It has turned cold. On this last Thursday the clouds roiled and boiled and finally let down their rain. The wind blew the rain sideways and we were outside. We were on the edge of Grapevine lake for our free hour looking for signs of the catfish we had heard about living along the bottom. I took some cool videos and pictures of a while back the last time we were here when as Elder Leatherwood splashed his fingers in the water to wash off some dirt, a ton of huge catfish came running for his hand. We tried to replicate the miracle, but it must have been too cold. We walked around in the Alaskan weather that had come to visit the south but found it a bit too chilly for most of the groups liking. The rain has kept up, even if the cold hasn't, and I really enjoy the constant drizzle.
The Texans are done with it already though. They have their thick coats on and say they're ready for summer again. One member insisted that Utah had nothing on how cold Texas would get, but I'm actually starting to see that they might just be acclimated to the warm weather here. No joke. It has so far only been down to forty degrees Fahrenheit and I'm just not seeing it. Maybe it'll come. I mean, they don't get snow here because it's too warm so maybe its all talk. I guess we'll see. I do need to bring my plants in though, it is a little too cold for them.
Church was lovely this week. It was ward conference, and I was finally able to meet the stake president. The church was the most packed I had yet seen. Despite this, there are still only two teens in the ward, meaning the missionaries pass the sacrament. It's nothing bad or unwanted, but I get the feeling I am gonna be pretty old by the time I am not the go-to for passing. Church is a great place to meet new people, and rope them into a meeting. I feel kind of like a counselor, asking someone to give a talk when we run out quickly after the meeting to catch that one family to set up a meeting with. We finally got a family to help us meet with other people in the area. This is basically our loophole for knocking doors. If we get a family to come along and knock on a door we simply are able to follow them in. The family we got to take us is one of the coolest couples in the ward. The husband served in Russia but also speaks Spanish and teaches the deacons. The wife is a ward missionary and speaks fluent Spanish and is bold and kind. they don't have any kids but strongly remind me of Chris and Kristen with their energy and attitude. We actually had to fight over which companionship got to go with them yesterday night. The others have already set up another meeting for Elder Bodily and Youngstrom in the middle of the week so its all good. We went to a family named the Cruzes, and the man we met was amazing. He was an audiologist who used to live in Canada and knew Spanish and Portuguese and a little bit of Russian. He stopped coming to church because his wife was offended by something or other. A really good man, we just need to get him to start coming to church. I was hoping to meet his daughter and her boyfriend but they weren't there that night. We are trying to get in contact with the boyfriend, but having some difficulties. I've heard he is a techie, and we were hoping I could establish a connection. We stayed so long there we had no time to visit someone else. We stopped by an old train exhibit thing next day. We had just missed the time we could walk around inside of it.
I went on exchanges with the ZL for my zone, and he was interested in my paracord monkey fist fidget toy, so I made one for him. About three days later at a meeting he pulled them out to show me his progress. One of our APs saw and now he has a pair too. Guess I'll be making some for the entire zone before long.
This week has been a little slow. Service was cancelled and we had a meeting about service that told us some limits on where we could serve that cut out a few places like hospitals. It's only for the duration of Covid but it did cut a few places off of our possible service list. They also clarified that we couldn't walk up to anyone and offer help. It had to be set up beforehand. And finally, they finished off with no setting up service on the street with random people, no service without a mask or a tag, or in a place where others don't wear a mask. The mission nurse went so far as to say to avoid any person not wearing a mask at church. To stay fifteen feet away from them. We are all a little chapped about all these restrictions, but what can you do. The church is a little worried with flu season starting up so some of the restrictions are a little more tight. We were able to play Uno with an islander family this Saturday. They are inactive but really want to reactivate but they don't feel worthy. We were playing some games and hoping to share a message with them when they brought out some little Caesars pizza, the first I've eaten on the mission. It was pretty great except for the fact that when we got back home we found out that there was a scheduling issue and someone gave us In-and-Out burger for their turn to feed the missionaries. They stayed for a while and we ate with him but that evening I was so stuffed. Meals have been pretty great here. I have all the baking materials I need, I just need to learn to bake. My biscuits are starting to turn out alright though. I'm still working at the piano, practicing "How Firm a Foundation." Mom told me I should memorize at least one that everyone knows the words to so I can play it wherever. I think that's a pretty good idea. We got a referral yesterday, a brother in the ward found a mechanic who's looking for a religion, we are just working to set up a time to meet. So that's something. Last night we had dinner with the Peterson's. They are very strong willed and have a firm ground in all of their personal and religious beliefs. Kevin and Kristie was all they would let us call them, no brother or sister, mister or missus. He did biking and let us get some cool pictures on his bike, with his Viking biking helmet.
They fed us lasagna and rolls with cinnamon in them. I loved talking to one of their daughters who served her mission in Germany. We chatted in German which felt really nice. We got Kevin and Kristie to share their testimonies and then did the foundation and can of beans object lesson. If you don't know, this involves smashing your finger in such a way that the Book of Mormon protects it, and the can is bent around your finger. One of the favorites. I forgot to mention that earlier this week a member dropped off two pumpkins they didn't want and we got to carve them.
I was able to clean out the pumpkin so fast that they timed me for the second one and I got it done in two minutes. (The secret is an ice cream scoop.) That was really fun and made me feel at home. I also saved a couple of pumpkin seeds so that I could plant as many as I wanted. I just need enough dirt.
I hope all of you are having eventful Falls, and I hope all of you are safe.
With deep love, Elder Peck.
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