Busy Week

We have almost no time to do anything this week. We completed a bunch of service in our area, helping two families move, working at a different church giving food to the needy, giving blessings to members in the word and trying to do typical missionary work with 4 hours of study....sigh. It’s Great!

It looks like we get to Skype this Sunday, but I can’t remember when church gets out so let me know this week via email. Our trainers had a meeting up in Davenport (about two hours away) so they decided to leave me and another brand new missionary behind and Elder Klc (yes, that’s how it’s spelled, pronounced Kelch). So you can imagine my apprehension and fear with no trainer and no plan of what to do really.

So this is what we did...

We gave a blessing to an Australian CAT employee at a Hotel with mysterious pain in his face. When we left he said, "I feel better already."

I had the opportunity to teach my first two investigators this last week. We taught a 15-year-old guy and his girlfriend, who was a member. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon and take the lessons with parent permission. He is living literally in the hood of Peoria; it is pretty scary.

Also we taught a guy and his member wife the plan of salvation. He didn’t say much, but Elder Klc thought he was very interested. He had questions about authority because he has already been baptized a few times in a few different churches.

We had the car so we got lost a whole bunch in Peoria even with a GPS, a combination of several 6 way stops, and an un-updated GPS.

Had a friendly conversation with a Baptist preacher while he was working on his lawn. He didn’t curse at us or threaten us at all, which is plus.

All and all, our trainers were very proud of us and we got a lot done. Sometimes new missionaries don’t do anything when they are paired up, so they were glad we did so much.

Also I got to eat something very weird. There is a missionary in the ward who served in the Philippines and he invited the 6 missionaries serving in the ward to come over and eat something called Balut (ba-loot).

It’s a partially developed duck egg that has a fetus inside developing for about 14-18 days. You boil it for a while, crack the shell on your knuckle, maybe put some salt on it, and consume the bird and the yoke of the egg. As you chew, you feel bones and feathers of the duck fetus. I will let you know more on Sunday, plus there is a video of us eating them.

Anyway, Peoria, the mission, and the missionaries are all great, I love you and will see you soon.

Elder Willard

P.S. I got my visa.