Snakes!

Dear America,

This week was smooth. I don't have a long time to email today because I have to go to a YSA FHE this evening, but I'm trying to get in everything that I can.

This week we have some neat progress. Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about the lesson that I was grinding onions and crying in? Well we've gone back to teach that woman several times, and her 10-year-old son has been present every time. One our second visit (the one right after the onion incident), we reviewed the restoration with them quickly and introduced the Book of Mormon. During the course of the lesson, Michael (the boy) opened up to us. He said "last night I prayed over this book (the Book of Mormon) and slept over it. Jesus Christ told me that your church is true." We were all surprised, including his mother. She asked him why he hadn't told her this before. It was sweet, though. We told her that she could get her own answer if she did the same thing. So far, 10-year-old Michael has been reading his copy of the Book of Mormon more than just about anyone in our branch. He's the most solid investigator we have.

We've seen two snakes this week. One was on the bushy path that we always take, so now we're avoiding that path like the plague. The other one came into our apartment. Let me repeat that: A long, dark, skinny snake with dubious intentions had the nerve to come slinking into our apartment. While we were just playing ping-pong and joking around at the end of the day, Elder Waihi got a really surprised look on his face and let out a missionary-appropriate exclamation. I turned around, saw it, and then both of us ran into our rooms to get our companions and our machetes. Pictures of the end result are attached. My companion did a lot of the active snake slaying. After the excitement, we were all super jumpy for the rest of the night. Every room you entered would have be thouroughly examined. Every elder independently checked under his bed before kneeling down to pray (confessed the next morning).

Yeah. Those are the most exciting parts of the week.

Elder Nelson