03/09/2020 Dollar pants and mud

We had a zone P Day last week, we were too busy having fun to email, and we had to give some other Elders a ride before and after and had things come up that kept me from writing an email last week, so this will be both weeks' email:

Dollar Pants (Feb 24-Mar 1): 

Last P Day we went to the store Dirt Cheap and I got some pants for $1. Nice. They're Banana Republic too. Not bad at all. The only problem is the side pockets are horizontally oriented in the front rather than angled on the sides of the pants, and the pockets are really shallow. It makes me think they are maybe women's slacks, but they fit me perfectly. Maybe I've just got broad hips??? Maybe it's why they were worth a dollar?? Maybe I'm just not boujee enough? 

Other than that the work is going well. We didn't have very many miles for the month left, so we biked a lot, but the weather has been beautiful, so I have nothing to complain about. One day it was so nice that when a member offered to tote us and our bikes back home after a visit with him, I would have preferred he hadn't so we could bike more. 

I went on exchanges to Olive Branch Mississippi with Elder Butler, one of the zone leaders. He came out on the mission at the same time as me, but was in a different zone in the MTC so I didn't get to know him until getting to the field. He's also just barely taller than I am. 

Now for this week

Mud (March 2-8):

The P-Day that kept me from finishing last weeks email was an adventurous one. We were planning on going to the Civil Rights Museum as a zone, but it got closed because of a special closed event. Segregating us not-special people from attending the Civil Rights Museum I guess. Oh well. We may go today so all is well. 

We did go to Mud Island Park, a park on Mud Island, an island on the Mississippi just across from Downtown Memphis. Contrary to what a name bearing the word "mud" would suggest, it's a nice part of town and the park was pretty good. It has a running topological path of the Mississippi river, which I, as a fan of maps, thoroughly enjoyed. Sadly the path starts at the junction of the Ohio river. So Minnesota was not featured except for on a map. At the park we enjoyed some frisbee and taking artsy group photos at the "MEMPHIS" sculpture. 

We had Zone Conference this week. One of the highlights was introducing the mission to using "tabbed" copies of the Book of Mormon. The tabs have "questions of the soul" (like "what happens after death?), with verses that answer the question on the page that was tabbed. We've been able to use them and they work well to engage people in a large book that can sometimes be daunting to start. 

We have been doing a lot of work with returning members that have fallen into our path. One of them, Bismark, came to church this week. He has just moved to Memphis from Miami and is looking for a place to stay. We met him through another less active we contacted, Renee, who is friends with Bismark, who got us connected to Bismark, who he knew was moving here soon. If we wouldnt have thought to contact this one less active (out of the 400+ we have on record), we wouldnt have been able to find and help Bismark! The Lord will put you in the path to help people. We just need to act and have faith and trust that he will. 

Also someone we taught and brought to stake conference a couple weeks back has been staying in Greenville Mississippi for the past few weeks. We got in contact with the Greenville missionaries, and they have since challenged her to baptism and she is on date for the 4th of April!! We're really excited for her. I'm glad the Church of Jesus Christ is a worldwide church, so moving or staying in another city for an extended period of time is no problem. There are missionaries there too haha!

Pics:

1) the Memphis Zone at Zone P Day at Mud Island. 

2) a member had left over cupcakes from an Office themed party at their work. We now have prison Mike and Andy watching over us as we drive.

3) More mud! A member was going to go teaching with us, but his truck got caught in the mud. With a little help from his friends and us the missionaries, we were able to free his vehicle from the mire. 

4) Minnesota's feature on the Mississippi path I spoke of.