May 26

We just got back from the ward Memorial day picnic. A lot of people showed up, it was fun. We played some games & had fun. Our investigators showed up, & we got to play some ball with them. It was pretty fun, & I think I'm getting better at paying.

 Our ward mission leader played with us. He's not bad for his age.

Tuesday, I finished polishing my shoes & got on my freshly dry-cleaned suit. We car pooled with other Elders, and drove to Lansing. On the way we listened to an awesome talk about the story of a convert while we ate muffins I made that morning.

All the missionaries from Detroit & Lansing were anxiously (& a little nervous) waiting for Elder Holland's arrival. When he got there we all lined up to shake his & Elder Hallstrom's hand. He told us we were unaware, but he had a brief interview with each of us, while we shook his hand.

Here's some of the things he talked to us about; we can't go back home & be the person we were before we left for our missions. He told an Elder "If you go back home & become inactive I will shoot myself! And everyone will know about it, it'll be on Deseret news, 'Elder Holland shoots himself because Elder goes Less-active." 

He's a pretty funny guy. He also asked "why isn't missionary work easy? Why can't we have people crowded outside our apartment every morning in white jumpsuits, & then we say 'aghh, these people again?" He answered that by saying, "Because salvation is not a cheap experience." He told us that we seldom think of the Gift of the Holy Ghost as having the companionship of a member of the Godhead. He's equally as qualified as God or Christ. One of the other big things he mentioned is that it is not possible for a person to block another's salvation. We might bump & bruise each other on our course, but no one can block another's salvation.

We had dinner this week with Bro. Usi. He's from south Africa, he speaks 5 languages, and he and his wife are Awesome! They fed us an African themed dinner with sweet potatoes cooked in cinnamon sauce. He loves science, we had a good little talk about physics.

We had a good talk with a long lost investigator this week too. He loves to tell us stories. This week he told us about how when he was in high school, a fight broke out during lunch. Two football players had a fight over a girl. Pretty soon there family's came & got involved in the fight. Teachers tried stopping it, and ended up getting injured. One football payer almost got killed. Then the police came. Both of the boys got suspended for the rest of the year, and 24 other students got suspended for a few months. We're trying to "Re-activate" him, and have him at church and all that.

That's pretty much my week.

I'll talk to you later.

Love,

Elder Candland