Hey, how is everyone back home doing? I hope that you are having a great week and having fun. This week I moved to Sanford and have been enjoying myself here. My work here in Sanford has been a lot more than expected and I have been running around all week from lesson to lesson. Starting with who I am with, my companion is Elder Loken. He is from Arkansas and he loves to paint and loves the Japanese culture. I also share an apartment with two other Elders who are Elder Smith and Elder Helms. The apartment here in Sanford is not exactly the greatest and smells pretty bad. The day I arrived it took me back a minute. It also doesn't help when there is black mold all over the apartment, but we had someone come out and fix it.
The first day I got here was an interesting day. First, I am the driver so I can drive the car. Second it was an absolute downpour and I was driving though massive puddles on the road (because everything here is flat) and pretty much hydroplaned in it. We share a car here so we are really short on miles.
The second day was one of the best of the mission. We had a lesson with one of their most promising investigators and we taught her the commandments. Afterwards we finished with Baptism and we were able to put her on date for baptism and Elder Loken will be the one dunking her.
The third day we had a lesson with a nice married couple who just had a traumatic event and were still a little shaken up from it. We talked to them for a while and shared with them how they can find peace. One of them was very interested and after explaining the first vision and where the plates come from he asked me about who this "Angel Moroni is?"
Friday we had a lot to do because we were having a Baptism for an older man named Lon who had been taught for a year and a half. We had to make a program and print them all out so that they would be ready for tomorrow (Saturday). Before we went to print them out we had a referral from other Elders about a guy who wanted to get his car washed. Some background on the area, there is a nice part in Sanford where rich people live and there are a lot of ghetto places downtown. Well we show up to this place and there are 5 guys outside the house next door looking at us. They ask us if we are tax collectors or government people because we had our pros. clothes on. We washed his car and the 5 guys started talking with us and we got all of their contacts.
Saturday was the day of Lon's Baptism, and there were about 8 members there and 21 missionaries from the years that had taught him. The Baptism was done nicely and quickly, about 20 minutes and we were done. We later went out to eat with the other missionaries that came to the Baptism.
Sunday I got to meet a lot of members and we had just got a new bishop and counselor's. I met with some families and was surprised as to how we got to sing the actual hymns. We also had dinner with the Evans family and had hotdogs and brats. Sister Evans is the Relief Society President and then we have President Evans who is the Elder’s Quorum President, but they aren't related.
Monday I had my first P-day here in Sanford and it was pretty chill. We played some basketball and some pickleball, and just talked and relaxed in the shade. We later had to help a family move a couch to a new home and after we did we found two new people and we will be meeting with them soon. But as we're talking we heard 4 gunshots in the background and we know that it is pretty ghetto over there and that we shouldn't be there past 5:00 but we were there at 9:00, so that doesn't help.
This week we have been running around a lot and we taught a lesson every day if not two lessons a day. I have enjoyed my time here so far and I am looking forward to having more baptisms. We plan to have two on date by the end of next week. Everyone back home have a good week and stay cool. I will try and maybe send a letter home next week.
-Elder Waite
