Meeting the "Mr. Miyagi of Wasps"

 

Alright gang, here's your weekly email from your local Laurel lad. This week has my brain fried so more of a normal(relatively) email this week. Dont worry, it's still has the old charm. So as Billy Mays would say, "But wait! There's more!"

Per usual, we start of the week with businees business business! This week has been great! Some would say, above average. We had an awesome mission tour Tuesday through Friday, with Elder Tai of the seventy! We had some outright amazing meetings with him and the rest of the mission! Threw off most of our schedule, but was most definitely worth it! We also had a great lesson with one of our investigators. It is our second lesson with her, and we wanted to get her to attend church this sunday, but her church is at the same time as ours(bummer I know). But! She accepted the message of the Book of Mormon with open arms and said she would read it! So praying that goes well! 

We've also been doing some mad service, helped a unique member split wood(more on that later in the episode) spent some hours at the bird sanctuary (got to see my old marmot friend phyllis again) and helped out for 2 member baptisms! We also got an inactive member to come to church! We've been super busy! Yes I do actual missionary work! It's not all about my hatred for trains and wasps! Why am I yelling?! But for real, we're always doing something. we got invited(keyword invited, not went) to a frat party, got kicked off a golf course, got attacked by a crane(the animal) just a lot of things honestly.

Now for the part yall have been waiting for, the Rando stuff that doesn't really fit anywhere. First of all, I'd like to start by saying, we have it rough out here now. My survival is in jeopardy. I probably won't make it. Knowing this, all of my possessions, which in total is 4,326 Lego pieces, belong to Luke Crockett now. We have lost all gas to our apartment, no idea why. Meaning we no longer have: 1. A working oven/stovetop 2. Showers over 33⁰F 3. Heating 4. Hope. Our property managers literally have no idea where we live, they ain't saving us. Refer back to what they did against the wasps. We are truly doomed. On a brighter note, our neighborhood squirrel Todd, was spotted this week with a possible girlfriend, make sure to reply with your address for a wedding invitation, they are registered at bed bath and beyond, as well as whole foods fyi. 

But as for other things this week, that member we did service for, just will go around his yard with a vaccum, sucking up hundreds of wasps a day. This man is old. He is not nimble or quick with his feet, yet he knows no fear, he truly is the chosen one. We need his services for our little(ironic) problem at our place. Honestly that's kinda it I think. Cant really remember what happened this week. Not much other than a handful of member lessons and studies. I guess memory loss is a side effect of frostbite. Who knew!

Some quotes(from various elders, me included) 

-We really driving through moo moo meadows to get to this dinner appointment 

 

-We just met the Mr Miyagi of wasps

-I'm loopy with purpose

-Trains have only been good with Thomas the tank engine and the climax of the DreamWorks movie "Spirit"

-Are you doing some of that obedience stuff again?!!!

-ObriGATO am I right?

-Whoever made up the story of babies being delivered by cranes, has never been within 3 feet of one.

-We're not trespassing, we're quatropassing 

-Whenever I get off the phone with this lady I get a headache 

One Month In Gods Country

Yes one of those cheesy missionary tag photos

This week on "Mobbin in Montana" contains stories of wild turkeys, lawnmower miracles, and California ruining everything. So stay tuned!

(George Takei narration)

The Elders found themselves starting their week with exchanges with the zone leaders in Billings. Luckily for them, the zone leaders of southern Billings are straight chillers and homies. So it was a good time! Our hero got to spend a day with Elder Bekmezian from the far away land of Herriman. Elder Barlow learned a lot, told some jokes, slept on the bed of a king, and got to see a building taller than 3 stories. 

After this adventure, Elder Barlow did more missionary work, believe it or not, it happened. Met some members and non members, called a bunch of people, had some lessons, and did service. Alas, our humble traveler was getting tired of the regular routine, when suddenly, a new opportunity arrived! More service! This time a new and exciting opportunity, some call "mowing a lawn" Full of energy and excitement, Elder Barlow and his trusty steed, Elder Upper. Went and attempted to complete the task. But when they arrived, they realized the task would be more difficult than planned. See, the homeowner only had roughly 2 tablespoons of gas, and would be leaving town while they worked. Faced with this mountain of a trial, the Elders pressed forward. With the homeowner gone, our heroes were able to make one pass on the lawn before it quit. Shaken but not stirred, the Elders searched diligently around the trailer home for a new Jerry can(for it was better than pulling weeds) after searching every inch of the trailer home, Eureka!!! They struck gold! They found some gas (it looked like gas at least) and proceeded to finish the daunting task, know by locals as "the lawnmower miracle"

After this, our travelers planned their weekend for shooting a video revolving around landscapes, nature, and the creation. But they were caught off guard! Surrounded by smoke, they realized their eventual doom and downfall. California's innate ability to ruin everything. Days of camera work and editing were foiled by literally too much smoke. The Elders had no choice, but to reschedule, and accept defeat. 

