Elder White's letter:

Well, it's 36^o and raining... so close to snow-- but it just feels cold. Mind you, yesterday was 78 degrees so it's a massive temperature change, and then the day before that, it was also really cold, so weather here is somewhat bipolar I would say. I am going to blame the crazy weather changes on Elder Grow, who left Albertson on Thursday. A member drove us to Greenville (said like "green-vole") and the moment we dropped him off for the Assistants to the President to drive him the rest of the way to Chesapeake, VA, the weather started getting all weird like, and after we dropped him off I started feeling sick, too! So what I'm saying is, the weird weather and my getting sick is Elder Grow’s fault. Well, it's probably not, but that's what I am accrediting it to.   On the way to Greenville to drop him off we stopped by Sam Jones BBQ, which is famous, wood-smoked, whole hog, North Carolina BBQ. It was real good, I'll tell you that. It's actually a kinda fancy BBQ place, but it's the real deal--they had the smoke house outside with a couples cords of Pecan stacked up on the side and everything. Inside, the place is really nice and the funny thing was that you could tell instantly who the real North Carolinians were and who was just visiting by the way people were dressed and also mostly the way they sounded.

         After dropping off Elder Grow I started feeling sick and slowly lost my voice a little each day until we got to Sunday. It just so happened that I had been asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting, so the Mt. Olive Elders, with whom I am staying until the 28th when I get a new missionary to work with in Albertson, and I drove to Albertson to go to church so I could give my talk. The whole stake presidency was there. I spoke first and my voice sounded like I had been smoking cigarettes for the last 70 years. Of course on the very Sunday I get asked to speak I lose my voice, but it went alright. People said they could understand my words just fine. I spoke on following Jesus Christ in our lives and using the tools which He has given us (the scriptures, prayer and etc.) and I used my own allegory of “The Mountain.” The story about climbing a mountain worked well, but I had to explain a lot of it really simply, because people ‘round here don't know what crampons, ice axes, rope teams, a z-pulley system, or what a crevasse is. After telling the story I interpreted it, but that is too much to write out. Just think to yourselves what all of those things can be symbolic of in our lives, especially the lead climber, our rope team, the equipment and skills you need, the crevasses and other dangers we face on the mountain and what is the most important part about climbing (just a hint: it's not reaching the summit). 

         Now I am in Mt. Olive and it's good, but it's just not the same as Albertson. When we went back Saturday night to Albertson it felt like I was coming home. So in the end, I am super excited to go back to Albertson at the end of the month, but for now I'm here for a little longer. For me not a whole lot of missionary work happened because I've been gone from my area, but 2 less-active members of the church came to church again this Sunday so it really was a good week. Until next time, I hope y'all have a blessed week!

-- Elder White