Monday, November 29, 2010

Turkey Day

So this week has been a bit of a crazy holiday type of a thing.  First of all Monday was a pretty crazy day and on that wonderful P-day we literally played Basketball at the church for like 4 hours, which felt so good. I haven't done that in a long time, so about half way through I was completely exhausted, so we worked for a bit that night, came home and zonked out faster than a candle in a room filled with carbon dioxide. which leads us to the next day, so the Zone Leader Elder O'niones and Rosenlund, both of which are pretty active especially when they are put together. they just feed off of each other and get to the extreme but both are playing around which ends up being pretty funny, Well they had to go to Zone Leader Conference. which then led us to not have a ride all day, so what did we do we walked and walked and walked, but really it wasn't that far. Our area really isn't that big it's just super nice to have a car when you have an appointment on one side of the world then on the other and you only  got 5 minutes to get there. So a car is super cool, In fact that night we went to dinner at sister Walkers house who is really one of the coolest members in the ward, She was baptized like 2 years ago and is now super strong with what she believe in and every thing else. She is super smart too. So an awesome dinner with her and then hung around with the Spanish elders and one of them was a temporary missionary who is actually in Peru and we found out that it was his last day before leaving to Peru. But way before that me and Hibbert were just doing some tracting in a neighborhood where we could walk to because we are in one of those finding stages, and the cool thing was that we were able to find like 4 people who said sure come on back and teach us a bit, but not in a couple of days because it's thanksgiving. So we now have a full week of revisiting people.  The really neat thing about this is it's a completely different attitude from those in Ozark who have been in their ways for the last umpteen years and are happy with what they have got. People here I think are more open to what's going on, but  it's harder to pin them down because there's a lot of other things to do instead of just go to Wal-mart. So Tuesday was a success along with Wednesday which was similar. So that leads us to the infamous Turkey day

So what does a Missionary do an such a joyous occasion?  You're right, stuff himself to where he can't eat a single bite more. Now how does this happen?  Well it first starts with waking up and getting everything ready for the day and finding something to do before your first dinner, which this day started at 2 pm, so being smart we head to waffle house to plan for the upcoming week and what we need to do so we can get all the people that want us to come back in a day that works for them and us. and what do we do in such a thing as waffle house?  Eat of course and we get their most famous items, which are their waffles, duh, and their hash browns with everything. and we eat that at noon thirty. so we finish that, us and the Spanish elders who are Elder Judd and Elder Wood, Judd has been out about 20 months and Wood has been out 3 weeks so it's his first area and he is a really cool guy well both of them are, It's a really nice thing to have another companionship in our area to talk to, when i get sick of listening to Rosenlund saying he's got two weeks left and then he'll be sleeping in his own bed. and all that other fun things that happen when arriving at home. so we finish up and head over to the members house where we eat and eat again. then we save a little room where we can eat again because we have another dinner appointment at 5 pm. so by the time we are done with that it's 4pm and then we headed to the mission home where Sister and President Jensen invited us to have a "little" thanks giving dinner with them so we had a great time and ate just enough to be filled then headed to another appointment at least the Spanish guys did and they ate again at 630pm and after a great meal they headed to another investigators house where all of us went in and they fed us again at like 730pm and of course it was a Spanish house were if we didn't eat their food they would be offended. So I took a bullet and started eating off of others plates so that they wouldn't get into trouble and every thing else. we then headed off to one more place for the night, where the zone leaders were at where they offered us some more food, but we politely turned it down. Now the kicker of the whole night when i weighed myself, from the first time to this time right after all of the food. I put on 6 pounds of food through out the day. which made the night very very uncomfortable. and I now know that eating too much is very much a bad idea.

So I think I'm still working off all of the food that I somehow packed away. which leads us to the rest of the weekend, seeing how most people in the south love football and seeing how it was rivalry weekend it made work a whole lot harder because people would be getting mad at us for interrupting their "games." But we did hear about all the games and everything that was going on in the world of football. For example we found out that byu and utah played and that utah won by a point about 5 minutes after it was done. We also found out that one of the missionaries who served here and plays on the utah team made some big plays, Elder Rogers. he's the tight end and his number is 89 and is very much a big kid.

So that leads us to Sunday where we had a great sacrament meeting It has probably become one of the most favorite things on my mission to do. It was a really neat experience to see everyone who talked talked about things out of preach my gospel and I love seeing how everything connects to each other. because that is what the gospel is all about.  It's all connected and it all get us closer to god and to become one big happy family.


