BEACH FUN AND A S-S-S-SURPRISE GUEST

F. before his confirmation last week

Boat ride to Shama Island

Dear Family and Friends,

            This week was pretty slow in terms of missionary work, but some notable events occurred. One day, all our lessons failed before noon, so we had nothing to do. We ran into a good member friend of ours, D. she loves missionaries and tries to have us over all the time. She's 38 and she acts 18, haha. The other day I was asking if she could show us how to make 'bankye kakro', which is basically fried cassava balls with onion and pepper. Really good snack food. I didn't want to go during proselyting time, but she kinda forced us, and we went to her place to she could show us how to make it.

            While we were doing so, D.' neighbor came from her room with a frightened look on her face. She said an animal had entered her room, but she didn't specify what. She was so upset she couldn't even speak English, haha. We said, "Well, we'll kill it for you." So we went down and found a 3 foot long snake chilling on the window sill of her kitchen. We called for a cane (small stick used to beat impertinent children), and I tapped at it from the outside, and it stuck it's head up a little. I then passed the cane to Elder Ormond, he lined up his aim through the door, and in one fell swing he dropped the thing. He nailed it right behind the head, it fell from the sill and just slowly writhed on the floor. We swept it out the door crushed it's head to seal the deal. It proceeded to slowly convulse, for even like 15 minutes afterward. But we started taking pictures with it, while the African ladies just giggled at us. Haha, but the woman whose room the snake was still so afraid, she was almost in tears. Elder Ormond was really buzzing about it all, apparently there are no snakes in New Zealand. He said he'll add that to his kill list.

            On a different note, we had a lesson that went pretty bad (in my eyes) this week. It had been a while since we had seen this particular investigator and we needed to follow up on the Book of Mormon we had given him. We had the feeling he was dodging us.  We started discussing what he had read and he started firing questions, which seemed honest at first, but soon we were just going around in circles and it was getting a bit heated. There were some things we said that he absolutely refused to accept, and I could just see his heart hardening. It was all over his face. We found out he had gotten on the internet and read some unfavorable material about the church, which made sense. I'm sure this happens all the time in state-side missions, and I feel for those missionaries. This situation was so frustrating for me, because normally when we cease teaching someone it is due to laziness, apathy, disinterest, or absence of time. But this man was out right refusing our message, for whatever reason. He would not even consider the possibility of its truthfulness; it was saddening to me.

            Afterwards, I was wondering if it was my fault, "Did I say something wrong? Did I not have the Spirit?” It was the typical self-blaming stuff. But the Spirit cannot enter a closed heart. I hope the future allows this man to honestly consider what we know to be true.

            Now, transfer news. We get a call this week from President Shulz. I just look at the number as it rings, thinking, "Aww man, President is calling right before transfers, I know what that means." It means Zone Leader. So I answer the phone, President greets me small and asks about the area, then says, "Elder, can I speak to your companion now?" I just hand over the phone with a smirk. On my end, I only hear, “...getting up at 6:30 AM?.... gotta be an example... leading missionaries..." Then Elder Ormond says, "Yes, I'll do that for you. I accept." ZONE LEADER! Hahahahaha. I had dodged the bullet, and I was poking fun at my companion over it, until the phone rings again. I hear it in my pocket and Elder Ormond says, "I'll bet that's the Assistants" (BTW the Assistants extend calls to District Leaders.) Yup, it's the Assistants. "Elder Doggett, I'm calling on behalf of President Shulz, the Lord needs you to be a DL, do you accept?" Suuure. Haha.

            Now don't get us wrong, the opportunity to serve is very welcome in our eyes. It just... adds to the stress. :) I'm not surprised I was called as a DL again.  I was always telling President in my letters how much I enjoyed conducting splits and baptism interviews. So I'm staying, and my comp is going. I'll miss him, he's a sweet guy. He's very easy to get along with and loves pretty much everybody.

            So that's what is going on in my little corner of the vineyard!

Love,

Elder Doggett

P.S. we had a pretty fun district activity today. We went to Shama Island, and we had to take a boat ride there. Elder Ormond taught us how to play rugby (touch) and we zipped a frisbee around. I'll send pictures.

Snake ALIVE.........

Snake DEAD.  (Mother begs to differ....this slithering reptile was at least FIVE feet!!!)

Snake-killer E. Ormond