A feast

As I've always said, one of the hardest things for me to give up coming on a mission was holidays.  Christmas, Fourth of July, St Patricks Day, you name it - are days that simply don't exist here.  For the first whole year, it was sad to see those days come and go on the calendar without even thinking or doing anything about it.  I mean, I always did my best to celebrate them still, but when you're the only person at the party,well.... there's kind of no party.  However, I little by little got over my original mindset (in all things American, not just holidays) and my interests and desires transitioned from American holidays and traditions to Korean ones.  For the last month or so, I've been getting more and more excited as the anticipation built up and finally, this last week, it was Choosuk, and this time, I wasn't the only one at the party.

What is Choosuk?  Well Koreans celebrate 2 major holidays each year:  Solar, and Choosuk.  Solar is the Lunar New Year and was in February this last year.  If you remember, I wrote you all about it. Choosuk comes a few months down the road and is always celebrated at the end of the harvest.  It's a three day long holiday in which they all travel back to their hometown with their families, give respect to their ancestors at their tombs with a special ceremony called Jehsah, and then eat traditional Choosuk food.  And when I say eat, I mean EAT.  There is a TON of food!  Basically, Thanksgiving to Americans is what Choosuk is to them.

It's a big deal, and because the one Korean sister missionary in my district wouldn't be able to be with her family for it and instead would be surrounded with Americans that don't understand about her holiday, I wanted to make it the best Choosuk for her as possible.   It actually lined up perfectly and was going to be on a P-day, so we had all day to spend it however we wanted.  Two weeks before the holiday, she and I made a massive shopping list of required food and supplies.  She would do all the shopping, we would all as a district pay for the food, and then when Choosuk came, we would gather together at the church and make ourselves a Choosuk feast, do Jehsah, and play traditional Korean games.  Sounds like a good plan, right?  The very next day, she called me.

 "So...... I went shopping"  she said in Korean.  I asked her what she bought and she listed off a few foods that were on the list.

"That's great!  It'll be delicious!"  I exclaimed.  "How much was it?"

(silence... no response...)

"Sister Park.... how much was the food...."  I jokingly asked

"$100- bye!"

And she hung up the phone.   Hahaha, what!?  I called her back and after she started apologizing, I told her it was totally fine.  This was her holiday, she could spend as much money on it as she wanted - heck, I'd pay for it all if I needed to.  As the days to Choosuk began to count down, the excitement really did start to build.  The stores were packed with shoppers frantic for food, children and family were wearing traditional Korean clothes, and it really felt like a holiday.  Like I'm not kidding, the holiday spirit was there - and there was not a single jingle bell or stocking in sight.  I mentioned something about the holiday feeling to Elder Godfrey and he replied back by saying "what are you talking about?"

"Don't you feel the holiday spirit?  The Choosuk excitement?  I feel like I won't be able to sleep all night!"  I beamed.

"ummmmmmm, you're too Korean, man"

I took it as a compliment.    Finally, the day of anticipation came and we all went to the church.  The next door district joined us as well and the Korean missionaries from the other district, Sister Park, Elder Kim, and Sister Park from my district got to skype their families (they don't do it on Christmas like I do, of course).  Once skype was over, the three Koreans and I dove ourselves into the kitchen and the preparation began.  We cooked, and we cooked, and we cooked, and we cooked.  And we partied, of course, while we did so.  It was tons of fun!  Learning how to make all of those Korean foods and just being with my three Asian buddies, haha.  No other American helped make the food, they all just sort of hung out in other rooms in the church and played games.  But like I promised Sister Park weeks before, this was their holiday, and I wanted to help them out the best I could.  I guess Elder Godfrey was right... haha, I've become Korean.

Finally, after hours of cooking, it was dinner time and we set the table.  My goodness, was it delicious or what!  And while we all just sat and talked, eating our food, the best feeling of "holiday"  was in the air.  I'm not sure if the other Americans could feel it, but for sure the three Koreans and I did.  I just thought to myself how funny the whole thing was.  Why do I love holidays so much?  Why do I love Christmas and the feeling that the season brings?  Really, it's because of the feeling of love, and happiness, and togetherness, and joy, and just overall all of the things that come when you are with family.  It dawned on me that Korea has really started to become my home, the Koreans have really become my friends, and other missionaries like Sister Park and Elder Kim have really become my family.  Now of course, I still have a family back at home in America, but Korea and the people here have joined the ranks.  And that's why it truly was a holiday to me.

