Back in Ava (week #8)

I am now back in Ava. I got a little sick yesterday for some reason, but I am feeling better today. The past two weeks were very busy for me. My trainer and I went on exchanges with another set of elders in Mountain Grove. It was very nice up there. It was the second time that I participated in missionary work with three other missionaries. What happened was first they came to live with us for a day, and helped us in our area and then they stayed with us overnight. 

The next day, we traveled to their area and stayed overnight at their place. The idea was that more missionaries in one area would be able to speed up the work in that area. Because the entire West Plains Stake is basically rural, I got to do some service that I never thought I would be doing. For one, I helped muck out horse stalls (that was interesting). I also helped split wood for the person who owned the horses. In the evening of that day, in downtown Mountain Grove, I attended a gaming society meeting or something like that. The other three elders I was with introduced me to a game called Magic: the gathering. As one player put it: "It's like hypercomplicated chess" except with playing cards. Only two of the elders knew how to play, so the other elder and I watched. It was a card game tournament. Our goal with attending these game nights was to find people who want to hear about the Gospel.

In Ava, while the work used to be a little slow, it has now started to pick up thanks to the exchanges. My trainer also has managed to find some community organizations to do service, which is great because we now need to do ten hours of service per companion. We have found some people that we might be able to teach the lessons to. Hopefully, some of these people pan out. 

Today, my trainer and I are taking it easy a bit. I am still recovering from being sick, but I think I will be able to go back out tomorrow. I gave a talk yesterday in church. In addition, I am now an escort for an eagle scout who is a nonmember. I will be escorting this Wednesday at a court of honor for six new eagle scouts. Some of the people are nonmembers so we might be able to find new people from that event.

I got the bike intact on the mail. Nothing got damaged except for a rear reflector, but I think that the rear reflector got damaged when I pulled the wheel out of the box. As for assembling the bike, I got lucky. There were two other elders from another area with me because my companion and I had gone on exchanges with them. One of these elders liked building things and he offered to help me assemble the bike. Thanks for sending very detailed instructions. With the elder's expertise and your instructions, the bike is fully assembled and in good working condition except for the broken rear reflector. All of the elders really liked the bike. One of them called it the king of bikes. Thanks for sending the wheel guards. Believe it or not, there are a few dirty roads around here and I know that the bike will come in very handy. I am also glad that you purchased a mountain bike because the terrain is a little rough in some areas. 

The building where we live now is basically a giant warehouse type building with work offices in it. There is a game room and a karate room. It also has a kitchen for the office workers with lots of food left over from previous missionaries so we are well provided for. I have also met a few people out here that like to take their vacations in Florida or that used to live in Florida.