Everyone has begun counting for me. And although sometimes I try to avoid it, this is about to be unavoidable. The last 4 weeks of my mission. It's crazy to say.
Well I'm gonna start off with the awesome.
TYRELL AND HIS FAM came to church!! We had 7 investigators there. It was awesome. I got so pumped seeing them already sitting down in the aisles when I walked in those doors. Brought a huge smile to my face. It was a blessing seeing that.
On Wednesday they invited us over. Things are finally all sorted out and we are ready to start back up and get them ready to go. They invited us over and told us they were gonna cook a lot and expected us to eat. So we prepared accordingly and showed up at 6pm. Little did we know, that that night, the Legendary Kobe Bryant would be performing his last game, along with The Dubs working there magic and breaking NBA history two times. Both as a team and Steph alone. So we get there and it begins instantly. Gotta love that southern Hospitality. Well We are sitting there and here comes out some food. He says "Here's the appetizers". He was holding a giant plate of spicy sausage and bell pepper stuffed mushrooms. SO GOOD. We downed those real quick. Well two minutes later he brings out a plate with cornbread and Chicken. Tyrell is known for his spices so I was pumped for some hot chicken. We start eating. YUPPPP HOT!! Well I finish that plate. He brings out a huge Bowl of Red Beans and Rice. For those of you who dont know. That might be one of the best foods you'll never try in your life. If you get the chance. DO IT. Nothing better than southern Red Beans and Rice. I was pumped. Well I downed the plate. He looks at me and was like "Wow you really are gonna eat" He brings me another plate of chicken and cornbread. And then Comes back out and sees me just eating it all! It was soooooo good. Well he brings more Red Beans and rice. I finish and he says "Oh I forgot to tell yall about dessert" I was struggling at that point, until he brings two cakes out and puts them on the table along with cookies. He makes us try them all so that he could see if he was a better cook than his wife. It was awesome. SO GOOD.
I have never been so full on my mission. Not even thanksgiving or Christmas. That was a LOT of food. Well a few minutes goes by and he tries to get us to stay and watch the warriors game and kobe. We got out real quick otherwise I would've been stuck haha. The two years I'm out here the warriors win the championship then set most wins in a season.... Now on to a repeat. You guys better record it all!
Ok So Jose we didn't really get to meet with this week, he was extremely busy with work.
Sunday after church was cool because we organized splits with the spanish branch. The spanish branch struggles getting people to do sacrament and the show up to church, so it was sweet seeing a bunch of members show up. I went with the 1st counselor and we went to a previous investigator I taught. It was awesome seeing Reuben and his wife. We sung a hymn together shared a quick message then invited them to the mothers day activity, Where they have planned to have over 120lbs of cooked meat. I'm PUMPED. Nothing is better than some grilled carne asada!
In the English branch I was called to give another talk. Here's the part where I say they are counting for me. I am called and asked to give a talk on service. Well I get ready and Brother Grindstaff gets up. He says "Well, this is Elder Whitmarsh's third time here in the Branch. We are hoping to see him the fourth time, but he only has a few weeks left and we are sad to see him leave from this branch"
After the talk he got up and said "Oh I forgot one thing, I just wanted to tell him how much of a growth we have seen in him over the past two years. He began his mission here and will end here, but every time he has come back we have seen and increase and growth of both his demeanor and character. Thank You Elder Whitmarsh" It was pretty crazy. I was just sitting up there thinking that this truly is it. I have been so blessed out here to have met all these people! I'm so grateful for it all.
Saturday morning was pretty crazy. Poppa, or Brother Caine called and wanted to go fishing. He couldn't do i this morning so we went then. Well that started the craziness. We went to a spot and weren't getting any bites or anything. He takes us to this secret spot. We get in there. It says NO TRESPASSING and stuff like that. We were like "Poppa, you sure we gonna be good?" Well we climb the wall and its this sweet little Lake just over a side of the levee. As we are fishing he begins telling us that we are in the NASA grounds of New Orleans. We looked over and no joke saw the logo across the other side of the lake. There was a retired space shuttle and everything. It was Crazy. Well we fish for a bit and things are good and we catch some fish. We caught like 20-30. It was sweet. Well, next thing you know, some Mexicans showed up. We were talking and having a good time, until we hear another voice. It was deep and he sounded pretty angry. We turned around and it was The Game Warden. The rangers that check fishing licenses and hunting and stuff. Apparently, we had caught illegal fish and so poppa quickly threw like 6 or 7 back into the water before the man came. He asks for our fishing licenses. I didn't even know we were meant to have them.... So I was tripping at this point. I tell him I'm Australian and we are just missionaries out here. We got off the hook instantly(Hahaha how ironic) Well we are good. He checks our fish and sees two illegal ones in there that poppa missed. He pulls them out and kinda gets really mad. He starts telling us what fish it is and then says 'Come with me sir. " We tread through a foot and a half of water and then then man meets us at his truck. It was crazy. Well Poppa got a few tickets and we were good to go. We checked on the computer to see rules and penalties for fishing without licenses... Yeah we would've been in Big trouble if that man didn't let us off. Thank Goodness. It was a crazy situation.
Tomorrow is my last zone conference of the mission. So we will be driving to Metairie to have the meeting. I'm pretty excited for it but also a little sad because I'm going to miss this alot. And especially some of the people here, I'm gonna miss heaps.