I love all you guys
Elder Gillespie

Clint and Melissa CONGRATS!  I'm impressed and in awe of your willingness to find out for yourself. and to make those necessary steps to start your journey back to Heavenly Father.

Mom and dad I'm doing great and me and hibbert are doing really good together and we are getting things done.

Jethrobyn you guys are so cool and i'm impressed for your steadiness of writing, as for titles try the funniest quote of the week from either your kids or your students, maybe that could help? as for you Miss Robyn your kids are just so darn cute and doing so well i can't believe that it's been so long since i last saw all of them. please take a lot of photos when beetle gets home.

Ben gains HOLY COW that was a crazy story much more intense than mine we just started pulling out from a stop sign thinking that it was a 4 way stop.  I know that angels are looking out for you and that sounds like quite the snow storm that you all had. I'm so glad that you guys don't have a huge damage to yourselves, what I tell myself is that it's the outlook on life that's going to get us through our problems.

Beetle you're awesome and don't let anyone else tell you differently and don't let others pull you down. I tried to get a letter to you as soon as you arrived but i don't know for sure when it'll get there though.

love you all

Monday, November 22, 2010

Taking Tally by Feet

Well this week has been kind of a blur I'm not going to lie, Biking or Walking everywhere isn't the most satisfying thing to do but i think I'm understanding more and more what it feels like to be a missionary in the rest of the world. and i think I'm going to have some huge legs when i get done with this area if or when I get in a car again. so i think that the this week we've probably gone about 20 miles walking or biking. and the cool things is that we've found a couple of people that we probably wouldn't of found otherwise. and the neat thing is that when you actually go and try your hardest to find someone and also testify of what you do know people will respect that and will respond in a positive way to what you believe in. so for one example seeing right now how we don't really have anyone solid to teach we've been doing a lot of tracting and one of those times we were going out we ran into a lady who said "you know you won't convert me but I'll listen" so that is the perfect opportunity to just say what makes our church a little bit / a lot bit different. but they don't realize this but then they are interested and then they just get a book of Mormon and as you mark a few chapters to read then they get a bit more interested. and everything starts to work out better.  so we have had a few of those opportunities to talk to people that way.

other than that let's see we had a little turkey bowl last Saturday or two days ago where we as missionaries and the elders quorum played and the sad fact is that we are out of shape even though we won't want to admit it, i still think i'm fast and that i can do anything but the day after had been quite a sad relaxation when everything starts to hurt to move, i think i know what you mean dad and Jethro.

other than the fact that Tallahassee is Huge compared to Ozark it's still not quite as big as the whole Provo Orem Utah valley area it's just built higher and a lot more cars smashed together I think i haven't really been able to tell from the last area i've been in felt like home to me and i was there for so long as well. so I'm a bit nervous around rush hour time.  but i'll get use to it.

so now I'm in FAMU campus writing you guys, which is kind of like UVU in comparison, the difference is that it's pretty much an african american college there are so many here i think the percentage is close to 99% african american 1% everyone else. and they are pretty nice as long as you don't get into trouble, which we don't  other than that i don't know what else to say about Tallahassee and how everything else is going besides one of the elders in the apartment is going home like 6 days before Christmas and is already counting down. but who can blame him. then i look at where he's at and then where everyone else is at and it seems like my next year is just going to fly by with hardly a bump in the road.

well that's all i've got 

wait one question, i love to work but i am wondering if i don't play a bit will i just be a dull boy? as the saying goes i know there is a balance in all things so how do you find the balance between working and playing or playing and working?

Love Elder Gillespie

Mom you are so awesome and i bet your birthday party was awesome

Dad I'm glad your feeling better, keep up the good work and don't fall down on the new blanket of snow/ice

Jan your kids are just so darn cute and i can't wait to see what's going to happen when beetle get's back make sure to take lots of pictures please.

Robyn you're a whiz with that camera of yours and your kids are just so darn cute as for your little adventure to the ER, don't worry about it i did the same thing when i was just a young wart hog. as soon as we started heading over i felt so much better, i don't know why though,

Jethro you master of art and it's awesome that your students call you dad. that is a title that is earned not given. you are definitely doing the right thing.

