Cops, Cheetos, and a Fake Accent! (First Week in Illinois)

Here are all the Elder at the church for P-Day!

Hello hello!

This has been a crazy week, let me tell you. I will start after the phone call I made to you guys. (Elder Jensen was able to call us from the airport before leaving for Illinois). So, the flight out here wasn't that bad. I at least got to sit next to another missionary this time, so I had someone to talk to. Her name was Sister Grey, and she was very nice.

As soon as we got out here, the President and his wife wanted to hold a whole photo shoot with all of us. Sister Griffin really likes to take pictures. We went right to the mission home after that, and just did a bit of training for a few hours, then they sent us out with another missionary to do some finding. I was with Elder Pace, and he is an intense guy when it comes to finding people. We literally ran to everyone. He also likes to say that we were there Jesus boys, which I thought was funny. I will say though, that it  was a really cool experience.

The next day, we got assigned to our trainers. I am with Elder Wells, and he is a good trainer. He knows what he is doing. So what they did to us though was use us to white wash an area, so we didn't know anyone. (I'm pretty sure this means that the mission office transferred both missionaries out of the area, and Elder Jensen and his companion are trying to learn the area from scratch). So this week, we have been trying to just go around and get to know people who were already being taught.

I will say though, that not very many people answer their doors, but it is good exercise. We walked the first day, then got bikes for the next two days before we got to use the car. We are in a car share area, so we don't get the car the whole time. I think we did 10-15 miles the first day of bikes, and 20 miles the second day. Let me tell you, I learned how to shift my gears around really fast.

Oh, and we got the police called on us. It was the first day, and this police woman pulls up and stops us and wanted to know what we were doing. Apparently this happens a lot, so I guess I'll get used to this.

Also, Elder Wells and I got anti-missionaried by Cheetos. So, we see this guy walking down the road, and we want to talk to him. Problem is, his arms are so full of Cheetos bags, you can't even see his head. We comment on this, and he says, "'Do you guys want one?" And he gives each of us a bag. We stare at them in shock, and when we look up, the guy is gone. We had no idea how to respond to that, so we just kept walking.

Oh, and we have a guy on date for baptism. His name is Nick, and he got committed by the last Elders that were here, but they were having a hard time teaching him, but we are having a lot of success with him. He is a great guy.

I learned that I need to be better at shopping too. I just need to actually think about what I need, because man, was this week was a slight struggle on food. Luckily though, we have member meals every day this month except for one day, so I should be basically good for now.

The members here are all pretty nice. They all think I am from Texas though because I thought it would be funny to use a southern accent when I bore my testimony on Sunday, and somehow it was very believable. Oops. It is kind of funny though. I might speak normally next time I talk to a member and see what happens. 😆

Well, that is pretty much the sum up of my week. Sorry it was a little late. P-day out here is different than at the MTC. So, until next week!

-Elder Jensen

After I emailed him back today, he replied:

Yeah, real missionary life is definitely different from MTC missionary life. There is a lot less food for one. Right now, I am in the Naperville and Aurora area.

The bike that I got from another Elder (the blue one).  It is old and rusty, but it gets me around.

My desk

The kitchen

Our table and the whiteboard we never use

The pull-up bar, which I discovered is a staple in all missionary apartments

My bed.  I found the blanket and pillow in the room, so I am glad I have those to use. (PS: I spy a little friend!) =)

Me and my dresser

My closet

The jacket that another missionary gave me.  It is a really nice one, and it will help a lot I think in the winter months.

Our area that we are serving in

The zone, with our area highlighted

The treadmill that we found in our room that we do not want. 

Weights that ere left behind in our apartment.  Those are nice to have.

More kitchen. (and my bananas.  I forgot to to get more for this week. 😭)

The supply closet

Various tools that I found around the apartment

The water bottle that the President gave us.

A fantastic dinner that Elder Wells and I cooked up.  We have a grill that we can use, and he did the chicken and the rice, and I cooked the vegetables.  It wasn't member meal standard of excellence, but man, was it good!

I couldn't tell where he was at, from the picture of the map he sent...so I google mapped it!  He said he was in the Naperville/Aurora area.