February 23, 2015

Hey!

Yeah the finger is fun. :)  The doctor took out the stitches but he said to leave it unwrapped so everyone can see, :)  I don't really play the piano much though.  I did in my last area but here no. That's way cool that Jim did a sweet fireside.  Sounds fun. :) 

Yay fruit!  You should plant an orange tree. :)  Kidding.  But one of the members in our area has a huge orange tree and she gave us some and they are SO GOOD.  Really you should plant an orange tree.  :)

Ha it's true about not forcing people.  I've kinda learned that too with teaching people.  You can't force them to accept the gospel and have eternal happiness.  People generally do what they want!

Nothing changed with transfers!  I'm with Elder Nanto for another 6 weeks or so.  I'm fine with it.  We get along good and have fun so that's good.  We do a lot of Nerf gun wars and stuff. :)  

That's so true with your scripture and thought. :)  I think that's how after this life will be.  Pretty good motivation to hang out with good people eh?  Since you hang out with the people you are comfortable to be around with and most likely will be around with for a loooong time.  

Sorry not much to update from this week either.  We're going to a Buddhist temple today so that's going to be fun. :)  I'm pretty excited. :)  It's really crazy how fast time goes huh?  

I'm just saying when it comes to my finger, if I received a dollar every time I've had my finger fracture complimented by a surgeon - doctor guy, I would be rich enough to pay all of these medical debts.  And I've also made pretty good friends with my X ray guy.  We've had some good quality time together with the x ray machine.  His name's Lawrence.  :)  Gotta try to look on the bright side of things right?  It's hard to remember that you're in charge of if you're happy or not sometimes but we really choose how to see situations.  I've gotten better at looking at things positively for sure from this.  It's good. :)  Go trials!  Woo!

Anyway, love you!  Have a good week!  Remember who you are and what you stand for! :) (remember when we would do that when you dropped us off for school in elementary school?)

Love,

Elder Passey

February 16, 2015

Hey!

Well my finger is NASTY!  I imagined it looking a lot better than it does.  It's pretty gross.  I figured out how to get the pictures into emails I think.  I'm gonna try.  But they are not for the weak of heart or constitution or whatever.  My finger looks like it's been zombiefied.  It doesn't even feel like it's real.

The work is alright right now.  We hit a peak last week so now it's kinda a slump.  Transfer calls are this week though so we will see what happens!

Sounds like a fun Valentines day. :)  I got to go to a dance by the ward.  Latinos love to dance. :)  They get into it hard core. 

That's nice that Skyler is super cool.  Athletic people really have a different influence.  Awesome that he's still going back on his mission though. :)  I really respect people who go back to the mission after leaving it for whatever reason.  It's so true about talking to and taking care of things with your bishop before you go on a mission though.  For sure way more worth it than having to go home!

Nothing interesting really happened this week other than seeing what my finger looks like.  Oh I played the piano yesterday in priesthood with 9 fingers.  It was so hard!  I was fighting against the muscle memory and still trying to do it with 4 fingers on my right hand.  I hope I will get my stuff out of the finger soon.

Anyway love you!  Have a great week!

Elder Passey

February 9, 2015

Hi!

Well the surgery went good as far as I know.  The day after the surgery was awful.. Super painful and I just had Advil.  They gave me a prescription for the drugs but they didn't get the medicine in until two days ago...  I was pretty annoyed.  But I went out to work 24 hours after the surgery and then have been working ever since.  Hasn't been near as painful.  After the day after Advil was just fine for me.  So that's what's up with that!  

The way my finger broke - I was holding a ball and and another came and just hit my finger just right.  That's it.  Meh.  I've sworn it off.

Spanish is going good!  My comp is good.  Everything is ok.  I've been kinda out of things for the past couple days and can't focus very well.  It's all good though...  All part of the experience right?

Do you speak a lot in sacrament meetings?  I haven't done it yet.  I wouldn't mind it though.

I can't run or anything...  It hurts a lot because all the blood pumps a lot more.  Ohhh....  That would explain why I haven't been feeling very good or happy.  Dang that makes sense.  I really hope I can run soon.  I've just been stretching instead.  It's really interesting to see the change going from exercising to not exercising. 

Wow that sounds way cool about the Rootstech thingy!  I've actually read about it a bit.  Even though I don't really like family history stuff very much it still is cool for other people who are in love with it!