Thad your doing great i can already tell. and your going to have so much fun with the rest of the fam

Toni the Anna saying are defiantly top ten material.... cows with guns. (way to go dad)

Ben Gains your are awesome have fun this week don't stress to much about stuff you can't control which is funny because i have the same problem.  any suggestions?

beetle have fun and don't hold back.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Life in a Day

Dear Parents

life here in Tallahassee has been a bit crazy and here's how it happens

1st upon realizing that I was coming to Tallahassee I needed to pack from Ozark and also say good bye to all the families that I was really close with and all of the other cool people that I've met in that lovely tiny town. so I was running back and forth all day Monday Tuesday and in the morning of Wednesday, saying good bye to all the seminary students.  I'm going to miss those guys.  so Wednesday is transfers and what happens is that we have 4 transfer spots in so the 15 passenger van that leaves Tallahassee goes from one end back to the other end dropping off and then picking back up others so i was going to Tallahassee so i had to wait till it got there from mobile, so it was a nice little time that i had in Cottondale with everyone who was also either going east or picking up someone from the west. fun times, so i get to Tallahassee and I'm now with Hibbert who I was in the same district when i was in Chipley almost a year ago, so upon arrival I find out that we are moving apartments the next day, so rather than just up pack to repack i just fell asleep with some one's old comforter and pillow and just waited out the night, morning came on Thursday and started to pack up the apartment and everything that was in it and started to clean it out and all the other fun things that happen with moving, so that lasted all day, which leads us to Friday where me and Hibbert started to deep clean the apartment, the old one, and got it in a better condition than it had probably been in for many a year. so we clean out our areas and got things where they were supposed to be and life has been good. which leads us to Saturday well all was going good for us doing some service and all that fun stuff that goes along with that and we started heading for home when we got into an accident, now it's not as bad as it sounds, the driver's front tire was hit by the other persons passenger front/hood, so there was little humanly damage but the cars don't look to be in a good condition. so not a good thing to happen here on the fourth day here in Tallahassee. so for the last few days we are now stuck either walking, biking or hitchhiking with other elders. and they have been so nice to us for this little blimp in the road work, but I'm glad this isn't a life threatening experience still haven't broken a bone or gotten stitches. i just don't have a car now.

so Tallahassee is definitely a difference from any other place I've been in. so I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

Love you guys

Mom Happy Birthday first and foremost. and i miss you guys

Dad Keep up the good work.

Jethro don't get sick and keep up the art, and i think you should of just hung up all the old art work you had just on the studs in the basement. that would of been pretty cool

Robyn don't hibernate then you'll miss all of the cool snow storms and all the other neat things that happen in winter. and it's not that bad.

Jan your kids sound like so much fun i bet they are having a blast back in the Utah area.

Ben Learn learn learn, so you can be the best doctor that the world has ever known.

Thad what's going on in the world of BKE and Clint-o-beans? along with your new job? do you still have no idea what's happening?

Toni your kids are so smart and nice to each other. Ben told me about the trip to Grandma's house Anna is nice.

Ben i do want to go to the North west we'll have to plan a trip up there when you don't have to work up there, because that would not be as fun.

Beetle Keep up the good work keep strong and run like there's no tomorrow I'm so excited for you, also don't get trunky it's ok to talk about home just don't stay on the subject.

my address i think is 410 Victory Gardens, Tallahassee Florida something something something

if that's not good enough just send all fan mail to
1535 Killearn Center Boulevard, Tallahassee, FL 32309

Elder Gillespie

Monday, November 8, 2010

Tally Ho! To Tally Town

Dear Parents:

Things just got crazy. yes I've been in Ozark 30 weeks and now I'm going to Tally town or Tallahassee. So this is going to be a great opportunity for me to get a reboot and ready to go so what does that mean? it means that I'm now going to pack up for the next few days and get ready for the next couple of days.  The Amazing thing also is that I'm companions with someone who came out with me, Elder Hibbert. who was also with me when i was in Chipley and he was in Bonifay which is in the same district. now I'm sad that I'm leaving the place that I could call a second home  but i think this is going to work out for the best.

So now for the weekly update. this week again has been interesting to say the least. so most of the week has been getting ready for BreiAnna's baptism which was a lot of the days we focused on getting things ready. So we first needed to get a time which we could get an interview for her with the Zone Leaders, so we set that up on a Thursday night, so after that, the ZL's decided to stay so that they could get things ready for Dothan the next day. so we had a little bit of fun with them.  Friday comes around and we helped finish the baptism program and got things ready for the next day, and in the process had a great discussion with Cori about how we need to be an optimistic person because things all work out in the end and then also we were able to give him a blessing of comfort so that was a really neat experience.  Saturday comes and we start getting things ready for the baptism at 5pm and so we are almost ready to go when we get a call to push it back for two hours. so we make a few calls and all that fun stuff, 7pm comes around and still no sign that she's coming and 730 we get a message that they probably won't make it for the baptism tonight.  So we have ourselves a little meeting just to make everyone feel more happy about what happened which was a really cool experience. So that night we come back in and we get ready for bed hoping that maybe tomorrow that she'll be able to make it. we show up for church, but not hearing anything, because we have to go through another person to find out what BreiAnna's plans are, I'm not too thrilled about being left in the dark, when we get some more information that her baptism is going to be postponed for a time. which is sad to see that no matter how hard we try to help people come closer to Christ and that this is a way for people to help themselves become a better person, not only spiritually but in every other aspect of our lives. and that the way to do that is through our commitment to follow Christ through baptism and followed by the confirmation of the holy ghost. 

