An Uneventful Week

Dear family and friends,

 

       One more week's been chipped off. Not too much happened. Elder Kelley went to go see two of his converts receive their endowments back-to-back so I was basically on exchanges with the Spanish missionaries: Elder Gerber and Elder King. Elder Gerber is my district leader and Elder King is Elder Gerber's trainee. It was pretty boring being in the Spanish lessons for obvious reasons but we knew that before going in and Elder Gerber and Elder King are phenomenal missionaries and they really know how to have fun and how to make things better. I enjoyed their company A LOT! We attended the baptism of a different set of missionaries in our zone and after the baptism finished we noticed some members carrying HUGE stacks of Little Caesar's pizzas. Naturally we offered to help (carry the pizzas in of course) and of course the members bugged us into eating the pizza. Not that we minded of course but before that I had to take a picture next to the pizzas. Come on, there's no way I'd pass that up! We got two pieces but I was still a happy elder. 

 

        Bytheway I hear that Austin Lee's engaged. Congrats man!

 

Love,

 

Elder Boothe  

 

The missionary to the left is Elder Gerber. The missionary in the middle is Elder King.

Commandos and Parrots

Dear family and friends,

 

      Another week passed by in Peoria and I am enjoying Elder Kelley's company A LOT! He's been a great help and support! This week may have been slow in terms of missionary work but if I were to have another slow week I would have it with him instead of some of my other companions. He works hard, he's bold, he's honest and he has some amazing ideas! I'm hoping that he could be my last companion, even though he's been in his area for 5 transfers already. He thinks he's getting transferred but I hope he doesn't. 

 

       I don't know if I've told you this or not, but the members that we live with own two annoying parrots. One of them is called Charlie and the other one is called Baby. They're stuck in their cage all day long and unless provoked into doing exercise they will stay in their cage. Neither of them fly very well. One of them hit the wall on the opposite side of the room and nearly fell into the garbage can. It was pretty funny. Unlike most birds these two are graceless fliers. They also have the most annoying squawk I've ever heard from any bird! No "Paulie want a cracker" it's just an endless barrage of squawking.If you wave one of Sister Andrew's shoes at them (the Andrews are still on vacation) they start squawking big time and for some reason they become frightened. 

 

      So Elder Kelley knows a bike mechanic in Surprise (one of his former investigators) who gives free tune-ups on bikes. We went over there on Tuesday and he (the bike mechanic Elder Kelley knew) HATED my bike! The reason why is because my bike hasn't seen a bike shop since the day of it's creation so it's been beat-up pretty bad. This guy had to do a complete over-haul on my bike. I got new tires, new brakes, a new shifter, a lubed up chain, etc. You name it he did it. He had two "smoke breaks" over my bike. According to Elder Kelley that's never happened before. Even with all the discounts that he gives to missionaries I still had to pay a lot of money. Moral of the story: Keep up the general maintenance of your bike, don't let the problem become HUGE! According to Elder Kelley this applies to cars as well. 

 

       Last week we played "Commando" for our zone activity. It's basically like Canadian dodgeball except with tennis balls and barricades. It was really fun except for the time when I got nailed in the crotch. MAN THAT HURT! Few things in life are that physically painful. 

 

         By the way one of Lindee's friends is in one of the wards I cover. Anybody know who Kelsey Warcup (her maiden name is Martinez) is? She is from Fresno and she does know Lindee. By the way Lindee Congratulations!

 

Love,

Elder Boothe

 

 

Peoria

Dear family and friends,

 

          As I mentioned in my last e-mail I have been transferred (thank heaven) from Tolleson and have moved to Peoria. My new companion is Elder Kelley! This is really cool because we already served around each other prior to being made companions! In other words we already know each other. We were both in Surprise way the heck back in the early days of our missions. I had just been transferred from Cottonwood and Elder Kelley just got into the mission field. I remember watching his trainer, Elder Beard, introducing him. Elder Kelley's only one transfer behind me so he's a very experienced missionary who knows his stuff. He's from Spokane, Washington (techincally he's from Elk but hey who knows where that's at right?) and he's a genius when it comes to cars and computers. He worked as a diesel mechanic before coming out on the mission and he sold his '68 Camaro in order to come out here. I already knew this before we were made companions but I figured that you didn't. He knows a ton of things about the gospel and I've learned a thing or two from him already! He's been in this area for about 7 months and I'm his fourth companion in this area. He figures that he's getting transferred after this. I think it's pretty logical for him to assume that. I am so grateful that he's not form Utah and I am equally as grateful that I got an experienced missionary as a companion. Since I already know him and have taught with him on companion exchanges we shouldn't be having too many problems adjusting to each other.

