Birds and McFlurrties

Apologies for not composing a letter last week. Had to cut the P-Day time short for an expedition to Boston. I will start out this week’s letter like every week’s letter - with an Elder Campos story!

Elder Campos is leaving to go home the 16^th of this month. None of us look forward to the moment when we will have to bid farewell to our Peruvian friend, but at the same time, we are excited for the wonderful life that lays ahead of him. In the months before an elder leaves the mission he usually has an interview with the Mission President about life after his mission, such as work, education, dating and so forth. Elder Campos came home from his interview all jazzed up about dating and marriage. He immediately asked the apartment to role-play situations with him where he asks a female of his choice on a date. Now, I am no love guru, but typically in my experience asking “How many kids do you want?” in the first 30 seconds of a conversation can lead to a female quickly losing interest in you!

After a rough night of role-playing and learning how to communicate with females, Elder Campos approached me and expressed his concerns.

“Elder Tait, man, I no good at girls”

“Don’t worry Elder Campos, it will come buddy!”

“I know, I just so bad at McFlurrting”

“Wait, Elder Campos, what?”

“McFlurrting. Yeah man, I just can’t McFlurrty with the girls.”

I soon helped Elder Campos understand that the word was “flirt” and not the fast-food frozen treat, “McFlurry!”

These last two weeks I have noticed a re-occurring trend that hopefully will not continue for the rest of my mission. This week Elder Wright and I were driving to see a member who is in the hospital, but as it turned out, we ended up visiting an animal hospital as well. As we were driving in this rural neighborhood, we approached a flock of birds. All the birds fled to avoid our car, except for one who decided  to “yolo.” Unfortunately, I didn’t notice this until I was driving over the bird! As we looked back, we noticed that one of the bird’s wings was still flapping. I was filled with horrible memories of accidentally running over Jimmy last month. We decided we weren’t going to allow another one of God’s creature to die. We noticed it was a blue jay, so we first decided to name the bird Bartholomew the Bluebird. We quickly took copies of The Book of Mormon out of a box and laid Bartholomew in the box. We then were able to find a pet hospital where Bartholomew received treatment. The animal hospital told us Bartholomew was going to make it, and we were eventually able to set our bluebird friend back into the wilderness where he belonged. Why do I have a tendency to accidentally run over birds? No idea. I will let you know if I figure out the reason or if I have any more deathly experiences with birds!

As we entered this week we were blessed to witness our Heavenly Father helping those who are seeking the gospel. This last week, we had a mini-missionary with us named David L.! This kid is the real deal. He has helped us grow in so many ways. Last week we ran into a homeless lady and her daughter on the T who both wanted to hear our restored message of truth. We gave them a Plan of Salvation pamphlet before we departed and made plans to teach a follow up lesson. Yesterday Elder Wright went on splits with a ward member, and David and I went to give a lesson to this wonderful lady. We typically are hesitant to teach homeless people for multiple reasons, but this lady had a special presence about her. Before we started the discussion, we opened with a prayer, and she was instantly in tears. She shared the experience that earlier that day her 9 year-old daughter had come to her and out of the blue said, “Mom, God sent me down here to help you.” She said she was hit hard by this because it suggested that there is something before this life. She instantly had the undeniable urge to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet, which I know was no coincidence. She could not stop telling us how everything now made sense. Her life made sense. She is unfortunately homeless because her boyfriend, who she was about to marry, died in May. She just clicked with the knowledge of our premortal life, and she couldn’t stop crying when she understood that there is life after death.

I know the Lord has sent me to the Boston, Massachusetts Mission to teach people like this humble lady and her daughter about the Plan of Salvation and that families can be together forever and that life has a purpose. I know the Plan of Salvation to be true. I know my family  can be together forever. I can’t wait for the joy I know I’ll feel one day when I’m reunited for eternity with my grandparents and loved ones on the other side. 

Elder Tait.

2 years. Make it count.