Walking in a winter wonderland

Dear family,

Let me tell you about this exciting week in West Virginia's winter wonderland. First of all, it snowed this week. Now, it was just about a normal snow fall for back in N'Ham'shuh, but here this could be classified as the great blizzard of '14. People aren't quite used to the "extreme" conditions. Because of them, schools were cancelled for the entire week. They were cancelled initially because of snow, but then cancellation continued because of the cold. It was pretty silly to me, but we weren't too affected by it. That is, not until Sunday. We got a call Saturday afternoon that Church would be cancelled on Sunday. Elder Lyman and I died laughing. We were pretty bummed that we wouldn't be able to go to Church. Church is one of the best times of the week. Anyway, we went about doing good trying to shovel people's driveways and such.

There were some exciting things that happened this week. Tuesday was probably the most exciting. We met someone last week who we were supposed to make Sloppy Joe's with, but he was sick when we got to his apartment. Instead we knocked doors around his area. We got a couple potentials. Then we knocked on the door of Matt Parker. You'd think I'd be excited that his last name is Parker, but it was a little annoying. He invited us in and started drilling us about all the things we didn't know. He is apparently a master theologian who has studied all the ancient texts of the Sumerians and other cultures. Elder Lyman told me later that everything he said came from a tv show called "Ancient Aliens" on the History Channel. He basically asserted his intelligence while asserting our ignorance. It was frustrating to be there. He scoffed when we bore simple and powerful testimony. The capstone to the whole experience was when he said, "Now I know I'm really going to blow your minds. Scientists have actually proven that everything in life is a computer hologram." He was completely serious. Between frustration and ridiculousness, I was ready to rofl (roll on the floor laughing). I asked if he had been watching the Matrix. It was pretty crazy. We told him to have a good day and read the Book of Mormon again (and no, an alien did not appear to Joseph Smith :D). After his apartment, the next door we knocked was opened by a family of sincere people who really wanted to hear our message and invited us back. Endure to the end.

Well, I got um pouco time to finish up. I love you all. The Church is true. When we distance ourselves from God and allow outside influences distract us from our relationship with Him, we hurt ourselves. We must reach out to Him every day. We are never too far from the reach of His care.


Love, Elder Parker Ayer