I'm glad you have been able to get blessings from all this mess.  That helps me feel better about it and I'm way glad everything ended up working out good.  I love you!  Honestly though nothing very interesting happened this week...  The work is going better so that's really good and the area is improving.  We are getting blessed so that's good.  Something I've learned is that the days you want to go work the least are the days you really have to work.  Those days or times are when you get the most blessings for working.  Anyway have a good week!  Love you!  The return appt is on Wednesday so hopefully things will be alright.  Anyway I'll email you next week.  Bye!  Good luck with everything!

Elder Passey

February 2, 2015

Hi everyone!

Wow that sounds like a crazy week.  Sorry I added a lot to the stress and craziness.  In all honesty I feel like the person least stressed and the one who has to deal with it the least.  I've kept a hold of all the papers I've gotten so I'll send them in after the surgery probably like next week unless you need me to send them sooner.  I have a CD of my first x rays so I'll send that. :)  This doctor that I went to last week and on Friday is super good.  He's got it.  I actually didn't know about the for sure surgery until Friday either and it probably won't be on Wednesday.  Sister Workman is working out the appointment now I hope...  Ha I actually learned more from your conversation with the doctor than I had learned from everything before.  Kinda funny.  Don't worry we all could hear your conversation. :)  It was...  Uplifting.  It's a lot easier to type with this new brace I have so yeah that's good and I haven't really been in very much pain from it so that's good and bad but yeah...  Thanks for everything. :)

I did get your box of sunshine!  It was really nice actually.  I wasn't having the greatest day until I got it and it helped me feel better. :)  So yeah.  Thanks! 

That's so cool about your temple experience. :)  Everything will be alright.  Seriously it will be!  You guys have received so many blessings already from the Lord as far as money goes.  I'm confident he will help if the insurance stuff falls through.  I hope that will work out though.  Good luck...  Sorry again I'm causing so many problems.  

Seriously I'm not stressed at all about my finger.  It will be good and fun!  I'm just hoping that it doesn't interfere with any more sets we have.  We're on a upswing right now which we really need in this area and we need to go to the sets we have...  That's been what I'm stressed about.  And my companion doesn't like dropping investigators so that's kinda hard.  It's pretty incredible how much the Lord has been preparing me for this area.  Elder Nanto is a really great missionary. Pretty much everything I learned before I'm using here and it's really good.  It's like learning to have a stronger personality.  I've been in a state of amazement the past couple days because I realized how much I've changed in such a short amount of time.  Just crazy. 

Anyway I love you!  Nothing really to update on this week.  No life altering injuries or discoveries of oldest fast food chains in the world or anything.  So yeah!  I guess I'll let you know how my surgery goes! (as long as it still happens this week...  It better.)  I'm excited to have anesthesia again actually. :)  It was fun last time I had it.  Anyway Love you!  Have a good week!  Try anyway.  And try not to get too stressed out.  Remember who's in charge.  

mmmmbye!

Elder Passey

January 26, 2015

Hi everyone!

Well I guess you already know the big thing that happened this week.  

I went to the oldest McDonald's in the world on Wednesday after my doctor's appointments though!  How cool is that?  I was so happy that we found it.  We didn't even expect to find it but we drove by it and it has signs and a museum and everything that said that it's the oldest McDonald's in the world!  I got some cool pictures. :)

So...  I broke my finger in two places and dislocated it playing dodge ball.  It's been a hard week.  Probably one of the hardest in the mission so far anyway.  On Monday it happened (though I did win a game of dodge ball before. :) ) Then I thought it wasn't too bad so we waited till Tuesday morning to call it in when it wasn't any better.  Tuesday I spent all day at different hospitals being in pain.  The first guy we went to tried to put it back in place before the x ray and it hurt so bad.  Then they took the x ray and saw it was broke and dislocated.  Fancy that.  Then we went to the ER and was there forever.  They took a ton of x-rays and then they shot my finger up with a ton of shots (extremely not fun at all.) and tried to put it back.  The one doctor tried 3 times and each time he loaded up my finger with more shots and he couldn't get it back in so he called for backup and with the help of this more manly doctor they moved it a bit but didn't fix it. So Wednesday we went to this other doctor and he told me for sure I need surgery.  He gave me a referral and the referral has been what we've been waiting on ever since.  That's been pretty stressful because they said that I need it operated on within 2 weeks and optimally the first week so that's been just grand.  He said I'll possibly never regain full motion in my finger and that I'll have arthritis.  That's what I'm not happy about mostly...  Meh it's ok though.  That's about it for this week though!  Pretty average week you know just livin life to it's fullest!  Livin on the edge...  

