Golden Investigators, Going to the Temple, and a Case of Chicken Pox

It's been an interesting week.

Last Monday we got a text from a man named Derek Keener. Elder Merrill taught him and his wife right before I got here, but when the new transfer started, they suddenly became very busy -- too busy to see us. This past Monday, however, we got a text from Derek apologizing for his being so busy and asking us to come over this week to pick up again with the discussions.

Elder Merrill has been talking so highly of this family for a while, and we got really excited to see them. They live on base, so after our dinner appointment, we had a member come with us to teach Derek and Nicole.

It was a wonderful reunion. They were very honest with us, and expressed their sincere desire to learn about this church. They feel that everywhere they turn, they keep meeting Mormons, so they take it as a sign that they have to investigate deeper. They went up to Fayetteville a few weeks ago for an emergency preparedness conference held at our church building up there, and they loved it.

From what I had been told, Nicole was going to be hesitant. Quite the contrary. By the end of our visit, she was pulling Derek along to keep commitments and to come to church. Derek will be very busy with his job up until October 1, so we'll cut him some slack until then, but once that day comes, they are ready and willing to devote everything to finding out more about this gospel.

I've never seen GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR as brightly as I do with them. Even Nicole suddenly blurted out and said, "The one thing I'm gonna struggle with is giving up tea. I love my tea! It's gonna be so hard!" We hadn't even taught them the Word of Wisdom yet. They've just been reading lds.org and other things. What's most important is that they're willing to change. I'm so happy for them!

Rebecca and Faith are going to the temple, and they're getting a personal tour on the grounds by the temple president himself. It'll be really exciting for them!

Emily Garrett is going through some big changes. She came to all 3 hours of church yesterday. Families in the ward are also having her over for activities and meals. I'm really happy about that.

Elder Duron had the chicken pox from Sunday to Friday, so we had to go on splits with Elder Chapman while someone stayed with Elder Duron. Poor Elder Chapman and Elder Duron got cabin fever bad. It was nice for us, though, because we were technically on "bike week", so we got the car clear up until Friday instead of giving it to the Cabot Elders on Tuesday!

Yesterday, however, I got really sick.

I woke up with stomach pains. I still went to church, but my stomach just wouldn't settle down. After church we had dinner at a member's house, and they gave me something to help me feel better. We walked up the stairs to our apartment after they dropped us off, and once I lay down on my bed, my stomach sloshed up into my throat. I held my mouth as I ran across the hall and vomited into my companion's toilet. I stayed in bed for a few hours, and then when I got up to get a drink of water, I vomited again. I don't have anything left in me. I lost 5 pounds yesterday, so I can't complain about that! I'm feeling better now; still a bit queasy, but nothing serious.

Libby called us earlier this week and told us that her daughter won't allow us to stop by any more. I'm really bummed about it. Libby still wants to see us, but we'll have to make visits outside of her home.

I wrote a couple things for the mission today: I wrote them a page of my Many Mighty Miracles (the stories of miracles I've seen here in the mission) as well as my departing testimony that will be published in the mission newsletter. It's all wrapping up. Next Monday is my last legit P-Day. I don't really have much to say about any of it, as long as I'm still wearing the name tag. So I'll just keep on!

-Elder Staib

We spent our P-Day with Jesse King. He left this past week for his mission in Canada.

Full Moon!