Millie got baptized!! (and her skirt fell down, but the first part is what's important) 1/15/2018

First and foremost, we had a baptism this week! Millie, a 77 year old lady who's been an investigator for almost two years, was baptized on Saturday. It took her a while, but we wanted her to do it for her, and she finally got her answer. The crazy thing about the baptism was that Friday was 60 degrees and raining, then we woke up Saturday morning to 3 degrees and 8 inches of snow. The roads were terrible, and we were slightly worried that we would have to reschedule it. But we figured we'd just go for it, and we actually had a decent turn out, and it went wonderfully. There was one awkward bit. About 20 minutes before we were going to start, Millie went into the restroom to change. As she was walking out of the Relief Society room, her skirt fell down. Elder Hubbell and I had just walked out from turning the font off, and we just see Millie picking her skirt up and hear the Elder's Quorum president say "LORD HAVE MERCY" and we just started dying laughing and had to run back into the room to avoid embarrassing her. It was hilariously awkward. So, besides our investigator losing her skirt, the baptism went incredibly well.

     Another exciting that happened this week is I was graced with yet another opportunity to give a 15 minute talk in Sacrament meeting. Back home, giving a talk was this rare thing, and 15 minutes was incredibly long. As a missionary, it is not even remotely a surprise, and it's rather fun actually. This was my first talk in the Binghamton Ward, to they're not even sick of me yet. And surprise, my talk included 2 biking stories, and 1 football story. Can't give a talk without at least one of each :) After Sacrament meeting I also gave the Beirdneau kids a plethora of candy. When we had dinner with them last Sunday, I told them I'd bring them all a treat if they did something nice for everyone in their family. I almost forgot about it, but almost miraculously, when my alarm went off Sunday morning, the first thing that popped into my head was "oh I've gotta take candy for the Beirdneau's." Lemme tell ya, I had not even thought about that promise since I walked out the door after dinner a week before, but the Holy Ghost ain't gonna let you forget about a promise you made, even if it's something as small as some candy. When the family walked in, the kids almost ran up to the stand to tell me what they did, but their parents held them back until the end of the meeting. I emptied my bag and finally got rid of the remainder of my candy from Christmas, and the kids were pumped. So that was a win-win situation. 

     This week we also had Zone Conference in Owego, which means we also had interviews, which means we got a sneak peak at the plans for transfers. And I will be staying here and getting a new companion. So I'm excited, a new companion in the same area completely changes the feel, and it's pretty awesome. I just hope I don't end up training (knock on wood), because I've barely been out 6 months and still feel like a child out here. But hey, whatever happens, happens.

     On a non-mission related note, I accidentally picked up a sponsor this week. There was an add on my Facebook for a cool watch/outdoor company from Idaho, and so I clicked on it and won a $100 watch, and then I saw a link for a sponsorship, and thought why not? I did it mostly as a joke but apparently they were serious about it, so I'm now probably the only Missionary this company sponsors, and I keep winning stuff and getting deals and it's pretty sweet. So you guys should all go to this link and check it out ( http://bit.ly/2EJi7mu ) They make some sick stuff, and I can't and probably shouldn't be buying a ton of awesome stuff like this for about 18 more months. 

     The rest of the week was rather slow. I built an awesome model car the Marsey family in Massena sent me. I wasn't very tired one night, so I got carried away. I did some SWEET donuts in the Church parking lot in an effort to clear a path for the baptism. We had 3 cancelled appointments, and 2 cancelled dinners. I had to make tough decision this morning, because I'm out of money for the month because I had to buy some stuff for the apartment, nametags, and I stocked up on good food. Anyways, I had to choose between doing laundry, or Taco Bell. And wow the sausage breakfast crunchwrap is delicious. (Guys don't worry I already got $20 in quarters last week, so I had laundry money. This was a joke. Mostly.) Oh also, the Sisters crashed their car. My alarm clock apparently gave up the ghost this morning. Monday is the only day I "sleep in" on purpose, so the alarm was set for 7:30. I woke up at 7:13, and was pumped because I had 17 more minutes. 1.4 hours later, I woke up and it still was 7:13, and the phone was ringing. I was super confused how literally no time had passed since I had fallen back asleep. Buuuuuuut it soon became apparent that my clock had in fact lied straight to my face, and now we were late to go pick up Binghamton to do laundry. I hopped in the shower, got dressed, and went outside to clean out the car a little bit. Came back inside, sorted my laundry, brushed my teeth, went back outside, and got in the car and waited. I was thinking my comp would be close behind me. But nope, about 23 minutes later he came out and loaded his laundry, then went back inside to grab the rest of his stuff. So I guess a "sense of urgency" is not really a thing. (I guess that was apparent to me already, as on most days there is no movement from him until about 9:40.) 

     Anyways, pretty solid week, thanks to the baptism. I started consistently doing pushups again, because it takes me a while to fall asleep at night because my companion enjoys starting debates about physics, women, the periodic table of elements, and other random topics around 11:30 pm. I'm all for a good random topic discussion, but timing is everything with those. I feel bad, because he's got something that makes it hard for him to fall asleep, but he's got like 40 different sleeping pills, he just doesn't take them. This transfer has been rough, my companion is sick with something, and not doing well. But constantly riding the line between being his companion and being his mother has worn me out... But we're gonna work hard for this last week, and get a fresh start next Wednesday.

     THANK YOU ALL FOR THE LOVE AND SUPPORT. I'LL TALK TO Y'ALL NEXT WEEK.