So Choosuk was a success and the happiness that it brought continued throughout the week.  Many other amazing things happened, like a personal tour of a beautiful Buddhist temple by a monk, a ping pong competition with some church members, a picnic in SeJong with all of the members and our investigators at the lake, and our investigator FINALLY accepting to be baptized for sure.  Now it's just a matter of when, again.  But it's okay, we're happy about it.  Korea is amazing, things couldn't be better.

Elder Graf

I love my area

SeJong is seriously the most incredible area in the entire mission.  Hands down.   Now, I may say that about every area I've been in.... but still....  Let me walk you through my week and explain why I'm loving life right now.

Last week ended with an amazing time with all of our SeJong members.  Because there is no church in SeJong and all of the members have to travel to a nearby ward of their choice (there are 3 different ones all in opposite directions of each other up to an hour away), one of the members decided it would be a good idea on Sunday nights to start doing SeJong Family Home Evenings.  Basically, we're getting a head start to starting the branch in SeJong without a church building yet  On Sunday, we gathered all together - old members, new members, and less actives alike, ate a delicious meal, and Elder Godfrey and I taught the lesson to them all.  It was an amazing experience to see the faith and hope of these people, without a church building or any organization at all, coming together and being uplifted from each other like that.  I can't wait until all their devotion and hard work pays off and the branch is established here - they deserve it!

Throughout the week of meeting with the wide variety of our investigators (famous poets, genius atheists, successful colonels in the military, adorable children, and English learners), I just couldn't help but continue to fall more and more in love with the people each day.  They all have so many different opinions, backgrounds, dreams, plans, and purposes for meeting with us, but in the end they all share one common thing - they are all 100% equally important in the plan that God has for them.  Even though most of our investigators struggle to come to agree with what we try to teach them, I still love teaching it to them nonetheless.  Everybody I meet and come in contact with is important and worth my time as a missionary, even the English learners ;)   And SeJong, being the brand new under construction capitol of Korea where everyone is moving in from all walks of life all over the country, provides the perfect opportunity to meet with ALL different types of people and to learn with/from each of them.

Of course, training Elder Godfrey just adds to the experience.  He still loves Korea more than anything and is in awe every day as we walk around.  He also is the greatest greenie in the world when it comes to trying the language.  He's learning super fast, but he still makes his funny share of greenie mistakes.  Story time:  The other day when we were at a members house in Daejeon eating dinner, he asked our member if they had ever been to America before.  When they responded back and said "no", he was at first thrilled because it means that he asked the question right and they understood him.  Then, he decided to continue the conversation. 

The sentence he wanted to say:  "Do you hope to go?". 

The word for hope in Korean:  "Soh mahng"

The way to say that in Korean:  "Soh mang Eesoyo?"  (translates to "does hope exist?")

The word for death in Korean:  "SAH mahng"

What he said to the member in Korean:  "Sah mahng Eesoyo?"

What the whole conversation translated to: 

"Have you ever been to America?"

"No, I haven't"

"So.... Do you have death?"

Hahaha!  We all busted up laughing with Elder Godfrey just sitting there looking confused because he had no idea what he said.  So yes, training is fun.

The week was filled with many other exciting things.  Going on top of our recent convert's apartment tower with him and playing Phase 10 on the roof, me teaching the entire gospel doctrine class at our Daejeon Ward just winging it last minute but getting compliments out the ying yang from members afterwards, finding an ancient burial mound in the middle of SeJong at night and taking pictures on top of it, and setting a baptismal date again (this one is official) with our investigator for this next week.  I am 95% sure it will happen this time.  Anyway, as you can see, things are going amazing.  SeJong is BEAUTIFUL, and life couldn't be better.

Elder Graf

When the Pope comes to Korea

What.  A week.

From Monday last week to today, I have been to and done and seen so much.  First, Monday was spent going to an awesome Buddhist temple up in the mountains.  While there, we received the phone call from the APs telling us that Skinner would be leaving and I would be training.  Right then, we began texting and calling all of our investigators and members.

From Monday evening to Thursday morning, every single second was spent running around (what felt like) the entire country and meeting with everyone and their dog.  Skinner wanted to say goodbye to everybody, but it's better phrased that EVERYBODY wanted to say goodbye to Skinner.  On Wednesday, we had FIVE lunch/dinner meals with five different people and they were all MASSIVE.  I don't even know how we did that without throwing up...  somehow we managed.

