Letter Received December 12, 2011

Dear Family,

I love and miss you really bad!  To answer some of your questions, Leadership Training is where a bunch of elders gather, new and old, and the assistants teach us on the fundamentals of preaching the words of the gospel.  Sister Perry [she is the mission president’s wife] taught us a lesson now and again.  The lessons were like Revelation through Prayer, Revelation through Church, and Teaching People, not Lessons.  Around lunchtime, we were fed by the sisters at the mission headquarters.  Then after 5pm, I went with E. Eborn and E. Carlson.  Together we went to a referral’s home and got them to come to church and she loved our message.  Another time we went to a missionary-friendly house and had a ball fight.  It was in Colonial Heights.  It’s a more rich part of Virginia.  It was a fun place to be during the 4 days.  Then on our last day Pres. Perry talked to us.  It was really inspiring to me.  Then I went back to Wakefield.

Back in Wakefield, E. Lloyd had put all his stuff and suitcases on the ground to pack.  We found out he was leaving Monday which would be last Monday.  The funny thing is I got 2 big packages for him after leadership and 2 weeks earlier he was complaining about not getting a package.  The Sunday he left, the ward’s 2^nd counselor was crying because he made a big impact on his life.  They got a cake for him and presents that were overly wrapped.  On Monday, we dropped him off at mission headquarters to be taken to the airport.  Then me and E. Carter went to visit some families.  Mrs. Nan is really progressing and wants to be baptized after Christmas. 

It’s been really annoying being a duo companionship again and things about E. Carter just ANNOY me and I can’t escape.  It’s just this dull look he makes when he’s thinking or other things.  I’m trying harder to speak up when I should be teaching.

Yesterday we just met a bunch of less-actives or investigators.  Sister Harter came to us and told us about how her son, Jason, is struggling.  [He’s on a mission in Washington state].   His confidence has been shot down and he is suffering with just wanting to go home really bad. 

I am so grateful for every letter you have sent me and I really want to come home too, because around this time of year I have the most Christmas spirit and get everyone to have fun.  I also usually spend an enormous amount of time with you.  Please send me pictures of the snow [yeah, like we have any] and y’all and the tree being decorated.  Mom, I know that you miss me lots and lots, that’s why I gave you my iPod.  Each song represents a part of me, so just listen to my soul in music form and feel better that you know I love you.  Your Christmas present is full of love and all that.  A funny thing just happened:  a fat cat jumped into our car randomly and just sat there, no joke.  Weird stuff.

Thank you for the letter and the presents.  I’m glad you liked the autumn leaves.  I got made fun of for them, so enjoy.  I will always love your letters and my companion is jealous a little about all the different letters I get.  Have fun and talk to Grampa Guy every now and again.  I love you more than bedbugs love beds!  By the way, they are a huge epidemic here.

Love,

Elder Max McClure

Email received on December 12

Hey mom I sent a letter telling you about my week. It was a fun week. We got to do service for this really fun lady S. Campana who has a lovebird that is just the cutest funniest bird ever. At the end of the day, it gave me a peck on the cheek and wanted to be pet really bad. The weather here is alright and it has suddenly got colder but my cool jacket keeps me warm. Something fun that happened last week, we went to an investigator's house and we are on the porch and about to knock on the door when a girl opens it and lets out the funniest shriek that i have ever heard. It was fun. We were sad that E. Lloyd left and we got a new temporary companion named E. Smith. Hes ight and is funny. E. Lloyd was kind of bullyish, but it was all in good fun. We have a baptism set for Mrs. Nan and she will be baptised on the 7th of January. Really fun. Mom you cant get the music off my ipod because i downloaded it in a special way but my dad can from his laptop. He hasn't contacted me a whole lot which makes me a little sad. Oh well the Kynastons mailed me a fun letter about their stuff and enjoyed my cotton to them. I really miss you all and hope you have a good time without me being there this year. Here are some pictures of me and some of the places ive been. Thanks so much for sending me a package and the notes on it freaked out the postal worker. I gave a talk last Sunday on Being Holy and that Jesus set an example of being holy and i used the bible dictionary on Holiness and it was cool. I am ever so greatful for all on how much love you have and give me everyday. I will sort of ask you to please send out one of my cool hoodies and a shirt like the Red Rango navy shirt that i love. There is more leniency out here than i thought for clothing and i have a cool pair of knock off allstars for my service stuff and my other shoes are for sports. I bet you wont ever guess what is in the christmas box i sent you, but you'll love it. How is the tree decorating going along? I really need you to go on Facebook and tell Madi Hardy my address so that she can send me a letter or two on my mission and tell everyone else on facebook too. I love letters!! They fill the empty void of not having enough freedom here.