Anyway Love you!  I'll let you know how everything goes!  Have a good week and don't stress out about it!  I fasted for it on Friday and got a blessing of healing Tuesday night so I'm taken care of.  Don't worry.

I almost hope they just go all like "oh it's too late you have to cut it off" then how sweet of a mission story that would be!  I would only have 9 fingers!  That would be pretty fun. :)

Try to have a good week and don't worry!  Things will be ok.  I love you!  

Elder Passey

January 19th, 2015

Hey!

Well this transfer is going to be good I think!  It's kinda of a crazy situation right now because we're helping take over a dissolved area. So there are areas and people that my companion doesn't know at all either so that's going to be interesting to figure out.  

So far though Whittier is super nice!  I like it!  It's like normal!  It's weird going from sketchy Long Beach to Whittier.  It's like a culture shock.  Anyway, my companion's name is Elder Nanto.  He's pretty awesome!  We get along pretty good. :)  So that's really nice...  He's pretty laid back and goofy.  He likes to argue about pointless things too which is fun. :)  I'm on a bunk bed again though - sending me back to my childhood. Pretty fun stuff!  We also have two other Elders in our complex who we hang out with a lot which is way fun too.   They're pretty awesome and one of them is brand new from Mexico so he's teaching all of us a lot of Spanish stuff.  We do have a car but we can't use it very much because it's almost out of miles for this month because the last Elders who used it weren't very thoughtful so yeah...  It's ok.  I'm also the driver which is hard because I have to navigate the squiggly roads (it kinda is like Stansbury to give you an idea) and know where everything is.  We don't have a map either right now so it's hard but good.  

I don't really have much to say about this last week though, just we've been working hard every day and we have a great time too. :)  It's going to be a good transfer.  Well if I think of anything else to say I'll let you know...  Have a good week!  I love you!  

Elder Passey

January 12, 2015

Hey!  Sorry again I missed last week email!

So real quick, I'm getting transferred again!  I'm leaving to Whittier.  I'm so sad.  I've pretty much been in a state of depression since Thursday when my companion was called a trainer.  I'm going up to Whittier and it sounds like I may have a hard Elder...  We will see!  I'm super sad though...  I really loved this area.  And Maribelle, the person we picked up like 9 days ago as an investigator has a baptismal date for the 24th and she received her answer to if the church was true two nights ago.  I'm really glad I was able to help her out with that but sad I don't get the chance to teach her the rest of the way.  I'll be able to come back down here for her baptism though!  It's going to be so cool!  The rest of the investigators we have aren't so great...  It's all good though.  Then David and Mayra are doing good!  I"m really sad I'm leaving them though. 

So as far as the challenge I hinted at the other day, on Monday we went to Buffalo Wild Wings which was so much fun to go to. :)  I loved it there.  And going to the fancy Brazilian place right after was just weird and made me super uncomfortable but anyway, apparently at the wild wing thing there is a challenge that Elder Campbell and Wolfinden did that day and I wanted to do it so I did on Thursday. :)  Here's the challenge: they give you 12 wings (which I've never even eaten before Thursday) and they're cooked in the spiciest sauce they have and extra sauce is put on them.  Then they serve them to you really hot and you have to eat all 12 in less than 6 minutes.  Without a napkin or drinks or anything.  So everyone gets really messy.  Anyway when Campbell and Wolfinden did it, it looked super hard and painful and fun at the same time. :)  Campbell did it in 5:15 And Wolfinden in 5 45.  So I did it on Thursday after district meeting and man I was in the zone when the timer started.  I just ignored everything including how hot they were and what everyone was saying and I went as fast as I can.  I did it in 3 47. :)  Afterwards, I realized how much it hurt.  I did notice though around my 8th or so that my eyes started watering.  When I finished, I really hurt.  There was dead skin at the top of my mouth where they burned it real bad and I felt pretty bad for about a day.  It was so much fun though. :)  And they were good!  And since I finished it it was free and I got a free shirt. :)  I got pictures so I'll send them.  

That's the biggest thing I could really think of this week. :)  There is probably more but I can't remember really and my brain is all scrambled right now with leaving already.  Only 2 transfers in an area isn't enough.  Oh well!  Maybe it's preparing me for military life or something.  Anyway I don't really have anything else to say!  Have a good week!  Good luck with everything!  I love you!

Elder Passey