Thursday came and Skinner and I made our way to the mission house.  Right as we got there and I, as a trainer, was taken away to the meeting for trainers and Skinner was ushered to meet his new comp and leave, the reality of the situation hit me.  "Wait... what's going on?  You mean Skinner and I can't be companions anymore?"  Haha, I had no idea how good of friends we had become until we weren't allowed to be friends anymore.... this whole split-up-from-companions-that-you-actually-get-along-with thing is no fun.  It's okay, we still have California and Caribbean cruises with our future wives awaiting us in the future.

I was taken to the church building where our greenies were all anxiously waiting for us in the upstairs chapel.  They had them all line up in a half circle by the doors to the chapel and then in one big movement, swung open the doors and us trainers flooded in to find our little babies.  The excitement was crazy as everyone met each other for the first time.  I found him (wasn't too hard, he's 6'6"), hugged, and our companionship began.

He's super cool!  His name is Elder Godfrey and he is from Calgary, Canada.  Right off the bat, he told me about how excited and thrilled and stoked he is to be a missionary and just wants this to be the most incredible and uplifting and amazing experience of his life.  I had just 5 words for him.

"Well then, Welcome to Sejong."

Oh, ever since Thursday, he's been just the greatest greenie anyone could ask for.  He is MORE than willing to try EVERYTHING.  Food, the language, street contacting - you name it - he has no fear.  When I was a greenie,  *spoiler alert* I dreaded the language and talking to people on the street.  But he literally has no fear.  What an amazing thing it has been, he's already helped so much in all of our lessons and will be a perfect partner for these next upcoming weeks.  Of course, there are hilarious face-palm things that he, as a greenie, does, but I'll save those for sharing after the mission ;)

To close off this email, as you all know (if you watch the news at least)  the Pope came to Korea last week.  It's a pretty big deal, the Pope doesn't just pick up and travel like that all the time.  He hasn't been to Korea, or Asia for that matter, in 30 years.  His visit brought millions from all over the continent and as the leader of 1/7 of the entire population of the world, he rightfully so is and important figure.  Of course, when I found out he was coming to Daejeon, I HAD to see him.  But not only that, I HAD to do it as a missionary ;).

Well, seeing him actually turned out to be impossible.  Apparently, you had to be someone either super famous and rich or super poor and a charity case in order to get a ticket.  So instead, on Friday morning, Elder Godfrey and I decided to let out our anger in the form of hanging up English advertisements all over the bus stations, subway stations, and streets surrounding the stadium he was speaking at DURING the event.  Bahahaha, it was hilarious.  No, we didn't do anything disrespectful and we were sure to keep our distance, but we did push some boundaries I guess....  Oh well! When in Korea!

As you can see, things are going great.  Our investigator didn't get baptized this last week because he wants Skinner to baptize him and Skinner wasn't able to come back up to Daejeon.  So we just rescheduled it and it's still going through.  Wish Elder Godfrey and I luck with everything else!  

Elder almost-saw-the-pope Graf

The last week of 18

This week was probably the fastest week in my entire mission, no joke.  Elder Skinner and I have now been companions for 3 transfers - that's a REALLY long time.  No problem though, we're best friends, so it's been nothing but good times, but now that we've been together for so long - we have our system down.  We know what each other will do and say in a lesson, we know how to plan together and set unified goals, we know each other's deepest thoughts...  we have it all down.  Therefore, the time has just for some reason begun to BLOW by.  This last week was week 5 of the transfer, our (potentially) last full week together, and boy were we busy.  I'll walk you through it.

Monday was sleep day.  I was tired, he was tired, we needed our rest before jumping into the new week.  Come Tuesday, our appointments began, and we were traveling all over our area from city to city to meet with our investigators.  The people we met with this week range from teenagers who look up to us like celebrities, old Korean men full of wisdom about the world and its spiritual aspects, only-interested-in-learning-English-from-us-by-lie-about-being-interested-in-the-gospel adults, and a wonderful miracle of a person we met on the street a few months back.  More on him later.

Half-way through the week, heaven came in the form of two packages from my family.  Honestly, those things mean everything to us missionaries.  I opened them up and was welcomed with candy, treats, needed supplies, and - last but not least - my long lost camera that broke a few months back in the subway station, was sent to America to be repaired, and then was sent back to me.  I almost cried from joy.   Ever since getting it, I've used it oh so diligently.  So much so, that the battery actually died today..... and then I realized that there was no battery charger sent in the package.....  so I once again have a problem....  to be continued.

