pot recipies?  I was reading over the recipie list that my mom sent me, and while they all look great, a lot of them are kinda expensive or take too long.  I have an hour to eat meals, which means I have to cook, eat, and clean up in that time.  I can't make a dish that cooks for 45 minutes.  Crock pot dishes can work, but here are my meal times:

breakfast at 7:00, lunch at 11:00, (dinner at 5:00), limited free time at 10:00

so dishes that can start at one meal and be ready at another are best (for example, a 9 hour dish could start right before we go to bed and cook overnight to breakfast, a 4 hour dish can start at breakfast and be eaten at lunch).  Most of the time we have dinner with members, so we wouldn't be eating at home at that time.

I can't make dishes with long prep times.  If the dish takes something like 45 minutes to prep and 15-30 minutes to cook, I could make it if it can be stored after being prepped (refrigerated or frozen).  Also, I have about $20 a week for food, so a lot of these dishes would fit in my budget but wouldn't leave room for much else in the shopping cart.  Honestly, the most expensive things are meats and spices, followed by vegetables and fruits.  The big thing is we don't have many cooking items--I just bough some stuff, but I'd have to see...

Anyway, I'm out of time so goodbye!!

Elder Brothers