Swordfish, soft shell cab, hard shell crab, mussels, scallops, oysters, clams, and a pig foot were all ingested this week. Some tasted better than others. Some made me gag. not going to say which foot it was. What an insane week!! The immediate change in my life has to be from Elder Dustin coming into town. He's from Idaho Falls, Idaho, has the demure of a slacker high schooler, looks like a certain cartoon character named Beavis, and has a heart of gold. I haven't had a companion as quiet as Elder Dustin. It's probably because he's brand new in the mission and his first area is Kent Crazy Island. I think back to 10 months ago when I was in his shoes with Good ol' Elder Van De Graaff (currently Alec ;)) whenever I don't understand why something's not clicking or why he decided to agree with a self-proclaimed prophet we met on the street named Joshua over me about what the Book of Revelations is predicting. Thank goodness I wrote in a journal religiously or else I wouldn't know where he's coming from! We goof off and work hard, though. The humidity matched with hard old fishermen are rocking his world. One thing I love about Elder Dustin is how he says absolutely anything that's on his mind. Any time he feels homesick he tells me, every time he thinks we're in life-threatening scenarios he tells me; pretty much every thought he thinks he tells me. The trick will be getting him to share his testimony and thoughts with others.
We got a call from a very old man in the ward who told us that his half paralyzed wife had returned home from the retirement home for some reason and they need a blessing. This elderly Brother Aston used to be a professional race car driver, his specialty tricked out Dodge Neons (I know right), which litter his front yard. He retired about 10 years ago at the age of 65. This man has a mind of stone, but his body has lost about 70 pounds as he's taken on illness. He shuffles in tiny steps jsut to get across the hall. Now his 100% bedridden wife is home needing all the care form old Brother Aston. Elder Dustin had never given a blessing before, so, contrary to his wishes, Brother Aston insisted that he give him a blessing. Prior to this Elder Dustin's testimony had been difficult to witness in purity. As he rested his hands on Brother Aston's head, I felt the complete wave of the Holy Ghost wrap when Elder Dustin began the hesitant blessing. That was a good moment seeing my dear trainee open up. I wonder if this is anything what it'll feel like to parent a kid. naaahhhhhhhhh
Among the dozens of doors tracted in the oppressive heat up in Chestertown, an old black man opened the door immediately, telling us in a raspy voice to come into the dark room. Shell shocked from the light to dark we noticed a room full of old black guys chilling in Hawaii button ups, smoking, and drinking tons of whiskey at 3:00 in the afternoon. They all were laughing and joking around as we told our stories of doors slammed in our faces and bananas thrown. It wasn't until I started reading a passage in the Book of Mormon about the Holy Ghost revealing the mysteries of God that I realized what T.V. show had been blasting to the left of me on the flat screen. These hard drunk old guys had been watching High School Musical for at least an hour. I looked around further and saw every Disney Channel movie lining the walls along side the NWA and Tupac Cd's. They were totally drunk, so the message was kind of useless to a degree, but we gave them each Books of Mormon and carried on our way.
You never know what the world will show you if you knock on a door xD
xoxo
Elder Burgess
DC temple in 100 degrees in a wool suit
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