Sunday came and so did two of our investigators (to church, that is).  One of them is the teenager who wants to be baptized but his dad won't let him, and the other is the wonderful miracle of a person we met on the street a few months back that I referred to a paragraph or two back.  When we first met him, he really liked us and wanted to meet, but didn't have much church interest.  But then, all of a sudden two weeks ago, he called us up and told us that he was sorry for not being better earlier, but now he wants to change.  He promised us that he will come to church every single week from now on no matter what.  This Sunday was the second week in a row that he came, actually, and afterwards, we taught him a little bit more about the plan of salvation and why the gospel of Jesus Christ plays a key role in it.  Long story short, he's getting baptized this next Sunday, the 17th.  Awesome, huh!?

So our week was great. We were busier than ever, we set a baptismal date, and we felt rather accomplished.  Our last week together closed, and we anxiously awaited for the transfer calls this morning........  drum roll please.....

I'M TRAINING!  Our mission FINALLY is getting greenies (we've been in a drought do to the age change and just waiting for everyone to graduate high school) and one is coming my way this Thursday.  Who?  I have no idea.  All I know is that Elder Skinner is leaving for the south of the country, and I'm staying here in Sejong to train.  I'm really excited - can't wait to put my skills to the test.

So, it's been a really good 3 transfers together.  18 weeks went by extremely fast, it's been a really good time serving with Elder Skinner.  Hopefully my next companion will be good as well, wish me and my greenie a good week!

Elder Graf

Typhoon Matmo

Not much time to write my email today, the lines for the computers are insane so everyone only gets 20 minutes.  Ever since the Typhoon hit a few days ago, the power has been out in most areas of the city.  Nobody has running water either and there is still debris all over the city.  Walking around on the street is still quite a horrifying sight, many people are now homeless because of their houses being completely leveled....  luckily our house has extra space and we've been able to take 2 families in.  The only bad thing is doctors and hospitals are so overwhelmed, we still haven't been able to go to get Elder Skinner's head treated.  When our windows broke, a piece of glass flew in and slit open his forhead.  We've washed it out but he definitely needs stitches....  Luckily, that's the only injury out of all of us.  Definitely the craziest week so far of my entire mission.....

 

 

 

NAH!  Haha, I kid, I kid.  None of that is true EXCEPT for the fact that a Typhoon did in fact come blowing through the other night.  We had heard about a typhoon to come from our investigators we were meeting with.  Apparently it was called Typhoon Matmo and was, at the time, hitting Taiwan pretty hard.  Then, it was expected to come burrowing through Korea, but not as strong as it hit Taiwan and also not over Daejeon.  We, on the other hand, would just get the tail end of the storm.  But still cool, huh?

 

As the night came, so did the rain.  First it was just drizzling, but it started to pick up heavily after we had gotten home.  We went to bed with it raining, but there was still no wind.  THEN, all of the sudden, we were awakened by a loud crash at 2 a.m. as the wind blew into our house (all of our windows are always open because of the heat, and they are massive floor to ceiling windows because we live in a really nice high rise apartment building) and knocked over the guitars.  The gust of wind then continued, slammed all of the doors in our house, blew around all of our papers and books on our desks, and also blew the wet pouring rain inside as well.  We frantically got up and shut all the windows (except for a small one in the back -- if we were to close ALL of them, our house would become an oven) and just laid down back on our beds, errr, floor mats.  The storm then kept us all awake for the next hour or so as it blew through the city.   I can't even image what it would've been like if we were in the center of it... I hope everyone in Taiwan is okay.

 

Anyway, going outside the next day was incredible.  I have never seen the sky so clear in Korea before.  Usually, it's really smoggy because of all of the pollution, but the storm just cleared it all up.  But, we literally had no time to take the beauty in because of how busy we were.  EVERY DAY this week was full with 3 appointments with 3 different people all in 3 different cities that require traveling for an hour to get to each one.  We have used over $100 this week on travel alone (usually, missionaries only have enough money to use $30, but we are somehow managing/replacing meals with travel expenses).  Anyway, all of our hard work paid off when our 30-year old investigator ended up coming to church on Sunday.  We had told practically everyone in the Ward that he would be coming and that when he did, to kill him with kindness.  Luckily, they did exactly that and he ended up staying after church for over an hour just chatting with everyone, or, being chatted to by everyone, haha.  As we were walking him out, he told us that he was debating whether or not to actually come to church that morning, but he now felt as though he made the right decision.  "I'm going to come to this church every single week now, I promise" he said, and he rode off on his motorbike with a smile. 

