Letter from Colin:

Being in a trio with Elder Morris and us training Elder Norwood has been the best thing that I could possibly do my last transfer! I had to translate for Elder Norwood when we talked to this little 80-year-old black woman. He laughed because of her accent saying words like, ‘Scruggle,’ ‘Screet,’ and ‘Scraight.’  It actually hasn't been too much of a ‘scruggle’, although riding bikes is really tiring, and honestly, scary. These Virginia Beach Drivers follow zero traffic laws, so that has been our only ‘scruggle.’

         On Wednesday morning Elder Morris, of Sandy, Utah, and I got a ride down to the mission office in Portsmouth and met our trainee, Elder Norwood, of Saratoga Springs, Utah. Before we found out who our trainee was going to be, President Weed had us introduce each of our areas to the trainees. I introduced ourselves as an “OP elite, district-leader bike trio,” which is true. We have had way too much fun biking around for the last 5 days. It's been awesome! We have talked to so many people and found so many new people to teach/be our friends, too. Not only that, but it was the Oceana Airbase Airshow this weekend, so we had fighter jets and the Blue Angels ripping overhead just under the sound barrier all weekend.

         Today since we don't have a car anymore, we got a super-awesome sister from the ward to take us grocery shopping, and she even came thrift shopping with us because we had to find some ties with ducks on them for

Elders Morris and Norwood. So now we all have duck ties. We have some serious trio unity going on. Not only that, but the sister who drove us around has been inactive from the time she was 9 years old until just 3 months ago, and now she doesn't miss a Sunday and is keeping all the commandments! She used to be on the U.S. Diving Team, and she loves us, so we are all basically best friends now. Her nonmember husband and she are very wealthy and so she just got a custom-built jeep Rubicon (fancier than the Rubicon actually), so next week we are going wheeling with her on P-day. We have had a lot of fun being in a trio, and because we have three of us,  we can ride, and work with, and teach, anyone! 

         One of the really funny things that happened this week while we were teaching Christine and James the Plan of Salvation. James is 10-years old. We were talking about how incredible the Celestial Kingdom will be and how it will feel to live with God in Eternal Families. James quickly shot up his hand to ask a question, and we said, "Yes, James?" and so enthusiastically, he replied, "BUT CAN I FLY?!" We didn't want to get into that discussion with a 10-year old, so we just told him we didn't know for sure, but we did tell him how happy we will be and how we will have everything that Heavenly Father has. Clearly, that didn't satisfy James, so he asked again, "But can I fly?”.

         We named our bikes this week, and Elder Norwood's bike is a little bit more orange than a block of cheddar cheese, so he named his bike, "The Cheese Grater." When I asked him why, he responded, "Because it shreds...."  Elder Morris has no sense of smell, so the jokes have been going all week. Also Elder Norwood and Morris really enjoy puns so it's been getting a bit ridiculous.

         All week we have had so many incredible experiences with following the Spirit. We felt impressed that we should go work in a certain area of the ward, and while over there, we rode past some people.  I felt we should go back and ask them if they needed help with what they were moving. They actually let us help them, and as we were walking back to our bikes, their neighbor walked outside. We commented on how we liked the jeep he had out front, and then we started talking with him. It turns out he is a retired Navy Seal and works with a member of our Bishopric, and Brother Smith has given him a Book of Mormon. He's been reading it, and he said logically he can believe it's true! So he's got a long ways to go, but I hope we can keep working with him.

         When we started biking again, at the very next house, this lady walked out and she said she was having a very bad day because a family member had passed away only minutes before, and we got to speak with her about the Plan of Salvation.  She said we could come back. If we hadn't followed the Spirit and turned around and gone back to help the first person, we wouldn't have met any of those people. We were there at exactly the right time to speak to all three people!

   Finally, yesterday, we went with Elder Patterson, the Military Relations Senior Missionary, to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek to give the Sacrament to two faithful soldiers, one who recently returned from his mission, and the other, who is preparing to leave on a mission. We have had so many great moments this week, and until next time I hope y'all have a blessed week!

        

--Elder White