36 hours in solitary confinement

"Hour 36 in solitary confinement. The hallucinations are becoming more and more consistent. It is difficult to differentiate between real life and my own thoughts. My companion at times appears to take the form of a Chick-Fil-A nugget. He has on multiple occasions transformed himself into the Michelin Marshmallow Man and threatened to tickle me. D. Todd Christofferson has thus far kept me safe. They are not coming... Yet."

This text pretty well summed up the beginning of our week. I was not able to send an email last week because we were stuck inside all day for the election. This area becomes kind of a hot spot during some of the elections. But, it was good. We got a lot of extra sleep and spent some time watching the new safety videos put out by the church. 

I have now been more than a week in my new area. I love it. It is kind of a hard area to be in right now. This is only the second transfer that the area has been open to Elders. I guess like 2 years ago, some of the Elders were really disobedient (they got pulled out and there have only been sisters here since then) and so the members are not all too thrilled to have us back now. But, it is good. We had a lot of activities in our first week with the members. 

My first full day here, one of the young men was about to leave on his mission, so we had a little farewell party for him. We (as the full time missionaries) were asked to give the lesson. It was super good. The members realized that we had a desire to be here and do what we can to work with and help them. Then we got invited to a FHE that was 2 days later. My comp said that it was the first thing they had been invited to in the last 6 weeks. We met a lot more members and even got a few to volunteer to work with us. Then we were invited to a dessert part the following day. It was super fun. It was really good to get to know some of the members so that hopefully we can get work rolling here again. I have met our 2 progressing investigators. One of them came to church last week with her 2 kids. 

It is super funny to walk around here in our area while we are finding new people. All the kids yell "sisters!" Since there have only been sisters here in that last 2 years, they assume that all missionaries are called sisters. It is pretty funny. The kids here are awesome. 

This area here was actually a ward a while back. But, there are so many people that are inactive. There were not enough full tithe paying Priesthood holders, so they had to make it a branch. The goal is to become a ward again by the end of the year. Assuming that I am here for at least 6 months, I hope that I will be here when that happens. 

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. And Happy (late) Mothers Day to all the moms out there. You deserve the best!

Love 'Der Thomas