Letter Received on November 29

Dear Family,

I got all your letters and I love them!  I’m sorry you had to endure Thanksgiving without me there.  Just remember all the funny times we have had on that specific date.  Thanksgiving here was fun.  We played football on a sort of pro training field with all the other missionaries.  On our team we had me, E. Carter, E. Lloyd, Jeff (an RM and President Irwin’s son), Tammy and Kit (daughters of the Harter family), E. Hopkins, and E. Lambo who scored the most.  We played really good and one of the funny things was there was an Elder Hilton there.  He was a lanky, tall kid with glasses.  He wore jeans while we all wore shorts and on the first play of subbing someone out, he got a little hurt with his leg and shook it to make it feel better.  I ran the ball once, but since we had a lot of good guys on our team, me and Jeff didn’t get the ball as much.

Thanksgiving dinner was fun and delicious with turkey, stuffing, cornbread, mashed potatoes, etc.  Then after, a couple of us played Phase 10 and E. Carter was stuck on Phase 2 for seven rounds.  We played for around 2 hours and I got 4 letters written in the process.  I sent one to Molly and Allison, Caitlin, Amanda, Kynaston family, Erik, and Nana.  I gave them a brief summary of my days.  I also wrote to some other missionaries.

Now to the good stuff:  my adventures here.  Well, Monday through Wednesday the most we did was visit homes and there was this one house that smelled terrible of pig outside and smoke inside.  The guy there talked about all kinds of hillbilly stuff.  It was really gross. On Monday we went to the Harter’s to rake up leaves.  We tried to burn them with fire, but they were too wet even for gasoline.  It only made tiny explosions like the one Dad made in South Carolina.  Victoria (the Harter’s daughter) started training her dogs how to bite and regrip with an arm sleeve.  So I tried it and the dogs were really strong.  I had to walk backwards and stand tall so they had to pull me down and regrip.  E. Carter tried it, too, but E. Lloyd wouldn’t.  The dogs were being trained for police dogs.

Wednesday we went to a district meeting and it on fasting and prayer.  After, we went to Pizza Hut and Rico (the member who picked us up) paid for everyone.  E. Smith keeps calling me Elder McQuiver.  We went tracting around for people to teach and then went to Brother Gruber’s and he fed us.  We get a lot of good food here.  We usually eat breakfast and lunch at the apartment.  The only fast food we eat is at a place called La Hacienda, a Mexican restaurant, where we get free food.  Rico owns it.  He’s a member.

Friday, we were stuck in the Franklin area for 3 hours in the morning getting the tires aligned.  We went to Walmart and I did some Christmas shopping there.  Then we went to the Harter’s and burned leaves and Brother Harter threw gas directly on the fire.  It blew up like crazy.  I think Sister Harter talked to Dad on the phone that day and I had hoped that she could have talked to Mom also.  [I miss all the good calls!  Apparently, she called to say that they really like Max and he’s a nice young man.]  Then we went and taught some people.

Saturday, nothing much this day, but we went to have dinner at the Gibbs.  Their cat is monstrous and sheds like 4 cats puts into one.  It seriously is the grossest cat on earth.  I held it and it almost gave me a hernia. 

Sunday, we got 5 of our investigators:  Mrs. Nan, David (a guy with no kidneys), Elizabeth, Lucy (a waitress at La Hacienda), Jaclyn and her kid Carter.  Us elders sang “How Great Thou Art” and we did awesomely and most of our investigators came to hear us sing.  Then we went to Gospel Principles and I taught the class and the topic was repentance.  After, we watched some district videos to help train me.  Then we went to the Harter’s.  We all went to Rico’s to talk to him.  He’s a nice guy who also went on a mission.  He lost all his hair when he was 21-23 so it would be really freaky if I started to lose my hair now. 

Well, I miss all of you.  I just want you all to know that I’m doing fine and loving every second of it.  Angie’s letter surprised me that Jonas wants to go on a mission just so Angie will cry.  Weird!  Stay strong and know that every day I think of you all the time.  Remember that I love you all and I care for you.  Always remember me and my funny jokes to brighten your day.  Always stay strong in the way of the Lord.

Elder McClure