This week was very interesting and fun.
On Wednesday we did some landscaping and housework for a woman who lives in Peyton. She is not a member of the Church but she knows quite a few members. She is very depressed and has a big house that she occupies herself. We were able to pray with her and offer her comfort and peace. We gave her a blessing of comfort.
We also visited a man named Brother Leonard Priest! He is super cool and has a lot of stories to tell. He has two horses named Roxy and Woody who love to eat oats and run so fast it makes the ground beneath you shake. Leonard has raced Pigeons for the last 46 years and he has made quite a name for himself in the pigeon racing community over the years. He struggles with his health and he PROMISED us (quite forcefully) that he would be at church on Sunday to hear us talk! Sure enough, regardless of the fall he took Saturday- he was there to support us Sunday morning.
The other night Sister Connie Hamblin and her husband took us out to eat. They are super nice and have a lot of stories to tell. They have pioneer heritage that they can trace back to pre-1800s. She loves family history.
Thursday Elder Fox headed up to the Denver temple for his 1 year mark with President Rehm and some other missionaries. I went with the Zone Leader Elder Reimer for the day through Downtown CO Springs. Although it is relatively small compared to NYC or Atlanta it has the same urban feel. We went tracting in a lot of apartment complexes right next to mansion-like homes. It always is amazing to me to see the gap in urban areas. One street you can see families of seven crammed into one small loft (undoubtedly being exploited by a shyster landlord) and the next street you can see what has to be a Fortune 500 executive's house.
What is not so surprising is that the ones who are impoverished 9 times out of 10 will make time to talk to you. Most of the mansion-type homes wouldn't even give us the time of day. It has a lot less to do with the condition of their bank accounts and a lot more to do with the condition of their hearts.
On Saturday we had these people call us and set up an appointment with us at the public library. Then they proceeded to personally attack us and our religion calling us heathens and such haha. They said they "loved us and wanted to save us" but by the invective they used toward us, I knew that the intents of their hearts weren't sincere. I must say I may have used some secular debating skills and basically chastised them for the way they were treating two 18-year-old boys who voluntarily gave up two years of our lives to teach about Jesus Christ. They were spouting off internet rhetoric about how corrupt the Book of Mormon was and such and I told them "Show me one chapter, no even one verse that talks about anything but the pure gospel of Christ." They couldn't do it. Instead of wasting our time arguing over things that were obviously not going to be resolved - I bore my testimony to them and let them know that even though we might share some doctrinal differences, we both believe in Jesus Christ as our Almighty Savior and that we should be working together to spread that message instead of tearing us down. And so we left.
I may have gotten a little heated - especially when they told me my family was being led astray by "false gods" and that we would "eternally perish". I thought to myself, "How could you say that about someone you know nothing about? My dad who has life-threatening cancer STILL to this day has unwavering faith in Jesus Christ." I kept my cool and didn't say anything out-of-line. I maintained my composure.
Anyway Sunday was much better haha. Elder Fox and I spoke in sacrament meeting and it went really well. Before we passed around our meal calendar I wrote up a little satirical pitch to help us out.
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| It landed us quite a few laughs and meals. The ward is two miles away and no we didn't have to bike we put the spare on. |
Last night we ate at the Mumford's house, who ironically enough- are both Marines! Sister Mumford did boot camp at Parris Island. That makes 4 known Marines in our little ward . Brother Broker, The Mumfords, and Brother Hurry who played for the President's Own at the 8th & I parade for a # of years.
Being on a mission can be difficult for an array of reasons at times. But that is no different than life. Only when you bear down and focus on your purpose will you be able to trudge through seemingly endless, laborious days. What I've been learning however is that isn't just a mission lesson, it's a life lesson!!! To close it off for today I want to quote a passage from my favorite artist...Taylor Swift (laugh all you want she is amazing)
"The debate over whether or not people can change is an interesting one for me to observe because it seems like all I ever do is change. All I ever do is learn from my mistakes so I don't ever make the same ones again. Then - I make new ones. I know people can change because it happens to me little by little each and every day. Every day I wake up to someone slightly new and improved. Isn't it wild and intriguing and beautiful to think that every day we are new?"
Taylor Swift hit it right on the head - Life isn't about finding yourself, It's about creating yourself!
Love,
Elder Clancy
IN OTHER NEWS and VARIOUS EMAILS CAME THIS ADDITIONAL INFO:
1.) (For those who don't know about Cafe Rio it's an EXTREMELY POPULAR restaurant in Utah and other Western States. They serve a wonderfully tasting shredded Pork that people put on salads or sandwiches. Tyler loves that place and obviously so does the family who served him dinner. They MADE the pork and he totally love it!!!)
We went over to a members house and they made this recipe for us...IT WAS AMAZING. The dressing was awesome too and she let us take home the extra and it went great on a legit salad as well.
Cafe Rio Pork recipe.
2-3lb. Pork roast
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 garlic cloves
Mix all ingredients. Cook in crockpot on low for 6-7 hours. Remove meat from broth and shred.
Cilantro Ranch Dressing
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup mayo
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp. lime juice
1/2-1 bunch of Cilantro
Chop cilantro. Blend all ingredients. (I usually add all of the cilantro and some extra lime) Refrigerate for 30-45 minutes (or longer) before using.
Serve with rice in a tortilla or on a salad.
2.) I'm in the Falcon Ward. Our Building is used for 3 wards. The BIshop is cool. He is new and is a physicians assistant. He went to ASU. He loves wrestling. (college)
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| Elder Fox's 1 year anniversary - tradition holds that you burn your shirt |
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| OOPS = Perhaps we need to bike to Church... |
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| Naaa - DONUT to the rescue!! |
Naaa - donut to the r
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| The Wilkes |
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| Sunset |
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| Sunrise |
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Transfer meeting i
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In front of a hailstorm at the paint mine last PDay
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With our President at zone conference. It is the entire "east zone" of our mission The guy on my left in the gray suit towards the middle is Elder Martinson (Indiana) He's my good friend from the MTC. (Pretty sure Tyler told his Dad that Elder Martinson would be playing volleyball at BYU upon his return!)
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