Michael In Oklahoma – Week 80 – In Which He’s Told He Looks Santa

Shout out to Holland, who said he reads my blog all the time and tells his parents whenever his family gets mentioned. He’s a goofball.

This will, unfortunately, be a shorter email. I’ve gotten sick and I don’t have a lot of mental energy, so it’s hard for me to remember what the heck I’m writing about. I’ll do my best!

Monday, I hurt my hand playing sports, we had dinner with the Tongas and had Bluebell ice cream, which is AMAZING, and had a visit with Cathy. She’s going through a rough spot, her mother is in bad health and she’s just sort of getting dogpiled with stress. On the upside, she’s still going strong with reading her scriptures and attending church and so on. She said she knew things would get rough once she got baptized, that there would be opposition as a consequence of her choice to follow Christ.

Tuesday, we had a lesson with Manny and Brother Hansen on the Word of Wisdom. Manny is progressing really well, his desire to learn the Gospel and to know if Joseph Smith really was a prophet is strong. We picked up the luggage for Elder Allman, who was leaving Cushing the next day, and had dinner with the Kolone’s. Sister Kolone asked me to dress up in a Santa costume and come to their house before dawn on Christmas day and pretend to be Santa for her kids. It sounds awesome and I’m excited to do it, but I’ve gotta start taking better care of my weight, man. It’s not good when you’re told, “You look the most like Santa”.

Wednesday, we had transfers, and we drove ALL DAY. We took the 2nd Ward sisters down and dropped off Sister Young, who went home, and picked up Sister Jensen, who will be taking her place. We met with Elder Lindelof, who will be taking Elder Smith’s place over in Shawnee, and gave him his district leader training, dropped off luggage for the missionaries over in Cushing, and got home just in time for dinner.

Thursday, we helped rake leaves at the Institute with the Kerrs, the senior couple missionaries placed there, and got doughnuts afterward. We had dinner with the Carters and Holland told me that he was irritated with a friend of his because “He wanted to go hang out with girls instead of playing Magic with me!” Oh, to be 12. We visited the Crain family, who we had met some weeks before, and found out that Sister Crain is an alcohol-abuse counselor, which is fantastic because we have an investigator who is struggling with giving up alcohol and we’ve been praying that we’ll find a way to help her. The Lord really does provide for us when we need it. I also was informed I need to finish the Wheel of Time series and that I should just skip to the bit that Brandon Sanderson wrote, because the pace picks up a lot.

Friday, we had district meeting in Stillwater and Elder Moe and I went on exchanges in Spanish Land. Elder Moe has a lot of weight on his shoulders. There’s a few missionaries in his district who are really struggling and he’s very concerned about them, but of course there’s not really a whole lot more that he can do than teach them how to submit to the will of the Lord and set an example for them. We had dinner with the Gonzales family and I had a long conversation with their son, who wants to serve a mission but is being held back by problems with government paperwork that will allow him to serve wherever the church needs him, and is starting to have second thoughts. I told him about my experience, my long wait and my many doubts and the moments when I considered not serving a mission at all, and I told him about all of the blessings that have come from serving one. For me, it ended up not being a choice between serving a mission or going to school, but between serving the Lord or not obeying his call. His call is for all worthy young men who hold the priesthood to serve, and I believe that when the Lord says all he means all.

Saturday, Elder Moe and I went and helped out at the Bishop’s storehouse for the stake, moving boxes of food in and sorting them out into individual orders. It is SO MUCH WORK, but it helps those in need so much. Then we exchanged back and Elder Bishop and I helped set up for the Ward Christmas party (with help from Sister Kolone’s kids). And then we went and helped Sam and Pam, who are FINALLY back from Kentucky, move into their new home (I got to see Elder Chavez’s dad again, he gave me a big hug and then made fun of me, which is how it usually goes). We got a break after that and had dinner with the Spanish missionaries, and then went to the Christmas Party, which was a big success, and then we helped take it all down (which was a lot faster because there were a ton of other people helping). I probably got sick because of how much I pushed myself, but we got the work done.

Sunday, we had Manny and Sarah and a couple of other investigators come to church, had a wonderful dinner with Walls and our investigator Ashley and her mom, and then Manny finally found a pair of glasses I lost at Sarah’s place! It was a great day, the only downside is that I’ve basically lost my voice. You talk a LOT as a missionary, so it’s in some ways even worse than injuring my hand.

I love ya’ll!

Elder Palmer

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And Now For Pictures!

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We got up early the morning of transfers and went to Granny’s Kitchen (where Sarah works) and had breakfast as a district.

I got the “Fat Granny”. This is why I’m being told I look like Santa Claus.

Sunrise over Stillwater!

The whole district at Granny’s. Sarah got up a little early so she could serve our table, which was fun, but she said she’d never get up early again.

Driving through Oklahoma City to the Moore church building, where we hold transfers.

Sorting food at the Bishop’s storehouse.

Elder Roundy, me and Elder Quijada.

Elder Smith (who was leaving) and me.

Helping move food out of the truck at Bishop’s storehouse.

Moving Pam and Sam.

Dad Chavez playing a prank on Brother Hurst (he played it on us too). He asked him to take a dolly and move that post that’s rolled up. It’s actually the electricity pole for the property and is very firmly secured there. Dad Chavez is a punk.