Elder CSWhite,  August 1, 2016, from Edenton, NC

Subject: Re: you think that at some point you won't be tired but I'm always tired.

 

This week we did a lot of service. We helped this family move all Saturday long! (Luckily the house they moved to is still in our area.) Well, actually we helped them move and then during the down-time we taught them, and 3 other lessons throughout the day in between helping them move more stuff. Think of every heavy piece of furniture available, and they had it, and we moved it downstairs and into the truck: wardrobes, couches, wrought-iron bedsteads, solid wood dressers, china cabinets, grandfather clocks, the works! In my opinion, they had too much furniture, but who's counting! Oh, and it was 97 degrees and more humid than a rice steamer.  The lady is co- workers with a member in the Elizabeth City Ward, and heard how helpful the missionaries are--so we got volunteered.

 

Now that may seem like we were getting taken-advantage-of, but they needed the help, they told us we are welcome anytime, that they would love to have us come teach them, and it really helps when you like the people you're helping, too. I may not be like Ammon in the service of King Lamoni, chopping off the arms of those scattering the flocks at the waters of Sebus, but we sure can load a U-haul truck! (This is a Book of Mormon reference, see Alma 17, and 19:16.)

 

One of the families we taught between helping them move are some less-active members who are raising their great-grandchildren... not just grandchildren, Great-grand!  I don't mean to judge, but it's not good when neither the parents or the grandparents are fit to raise their own kids and then they have to go to the great-grandparents. It is literally killing them to take care of teenage girls. The sad part is that what they are doing is not uncommon around here. They are one of two families in this branch that are in the exact same situation.

 

It's a whole different planet down here. Besides the occasional rain, there's not much that reminds me of home, but believe me I am not complaining! I am so happy to be here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love serving here because I love the people I am serving.

 

On Friday it was our favorite 5 year-old's birthday (they are from Washington and lived on the border of Mount Rainier Nat. Park so I may be a little biased), but for his birthday day we got him a Whoopie Cushion. I think you can imagine the havoc a 5 year-old with a Whoopie Cushion can create. When he opened it and asked what it does, his mom just said, "OH, no! Elders, what have you done!?!!" We all laughed and laughed the whole rest of the time. Yes, I know, not very dignified for ministers of the gospel, but it was pretty funny. (An additional note to Richard: “You'd like Elder Pitts. He's just like Uncle Stew. It's crazy, but he got me with the Whoopie Cushion on my seat,  TWICE, before we even got to Logan Long's birthday party!!”)

 

The people we teach and know here are all so very different--from people who can't read, or people with bullet-holes spattered across their house, to rich Northerners who moved here to retire in 260 year-old historic mansions; people with no accent really, to people whose Southern accent is so thick you only understand half of what they say. Millionaires to watermelon pickers; just about every kind of person that you can conceive of, we teach.

 

I love being here teaching people. Seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ change people's lives for the better is the greatest thing to take part in. There's only one problem (besides people not willing to change), Edenton is more-or-less built on a swamp, so there are gnats everywhere. There are clouds of little gnats that follow you around everywhere outside. In this library, right now, there is, amazingly, only one gnat, but it’s been flying around my head and into my ears and nose this whole time I've been writing! I can't seem to kill it, so if my letter seems negative at all, you may go ahead and blame it on the little gnat that has been flying around my face for the last 30 minutes! But besides that, it's going great, and until next time I hope y'all have a blessed day!

 

--Elder White

 

(P. S. to Dad, who always checks the weather news for North Carolina:

“Yesterday felt like a hurricane. It was crazy. We drove down Water Street, which is more-or-less on top of the bulkhead on the edge of Ablemarle Sound, and the waves were picking up a ton. I told Elder Pitts to roll down the window and take a picture. . . Right then a wave hit the bulkhead and went right in our car window!!”