Great Lakes

Nothing too exciting this week but we did a ton of finding.  We went door knocking, we tried helping people with their groceries at walmart, and we even tried walking up and down the mall trying to find people.  When we were out door knocking on Wednesday we ran into a very interesting guy.  We were talking to him and he believed in a God and he accepted a Book of Mormon and accepted for us to come back, but what we didn't know when we agreed to meet with him was that he is a flat-earther.  I am not even joking or exaggerating this-this isn't another one of Sean's stories.  This guy literally believed the earth was flat, that jet trails were metal particles the government was using for mind control, when 5G cell service comes out the government will be able to control all of us and what we do, and the West drying up isn't natural, it's the government causing it. I could not believe this guy after we were done talking to him and walking to the next house I was picking apart everything that he said about technology, Elder Wise was picking apart everything he said about medical things.  Anyway it was quite the experience

We did a bunch of services this week cutting wood for a potential.  He had invited 2 other guys to come out and help.  Chris was one of those 2 guys he is rock solid and is so cool.  He has a solid belief in God and Jesus Christ already he asked when and were our church meats and said he would come if he wasn't busy.  We didn't even have to invite him.  We also gave him a Book of Mormon, the restoration pamphlet, and the plan of salvation pamphlet.  We messaged him over Facebook asking if we could come over and teach him some more and he agreed and said he had some questions from the restoration pamphlet.  We didn't even ask him to read anything yet that never happens so we're praying for him that he will choose to be baptized!

We taught Bill a recent convert on Friday.  Bill is a really cool guy.  He loves camping and the outdoors he is really fun to talk to.  He has a really cute dog named Joe.  I've always been a dog lover.  It usually doesn't get me in trouble, but this time it got me in trouble.  Halfway through our lesson about the Holy Ghost his little dog Joe comes over to me.  I reached down and gave him a pet.  I guess to him that was an invitation to come and jump up on my lap.  At first, I was like whatever then I realized how greasy this dog was.  I don't think this dog had ever had a bath in its life!  I felt like I had a fur ball of grease sitting on my lap then to make things worse Joe snagged his bone from off the couch and started chewing on it on my lap. I tried kicking him off but Joe was old and frail and didn't want to move but after we had a really spiritual lesson about the Holy Ghost.  I finally got Bill's dog off my lap.  I looked down to see fur and bits and shards of chewed up bone on my lap needles to say those pants when straight to the laundry when I got home!

Pictures
-The great lakes
-a dead fish we found down by the creek
-some of the firewood we cut
-Studying Lehi's dream during personal study its amazing the positions you can fall asleep in as a missionary

Talk at Zone Conference

After I finished emailing last week we went bowling.  When we showed up the lady at the desk said 3 dollars a game.  So we made the deal of elder wise pays for the shoes and I'll pay for 2 games of bowling.  We started our game and we both won so we had to have a tiebreaker.  Elder Wise said he'd pay for it so I agreed.  When we went to pay come to find out it was 3 bucks each for a game of bowling so we both ended up paying $13 bucks between the shoes and the game.  It was crazy expensive for 2 poor missionaries, but the important thing was that I won 2 out of 3!  Let's go!!!!!!

On Wednesday we went to teach a former investigator.  It was a really good lesson.  We read from chapter 1 of First Nephi with him.  We all learned lots and we all definitely felt the spirit.  Afterward, we asked him if he would like to say the prayer.  He kind of mumbled and grumbled for a second then all of the sudden he folded his arms and started his prayer.  He said,  "Jesus Christ thanks for sending these lads to me to take the evil out of me, amen."  After that we had a quick lesson on prayer then he proceeded to tell us all kinds of crazy stories from his life.

We had zone conference this week and everyone in the Midland zone was supposed to prepare a talk for zone conference but no one knew who was going to speak.  I figured that because I'm brand new out here and the first time at a zone conference I wasn't going to have to speak on my assigned topic.  Wow, was I wrong!  The first speaker called, Elder Compton!  So I got up there and gave the talk that I had written up.  I didn't realize it until I got back to my seat how badly my knees were shaking but I got my thrill for the day for sure!!!

In mission prep and on The District I remember them saying a mission is just 2 years of awkward experiences.  Yep, they were right about that.  Last night we went out to talk to a less active who lived out in the boonies 5 miles down a dirt road.  We went too far and missed their house and we had to back up and being the new missionary I am I had to get out and back my companion.  What I didn't know was that there was a lady out there going for a walk.  When I got out of the car I jumped out and ran cause it was cold and I wanted to get back in the car which caused the lady alarm.  The lady asked me if she could help us and I responded with, "oh, I just have to back my companion up."  She gave me the most confused look you would ever see and responds with, "can't he back himself up?"  I'm like it's mission rules.  On the awkward scale in this situation, it was about an 8/10

Zombie Cat

On Tuesday we were out door knocking.  We came up to a house and there were cats walking around.  I have had enough cats claw at me so I kept my distance and didn't pet any of them but Elder Wise saw a cute harmless looking kitten and he cornered it picked it up and started petting it.  The kitten was not having it so he bit elder wise on the middle finger.  After he dropped the kitten he showed me where the cat had bitten him and he had blood running down his finger.  I'm like ouch! Shoot, we gotta get this thing cleaned out.  We don't know if that cat had rabies or something and Elder Wise responds with I'll be fine anyway.  I finally talked him into going back to the apartment to get it cleaned up and on our way back a lady stopped us because missionaries had previously done service for her.  We got to talking and Elder Wise said something about being bitten by the cat and the lady then proceeds to tell us how cats are feral in West Branch and how we should not pick up a cat unless it's in a house.  After that Elder Wise was a little more accepting to go get his cat bite cleaned up.

