September 11, 2014--Almost outta here...

My dearest and most darling mother of my dreams, whose nursing and kindly help in times of sickness and need I have most sincerely yearned for this week,

This week has been pretty good! The main happening to report is that I got sick on Monday night, and then all of Tuesday I was really sick, and then on Wednesday I made it through most of the day but was still feeling pretty gross, and today I am on the slopes of recovery. We got our second set of Japanese Encephalitis shots today (since I'm sick I'm not sure if it was the best idea to get it today?) and so hopefully everything with that goes well.

So I have bad news... Elder Hymas, one of the Elders from our district, is my Bapa for the next two years. Bapa means dad. We had our Tuesday devotional this week, and we all thought for sure it was going to be an apostle. We haven't had one come yet so we were just so excited and we knew there was going to be one because on Sunday, the devotional coordinator guy related to us what the proper procedure was when an apostle enters the room (we all stand, we don't take pictures, we don't cheer, and we wait to sit until he sits). They've never said that to us. So, why would they bother explaining that unless there was going to be an apostle soon, right? Well, we were all convinced, except Elder Hymas, who rather naysayingly told us all that we were wrong. So he and I made a bet. He thought it would be this random guy from the quorum of the 70, Joseph W. Sitati, who would come. I thought it would be an apostle. He totally randomly guessed that Elder Sitati would be there. And when we sat down in the devotional room, we looked at the screen where it tells us who is coming, and lo and behold! Elder Sitati. So, I now must refer to Elder Hymas as my father for the duration of our missions. Inspiration is real ;)

We taught our investigators, Joko and Rik, this week and it went really well! I feel like our companionship is getting better at asking questions and getting to know them and finding out what's really going on in their heads rather than just talking at them. Rik is committed for baptism on October 11th. (It's too bad that's after we leave the mtc ;) ). We went to Joko's "house" and we had offered to fix his roof, so we "fixed" his roof with him. Our investigators are really our teachers, but they try to make it as real as possible. The only frustration is that we can only teach them 15 minute lessons every time, because if they were longer we wouldn't have enough time to get everything done in the day. But our lessons have been going well, and I think it's awesome how we can still act under the influence of the Spirit and teach with the Spirit when we're just role-playing. It's amazing.

Thanks for the letters this week! I'm hoping to fully recover from being sick by tomorrow, and I'm super excited for our lessons with "investigators" Pak Rik and Joko tomorrow. With Pak Rik, he is divorced and his ex-wife doesn't usually let him see his son. It was a breakthrough for him last week when she let him call and talk to his son on the phone. So tomorrow, we're going to issue a challenge. Elder Chou, Elder Getter, myself, and Rik, are going to think of a question we want to ask God, and then read the Book of Mormon from wherever we're at in it. (Rik is already in 1 Nephi 8!) Then, next time we meet, we're going to talk about how our question was answered. I really hope he asks about his son, because I know that's his biggest concern right now. He prays that he'll be able to see his son, but he's feeling like God doesn't answer his prayers, or maybe isn't hearing him. I know if he prays and reads the BoM, it'll be a huge testimony builder for him.

But in regards to that challenge, Momma and Dad and Landon and Maddy and Grayson and Jarom, how would you like to do it with us? Next week when I email I'll talk about how my question was answered. Would you like to take the challenge with me, and you can email me by Thursday and talk to each other about how you felt your question was answered? I know that as we read the Book of Mormon, we can find answers to our prayers and the questions that are in our heart. I know that, and I know we can all come to know it if we will but read the book. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Christ really came to the Americas. He lives, He loves us, and He gave us the Book of Mormon to help us.

Anyone else who wants to who has read this can definitely participate :) I would love to hear from anyone who wants to try it with us!

Love,

Elder Paskett

Elders Paskett, Arthur, and Thomas enjoying the rain

The District on the "waterfall stairs"