"Don't bite my finger!"

Well... the past week was a bit of an odd week, beginning immediately after P-Day ended. So the four of us Elders headed to dinner with a family in the ward, and lemme tell ya, these guys are pretty interesting. First off, we walked into this house littered with crosses, we basically watched a grown man get commanded by his mother-in-law, and then sat down to a nice dinner. During dinner we talked to like a 50 year old man about anime, and that's about it. Near the end of the meal Elder Clayton filled me an entire bowl of soup; I barely got that thing down. We also watched as their nearly two year old son was playfully putting his moms finger in his mouth. His mom said "don't you bite my finger!" but didn't do anything to get her finger out of the little dudes mouth, so what'd he do? Of course he bit her finger! The four of us were then priviledged to see this young man be unbuckled from his high chair and recieve a couple nice swats. Don't get me wrong, the family was super nice and we had a good time, it just became fairly awkward at quite a few points. I love the members of this ward! 
The following day we were trying to set up an appointment with a kid our age who Elder Roberts thought was less active. About an hour before we found out that he wasn't. We had planned to meet with him somewhere with another returned missionary from the ward, and Elder Roberts' best idea was to go to McDonald's and buy drinks and talk. That plan wasn't gonna work, especially after discovering that he was quite active in the church. It was pretty funny trying to dig ourselves out of that hole, but we ended up going on some really great visits with the four of us. 
That night it absolutely just started dumping snow on us while we were walking about an hour from our apartment. Within half an hour we had about four inches or so. Luckily the Porritts came and picked us up and came with us to another lesson we had that night. Oh side note, Elder Hubbard, if you ever happen to be in a ward up there in good ole Alaska with some older Porritts, it is probably his parents, and Elder Hudson, they have a son who's down in Provo, so look for an Elder Porritt. 
Okay back to business. Wednesday was solid. We knocked for a total of about five and a half hours and got two people who said we could come back. Thursday I did an exchange with Elder Coley from Phoenix (He lives about twenty minutes from GCU). We basically had a similar day full of knocking, but that night we had a lesson with a kid named Jackson that's about my age that was successful. We played catch with a baseball and played a little basketball as well. The following morning we got up early and played basketball with the district before a meeting we had. 
That night was followed with a couple good lessons. We brought a newer convert to the church on a team up with us, his name is Brother Maganga and he and his wife are both from Africa. I asked him about what drew him to the church, and he explained how he was always a seeker for truth, and he just felt the spirit so strongly as he learned especially about the Restoration. Also, knowing the Bible very well, he said that he loved how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church that follows the same organization and church that Christ established during His earthly ministry. You all should meet this man sometime, he has a really powerful spirit and testimony. 
This week I swear I've eaten pizza like four times, I thought I'd just throw that in there. Sunday was really successful. The Zone Leaders had at least five people they were teaching at church! I went with Elder Clayton to help translate a lesson in young mens' for a kid named Omar. He and his family are from Guatemala, and I wrote out the Plan de Salvacion in Spanish while Elder Clayton translated what was being taught. Last night we had dinner with the Throssels. They have four younger kids that we got to know and made good friends with, it was a really great dinner. Again, I really love the members of this ward.

Here are some talks you can check out too that I read and enjoyed this week!

1. Prepare for a Mission - LaVell Edwards

2. Once or Twice in a Thousand Years - Bruce R. McConkie

3. The Mystery of Mormonism - Bruce R. McConkie

4. "Apply the Atoning Blood of Christ" - Neal A. Maxwell

Thank you all for everything you do, I hope I provide at least a little spiritual and physical upliftment each week!

Elder Shepherd

Got this pic from a family that fed the missionaries:
"He ate all of his broccoli!"