This week has been pretty good with Elder Jole. He and I are getting along great and we have quite a lot in common!
On Monday, while I was with the Ft. Mitchell Elders, we went to the Petersen's Apartment Complex man-made lake to fish. We didn't have much luck... The Petersen's, by the way are the Ward Missionaries. The rest of the day was pretty good hanging with Elder Darrington and Elder Strong.
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| Fishing on P-Day! |
Tuesday morning, Bro. Bush picked me up and we went to Macon and picked up Elder Jole. It was kinda weird. I was basically saying goodbye to quite a few people since that was the last time I would be at Transfers. I met up with Woody from the North Augusta Ward and Chris, my redneck dad from the Albany Ward. Anyway, before we hit the road, Bro. Bush treated us to McDonald's for lunch and drove back. We got Elder Jole settled in and Ft. Mitchell picked us up to go get groceries. We got rained out a little but we got to know each other.
So, Wednesday morning was pretty interesting. We were out store contacting and we met a homeless woman, Miss Harrison, who was sitting outside Piggly Wiggly. We talked to her and she asked for two quarters to catch a bus to Columbus. I gave her two and offered a Pass-along card, mostly due to the picture of Christ appearing to the Nephites. She refused and said, "I won't need that, I gave up on Him yesterday" and that melted my heart. I started to understand what Christ said repeatedly, especially with the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes. She told us how she had been wandering all night in the rain from place to place before getting asked to leave. I looked down and her socks were grocery bags and her shoes were open-toe slippers that were very worn. She then motioned back to a Patrol Car and said they were there for her. Three officers then showed up and asked her to leave due to a request from the P.W. Management. We started to walk away and we saw her struggling to her feet with an old metal walker as her only support. We then solemnly walked back to our apartment for lunch. What I saw was just not right and no one was at fault. It was just bad circumstance for her and when we got back we earnestly prayed for her that someone who had the means would stop and help her. I won't forget this experience anytime soon. Later on, we emailed and in the evening had supper with the Petersen's and had Book of Mormon class.
Thursday morning we had a lesson with Roger, whom we taught the Restoration about a month back. The lesson plan was basically abandoned as he had quite a few questions for us, but he did say he would work to come to the Book of Mormon class the following week. That was pretty cool. We then had lunch at Subway and then tried a few people in the area. We were able to visit with Sis. Stevens on her porch. Suddenly, one Carpenter Bee after another started flying around us. Sis. Stevens went for a fly swatter and got a few with it. I then took a crack at them and got about 10 solid hits, knocking them out of the air. That was pretty fun haha! we then went to Dollar General to cool-off and get some Powerade. We then tried Tela, coming to find out she moved!! We were able to talk to her neighbor, Joseph for a little bit. He then strangely gave Elder Jole a used tire, thinking Elder Jole had worn through his tread (He hadn't, but it was cool of him though!). We then biked home to meet the Goertzen's who brought our supper. We finished the night chatting with Sis. Morgan and street contacting.
On Friday, we weekly planned, as usual. We had Supper with the Smiths in the evening, who are recently moved back into the ward. We had a great meal with them. We then introduced Elder Jole to the Owens and had a good visit with them.
The next morning, Ft. Mitchell picked us up and we went to do some yard work for Sis. Hearn. It took about an hour or so. Sis. Hearn is so sweet! She fed us some strawberry short cake that was very tasty! She also sent us away with sandwich meat and a goodie bag. She also gave us pizza money for lunch, bless her heart! We then had lunch and changed. Bro. Triplett, a little later dropped off our supper, since he had family in town and couldn't have us over. We decided to have supper later and so we went out to the south part of the area and tried a few people. We tried Marion, but we talked to her husband for a few minutes instead. We were also able to set an appointment with Rebecca for the next evening. We then biked up Summerville in the dark, at this point. We stopped at Sonic and got some sundaes and then ate the burgers Bro. Triplett dropped off. What a busy day!
Sunday went well. Bro. Bush gave a talk on Member Missionary work that was very much on point! We then helped out Sis. Culpepper in her Primary class, as I wrapped a red blanket around my neck, pretending to be King Benjamin. That was pretty fun. We then went to Gospel Principles. After that, we filled in for Bug and Sis. Eiland for their Valiant 10-11 class. We taught them the Restoration of the Priesthood and with the help of Malory Hussey getting the kids top be quiet, it went well, despite their short attention span. Church ended and Ft. Mitchell left with Bro. McCoy to go teach on Ft. Benning. We went with Bro. Bush to his house and we studied until lunch. We had lunch, and by this point Ft. Mitchell came back. We then brought the Sacrament to the Otts and then we got dropped off. We then waited a few minutes for Bro. Bush to take us to our lesson with Rebecca. It ended up falling through, sadly. We tried Bro. Johnson as a back-up and then called it. We then walked around looking for someone to talk to in our complex, but to no avail. That ended our night quite nicely.
Well, it's been a good week and I am looking forward to this one!
Have a good week y'all, alright?!!
Elder Alexander Kestner
