Anger Management

Hey hey hey to my favorite people on the planet. It is a great day to be alive don't you agree? This week was one of the best of my mission and I am so excited to tell you more about it. I feel like I have been floating through this weekend. I have a lot to report so I will dive right into it. 

First, I will give an update on our marvelous Fourth of July. It was one of those days that really made me miss home. I have fond memories of Fourth of July's at Grandma's house growing up. It was pretty depressing this year because my date to the fireworks was another guy, plus we had to be in our house by 6:30. Luckily our house is right next to the river where the fireworks go off so we got some lawn chairs and climbed onto our roof for some great seats of the festivities. Gotta love living in America! I do have some awesome pictures/videos for y'all but they will have to wait until next week. I forgot my camera!

The next update is a pretty wild experience Elder Youngstrom and I had this week finding. We knocked on this guy's door and he excitedly let us in. This never happens unless someone thinks that they know all about the Mormons so I prepared myself to bash. We had a pretty intense conversation about Mormon doctrine and our theology. It was one of the most respectful bashes of my life, and this guy is a genius he knows his stuff. I had an insanely difficult time keeping up. By the end of the lesson, his countenance softened a little bit and he invited us back a couple days later. We left him with the commitment to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. When we got to our return appointment he told us that he had read the BofM up until Ether, and that he had also read Mormon Doctrine, some of the discourses of Brigham Young and several other Mormon books. It was pretty insane. We had yet another discussion on Doctrine that went for the most part over my head, but we did give him some good talks to listen to. Hopefully I will have better news about him next week. Pray for us with that one!

I am stoked to hear that the Associated Golf Tournament went well! I am glad to hear that you guys took home the W! That’s what I like to hear! A 59 is pretty crazy! One of the Zone Leaders and I went on a quick exchange this morning and played 9 holes this morning. It was pretty brutal! We didn't spend any time on the range beforehand so it was pretty rough. I shot a 60! So, I am pretty proud to say that the four of you played twice as many holes and still beat me! My last few holes were much better than the first 6. I finally started to get the groove back but it was quite the experience! It was pretty frustrating stuff. I was definitely reminded of how angry that sport makes me! There is a reason it is called Anger Management.

Lastly, I had the amazing opportunity to head down to the Nauvoo temple on Saturday. Q, one of the converts from Ames drove to Cedar Rapids and picked me up and then we drove over to Davenport to pick up Elder Balderston. It was just like the good ole days in Ames. It was such a great time. Q insisted on playing music in the car so I got to hear some of the popular stuff on today's radio. That definitely didn't help the whole missing home problem! I can't even tell you how much I miss music. It is incredible. It was such an amazing experience to be in the temple with Q. It was a profound experience to stand in the waters of the baptismal font with him and baptize him for somebody else. Words cannot describe the amazing feelings that come from the temple alone, but they also can't describe the joys that come with being there with someone who you helped into the church. I will send some pictures next week. 

I officially hit eleven months today! Pretty wild that I am almost on the down ward slope of the mission. It is so crazy to me how fast this year has gone by. It makes me sad that I am already almost half through my time here in Iowa, but I am so excited for the second half! There are so many miracles waiting and so many amazing experiences to be had before I come home to the 801. I love you guys and I am so grateful for you. Have an excellent week! 

The Soon to be Professional Golfer,

Elder Obray