The Ultimate Weight Loss Program

Hey Hey Hey! Man, I say this every week, but I can't believe how fast time flies. This whole mission thing is going by way too fast! J-Dog I am glad that you are slaying the gospel doctrine classes. I actually really miss gospel doctrine. On a mission, we attend a gospel principles class, maybe you can come teach the gospel doctrine class in Logan when I get home for a while? Sounds like a plan! 

It has been a pretty wild week so I will jump right into it. I will start with the reasoning behind the subject title. On Tuesday nights, a lot of the men from the ward and stake get together to play some basketball. It is a lot of fun. This week we only had like ten minutes for dinner before we had to go over to the church to play. I quickly boiled some water and threw some ramen in and went to get changed. I grabbed the ramen from the pot and we were out the door. First mistake, word of advice: Never eat a bunch of ramen noodles and eggs before running around for a while, it will wreck your stomach. While we played, my stomach really started to feel weird, but ball is life so I continued to play. By the time I got home I was really hurting. I went right to bed and tried to sleep, but to no avail. Around midnight I stood up and went to the bathroom and finally all of that ramen I ate for dinner ended up in our toilet. I assumed that after I threw up, my stomach would start to feel better. So I thought. When I went back to bed I could feel a fever coming on, I was freezing. I proceeded to throw up six more times before noon the next day. Man, it was brutal. The following day was spent wrapped up in my blanket, shivering and trying to sleep. I haven't been that sick for quite a while. No fun. On Wednesday night, I weighed myself and found out that I had lost like five pounds in a single day. So, if you ever need a quick weight loss program give me a call! I am pretty proud though, I almost made it seven and a half months without a sick day. Not too shabby. 

We had Zone Conference the next day. Luckily I was feeling a little bit better, but it was still kind of brutal. Being sick on a mission is the worst. Zone Conference was awesome! President and Sister Badger are the greatest. President Badger continues to amaze me. He is such a loving man and he knows so much about the gospel. I learned some great stuff that I am excited to apply to our area here in East Moline. 

On Thursday night, I received some sad news. Elder Seljaas has had a pretty intense shoulder injury for a while. It has been affecting the way he sleeps and it has really been bothering him. I found out this week that he is heading home today to have it looked at further and possibly have surgery. I am pretty bummed that he is taking off. We have really become good friends while serving here. Hopefully I will see him again out here but if not, I will see him back home. I hear that Debuque College is one of BYU's preseason games in 2018. Do you think it is too late to sign? 

Because Elder Seljaas is going home, we got special permission to go down the Nauvoo temple on Friday. We didn't have time to go in, but it was still super cool to see the temple. Just being on the temple grounds was a breath of fresh air. There is a certain spirit that can only be felt at the temple. We are extremely blessed to have so many close by in Utah. Go as much as possible! The Nauvoo temple is a beautiful place. I can't wait for you guys to see it. 

The last part of the week and probably the highlight was our investigator T getting baptized. It was an awesome experience to help him progress to this point. It was a great service and I know that T felt the spirit while we were there. He is going to be a great member of the church. We are excited to continue to help him grow and strengthen his own testimony. All of the rejection and frustration, all of the people who laugh at us on the street or who flip us off as they drive past and all of the people who shout out their windows stuff like "Hail Satan" seem to be washed from my mind when someone like T accepts the gospel and enters into the gate. This is definitely the Lord's work. There would be no other way I would make it if it wasn't. The Lord definitely protects his missionaries.

I love you guys and I hope that everything back home is real peachy. 

Future Division 3 basketball player,

Elder Obray

My apron is dope, watch out for Blau in your nightmares.