Letter Received January 5

Hey Family!

Really bored and wanted you to know how I’m doing.  Well, to quote specifics, I loved all the Christmas stuff people sent me.  The candy amount sort of excelled from all the packages and I was a little afraid of getting diabetes.  Well, I went over the calling time on Christmas, but it was worth it even though I had to call from a bathroom.  I love you all and here is how my week went:

Monday

We went over to the Harter’s early to meet up with the Elders in Petersburg.  We played pool mostly while children were everywhere from the families who had come down to visit.  Then we did an exchange where we and E. McDermott changes areas so I went to Petersburg with E. Smith.  The most fun thing we did after we got dressed in our suits was we went over to a lady named B.B.’s apartment.  So it was her and a member from church and their little one named Maryan.  So started by climbing these stairs to her apartment and it was pitch black.  She suddenly opened the door and screamed.  It was funny!  We had dinner and talked about stuff. One of B.B.’s friends came over and she is really funny.  So BB got out her electric keyboard and goes with the instrumental tab and hits all the keys and starts chanting like African music, but she was being funny.  Then she offered us these cool Army coats, but she needed to get them from a friend.  Then we went back to the apartment and slept.

Tuesday

We got up and had study time and E. Smith made it really fun.  We went to Colonial Heights for Buffalo Wild Wings.  I got a medium of boneless wings and they were a little spicy.  We went to JC Penney for a tie rack and there was an electronic one for 20 bucks, but it was huge so I got a smaller one.  I also bought a purple-bluish tie from Sears.  Then we went to a place called the Ghetto Shop and its run by a lady named Mrs. Lee.  I bought a cool VA hat there and it’s really cool looking.  Then we went to this trailer and the lady wasn’t there.  It was raining hard by then.  We got hot chocolate and then went to Chad’s.  He’s a wounded soldier.  He had a lot of questions concerning dinosaurs and UFOs.  E. Smith said that dinosaurs were for fossil fuels for our use.  Funny, right?  Then we went back to Wakefield and I was so annoyed with E. Carter and we had a long talk and learned more about each other.

Wednesday

We did more tracting today.  We went to the Harter’s after a really good lesson with a lady named Michelle.  She wants to quit smoking and is really open to our beliefs.  We taught the Plan of Salvation.  At the Harter’s, E. Carter emailed his family.  Then I emailed you all.  We then went to a city called Claremont.  Some elders call it Outer Darkness.  We couldn’t find any referrals or members there and we accidentally knocked on a pastor’s door and his house was the richest on the block.  We went back to the Harter’s and hung out and played pool for the remainder of the day.  V. Harter’s pregnant dog had its puppies. 

Thursday

We had a district meeting that day.  So I was training today (which is like giving a lesson).  The meeting started with E. McDermott bearing his testimony.  I gave the lesson on a talk by E. Carmack of the Seventy.  It was on increasing faith.  I talked about the parable Jesus gives on a master and his servant.  It is basically that throughout all we do on the Earth, we are still in debt to Heavenly Father.  That we must trust in him.  After, E. Buckley taught on repentance.  Then we went over our numbers for the weeks and also talked about miracles.  Our example was a lesson with Michelle and a lady we found tracting named Shawanda.  They both had been to church before.  Then we went to Pizza Hut.  When we went back to the church building, the ride for the Lawrenceville area had a flying squirrel and it was cute.  Then the zone leaders took us home and there was this funny riddle called the Valley of the Green Sheep.  It basically is where the only things in the valley are things with double letters (like sheep).  Then we went to Mrs. Nan’s and burned the remainder of the leaves.  I took a picture of the sunset.

Friday

Got up to do situps and felt really sick and hurt my abs.  Then we planned for the week.  Then we went and did a little teaching and found a couple of people.  The first said they were Methodist and the other was interested in the message.  She has a husband who had had a stroke, a daughter who has brain cancer, and a son who is losing his sight.  Then we went to the Virginia Diner and it wasn’t really all that.  I got Mom and Dad cool gifts.  We finally saw the ghetto part of town.  Now I’m sitting on my bed trying to get over stomach pains.

I love you all and want to say Happy New Year!  This letter is from the last of 2011 to the first of 2012.  Well, I’m going to spend New Year’s at the Harter’s and play games.  I’ll update you in an email and send all of my cool pics. 

Elder Max McClure