Then Wednesday was awesome! We did some service with Duncan in the morning again and then we had a lesson at four that we had to go to. So we were walking there and this old guy starts talking to us. It was hilarious! He thought he was an apostle and could heal people. He kept telling us how we needed to be baptized by the Spirit and that all he had to do was pray and it would happen. But he wouldn't do it there. He said we had to come to him another time. Then at the end when we said we had to leave and asked if we could stop by him sometime and continue to talk to him he said he wouldn't let us in. So that was kind of sad. haha. It was hilarious though. This guy talked to us for half an hour! And then we said we had to go and he was all OK well let me tell you one last thing and then went on for ten more minutes. He was sure he was going to convert us right then and there. I wish he would have prayed for me though. Then I would have a back up plan Religion wise. Just in case we are wrong. haha. But that made us like ten minutes late to our lesson. But it was OK and we had a sweet lesson! There is a girl in our ward named Emma Allen and she is dating this guy named Richard Pack. He has been coming to our ward with Emma for over a month and is pretty much the coolest kid I've met out here. I love him. He has gone to the singles ward a couple of times though because he is nineteen. And when he finally wanted to take the discussions he told us that he didn't want to be taught by the YSA elders (my zone leaders) because they creep him out and he knows us better and thinks of us as friends since we've known him for a while. So he asked us if we could teach him. He actually had a lesson set up for four with the ZL's but then we got a call saying that we should call them and cancel on them and then come in their place... so we did. But that didn't make our ZL's very happy. They were all excited to get someone to teach. So they called President and told him about it and they called us back and said that president said that we had to hand Richard over to them. So I asked if I could call President and give him our side of the story but they wouldn't let us so I'm just going to talk to President on Tuesday when we have zone conference. Because I really don't want Richard to have to be taught by Elders he doesn't like. I want him to be comfortable with who is teaching him so he can actually ask questions and learn. I don't care if he gets baptized into the YSA ward I just want him to really learn when he is taught. But all the zone leaders want is someone to teach. Anyway, mission politics suck. That's the only part of the mission I haven't liked so far. Anyway, the lesson went really well. He took it all great. Actually one of the first things he told us was that he wanted to be a member ever since he was eight and his best friend was Mormon. So we were all..... alright. Well we can make that happen. haha. So at the end of the lesson we asked if he would be baptized on the 24th and he said yes. So that was awesome! I'm so excited for that day and I know that I am definitely going to be here for it because transfers aren't till the 28th!
Although, speaking of transfers before baptism I'll get to what happened Thursday night. We met with Healther Halstead at our ward mission leaders house, Bro Wolff, and taught her the fourth lesson and then asked her if she had prayed about a date that she would want to be baptized and she said she wanted to do it on the 31st. Dang it!!! I might be leaving three days before that.... I was so sad but so happy at the same time. That is going to be a great day. She has known the church was true for seven years now but has just been waiting so that she wouldn't upset her dad. (her mom and sister are both members) She actually prayed about getting baptized back then and she said her answer was to wait. But this time she prayed and got her answer she needed to so that's a big thing for her! And it's a huge miracle for the ward. They have been waiting for that to happen for forever! We hope that her doing that will soften her dad's heart, she is kind of daddy's little girl and is pretty much his whole life. So we hope that he will see her do this and that he will change for the better. We asked Heather if she would talk to her dad and tell him about her getting baptized and bear testimony to him about it. And she did. She told us on Sunday that she talked to him and he wasn't very happy but she was going to go through with it anyway. So I am really excited for her and for the ward. I have a feeling it is going to be a very well attended baptism and a very good one at that. I just hope I'm still here to see it or at least still in the city so that I can come back for it. Also, just FYI, she is nineteen too, but for some reason the zone leaders don't care about us teaching her. haha
Also, the sweetest thing happened on Thursday. There is this family in the Royal Oak ward, the Sutors, who have this little place called Ed Williams Menswear that they always buy a bunch of ties from. These ties are all usually $120 but they go on sale once or twice a year for 5 for $100. So they buy a whole bunch and then give them out to missionaries they really like throughout the year. Well I don't know them very well so they don't really like me so I'm probably not going to get one from them.... sad I know. But the good news is that the sale started on Thursday and we found out where it was so us and the Royal Oak Elders were going to go there to see if we could buy some. So we get there, during our lunch break of course, and turns out that they are only 5 for $60 this time. SWEET! So we were all frantically trying to find five ties we wanted because we didn't want to have another one of us buy a tie that we wanted. The people there were really nice to us too. Everyone kept coming up and seeing if we needed help and just talking to us. Which was really nice. Usually people don't really talk to you when you are missionaries in stores. haha. We even met Ed Williams!!! Yes the guy who the store is named after! He was a stud! He was wearing an awesome blue pinstripe suit and had bright pink pocket silk and just talked to me for a while. So eventually we all got five ties and then went up to pay for them and when we got up there the guy at the cash register was all "put your wallets away boys." I was all... crap.... did we do something wrong? And then he said "your ties are free today." what?!?! Apparently someone from the Royal Oak Ward that was in there saw us walk in and then told the guys to put our ties on his account. Oh my goodness were we happy. I was planning on fasting for a couple of days to pay for these ties. haha. So I was all excited as you can probably imagine. We don't know they guy who did it though. Well we know his name but we don't know him so we are planning on going to his house and giving him a giant hug! I was so happy! Oh man. And they are pretty nice ties too. Although Elder Reese took one I wanted and won't trade me for it.... darn him. haha. Anyway, that was pretty exciting.
Then we went to Wendy's for a quick lunch and while we were eating a call came to our phone that Elder Reese was holding and it was an 801 number so it was from Utah. We were all joking that it was President Monson calling to chastise Reese. haha. Then he answered the phone and was all... "yea... here he is" and then handed me the phone. I was about to pee my pants. Why would someone call from Utah and ask specifically for me? So I took the phone but couldn't get myself to answer. I was just looking at the phone. All I could think about was why would someone from Utah look me up and then call me specifically. Not even just call President and then have him call and tell me something but call me on my phone. The only thing that came to my mind was that something was wrong with my family. And I just did not for the life of me want to talk to whoever was on the phone. It seemed like forever before I actually answered and then a woman's voice on the other end of the phone said. "hello, Elder Townsend. This is [so and so] calling from the office of M Russell Ballard..." this is when I almost passed out. I seriously almost hung up the phone right then. Then she said "and I am calling about a guy named Andrew [something]..." this is when my heart started beating again. haha. Andrew is this guy from England that somehow got hold of all the missionaries numbers in this mission and has been calling and bashing with whoever answers. We just call him anti-Andrew. Apparently President Archibald got fed up with it though and now the church is suing him for it. So all she wanted to know was when and how many times I had talked to him. Seriously though. That was the scariest thing I had ever encountered on my mission so far. I thought something serious happened. Family. I love you so much! That was quite the day. A big high and a low low. I was very excited to sleep at the end of the day. haha. That's pretty much the highlights of my week though. I hope all is going well for you guys! I love you!
Love
Elder Townsend
more fun on the bike!
sweet! $120 ties! haha
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