W5 of T7 5/16/16 - 5/22/16
Bike Stats
Total: 738.31 Miles
Week: 33.267 Miles
MaxSpd: 22.3 mph
AvgSpd: 11.8 mph
Time: 2hrs 48min 4sec
My goodness, where to begin this week... I have no idea. There was a
TON that happened this week!
Last Week Tuesday Morning
We played a prank on another missionary and shoved a snake down his
bike... We had to borrow their bikes for the night after pday cause
they dropped us off and we didn't have our bikes. So they, being the
nice people that they are, let us borrow their bikes. We, being the
little imbeciles that we are, pulled his seat off and shoved a dead
snake down there.
Rest of Last week
The bike stayed on the back of their car in the sun, all day, every
day. It roasted. The heat helped speed up the decomposition of the
snake...
This Monday Night and Tuesday
By now, the snake had sat in the sun, on the back of the car, roasting
in a metal coffin for a week straight. The smell was so bad. I went on
exchanges with this Elder Ericson. The back of their car smelt really
bad. Really, really bad. We stuck our head underneath the back of the
car to see if a dead animal had crawled up there. We knew what it was.
They didn't. I felt sooooo bad for keeping the secret that I almost
told him. Little did I know, Elder Lacusta was just about telling
Elder Combrink the same thing. But neither of us told them what it
was. So we let it sit another night. Tuesday morning rolls around and
Elder Ericson and I go about doing missionary work in the other Elders
Area. We were in the car all day and there was no smell whatsoever
inside the car. But everytime we went to get out of the car, it
smelled like something died and went to heaven a long time ago.
Terrible. The stench was so bad that Elder Ericson almost threw up.
Fast forward to Wednesday
10:00. We get a call from the Zone Leaders. They didn't sound too
happy on the phone... They had decided to actually really hunt around
and look for the stink. In doing so, they were going to take the car
through the carwash and they needed to take the bike rack off. As they
took the bikes off the rack, strange goo started dripping from Elder
Ericson's bike. The goo smelt really bad. So they investigated the
source of the smell. After looking at the entire bike, Elder Combrink
realized that the source of it was actually inside the bike. So the
took the bike seat off. Lo and behold! A bunch of little white maggots
fell off the bike seat! They called us immediately, assuming that we had shoved something down there, which wasn't technically wrong. This is the conversation that
followed:
"Elders! What on earth did you shove down my bike?!"
"What are you talking about?" Have to play innocent on this... They
don't know what it is yet. They didn't even know it was us. They just
assumed that it was...
"Wait, y'all didn't shove anything down my bike?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, sorry about that. We thought y'all shoved something down my bike.
We found the source of the smell and it's coming from inside my bike."
*snickering* "Man! That's crazy! Do you know what it is yet?"
"We think it's a mouse or something like that."
"Probably. But it could be a nice big ol' Buck Deer!"
"Haha, maybe. Alright, we are going to go wash it out."
"Alrighty! Let us know!"
*click*
They hang up and get some bleach to kill the maggots. As they poured
the bleach down inside the bike frame, all the snake juices started to
turn to gases instead of liquid... They said the bike huffed steam for
a good while.
They take it to the car wash to try and get what's inside back on the
outside, where it's supposed to be. Elder Lacusta and I are dying
laughing back at our place.
They start to spray down the bike and maggots start to fall out of it.
And there goes the spine, vertebrate by vertebrate. And spray a little
harder. Oh! There it is. Skin! They walk over to examine the skin,
realize it's a snake and call us about .03 seconds later very not
happy. Here is the conversation that followed.
"Elders! How are you?"
"Better than your from the sounds of it..."
"Did you shove the snake down my bike?"
"Ummmmmm... *Elder Lacusta looks at me and I nod my head yes* Yessir, we did"
*Click*
They proceed to wash it out and clean it thoroughly and it still
smelled like very dead snake. We call them and ask if they want us to
clean it out. They say no cause they already cleaned it, but then call
us back and change their mind cause they are angry and not thinking
straight.
We take possession of the bike and find all the bleach and pine sol we
can. We take the bike into the woods by our house and fill the frame
up with this stuff. We let it sit for a second and then we let it
drain. Now it smells good like pine sol! I take some of my tools and
tune the bike up for him, I lube the chain and adjust the brakes and
derailers for him.