 

           Ok so the coolest thing happened Saturday evening! After having a delightfully busy day we had some members take us home and we saw a tricked out Ghostbusters van riding in the opposite lane from us. These guys dress up as Ghostbusters at different Comic-Cons and raise money for charity. Apparently these guys were on their way home from a Comic-Con event when they got pulled over by some cops who were flashing their sirens! We couldn't believe our eyes: The Ghostbusters got busted! We drove up to get a closer look. We were right at the parking lot where the Ghostbusters vehicle got pulled over. There was another cop car that drove around to try and head these guys off while yet another car came flying in their rear. Elder Kelley and I got as close as we could to the vehicle and the cops and not only did we take pictures but we also took videos of the thing! It turned out that the guys liscense plate expired. It was nothing big. I'm sure the cops just wanted to take a picture of the van. After the officers let these guys leave they walked over toward the car we were riding in (there were members dropping us off) and they explained the situation to us. Here's a small excerpt of what the cop said:

 

              "I'll give you two options: I either write you up or you let me take a picture of your vehicle". I'm sure you can imagine what option the Ghostbusters guys went for. Right after it happened we drove back toward the members home where our bikes were (I'm in another bike area) and the the members' daughter posted the pictures and a video on Facebook! I wonder what kind of response she got. It was pretty epic!

 

               Yesterday Elder Kelley and I gave a FHE to a somewhat less active family (not enough time to explain the situation. Maybe in the next e-mail) who's son is 18 and really wants to serve a mission. We played "Do You Love Your Neighbor" and we also played another game involving rhythm and you also had to make signs like an animal. I won the latter game and I did pretty well at "Do You Love Your Neighbor". It was really fun! I gave a talk in sacrament meeting this past Sunday. It was pretty sweet!

 

Anyway time's flying and my session's almost up.

 

LOVE YOU ALL,

 

Elder Boothe

 

 The tarantula owned by a less active Tolleson family

I hate spiders, especially huge ones. 

 Me and Sister Archuleta, one of the members that we lived with.

The Ghostbusters got busted! 

 The cool, tricked out Ghostbusters van

Big Spiders and Full Suitcases

Dear family and friends,

 

     I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED! I've only been in this area for two transfers but hey it's time for another change huh? Elder Hebert's taking over the area. I'll have at least six areas now and my new companion will be my ninth! Wow! I've been moved around a lot! I like that though. I'd get really bored being in the same area for a long period of time. I finally get transferred after setting one baptismal date. That's crazy! 

 

     Speaking of that yesterday Elder Hebert and I set a baptismal date with an investigator named Michael Leon. That kid is golden! He's a former investigator that was being taught by a previous set of missionaries and they stopped teaching him and his family because his sisters weren't interested at all and according to them these guys were trying to avoid them. Michael apprantly already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and he already knew so much about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and the Plan of salvation. Now I won't get to teach him. 

 

         I hope I get transferred to a good area with actual work because this area is by far my worst in terms of missionary work. Seriously, I didn't get any baptisms when I was here, that's never happened before. Oh well, At least I didn't have to be here for very long. As usual I'm wondering what my new area will be and who my new companion will be as well. This is my second to last transfer. Man I don't believe it. What happened to all that time? Speaking of time, my trainer sent me his wedding invitation. ELDER MORTIMER'S GETTING MARRIED! He's been off his mission for seven months! Holy toledo that's quick! I wonder if Elder Bell's married. Hmmmmmmm.......

 

          We came across a family that owns a tarantula. Dang that spider's huge! It's actually quite small for a tarantula but it's still huge for a spider.

 

Well I'll send you all the e-mail about my new address. Oh boy, this will be a new adventure.

 

Love,

Elder Boothe