Barbershops in Syracuse are to Dental Offices in Wenatchee

I LOVE the rain!

What an interesting week this has been!

Its been cold all week!  some mornings as low as 45 and highs of 60's.  sort of right in between of knowing if I should wear a sweater or not.

We found an electric razor with guards in our apartment about 6 weeks ago, and I cut my own hair for the second time last Tuesday night.  It is not that bad of a job if i do say so myself (3 on the sides and 5 on top).  It is interesting though not caring as much as I use to about what my hair looks like.

Wednesday, we were starting out our morning on our bikes when about 1.5 miles out Elder McCleve got a flat tire (2nd time, getting his first exactly 3 weeks earlier).  So our morning was shot walking back to the apartment to patch up the tire (it has made me grateful for the times dad had shown me how to do it).  But something cool happened that afternoon(sortof).  We had a dinner appointment at 5 with Brother and Sister Rounds and was dropped off at the church around 6:20 which gave us 40 minutes before our mission coordination meeting with the ward.  So instead of waisting time at the church we headed back down to a main street on our bikes to talk to people.  One person we talked to, named Robbie, ended of leaving her with a pass-along card (which we do with about every other person who does not have time to talk or seem to not be interested) with a offer for a free Book of Mormon.  She said that she would diffidently call in and get one (which I have heard a couple of dozen times before too, but they never did).  But, the next morning, we got her has a referral from Church Headquarters!  We are meeting with her tomorrow and are interested to see what happens.

Thursday morning, we where following up on someone we met on the streets a few days earlier who said we could come by.  As soon as we are about 4 miles away from the apartment, rain starts down pouring!  We got inside the building and found this potential investigator just leaving with her daughter.  So we set up an appointment for the next day and start going down the stairs of this apartment complex and somebody started talking to us from the top of the stairs.  It "just happens" to be Mayhon, somebody we lost contact with about 3 weeks earlier on the other side of town and have been praying to find.  I know that it was by the hand of the Lord we found him there.

Friday morning, Elder McCleve got another flat tire (we need to buy more patches now).  Luckily we were at the library where do service at and Brother Haase (great member who lend us him bikes to use) came over and fixed the tire for us.  That evening we visited a potential, Tatiana, and taught her and her friends (they are Juniors in High School).  They seem interested and we have a return appointment with them tomorrow. 

Saturday, was a beautiful day!  Chris ran away from the homeless shelter on Monday, and we had not seen him since till we saw him walking on the street.  We stopped (we had the car at the time) and started talking to him.  He got a part time job, and should be meeting with a GED program today, but things seems to be going down hill for him.  He did not show up to church on Sunday and we do not know where he is, so we are currently not teaching him. ;(  He has so much potential, if only he would commit himself.  A lot of it is based upon how he was raised, but we hope he comes back.

Saturday night we brought over our ward mission leader, Brother Bush, to meet with our neighbor Jeannette (80 year old lady missionaries have been helping for over a year now).  About 2 weeks ago she had eye surgery, and so we have been helping her every morning and night put in her eye drops (because she has Parkinson and has a hard time doing it herself).  She is a little fearful about trusting people but she seems to have this unlimited trust in us missionaries.  Through service, it has open her heart to listen to what we have to share; where otherwise she would not have listened.  She loves the Book of Mormon, and believes that Joseph Smith really did have the vision.  We need to help her over some fears, but we are excited to be teaching her "officially" now.

I have seemed to pick up a cold within the last 36 hours.  I have been coughing up a storm, sore throat, and aches and pains all over.  The last two night I did not sleep well, and even took a shower at 4 this morning to try and warm up.  But I seem to be doing better now, and hopefully when we head out tonight I will be feeling great (or at least good enough to ride the bike).

It is amazing what the gospel can do in a persons life.  I love reading from the scriptures and preach my gospel every morning.  The spirit teaches you something new everyday.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Shurtz