 

....Can anyone say, "baptism"?

 

SO, we're going to meet with him again tomorrow, and then he'll come to church again, and then in 2 or 3 weeks, we'll be filling up the font.  Until then, we still have a lot of work to do in all other areas of the work.  Wish us a good week!  Hopefully another typhoon will come and spice things up again.

 

Elder Graf

Skidding Tires

Hello from Summer Korea.  After there being 100% humidity for nearly two months now, our fans for our house finally arrived.  Now, we at least have something to battle the constant stickiness and sweat flow that accompanies us every day.

 

Anyway, things are going great!  And to tell you the truth, it's actually not that hot - plus I like it.  Hot weather is always better than cold weather.  However, every day, I do sure wish I had a swimming pool or beach to go to.... maybe it's a good thing President transfered me to an inland city during the summer months... haha ;)

 

So the week began as normal, and we met with and taught our investigators as usual, but sadly, our investigator Tom (who was supposed to get baptized yesterday) expressed to us that he just simply isn't ready for a commitment like baptism yet and he's going to need more time.  A little bummed from the news, Skinner and I were just sort of in a let down mood following our lunch time appointment with him.  It seemed as our day would be all gloomy, but then, our phone started to ring.  Not knowing the number, we answered anyway.  "Hello missionaries, this is Brother Park"

 

"Brother Park??",  we thought.  "Who is brother Park?"

 

"I am here in Sejong, where are you?"

 

"We're by the library right now"

 

"Perfect, I'll see you in 5 minutes"

 

Compeltely clueless as to who would be coming, we curiously waited on the street next to the library.  Then, from around the corner, came a brand new Infiniti sports car that drove right up next to us.  The window was rolled down and we saw Brother Park, a less active we have never met, called, and had only seen in the record books, smiling up at us.  "Do you want a ride?"

 

Turns out Brother Park loves all the missionaries that come into this area, and especially loves driving them around in his 420 or so horsepower car.  Both Skinner and I looked at each other... then back at the car... then at each other... and then got in the car.  Brother Park took us to a mountain where we got out and talked about life, his life, faith, God, everything.  We shared a few scriptures with him about the purpose of life and what God wants for us.  While the lesson was great for him, it was also wonderful for Elder Skinner and I - totally helped us refocus on what is important and get over our Tom woes.  After looking out at the beautiful Korean landscape next to the mountain and talking for quite some time, Brother Park thanked us for our time and said he would take us home.  "Oh you really don't have to, we can take the bus from here (Sejong is over 30 minutes from our house).  We don't want to burden you or anything"

 

Brother Park just looked at us like we were stupid.  "Have you seen my car?"

 

Of course, that's what Skinner and I really wanted him to say, and we jumped back in.  From where we were to where we had to go, it was just all freeway.  However, it was also later in the day and closer to rush hour, so there were a lot of cars.  BUT, there is also something called a bus lane (that only busses are supposed to use, of course).  Now, I won't go into to much detail, I don't want to scare my mother too much, but let me just say that I have NEVER been that fast in a car before, and I have NEVER smelled the tires burn that much before,  I have NEVER skidded around cars like that before, and I will probably NEVER ever again.  I dunno, something to do with 260kmh weaving in and out of the bus lane and cars that were going less than half our speed.  The entire ride, Skinner and I were just smiling and holding on for our lives while brother Park was just chill and confident, telling us "Don't be scared, this is fun".

 

Hahaha, he's crazy.  And we love him.

 

Anyway, the rest of the week was really good, but nothing of course beat our Fast and Furious experience.  Maybe he'll give us another ride again...

 

Elder Graf

The random events that make up a week

The other one had a critical typo that erros the story.  Here, this is better:

 

This week was just the standard, nothing special, normal missionary week.  In other words, it is full of adventures, surprises, and laughs.  Let me walk you through a few of them.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday went by rather smoothly.  We met with our investigators and tried our best to help them all with their faith - especially Tom.  He is scheduled to be baptized this upcoming Sunday but is also having a hard time with some of the commandments....  luckily, his girlfriend is out of town for a few weeks and won't be back until after his baptism ;)....  anyway.... We were sitting in our room Wednesday night planning for the next day when all of the sudden, we heard somebody from outside shout up "Hey Elders!"

