Hale, not Hales

I would like to preface this email by saying that the computer I am using is totally wacko right now. There are red squiggly lines under almost every single word I write, as if they were all spelled wrong. Well, I'm pretty sure I know how to spell the word "the" correctly. I thought that maybe the computer was set to another language, but as far as I can tell everything says English. So, if I spell anything wrong, it is because I cannot distinguish it from all the words that I am spelling correctly even though the computer is telling me otherwise.

So my new companion is Sister Hale! (Not Hales - the person who called last week to let me know about transfers was given false information!) She is from Tennesee most recently, but that is the 11th or 12 place that she has lived. Her family has moved all over the south east and they have even spent several years living in a boat in the Carribean. People used to be impressed when I said I was from Maryland, but now her back story is so much more exotic than mine. At least I'm not from Utah.

We tracted a lot this week. And taught people. And visited less active members. I guess it just felt like a really long week, so it seems like we did more of everything. It was SUPER long. But usually really long weeks seem to be followed by really fast weeks, so I am sure the next 7 days are going to fly by!

Funny story for the week. We were sitting on the front porch of a member's house talking to her, when her neighbor came up and started talking to us. He is CRAZY! Not bad crazy. Just an ADD, way too much energy and super outgoing, possibly also had a couple of beers kind of crazy. Also, he was a "dowist." I guess that is some sort of Eastern Religion. He told us he used to be Christian and is still very interested in religions. He said that he always invites the Jehovah Witnesses inside his house to talk (except when it smells like cat pee apparently.) Anyway, he wanted to know what our view of the afterlife was, so we taught him the Plan of Salvation. It was just really funny to teach him, because he was super interested in what we had to say but he kept getting distracted and asking other questions that took us on lots of random tangents. I don't know if he will ever become a member of the church, but at least he was very eager to learn. I laughed a lot and was able to feel the spirit as I was testifying of the truths that I know, so overall it was a pretty great lesson!

Tom is getting baptized on Thursday! I am so excited for him! He is the most prepared person I have ever taught. We always ask him at the beginning and the ends of lessons if he has any questions, and he always says No, everything makes sense! Then he looks kind of sad, like he has let us down or something because he has no questions for us. But to me it is just amazing that he understands everything so well already. His heart is so open that the Spirit is able to testify of the truths of the Gospel and those simple truths ring true to his soul. He is an amazing and humble person!

Sister Daelemans