'Twas the Transfer before Christmas

Hola y'all!

Transfer calls came in today (a little later than usual 😾) and even though we are done with training and starting to find success in our area, President decided to keep Elder Edwards and I together anyway.

But here's the bad part: Elder Staker, my companion when I was in Surfside and my District Leader when I went next door to Myrtle Beach, is being transferred! This has been a long time coming: he's been here since February. But it's still very sad, this better not be he last time I see him

"You being an idiot?"  — Elder Staker, talking to me when I was being an idiot
Who's going to ask me that now? Luckily I didn't get called as DL so someone else is coming in

But this means I am spending Christmas at the beach! That's cool, right? Seriously let me know if you want me to send you something from the beach for Christmas, who knows how much longer I'll be here. Speaking of which, we played football on the beach today, it's great because no one is there on a Monday afternoon at the end of November. Last time we really did that was the end of June I think and we almost died, the weather was much better today. We're gonna have to vacuum our corolla for sand again but that's ok

Here's a poem a member likes to tell:

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
The fans were all blowing
Cause we live in the South

Don't worry about us, we're doing fine. We hope you all had a great thanksgiving and even better leftovers. Life is good here and I'm grateful for the chance I have to serve, let's hope it never ends

"It seems like blessings keep falling in my lap."  — Chance the Rapper

I have no pictures this week so here's one of Dead Man Staker driving down Ocean Blvd

Pay no attention to the beach behind the curtain 🌊🌊🌊

Hola y'all!

Sorry the frequency of weekly emails has gone down! I will try to be better.

Christmas time at the beach is tougher than you think! It's getting really cold here. Which I mean is good because I can wear sweaters like all the time.

We're still working with our investigator Jimbo. I think he got anti-ed by this Methodist lady who lives in the trailer across from him. And I guess she used to be a stripper so Satan is using that I guess. I've met her because I parked too close to her driveway once. It's a good thing she used to be a stripper because I don't think she'd be able to make rent with where she's at right now. Is that rude? I've met a lot of strippers on my mission. And a couple prostitutes. They're usually nice and I'm happy to share with them a greater way of life, but sin is sin. I don't know where I'm going with this but the message of the day is "keep your clothes on".

The true message here is that no stripper or hooker or trollop is more powerful than the Restored gospel, a testimony of the Bible and Book of Mormon, or Jesus Christ. So don't worry about Jimbo, we've got a not at all secret weapon on our side: the truth.

It's getting really cold here! I didn't expect the beach to be so cold here. And some weekends it's raining which sucks for the old folk who choose this time of year to drive cross country and stay for the weekend.

Here's a funny story: we have two separate Tanger Outlets here in MB, they rock. I think there's one in Park City back in Utah. They have Forever 21 there and I said "guys they have men's clothes in  here I swear" and we went in and we couldn't find it so we ran out. But I know there's a men's section in Forever 21, at least at the one in City Creek. I'm wearing a cardigan from F21 right now. But if  there was a men's section in that outlet, we did not find it and I doubt the other elders would be willing to go in there and check again

Sorry all my stories are about shopping but that's all we do on P-day, we shop probably more than any sister in the mission. I don't spend money like ever so I guess I just walk into stores and feel things and then walk out

But thanksgiving is coming! Let's celebrate when the people of the Bible and the people of the Book of Mormon put aside their differences and had a big dinner. At least I think that's what happened

Well I never send pictures so here's some of Ocean Boulevard which runs right next to the beach, one of our favorite places to drive

🏌Fore! (-ty eight days till Christmas) 🎄

Hola y'all!

Do you hear what I hear? Is that the Christmas music that's been building up on my missionary flash drive, free at last to be blasted in our apartment and our Corolla? Yes. I managed to fight off the Christmas spirit until Halloween this year, I usually get struck around September. It's not a choice, I was born this way. But Elder Green, who took my place in Surfside, is enough of a Scrooge pre-Thanksgiving that he managed to keep me in check. But now I can't hold it in. Jesus was born and I'm going to let all of Myrtle Beach know!!!

Sorry to leave you in suspense, but our baptism ended up not happening. We're still trying to figure it out but everything happens for a reason. People will make the dive when they're ready!

On the good side of things, we found two new investigators this week! That's a big deal for us, because those are the only two investigators we've gotten our whole time in the South Myrtle Beach area. We've been here 9 weeks in case you haven't been counting like I do. And we got both within two days of each other, completely unrelated! Don't know what we're doing right all of a sudden but I hope it doesn't stop. Now only two in over two months, that sounds like our mission is pretty hard. Not necessarily, other areas in the mission pull in better numbers than that. What do they have that we don't? They don't have me as the senior companion! They have someone good making all the decisions.

But obviously I am learning how to be a missionary because we've been doing things lately! So don't feel bad for me, the Lord qualifies those he calls. Moses had a speech impediment, but he was still able to say L-L-L-Let my p-p-people go!

We're doing pretty good over here at the Grand Strand (that's what they call the string of cities from North Myrtle Beach to Murrells Inlet), there's so many putt putt places here that we decided we had to try one. For p-day today we went to the highest rated putt putt golf place in Myrtle Beach: Mount Atlanticus Minotaur Goff. It's incredible, it looks really cool even from the outside, it's in my area so I've driven past it probably hundreds of times. But we decided to go today. It turns out they give discounts to church groups! Good thing we announced ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ, otherwise they might have made us pay full price! It's awesome there's two 18-hole courses and there's no one there in November. We had a gr8 time, if I get transferred at the end of November we're probably going again.

We carved pumpkins at a member's house last Sunday but I'm pretty embarrassed by how mine turned out so here's a picture of the seeds getting toasted instead