May 7 Letter---But I sure do love fignewtons

That one comes from Talladega Nights. This last week had a few firsts in my 7 1/2 months of serving the Almighty. I was blessed with a popped tire. We were riding to an appointment kind of in the ghetto when my tire just decided to get deflated on me. Well, it turned out i piece of glass piereced the tire and went through the whole tube, both sides. Well we pulled over, stopped at the Agricultural Market, and patched it up. Then, I started pumping the tube back up and broke the stem. So we decided we REALLY weren't supposed to go to that appointment at 10:30. Who knows what would have gone down in S-Town. That rhymed, in case you didn't notice.
That day, one of Elder Ostlers companions who has since returned home came out and visited with his family. They took us out to Chipotle and then they went ahead and bought me a new tire. I just thought they were joking about paying for it but they went ahead and got it. Sure was nice of them. So the bike was fixed in no time and we were back at it.
Not too much happened this week. I went on exchanges with our Zone Leader Elder Jones, who we always joke about being the most spiritual person in the world, who gives counsel to President Farnsworth. He's just on top of things. Anyways we had some cool experiences tracting teaching. He also possesses the deepest voice on the face of the earth, which i am sure at times registers on the richter scale, or whatever that earthquake thing is called. We went tracting and ran from house to house. We got a lot of free water out of it. It was a good exchange. He said i was well on my way.
Brother Little Joe Rodgers let us down a little bit this week. He called at 8:10 am on Sunday morning and said that since they slept in, the wouldnt be able to come to church. He had called his neighbors, who we are teaching, and told them that they shouldn't plan on going because his family wouldnt be going. It was really weird. I couldnt say, "Brother Rodgers, its only 8:00 am, you still have an hour to get to church, and even if you are a few minutes late, thats not a problem." Well maybe i should have said that, but i didn't. But we went over after church and taught the neighbors again. She is rock solid. She, Julie, has a Buddhist background but is just drinking it all in and reading more than we give her. This Friday we're planning on going on a Temple Tour over in Orlando, which would be nice because its been a few months since i've gone. WE usually try to get everyone we teach over there.
That was the extent of the week. Jsut usual missionary work. one guy said he wouldnt calm down until he pulled his foot out of our.....pants? It was pretty funny. I also met a guy in our ward who moved in who is from PLeasant Grove. I forgot his name, but i'll get it again. I said, my grandparents are all from there. He looked at my nametag, "Barton.......school principal?" I said, "Yep, thats my grandpa." So i asked him if he knew any Ringgers. He said he new Nathan Ringger and his dad who was the mission president. So i said, "Yep, my cousin and uncle." Small world huh.
This morning we had a lesson with one of our investigators with a date for May 19'th and it isnt looking hot at the moment. I pulled a pretty gutsy move and told him we aren't going to schedule another appointment, because we dont want him to read just because we are coming back.
Yesterday Elder Ostler decided to become 100% obedient, and so i hopped on the bandwagon and we are shooting for the perfect obedience, not just 95% or so. This will be an interesting experience as we approach the obedience with exactness to everything. But we already felt it this morning as we felt prompted to not set a return appointment. It is now completely up to our investigator and his desires. WE told him he will be rewarded according to his desires.
I had some cool experiences as we fasted yesterday and i read from the scriptures. I had a pretty cool experience as things were just unfolded before me in the scriptures. Alma 42 is a little complicated to read, but boy do i understand it all now. The Plan of Redemption is based upon the law, which law brings about a punishment, or a consequence. This consequence brings about remorse of conscience, or sorrow, your common feeling of guilt, which brings us to be humble and leads us to repentance. Repentance is the purpose of this life, to serve God. Repentance is made possible through the plan of Mercy, brought about by the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which brings us back into the presence of God. Make sense? Its a fun one.
That was the week in a nutshell (hey look! this is me in a nut shell). Remember what movie that is from? TOnight the Zone LEaders are going to be in our area so they are just gonna sleep over at our place. It should be fun. This will be my first sleepover on my mission. A lot of sleepovers take place, just not legally. I dont know id "legally" is the right word, but you catch my drift. I'll send some pics from the Science Center when we visited last monday.
Just remembered. I'm calling home this Sunday. Boo ya. I have church from 9-12. So i guess i can call anytime after that, 9 your time. We'll have to keep it to about 40 minutes, since we are going for complete obedience. I guess i'll call Saturday night and set up a time, like i did for Christmas. I guess you'll be at church at some point in the day, but we'll figure out when i'll call. Take care. I send my love through this electronic world. Love ya.