So today marks the beginning of Hurricane Season. On Sunday we were driving home from church and the sky was a dark black almost green color. The air was a perfect temperature and there was no rain yet. So I winded down the windows and just enjoyed it. All I can say is I now know what the phrase "The Calm before the storm" really means. There was nobody outside, Cars were parked, and it was almost silent outside. We are riding down the street and all I can hear is wind chimes smacking against each other from the wind. It was like I was in a movie. But for real, that is the most calmest I have ever seen Louisiana. Right before the storm is about to hit. It was a pretty cool experience to have! A little bit of a whistle mixed with wind chimes really is the coolest thing!
So this past week flew by. I'm looking back and still trying to really figure out what happened. From Tuesday to Friday I was on exchanges with my Zone Leader Elder Walker in Metairie, Louisiana. I thought Kenner had alot of Spanish until I went there. The were sections of the city that is nothing but Spanish.. Like maybe 5 square blocks of just Hispanics. It was pretty neat honestly. We were double booked, almost triple booked for dinner appointments for the time I was there.
Every Appointment I went to the the members and Investigators just kept feeding me. I guess because of my size they knew that I could eat. It was great except for the fact that Elder Walker didn't tell me we had other appointments until after my second plate. It was hilarious. This one family kept giving me more and more food and I didn't want to say no and offend anyone.. So Elder Walker turns to me and say'd "Bro, Don't say no, but just eat as slow as possible so that they stop trying to give you more."
It was pretty funny. Things ended up alright but I swear, I felt worst than I felt on thanksgiving. And that is not very easy to do!
Elder Walker taught me alot during exchanges. I think the biggest thing he helped me with is confidence in Spanish again... haha I don't think I need anymore of that otherwise my head is going to get too big to handle haha.. No it was a good time and I definitely grew alot.
Saturday was pretty nuts. We had a service project planned for 9 am and so we got over there a little early and went to work. As we were there our phone started blowing up. It seemed as though Everyone and their Mum in La Place was calling us for some help in the yard. We went to the Horse Ranch, Mowed Lawns, Moved Hay, Got our shoes ruined in a foot of horse poop, moved in a new oven, Painted a swing set, and even installed a new rainwater pipe for one of our investigators. It was pretty full on but we definitely got a lot done and helped alot of people! I love serving!
Yesterday after studies, we were interrupted by a random number calling us. Elder Allen, Another Elder in our apartment answered the phone. As soon as he said hello we knew something wasn't right. We all went into the room and listened. Somehow this man from Britain had gotten a bunch of missionaries numbers and started bible bashing with them. After about 10 minutes Elder Allen just hung up the phone and said he was done. The man called straight back. I answered.
I started speaking in my accent and began talking. We started talking and he introduced himself. He was like
"Hello, I am Andrew" and then I said something like
"Aw You're a pommie, I'm so sorry to hear that." He said
"Will you please forgive me, where are you from?" I told him Australia and he continued to ask me all these random questions. Next thing you know he says
"I feel that you are lying to me. I am not believing that you are from Australia"
"What makes you say that?" I said,
And he said "I'm going to ask you again, what is your ethnicity(Yes he said Ethnicity...)"
I replied "White Caucasian Male, Almost 20 years old, Sydney Australia..."
He said, "Well that is just, absurd. You're lying to me."
I said, "How am I lying?"
He replied "To me you sound like an African American Male of 20 years old."
He then started going off about me being black and talking about the stance of blacks in the church.. It was pretty funny. I provided him with some places he could do more accurate research for his questions and and he said a few other things and then hung up.
I was just pumped he thought I was black. I guess I have grasped the culture down here pretty well! But yeah, he called a bunch of other missionaries numbers in our zone so It was a little weird how he got all that information from somewhere out there.
There work is picking up down here. This week we had I think Over 20 lessons. That included members also but there has been A big increase in the amount of work we have. We have a good solid Spanish pool of about 8 investigators who may or may not be progressing and 3 or 4 English investigators. Things are definitely starting to skyrocket and the Lord is blessing us for that!
Love Elder Whitmarsh
So this past week flew by. I'm looking back and still trying to really figure out what happened. From Tuesday to Friday I was on exchanges with my Zone Leader Elder Walker in Metairie, Louisiana. I thought Kenner had alot of Spanish until I went there. The were sections of the city that is nothing but Spanish.. Like maybe 5 square blocks of just Hispanics. It was pretty neat honestly. We were double booked, almost triple booked for dinner appointments for the time I was there.
Every Appointment I went to the the members and Investigators just kept feeding me. I guess because of my size they knew that I could eat. It was great except for the fact that Elder Walker didn't tell me we had other appointments until after my second plate. It was hilarious. This one family kept giving me more and more food and I didn't want to say no and offend anyone.. So Elder Walker turns to me and say'd "Bro, Don't say no, but just eat as slow as possible so that they stop trying to give you more."
It was pretty funny. Things ended up alright but I swear, I felt worst than I felt on thanksgiving. And that is not very easy to do!
Elder Walker taught me alot during exchanges. I think the biggest thing he helped me with is confidence in Spanish again... haha I don't think I need anymore of that otherwise my head is going to get too big to handle haha.. No it was a good time and I definitely grew alot.
Saturday was pretty nuts. We had a service project planned for 9 am and so we got over there a little early and went to work. As we were there our phone started blowing up. It seemed as though Everyone and their Mum in La Place was calling us for some help in the yard. We went to the Horse Ranch, Mowed Lawns, Moved Hay, Got our shoes ruined in a foot of horse poop, moved in a new oven, Painted a swing set, and even installed a new rainwater pipe for one of our investigators. It was pretty full on but we definitely got a lot done and helped alot of people! I love serving!
Yesterday after studies, we were interrupted by a random number calling us. Elder Allen, Another Elder in our apartment answered the phone. As soon as he said hello we knew something wasn't right. We all went into the room and listened. Somehow this man from Britain had gotten a bunch of missionaries numbers and started bible bashing with them. After about 10 minutes Elder Allen just hung up the phone and said he was done. The man called straight back. I answered.
I started speaking in my accent and began talking. We started talking and he introduced himself. He was like
"Hello, I am Andrew" and then I said something like
"Aw You're a pommie, I'm so sorry to hear that." He said
"Will you please forgive me, where are you from?" I told him Australia and he continued to ask me all these random questions. Next thing you know he says
"I feel that you are lying to me. I am not believing that you are from Australia"
"What makes you say that?" I said,
And he said "I'm going to ask you again, what is your ethnicity(Yes he said Ethnicity...)"
I replied "White Caucasian Male, Almost 20 years old, Sydney Australia..."
He said, "Well that is just, absurd. You're lying to me."
I said, "How am I lying?"
He replied "To me you sound like an African American Male of 20 years old."
He then started going off about me being black and talking about the stance of blacks in the church.. It was pretty funny. I provided him with some places he could do more accurate research for his questions and and he said a few other things and then hung up.
I was just pumped he thought I was black. I guess I have grasped the culture down here pretty well! But yeah, he called a bunch of other missionaries numbers in our zone so It was a little weird how he got all that information from somewhere out there.
There work is picking up down here. This week we had I think Over 20 lessons. That included members also but there has been A big increase in the amount of work we have. We have a good solid Spanish pool of about 8 investigators who may or may not be progressing and 3 or 4 English investigators. Things are definitely starting to skyrocket and the Lord is blessing us for that!
Love Elder Whitmarsh