Week Two in the Mission Field

         Well this week was fun with Christmas, getting to meet some really cool members, and eating some really good food. I learned that I don't like biking. I did not go biking back in Oregon so my butt was super sore, but I got to see the area and that was worth it. I actually serve in one of the most dense populations for older people in the USA; pretty much everyone here is retired so it is really interesting. I also learned that things here in Florida are surprisingly cheaper than back home. 

        On Christmas Eve we got to drink eggnog with the whole district and play games in the morning. That was pretty cool and I got to teach/ host a blackjack game with everyone (no gambling!). In the end everyone goes all out and someone (who had the most of course) had to get blackjack. After we finished playing and hanging out we took off for home. We had some time to kill before dinner so we took a nap. For dinner we were fed by the Bishop, and every dinner with him is always interesting. We had smoked Turkey with mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, it was all really good. Afterwards we shared a message with him and his family, then left to go home and sleep.

       Christmas day started with me opening the remainder of my presents and eating a lot of candy. For dinner we went over to the Klein's house. As we drove there, Elder Rice looked at us and said, "Just so you know, Sister Klein is a really good cook." I knew this was true the moment I walked in the door. I looked at everyone and said, "She really made a shrimp boil on Christmas?” It was a shrimp boil with sausage and three different kinds of crab (king, snow, and rock crab). I thought I was going to die just looking at it! Sadly, I was so busy looking at it I didn't think to take a picture. After I sat down, Elder Kent said that he’d never had crab before, so I sat next to him to show him how to open the shell. I have never felt like going into a food coma before, but eating 5 pounds of shrimp kinda pushed me to it. After dinner, the Klein's have a Christmas gingerbread house building competition. It was me and Elder Kent vs. Elder Rice and Elder Kelly vs. the Klein's oldest son, his girlfriend, and their other three kids. Of course with my great house building skills it was never really a challenge, but I did do something they never thought of doing before. In the end I won first, and the other Elders got third, but the grand prize was a 12 pack of cream soda so we all truly won.

        Saturday the Elders from Lake Placid had a Baptism and they don't have a baptismal font so they had to use our building and I got to attend. It was weird because there were only 12 people there and ¾ of the people were the missionaries. For dinner we were treated to Hibachi, which if you don't know is a Chinese style buffet. I tried sushi for the first time and it wasn't that bad.

        Sunday was not that entertaining, but we got out really early from church because the speaker finished 30 minutes before we were supposed to close, so the Bishop said some words for 15 minutes, and then he just closed the meeting. After that we went to a younger member’s house for dinner and it was nice to talk to someone a little closer to our age.

          P-day is always fun. We went to a park to play pickleball, but it was pretty windy so that wasn't the most fun. After throwing pinecones at an alligator for 3 minutes we started playing a game we called "something." We took a soccer ball and played tennis with it, but you have to use your feet and head only. After that we went to a barbecue place and ate really good food, then went to another Elder's house and played flip Uno. 

          My time here in Florida has been super cool and I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else (until maybe summer). I am extremely grateful for the hospitality that I have received and happy to have made good friends.

 

Elder Waite

Week One in the Mission Field

        This was my first week of being in the mission field and I've got to say I loved it. I am currently serving in the Sebring mission area. I first started by flying to Atlanta from Portland. It was a long but very quiet flight. Afterwards I met two other missionaries who joined me going from Atlanta to Orlando. They were pretty cool. We met the Mission President in Orlando who took us to find our companions. I first met the two other missionaries I am staying with who are Elder Kent and Elder Rice. After a little while I met my companion, who is Elder Kelly. After I signed a lot of paperwork we took off for our area. Sebring is one of the most southern areas of the whole mission zone. The missionaries most commonly refer to it as "banishment". So we drove 2 hours south to our area.

  Right now I am in a district with two groups of missionaries and we live together. At first they were the most cluttered group of people. There was trash everywhere. So we spent the whole day cleaning and rearranging the whole house. Then after we were done, we went shopping so I could get some things I needed. There are a lot of older couples in Sebring and we have a really good lady that schedules all our dinner dates. We literally get fed every day that we want, and some that we don't want, but sometimes the best food is cash, and we were given some cash for dinner this night. So I cooked pasta that was lit.

          On Thursday we had a District conference and I got to meet a lot of super cool people. We went to a church building and talked about how our weeks were. I also got to meet Elder Baymax, then we raided a DQ. Later that day we all decided that we wanted to play D and D so we all made characters. That took a lot of time. But not much of an eventful day.

          As the week went on we needed to attend Zone Conference, so on Friday we had to drive 2 hours back to Orlando for a devotional. After that we were fed pizza and received our Christmas packages. Then we went and got my bike, which was pretty nice too. That day was not that fun, but we were absolutely happy to be back home. We then had dinner with the Bishop’s family, and let me say he was a different kind of person. He and his family are the kind of people that I call home. After eating more pizza, we talked about all kinds of things. I will just list some of them: Nerf guns, real guns, who is the most dangerous missionary (I won, "I think him, he looks smart, it's terrifying"), what is important that people know, and how we should teach. After that whole maze of questions we left and went back home.

         On Saturday, the day started not like the other. We started by going over to Sister Knapp's house and doing service. I was glad to get on a small John Deer mower and just drive. After doing that for about 1 hour I finished and helped pick up some sticks, and then we got some "Gatorade" which is actually diesel and I lit the thing on fire because I had experience with it before. As this bonfire is going she comes back with of course, more pizza. After we ate we then went and played some tethered ball (I won of course). After we left we were pretty tired so I took a nap. That day we were fed by a family that flies down for the winter from Minnesota. They had a lot of cool stories and I loved how he talked about hunting pigs. 

            On Sunday I was lucky enough to attend church council and later prepare and bless the sacrament. It was a Christmas devotional and the bishop talked about Grace. It was a good lesson and after the meeting closed I helped put the sacrament away. We met with our mission counselor and talked about what we had done this week. This day we were not fed pizza, but a really good lasagna. We played some more D and D and eventually lost all sense of time and as someone yawned and looked at their phone, and found it was 3 am.

            Today was P-day and it was the most fun because we went shopping for Santa hats and then met with our district for games. First we played some basketball, then I played some corn whole (I won). After that we were fed some good burgers. Later we went to a college campus and played beach volleyball. My team wasn't the greatest but it was the most fun thing I have done this whole time.

             All in all this has been a super cool experience and I am extremely grateful for all the people that are here with me in this new world and area. Thank you to my Mom and Dad who helped me to get this point. I am extremely grateful for this experience and wouldn't trade it for anywhere else!

Elder Waite

Florida Bound