So other than that today it's the fact that it got chilly this week, so much so that i actually had to pull out my jackets from last year and yes I'm wearing one right now. I'm now leaving probably one of the best area's in the mission right now and going to another great one.

Love Elder Gillespie

P.S. I love you all.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween, but still no ghosts

Life is good i still have one full week here for sure and then after that i don't know. so next week you'll find out for sure what's going on for the next 6 weeks. and who knows what's going to happen.

so what else is new? well not much considering that we just had Halloween and we had a great time, so before Saturday the unofficial Halloween day to trick or treat, on Friday we had a ward trunk or treat, or trick or trunk how ever you would like to say it anyways, Elder Lake and myself decided to trick out our trunk/car by making into a helicopter, seeing as how Ft. Rucker is the home of Rotorwing aviation for the army. so to make our car into a helicopter all you need is some cardboard and duct tape and spray paint. which we assembled fairly quickly but once we saw that the rotors weren't going to stay up by themselves we needed to reinforce what we had done, so we got some fishing line to pick up the wings, but alas they drooped again. but we did impress the entire ward, and a few of the non-members that were there. and i did dress up for Halloween believe it or not. i wore a bow tie that Ben Gaines got for me in Boston, which again made everyone impressed that yes somebody under the age of 40 knows how to tie a real bow tie.

well i guess that's enough of the hallo weenie stuff, on to other things. so what happened this week?....we were able to meet with Cori and have a great little discussion with him, and the really cool thing was that we brought a member who was once a police officer, who was really able to talk to Cori and get his head on straighter than what we missionaries could of ever done and that was really cool, kind of like it was set up that way, without me realizing it.  a miracle you might say.

we have also had a lot of fun with the ward members and have really gotten to know them a lot better, in fact one of the members is hooking us up for dinner with a non-member neighbor so that should be really good.

now to the juicy stuff. so yesterday we had a lesson with BreiAnna and we went over the 3rd and 4th lesson. and she is so ready for baptism she told us that she just want to jump in the water right now. so we are working on that so we can just let her in there. but anyways back to the lesson, it was just so good and the spirit was so strong there too. amazing, simply amazing. but there is always going to be snags when it comes to this stuff, so she is ready but her family isn't supportive and also really isn't against it too. she is going to have to be strong when this stuff comes around. so right now we are trying to figure a time to get this all worked out so she can get baptized without too much of a conflict, so this week she should be getting ready for it, and that's what we are planning for but I'll keep you updated on all of this when i get more information.

So all in all a good week.

Thought of the day, which comes from one of the gate guards on Fort Rucker, one of the nicest people you'll ever meet he says.
"when you wake up in the morning you have two choices, either you can be happy and share what you've got or you can be sad and discouraged and share that with the world." simply a genius so that's what I've been working on this week,  the reason why it's important is because it's something we can all work on.

Love
Elder Gillespie

Mom you have done it again with one of the best Halloween costumes I've seen. Keep on keepin' on.

Dad keep up the good work just don't work yourself to hard.

Jethro. your future sounds like a lot of fun, but your present needs some work, but so does mine.

Robyn Halloween sounded crazy! and i bet your excited to see winter again, just kidding, can you believe that it's almost been a year in that house of yours? neat.

Jan you are such a little planner and are just planning up a storm with all the little things, the whole toy story thing genius.

Ben F. keep up the good work.

Thad, to short to short. what were you for Halloween? what about Clint? what about BKE? what about Logan? but i will agree life is great as long as we keep a good attitude.

Ben G. your right spending more time with kids is better than not actually working, your going to be a great dad. also since being in the south, TV is just an addiction. sure it's nice to see things but you've got a computer and can watch anything you want, just don't fill your life with the things that aren't important.

Toni, Write please. i miss you guys and all your funny way putting things in just a Toni type of way.

Beetle CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? almost there, don't think about it but at the same time do. and when you get home 10 months left for me. it'll be awesome. keep an eye on those little scamps.

everyone else. feel free to write anytime to this email Address,
mgillespie@myldsmail.net