Yesterday we went out door knocking for three hours and we hadn't had any success until the last two houses where we gave out two Book of Mormons in a row.  That never happens!  Besides that, we found a new person to teach.  Her name is Geri we asked if she needed any help.  She said that she needed her deck paint scraped so we agreed to go ahead and do it the following day.  At first, I felt kind of used because she had her sons there and they were great supervisors and Geri wasn't even there.  But she showed up late and we got to teach her a little bit and she agreed to let us come back and teach her a little bit more

we had interviews with the mission president this week and we had to drive down to Midland an hour and a half away.  While we were there waiting around they were giving us some tips for driving in Michigan and one of them was don't veer for dear, the reason being there are tons of dear out here.  You see them in the middle of town in the country everywhere but they are really small so you're better off hitting the dear than veering off the side of the road trying to miss them and rolling your car or something of that nature.  But on our way home from interviews with President Brenan, the GPS took us on some country road and we ended up driving on a muddy dirt road for 18 miles before we got to the freeway but that's Michigan for you lots of country roads.

A Missionary for One Month!

It was a great week.  Lots of rain but it actually warmed up because of the rain.  Besides that, we had a pretty cool experience outdoor knockin.  We walked the half hour to were we planned to go.  I was worried I was going to be freezing cold like every other day so I put on thermal bottoms, long sleeve shirt, a sweater, and to top it off a down jacket.  But like I said it started to rain.  It warmed up to 60 degrees and I was dying it was so hot but we carried on.  We probably walked up a half mile road with 10-15 houses and not one person answered so we headed back dying of heat and defeated.  On our way back we saw this super tall guy wearing "Lebrons" so we went over and talked to him and come to find out he used to be a former running back for MSU. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys and was lined up to get the Heisman trophy, but [he]got injured. That was the end of all that but the miracle was he accepted a Book of Mormon and we got a return appointment and he was the only person we talked to all day.

For conference the branch president wanted us to set up the T.V. at the church so people could watch conference at the church but no one showed up so in between sessions on Saturday we ran to Walmart and grabbed some snacks.  [Then we] grabbed the branch president's and the [ward] clerk's chairs and sat in those, ate Cheese-Its, and watched conference.  That was one heck of a conference!  2 hour church so we can focus on personal/family study at home. I also thought president Nelson's talk on the church's name was incredible.  He said something along the lines of if we use the proper name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" we will receive blessing never before seen and we will prepare the world for the second coming of Christ.

Besides the actual conference part we went to the Wither's for lunch and it was amazing.  They fed us steak.  It's been so long since I have had a good steak I ate until I was sick then we headed back to the church where brother Steelman walks in about a half hour with a pizza.  I thought I was going to die and on top of all of that right after that session of conference we went to the Butler's where they fed us hot wings and ham.  But the garlic bread they were going to feed us caught on fire which was a tender mercy for us missionaries.  Needless to say, I didn't need a late night snack on Sunday night.

The fall leaves are just starting to turn and they are a 100 ]%] better than any Fall leavesI'vee seen before.  I'll put some pictures down below.

Garlic Bread on Fire!

My Study Desk with a Squirrel Tale

Pictures of Elder Compton from President & Sister Brennan

Elder Compton Has Arrived in Michigan!

It was a busy first week for sure.  We left the MTC at 6:15 in the morning and took Trax up to the airport successfully, found our gate, and the best part was is I got to call home for 10 minutes before they started boarding.  The flight out of Salt Lake was supper turbulent.  They barely had enough time to pass out drinks. Because of it, [while] I've never gotten bad motion sickness I laid my head down on the tray and fell asleep for a half hour or so.  But when woke up I was definitely motion sick.  Needless to say, I didn't try to sleep on the plane anymore.  When we go to Minnesota for our layover we had  8 minutes to get to our gate and, long story short, the experienced travel leader Elder Compton took a wrong turn and when we finally go to our gate we should have missed our flight.  But the flight to Michigan was delayed 15 minutes, just long enough for us to slip on before the plane left.  It was such a small airplane that I had to check my small suitcase at the gate.   when we got to Michigan and I picked up my small suitcase they had completely destroyed.  It looked like they took the jaws of life to it.  Supposedly Delta is going to repair it ,but well see if they actually can repair it.

The following morning we met our trainers.  My new companion is Elder Wise.  He is really cool.  He is really fun to be around and knows a lot about the gospel and how to teach people.  Our mission president then sent us out onto Michigan State University campus, one of the biggest campuses in the United States.  It was crazy people everywhere.  It was like fishing for fish in a fish hatchery.  Needless to say, we passed out 2 Books of Mormons

The area that I am serving in is called West Branch.  It is a small big town.  We have the biggest area in the mission right now but that being said there is a lot of work to be done.  There is only one branch and on Sunday there were only 25 people at church but there was also a lot of people who were not there.  It's amazing the faith a lot of these members have because a lot of them have to drive an hour every Sunday to get to church and its a huge sacrifice for people just to pay for the gas to and from church.  People complain in Salem that they can't go to the church building closest to their house

But besides all that we have the nicest apartment in the mission.  It might be the nicest but it isn't very well insulated.  It can get pretty chilly in the morning, especially in the kitchen.  There is only one small air vent.  During the daytime, we basically run a small space heater we have at max all day to try and warm it up in our apartment a little bit

If you haven't noticed I have Facebook now so if you want to go friend me I'd love to see your pictures and I might even give them a like.  But you have to like what ever uplifting post I post about missionary work!

Elder Compton & Elder Wise