First off, a couple of disclaimers:
1. Nathan is safe and dry from Hurricane Ike. Luckily the storm that was predicted to go straight through Seguin somehow skirted around it, and they only experienced light rain. Lucky duck.
2. The lack of blog updates is in no way a representation of the status of my relationship Elder Morris. :) I have been extremely busy with the start of my graduate program, and on top of that I don't have an internet connection at my new apartment. So be patient with me and I'll update when I can. I'm happy to say that Nathan and I are still good as ever.
Here is some of the letter that I received from Nathan on September 8, 2008:
Here are answers to your questions about Elder Finger. 1) What is his full name? Joshua James Finger. 2) Where is he from? Garden Grove California. It's next to Disneyland. 3) Where does he fit in his family? Second to last in a family of 6 kids. His little sister is 5. He has 5 nieces. 4) What did he do in high school? He was QB of his football team. He played 2nd base and shortstop in baseball. He likes baseball more but his dad was the coach of his high school football team. He also surfed, hung out on the beach, and went to the mall. 5) What are his 5 favorite bands/ artists. MxPx, Jack Johnson, and Blink 182. 6) How long has he served in Texas? 1 year and a little bit. His year mark was on the 29th. 7) What is his greatest strength? His desire to serve the Lord. 8) What is he afraid of? snakes! 9) What is his favorite p-day activity? Playing sports. Mostly football or baseball. 10) Who is his hero? His dad. His superheros are spiderman and the flash. This is his first time as senior companion.
I should tell you more about our investigators. I'll start with Alex. He is the one I baptized yesterday. He is awesome. He has cerebral palsy. It effects your nervous system. He is way smart and definitely accountable. We met him because he ordered a Bible from the TV. After we gave him his Bible we told him about another book... the Book of Mormon. Alex told us about how God had let him know that who ever was behind this commercial is where he needed to be. He listened to the restoration and loved it. He knew it was true from the beginning. We found out his wife died 2 years ago, so when he found out about the plan of salvation, he loved it. He came to church and actually knew some people there. Even more perfect. His brother is a member too. The earliest you can get baptized in this mission is 3 weeks. You have to show up 3 Sundays. Alex did just that. He was prepared and elect.
You should know a little bit about the ward. Out ward is a little less than friendly to missionaries. That's changing hough. They closed down this area because of some stupid missionaries. They weren't doing anything and he ward know about it and lost all trust in them. Not just trust in the stupid missionaries, but all missionaries. They just reopened it 3 months ago. We've been able to get through o a lot of people, but people made sure to let me know that they didn't like the old missionaries and I better be better. Well, I know that I am, so we're good on that. So We are working on it. Pres. Cutler is aware and thinks we are doing a great job.
You remember Alfredo and Astrid, right? They were supposed to be baptized on my birthday. Let me tell you the worry of all missionaries. Wednesday before they got baptized we invite a member to their last lesson. He starts to go off on deep doctrine. This is the worst. After this, Alfredo didn't feel ready so we delayed their baptism for a week. Next thing we know, Alfredo comes at us with questions like "what do the 12 oxen under the baptismal font in SLC mean" and "what is God's real name". He was working on proof instead of faith. He just wanted proof. We taught him that these questions are great but they are not important to know to get into heaven and you don't need to know them before you get baptized. Of course we answered all of his questions but then he wanted proof from the Bible. So we taught him the restoration completely from the Bible. It still wasn't good enough. He hasn't been back to church since that Wednesday and so we dropped him. Sad Story. The moral of the story is that you need milk before meat.