The week ended with our humble travelers doing vigorous tasks such as going to church, indexing, eating, and having too many meetings. 

Until next time, goodbye fellow travelers. 

 

Best view in our area so far

A members patriotic guard Turkey (Montana tingz)

The Battle of Lazy Landlords

 

Commemorating Elder Wells first time seeing a moose
(he hasn't seen one yet, this photo is the closest he's gotten so far)

My goodness gracious what a week it has been! Business business business! The start of the week was great, we decided to do a "little" spring cleaning when it came to our Area Book(where our info for members and non members lies) just strait up calling as many people as we can, seeing if they're still interested in meeting us, and setting up appointments. And we got some great responses from some non members! And a lot of meetings with members! So we will be super busy for a hot minute. Starting to have our first meetings with members in person which is super dope! Miles better than meeting over zoom! We even got one of our investigators invited to church! So hopefully that goes well!

Of course we had our weekly service, helping  out nonmembers as much as we can. Doing more and more free yardwork. We spent a few hours on Saturday laying down sod, which was quite fun honestly. Had to move a freezer for one of our nonmember friends and got some free elk meat, and put in some good hours at the community center again! Some days ya don't feel like a missionary in Montana, but a child during the industrial revolution pre child labor laws... Nevertheless, after all the hard work, ya get quite a few connections and good times from it, so most definitely worth it!

We called our landlord about the whole wasp situation, and well they came by and attempted the feat. By the end of the day they killed 20 wasps, tops. I guess they just didn't see the nest, even though it's massive. You could launch it to outer space and NASA would probably classify it as a planet. But anyways, we will just have to do battle ourselves. Wish us luck! Other than that, Not much has really happened, we've learned that our squirrel friend Todd falls asleep pretty easily to classical music, kinda a sucker for some smooth Beethoven. And we've learned that a golf club + wool sock makes a pretty decent broom. But other than that we really havent done anything other than work, you're hard pressed to find fun in these parts(as a missionary) so we gotta improvise! So life is good! We are now down a wool sock however, and it is getting colder...we are barely surviving out here in the wilderness already, doubt we will make it past winter, if the pneumonia doesn't get us, the lack of parks and hikes will. Wish us luck! Until next time!

Photo (y'all are gonna have to deal, just one this week)

Hotter than juarez!

 

Logan legend Elder Hobbs

My goodness!!! What a week it has been! The phrase "days feel like weeks, and weeks feel like days" is super accurate! This week has been amazing though! We've been busy busy busy, lots of service, contacting, and the first lesson!!! 

We're still doing the same old service, working at a distribution center with nonmembers mostly. We are able to do service with members now, which will be really nice for getting more contacts. We've been doing a lot of calls with members as well, and as of a couple days ago we can meet with them outside their homes which is MILES better than online, at least for me! I have the worst luck with online contacting, so Christmas definitely came early! And we had da FIRST lesson! It was with a really cool investigator who already has a Christian background, and it went well! The spirit was real and she definitly felt it! Hoping to get a second one set up and make some good progress. 

We did find some more positives and negatives that come with our apartment. The positive is that we have a pet squirrel(who've I've named Todd) who will sit on a branch right outside our window as we listen to talks, he never has any input, but I'm sure he's learning alot. The negative is we have discovered a pretty bad hornet problem. Hornets litter the pathway/alley up to our apartment, and in the shed right next to it, we've found a hornets nest inside as big as 1-2 regulation basketballs soooooooo, video of the attack and eventual defeat with flyswatters coming next week! 

Our fun and quirky local hornets nest

Other than that, things are pretty normal, there are a couple wildfires really close to town. so smoke is everywhere, its 100°, the sun is red always, every train horn is getting weirdly, indescribably creepier every night, so fun times! It basically feels like the end of times! We had to walk to a dinner appointment and got turned around a half a mile in by a very upset Saint Bernard (apparently there's only room for 1 saint in this town). And Todd continues to hold the fort down! 

That's it from the sandy beaches of Laurel, feel free to leave hornet removal tips in the comments down below, and hope y'all have a great week!

The famous laurel outback 

 (Another sunset)