Frank in a pink dress

Baseball equipment my parents sent me that I got to use this week!

After my email session last week, we had our zone activity at the local park. It had a baseball field, so naturally I went there 2 hours early and did some soft toss on the field and played some catch. It was great to feel the ball off the bat again. About a half hour after we got there, two cute kids came running up to us and asked if they could play. Of course, we said yes. I had them hit and field and coached them up for about an hour and a half. Their cousin who is older and who was watching them loved the way we interacted with them. She runs a branch of a YMCA and wants to put together a sports camp for little kids, and we are now on the top of the list for people she will call to help coach! Gotta love it, spreading the gospel through baseball. It was AWESOME.

Wednesday was exchanges with our district leader, Elder Lee. Elder Infanger went with him, and I remained in Hesperia with Elder Jensen. Elder Jensen is an interesting cat. He is a really nice kid, but probably hasn't been outdoors much in his life. So, being on bike in our hilly area was actually a cause for some comedy. But, it turned out to be one of the best days this week. We had an amazing stop by with Bill, and he has been coming to church much more regularly. He is now working on selling the airport, golf course, and a gold mine among many other things. The next day we had a great lesson with Pam. She still has some small questions, and I believe we answered them in this last lesson. The spirit was so strong there. The coolest part of this whole thing is that Larry has been coming every week, participates, and has said that he loves church. He just needs to figure out some things like what he likes to drink, say while watching a football game. He will get there. Then later in the day we had such an amazing miracle. I have committed myself to pray more and try to listen to the spirit more strongly. We had a lesson fall through, so we just started biking around. I prayed that we would be led to someone who needed a missionary to stop by. We went up this street, and I walked up to a "random" house. We knocked the door and an older woman answered. I started talking about the church when she said that she had been baptized a year and a half ago and needed to go back to church. I was a bit confused as to why I had never heard of her. Then she brought out this pass-along card that we hand out all of the time. It had the phone number on it of some sister missionaries who speak Spanish. Then it all made sense. She spoke broken English and had indeed been baptized a year and a half ago. She has been less active for about a year of that time. The sister missionaries have been trying to get in contact with her for a long time and have had no luck. They even stopped by just two hours before we knocked on her door. We talked for about 45 minutes and had great conversation about the gospel. I believe we needed to be there right at that moment. It was an answer to prayer.

Friday was great. We helped set up for the Halloween party for the ward. Then we weekly planned, and then we went to the Halloween party. It was very well run. There were games for all the kids to play, the young men created a haunted house (which was actually very good), and then the classic trunk-or-treat. We saw some less active members, some recent converts, and got to talk with all the members of the ward. It was a great chance for us to talk to people, and prove to people that we are normal people- haha- just regular 19 year olds trying to serve the Lord. So, the title of the email. Frank is an investigator, and father of Amy, a recent convert. He is about as manly of a man you can get. He is older, but in great shape, and has this sweet handlebar mustache. So, when he showed up to our ward party in high-heels, a pink princess dress, cleanly shaven, and wearing lip-stick it was a shock. He has long hair too, so he really did look like a really ugly woman. I will not ever be able to forget that image. When I asked why he did it he responded "well you only live once". So, I'm guessing that next year there will be a no cross dressing rule put into place, but I'm glad I got to witness this. Hillarious!

The rest of the week was good. We met the White family who is less active. We did service for them a while back, and then, Keena, the daughter came to church two weeks ago. It was great to be in their home and invite them back to church. The father was offended a while back, but hopefully now that he lives in a new area he can make his way back.

Elder Infanger and I have horrible luck with bike locks. I have this U lock which is apparently the best in the business, but my key no longer works, and I can't get it off of my bike. Then yesterday night, we had our bikes locked up to a telephone pole with Elder Infanger's lock, and it broke. The combo didn't work anymore. We had to call Brother Jim Bowker to come to the rescue. We got some big ole bolt cutters and freed our bikes. Now the trouble is that we have no locks in an area where bikes get stolen a lot. We will probably run to the bike shop today.

I miss you all so much. Have a great week, and please send me pictures with your emails to me. Pictures are great- makes me feel like I know what is going on in the world.

Love,

Elder Thelander

PS- I want to share my favorite scripture I'm trying to memorize this week-

"But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on His holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be lead by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering."

Alma 13:28