Bike Wars

Elder Lake or Elder Baker

It's been raining a ton.  Luckily we've been driving around all day so I'm nice and dry inside the cyber.  I fixed my bike, then Elder Lake's then Elder Bakers.  It was fun, and we've all got well working bikes now.  We played soccer this morning, I'm not a very good player, and it was super slippery, which made the whole experience muddy.  Now our house is muddy because we had 9 people getting ready for the day there.

Elder Hulme and either Elder Lake or Elder Baker (he didn't tell me!)

News from this week.  We got a new Elder in Suriname, who will be working in Kwatta with Elder Norton.  Elder Baker has joined up with Elder Lake and I.  It's been crazy.  The first day we were together, we taught 12 lessons.  A good day you usually teach 6, bad day is usually like 3 or 4.  But we got 12 on Friday.  Then we all relaxed a ton, and weren't able to match it since.  It's nice working with Elder Lake.  And it's nice working with Elder Baker.  But with the 3 of us, the amount of time spent messing around has increased drastically.  Study time is filled with more stories, and planning time is a disaster.  

In French Guiana to renew Visa (Photo copied from Elder Tullis' website) 

We've instituted a new game(it's not a game though, it's a way of life).  It's called bike wars.   The idea is that you make the other two people fall off their bikes.  There are two ways to get someone out.  1) get them to crash or put their foot down.  2) if they run into you or your bicycle.  You are allowed to hit each other with your shoulders.  You are allowed to run people into the river(I nearly got Elder Lake into a big nasty one, but then was merciful and didn't finish him).  You are allowed to double team.  The game (way of life) stops when cars are coming.  Nobody has crashed yet, we are anxiously awaiting that day.  Mom, you should implement bike wars into Little Red Riding hood.  

Downtown French Guiana (Photo copied from Elder Tullis' website)

We've got 3 good investigators.

Lionel, who is the oddest investigator I've ever had.

ZR Devredis who is still stubborn.

Melton, who is way cool, has a massive girlfriend and a little kid.  He's quiet and works security.  He's also an Indian (not of India but of South America) and thinks the Book of Mormon is wonderful, which it is.  We've got to explain how you need to use Saturday to get ready for Sunday with Melton and Lionel, because they both missed church yesterday.  

I've realized that teaching is so incredibly hard, and I'm not very good at it.  I sometimes think it would be better to just teach the lessons like the olden days, just so that my investigators would be taught well and stuff.  But instead, they receive my personal teaching which is always custom tailored to them but not as clear or powerful as it could be.  I'll be working on that a lot, and studying about it.  If you look at statistics, the written lessons bring far more convert baptisms. As Elder Holland explains, Preach My Gospel was designed to convert the missionaries.  So I use Preach My Gospel as much as I can, and do my best to allow myself to be converted.  My redeemer lives.  

-Elder Hulme