I knew right when I heard it that it was Elder Ward's voice - my trainer from over a year ago.  Since him and I split up as companions, he went on to become Zone Leader and then AP.  His mission turned out to be a success and it was nearing the end.  He was scheduled to go home last Saturday, so I was just figuring that he would give me a call or something before he got on the plane to say goodbye.  I guess he had other ideas in mind, haha, because when we looked out the window, we just saw him there all alone with his backpack, waiting for us to let him in.

His AP days were over and he was just spending the last week of his mission bouncing from house to house all over the mission for a day at a time per President's request.  He got the command to crash our house for a day and surprised us with no warning in advance.  But there were of course no complains, it was great to see him one last time before he headed out to America.  He's now gone and with his family (lucky kid!) and the mission will always remain in a better state thanks to all the hard work he did over here.

The very next day, I had something special planned.  It was Elder Skinners hump-day, and I had sneakily bought very expensive American breakfast items (bacon, sausage, etc) to wake up early while everyone else was still sleeping and make him breakfast in bed.  I was thinking 6:00 would be a good time, it would give me 30 minutes until everyone else arrived, but then, Elder Skinner (who didn't know about my idea) announced that to celebrate his hump-day, he wanted to go to the bathhouse early in the morning.  Dang it.  So, I instead had to wake up at 4:30 to make him a delicious breakfast, which I did, and after he woke up, smiled and hugged me for my kind act of service, and ate deliciously, Elder Ward, Skinner, and I all went to the bathhouse together until we had to head back home for personal study at 8:00.

The week went on and we said goodbye to Elder Ward, Skinner's hump-day, and the sunny weather.  Rain came, as did far away appointments that required hour long bus rides.  One night, as we were riding the bus home, a drunk man decided to step on.  Instead of taking a bus seat, he just plopped himself right in the middle of the floor.  Of course, that didn't sit well with the bus driver, and after a few minutes of the drunk man not listening, the bus driver pulled over on the side of the road, apologized to all the other people riding the bus, and proceeded to call the cops.  Naturally, the first thing I did was get my camera out.  While we were just all sitting there in silence, waiting for the cops to come, one grandma on the bus decided to try to interveine with the situation.  "Hurry Mister!"  she kindly insisted/yelled "The police are coming! Sit in your seat!"  Haha, half the bus was giggling at how funny that sounded, but the drunk man was too out of it to even pay attention.  Finally, the cops came and took him off - our bus then continued onward.

The next day was long and hard - not many appointments and when we tried to talk with people on the street, nobody listened.  Finally, it was time to go home, so we scanned our passes and found a spot on the subway, luckily, because there usually is only room to stand.  After 20 minutes of riding, and still one stop away from the station by our house, Elder Skinner tapped my arm and said he felt like we should get off right then.  Spiritual prompting?  Maybe it didn't seem like it at first, but we followed it anyway.  We got off the train, walked out of the station, and were accompianed outside with a light drizzle of rain.  No people were outside on the street - it was just dark and wet.  "Well", we figured. "Let's walk home then", and we proceeded to walk down the street, following the path that the underground and out of the rain train would've taken us on.  But no matter, we soon got talking with each other about random topics and the walk home became interesting.  Somehow, the topic was changed to what snack restaurant we would go to right now if we were in America.  "You know what I miss?" asked Skinner.

"No, what?"  I answered.

"I just miss being able to be like 'huh... I'm hungry'.... and then going to somewhere like Wendy's or something and not even care about money, and then eat a crispy chicken sandwich and fries.  Satisfaction"

"Ahhhh, I know what you mean.  But now we have no money, or time, or Wendy's for that life.  It's gone, sadly... err, for the time being"

"Yeah..... I just could really take a burger right now"

"Me too"

And then, like it was out of a movie, we looked across the street and beheld infront of our eyes a brand new built and in the middle of its grand opening Burger King.  And, even better, right as we saw it, the traffic stopped and we were able to just walk across the street with no problem, straight to heaven.  Three burgers, two french fries, and a drink later, Elder Skinner were able to confirm with ourselves that spiritual promptings to get off of subways early indeed do come for a reason.

So, there you have it.  A week of investigators, drunk men, divine restaurants, and old companion farewells.  Hopefully this next week will be just as eventful, and hopefully Tom will be able to be baptized as well.  Wish us luck!

Elder Crap