Howdy!
I've just finished my first week on a mission in Fort Worth Texas. It was a blast, and if there's anything I've learned: southern hospitality is real, and I love it. A lot of events occurred throughout the week, many of them happening on the first day.
After landing in Fort Worth, I got to meet plenty of wonderful people. I met the mission president, some of the other missionaries, and my companion: Elder John. It turns out that Elder John is from monument Colorado and is in the same stake as me back home. We never knew each other beforehand, but it's crazy to think of how small a world this is. Just minutes after meeting Elder John, and a few short hours after landing, we met our first street contact. His name is Lamar and his car broke down. He wasn't quite able to pay for a tow, so we helped him out with the difference and told him a little bit about our church and gave him a Book of Mormon. It was an interesting encounter to say the least. Shortly after, we met Elder John's old zone at a Mexican restaurant called Rosa's. Although the food was honestly mediocre, it was great to meet a bunch of new missionaries, even if I won't see them for at least 6 weeks as they aren't in the zone me and Elder John are assigned to. Not much else happened that day, except for driving dozens of miles in a cramped car to move into our new zone, trying to figure out how to communicate with the sisters who had the SIM card we needed (they are in quarantine for covid), moving in, dealing with a power outage, finding out that we didn't even have mattresses, and some other events. It was a fairly interesting day to say the least.
On Thursday we were able to help a member begin to replace the floor of the second story of his deck on the lake behind his house. There were huge hornets about the size of my thumb flying around, which was super crazy to see. He supplied us with huge cans of some very intense hornet/wasp killer, which is quite literally acid. I mean I saw a hornet start melting a bit when I sprayed it with a generous helping of the hornet killer. While one of the missionaries attempted to kill a flying hornet with this spray, the wind blew it onto my arms which prompted a leap into the lake and a lot of scrubbing. Besides that event, it was a great project, and I was glad to help.
So those are my two stories for the week, as random as they were. Me and Elder John have been able to become more acquainted with each other, and he's been a great trainer. We keep each other motivated to stay on task and stay focused on our missionary purpose. When we have time, we either sit by the pool at our complex or go to the lounge room which has a pool table and some other games. We really lucked out with the apartment situation, so I'm taking full advantage of this, as it's all downhill from here.
I hope to have more stories to tell this upcoming week that don't involve getting sprayed with acid. While I haven't had too many spiritual experiences. I want to challenge you all to do these: love your neighbor; be a kind soul amidst the struggles the world is facing.
Stay safe and have a wonderful week!
Elder Wilhelm
I've just finished my first week on a mission in Fort Worth Texas. It was a blast, and if there's anything I've learned: southern hospitality is real, and I love it. A lot of events occurred throughout the week, many of them happening on the first day.
After landing in Fort Worth, I got to meet plenty of wonderful people. I met the mission president, some of the other missionaries, and my companion: Elder John. It turns out that Elder John is from monument Colorado and is in the same stake as me back home. We never knew each other beforehand, but it's crazy to think of how small a world this is. Just minutes after meeting Elder John, and a few short hours after landing, we met our first street contact. His name is Lamar and his car broke down. He wasn't quite able to pay for a tow, so we helped him out with the difference and told him a little bit about our church and gave him a Book of Mormon. It was an interesting encounter to say the least. Shortly after, we met Elder John's old zone at a Mexican restaurant called Rosa's. Although the food was honestly mediocre, it was great to meet a bunch of new missionaries, even if I won't see them for at least 6 weeks as they aren't in the zone me and Elder John are assigned to. Not much else happened that day, except for driving dozens of miles in a cramped car to move into our new zone, trying to figure out how to communicate with the sisters who had the SIM card we needed (they are in quarantine for covid), moving in, dealing with a power outage, finding out that we didn't even have mattresses, and some other events. It was a fairly interesting day to say the least.
On Thursday we were able to help a member begin to replace the floor of the second story of his deck on the lake behind his house. There were huge hornets about the size of my thumb flying around, which was super crazy to see. He supplied us with huge cans of some very intense hornet/wasp killer, which is quite literally acid. I mean I saw a hornet start melting a bit when I sprayed it with a generous helping of the hornet killer. While one of the missionaries attempted to kill a flying hornet with this spray, the wind blew it onto my arms which prompted a leap into the lake and a lot of scrubbing. Besides that event, it was a great project, and I was glad to help.
So those are my two stories for the week, as random as they were. Me and Elder John have been able to become more acquainted with each other, and he's been a great trainer. We keep each other motivated to stay on task and stay focused on our missionary purpose. When we have time, we either sit by the pool at our complex or go to the lounge room which has a pool table and some other games. We really lucked out with the apartment situation, so I'm taking full advantage of this, as it's all downhill from here.
I hope to have more stories to tell this upcoming week that don't involve getting sprayed with acid. While I haven't had too many spiritual experiences. I want to challenge you all to do these: love your neighbor; be a kind soul amidst the struggles the world is facing.
Stay safe and have a wonderful week!
Elder Wilhelm
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