That's pretty much it this week! But I'll try and write down more next week so you can see how these last few go. Love yall!
Elder Whitmarsh
Well I'm gonna start off with the awesome.
TYRELL AND HIS FAM came to church!! We had 7 investigators there. It was awesome. I got so pumped seeing them already sitting down in the aisles when I walked in those doors. Brought a huge smile to my face. It was a blessing seeing that.
On Wednesday they invited us over. Things are finally all sorted out and we are ready to start back up and get them ready to go. They invited us over and told us they were gonna cook a lot and expected us to eat. So we prepared accordingly and showed up at 6pm. Little did we know, that that night, the Legendary Kobe Bryant would be performing his last game, along with The Dubs working there magic and breaking NBA history two times. Both as a team and Steph alone. So we get there and it begins instantly. Gotta love that southern Hospitality. Well We are sitting there and here comes out some food. He says "Here's the appetizers". He was holding a giant plate of spicy sausage and bell pepper stuffed mushrooms. SO GOOD. We downed those real quick. Well two minutes later he brings out a plate with cornbread and Chicken. Tyrell is known for his spices so I was pumped for some hot chicken. We start eating. YUPPPP HOT!! Well I finish that plate. He brings out a huge Bowl of Red Beans and Rice. For those of you who dont know. That might be one of the best foods you'll never try in your life. If you get the chance. DO IT. Nothing better than southern Red Beans and Rice. I was pumped. Well I downed the plate. He looks at me and was like "Wow you really are gonna eat" He brings me another plate of chicken and cornbread. And then Comes back out and sees me just eating it all! It was soooooo good. Well he brings more Red Beans and rice. I finish and he says "Oh I forgot to tell yall about dessert" I was struggling at that point, until he brings two cakes out and puts them on the table along with cookies. He makes us try them all so that he could see if he was a better cook than his wife. It was awesome. SO GOOD.
I have never been so full on my mission. Not even thanksgiving or Christmas. That was a LOT of food. Well a few minutes goes by and he tries to get us to stay and watch the warriors game and kobe. We got out real quick otherwise I would've been stuck haha. The two years I'm out here the warriors win the championship then set most wins in a season.... Now on to a repeat. You guys better record it all!
Ok So Jose we didn't really get to meet with this week, he was extremely busy with work.
Sunday after church was cool because we organized splits with the spanish branch. The spanish branch struggles getting people to do sacrament and the show up to church, so it was sweet seeing a bunch of members show up. I went with the 1st counselor and we went to a previous investigator I taught. It was awesome seeing Reuben and his wife. We sung a hymn together shared a quick message then invited them to the mothers day activity, Where they have planned to have over 120lbs of cooked meat. I'm PUMPED. Nothing is better than some grilled carne asada!
In the English branch I was called to give another talk. Here's the part where I say they are counting for me. I am called and asked to give a talk on service. Well I get ready and Brother Grindstaff gets up. He says "Well, this is Elder Whitmarsh's third time here in the Branch. We are hoping to see him the fourth time, but he only has a few weeks left and we are sad to see him leave from this branch"
After the talk he got up and said "Oh I forgot one thing, I just wanted to tell him how much of a growth we have seen in him over the past two years. He began his mission here and will end here, but every time he has come back we have seen and increase and growth of both his demeanor and character. Thank You Elder Whitmarsh" It was pretty crazy. I was just sitting up there thinking that this truly is it. I have been so blessed out here to have met all these people! I'm so grateful for it all.
Saturday morning was pretty crazy. Poppa, or Brother Caine called and wanted to go fishing. He couldn't do i this morning so we went then. Well that started the craziness. We went to a spot and weren't getting any bites or anything. He takes us to this secret spot. We get in there. It says NO TRESPASSING and stuff like that. We were like "Poppa, you sure we gonna be good?" Well we climb the wall and its this sweet little Lake just over a side of the levee. As we are fishing he begins telling us that we are in the NASA grounds of New Orleans. We looked over and no joke saw the logo across the other side of the lake. There was a retired space shuttle and everything. It was Crazy. Well we fish for a bit and things are good and we catch some fish. We caught like 20-30. It was sweet. Well, next thing you know, some Mexicans showed up. We were talking and having a good time, until we hear another voice. It was deep and he sounded pretty angry. We turned around and it was The Game Warden. The rangers that check fishing licenses and hunting and stuff. Apparently, we had caught illegal fish and so poppa quickly threw like 6 or 7 back into the water before the man came. He asks for our fishing licenses. I didn't even know we were meant to have them.... So I was tripping at this point. I tell him I'm Australian and we are just missionaries out here. We got off the hook instantly(Hahaha how ironic) Well we are good. He checks our fish and sees two illegal ones in there that poppa missed. He pulls them out and kinda gets really mad. He starts telling us what fish it is and then says 'Come with me sir. " We tread through a foot and a half of water and then then man meets us at his truck. It was crazy. Well Poppa got a few tickets and we were good to go. We checked on the computer to see rules and penalties for fishing without licenses... Yeah we would've been in Big trouble if that man didn't let us off. Thank Goodness. It was a crazy situation.
Tomorrow is my last zone conference of the mission. So we will be driving to Metairie to have the meeting. I'm pretty excited for it but also a little sad because I'm going to miss this alot. And especially some of the people here, I'm gonna miss heaps.
That's pretty much it this week! But I'll try and write down more next week so you can see how these last few go. Love yall!
Elder Whitmarsh