What a Week!

On Wednesday we woke up and it was windy as heck and we were supposed to have Judi Ann's baptismal interview, and she wasn't going to be able to make it down to West Branch.  And when we found this out the zone leaders were already here and they had driven an hour up from Saginaw.  What we ultimately decided was to drive the hour up to Mio and do the interview.  The good thing was that the zone leaders drive a Chevy Colorado with 4 wheel drive so me and E. Duffin made the long treacherous drive to Mio.  There was so much snow on the roads that we had snowmobiles passing us the whole way.  We eventually made it and we did the interview and she passed so Saturday Judi Ann got baptized and I was fortunate enough to get to do the baptism!  It's amazing the joy and happiness that living the gospel of Jesus Christ brings.  I am so happy for Judi Ann I wish words could describe it!

Besides that not much happened.  I got tired of eating steak that a member gave us so I made a carne asada burrito it was super good.  Also on trade offs this week we drained the water heater for the first time since I've been here.  Me and elder Wise used to both take 45 minute showers in the morning and we never drained it.  It took 4 showers and doing dishes at the same time to drain the water heater!

Surprise Visit from the Mission President!

On Friday we were out door knocking in the freezing cold.  It was -2 and we got a call from our mission president and he was going to stop in and do interviews while he was in the area.  So we were pretty excited about that.  President also usually takes missionaries out to dinner when he is in the area so that is a plus, but he texted us a short while later and said he was going to come and inspect our apartment while he was there.  So we ran home and cleaned up the apartment and fortunately we only had a few minor things that he told us to clean up!  And of course, he took us to Applebees and he bought us a three course meal.  It was amazing.  I can't remember the last time I ate that good!

After our mission president left we headed for Saginaw for trade offs and we had a good time down there.  I was with E. Duffin.  It was actually our 3rd zone leader trade off together.  It's always really fun to go to Saginaw for trade offs mainly because the culture is much different than West Branch.  It's a lot like the South but in Michigan.  We also had a trade off here in West Branch on Wednesday and we had a couple of people cancel on us because of weather and so we ended up being outside all day and it rained all day long.   And not just any rain, it was freezing rain by the end of the day.  There was about 2 inches of ice covering everything!

Besides that Judi Ann made it to church this Sunday which means that more than likely she will be able to make her baptismal date of February 16th so pray that the weather will be good enough for her to be able to make it to West Branch on Saturday!

Still.....Too Cold to Be Alive

On Tuesday we made the long drive down to Mt .Pleasant and the roads were pretty nasty.  At one point it was a total whiteout and I could barely see the car in front of me.  When we got to the MT Pleasant church building the transfer van was an hour late.  That just threw off the rest of the day.  We ended up having to go state back to West Branch so we could make it back in time to have a Skype call with Judi Ann.  After it was all said and done we got a foot and a half of snow in 2 days. After all that the temperature dropped and the actual temperature out was -13 and with wind chill was -27 so we ended up driving around and stopping by people all this last week.  The catch to all of this cold is that is warmed up to 43 this weekend.  I have literally seen a 68 degree temperature swing this week.  Michigan is crazy Utah has amazing weather!

My new comp is Elder Eckersell he is from Rigby Idaho he likes motorcycles and he is a band kid.  He is super smart knows his scriptures front to back!

Judi Ann is doing great she is still progressing towards her baptismal date of February 16th.  We have had daily Skype calls with her this last little while.  I think we will continue to do those the closer we get towards her baptism.  Just a quick side note without Skype I can't imagine working in this area.  It would be so hard to teach anyone who lives outside of the town of West Branch.  Thank goodness for smartphones and Skype!