They come back to the house to pick it up an hour later very not happy
still. We cook them some bacon to try to make up for it and they
aren't happy. But, they came over later that day and we apologized for
putting a snake down there. He wasn't happy cause there were maggots.
But, in our defense, we didnt' put any maggots down there. We put a
snake and then nature put the maggots... But it's all good now. Cept
they are gonna try to prank us back. We found out for a YSA member
that they are going to glitter our apartment Monday night for the YSA
FHE activity. Shhhhh, don't tell them that we know. We don't know how
we are going to foil them, but we are. We are open to suggestions!
Please, if you have any ideas, let me know! But that's the whole snake
in the bike story.
Holy cow, it's been a long week.
We had Zone Conference with Elder Snow Of the 70. He spoke at the last
conference and it was a good talk! The training we received was super
good! He spoke a lot on member missionary work and that was super
cool! He taught us some neat things about the work and how to do it. I
believe that his training will help this mission a lot.
We have a little kitty cat now... Friday night we were riding home for
the night and were almost home and heard a bunch of meowing. We were
like, "What?" So we circled back around to pinpoint the sound of the
meowing and realized it was coming from the storm drain. For those of
you not familiar with storm drains in Texas, they're massive and they
are every 100 feet or so and all connect to form an intricate drainage
system that can drain a bunch of water really quick. We were able to
shine a light down there and see the cat in distress and realized that
it was just a little kitten! We went back to the apartment and got
some tools that we could try to pry the manhole cover off the drain to
hop down there cause we couldn't fit down the one in the curb. We
grabbed some bike wrenches and stuff and after struggling for a time,
we managed to get the thing flipped up and over onto the grass. I
hopped down into the drain and the cat ran away... Not what we had
planned, but we were still gonna give it a try. I sat down in the
drain for about 5 or so minutes meowing and calling to this little
kitty who was about 30 yards away in the drain. Slowly but surely, it
started to make its way to us! It finally came and we were ecstatic! I
grabbed the thing and lifted it up to Elder Lacusta up top who had
been filming and holding the light for me. So yep, that is how we came
into possession of the little kitty known as Stormy.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865655241/Watch-Mormon-missionaries-rescue-kitten-from-storm-drain-video.html?pg=all
We brought it home and bathed it and loved it and fed it some ham and let it sleep
with us. It is now Monday and we still have it... We called President
to let him know about it and he told us to baptize it then figure it
out... so we did. It's now a good active Mormon here in Summerwood! We
have a home lined up for it cause we aren't allowed to keep pets in
the house or anywhere. We have justified it thus far by claiming that
it is a refugee:) there is a member who wants to adopt it and they
will be a good home for it!:) We are super excited for it. And we will
be able to visit the kitty when we are up that way from now on.
Almost done, promise!
Saturday I had the opportunity to go back down to Broadway for a
baptism! A lady that I taught down there finally decided to get
baptized and it was so cool!!! It was absolutely beautiful to be a
part of that experience. Her name is E. M. and her brother is
the one that baptized her, M. He is a Stake Patriarch down by the
border. He was so grateful that I showed up and was able to be there!
You can't explain the joy that comes when someone finally decides to
enter the waters of baptism. This is so eternally significant and
wonderful that as a missionary, you feel at peace with it.
Something that I have been able to learn a lot on my mission is the fact that in
order to convert others, you have to first convert yourself and if you
aren't doing the little things like prayer and scripture study, you
can't possibly expect others to do the same. But, when you do, the
Spirit of the Lord is with you and will touch the hearts of everyone
that you come in contact with during the day.
Wow, that's a lot that happened this week. Told you! But it's made for
some good stories and lots of wonderful memories. We have learned a
lot this week. Sorry for rambling, but I hope you enjoy reading! Love
y'alls very much and thank you for supporting me in being out here!
Miss you very much!
-Elder Allen
Ps. Attached are pictures of the rescue and the baptism. There aren't
any pics of the snake in the bike, sorry:(
Pps. Seriously though, any suggestions on how to avoid a glitter explosion would be very much appreciated!
Ppps. When you realize that you can't have a little kitten forever:( but we found her a good home!)
