Time to fight back...

Time to Fight Back…
“to everything there is a season and a time appointed under the heaven…time to laugh, time to cry, a time to cast away stones a time to gather stones together,…a time to fight back and get even. ”
-(the slightly modified and approximate version of the one scripture somewhere in Ecclesiastes. I can’t remember it very well and I don’t have my bible with me right now.)

THIS IS WAR!!!

This last week we have been blest with a new and exciting challenge. We are currently battling with all our might to defend our rights, our liberty, our religion and, coincidentally, our food.
The fact of the matter is that we have a rat in our house. At first he was just like any other unwelcome visitor in your house; he pooped all over the floor and made weird noises in the night. But now it has gone too far. Two days ago I ate a delicious peanut-butter and raspberry-jam sandwich, (thank you jay and elle), and when I was done I carefully put away the goods and put the bread in the cupboard. The next morning I was feeling desirous that I might partake of another sandwich, whose deliciousness did exceed all things that I had eaten in the last week. I found the peanut butter and jelly, but when I cast my eyes round about to see if I could find the bread, the cupboard was empty. I thought little of it and ask my companion if he had seen my bread for I was desirous that he too should partake of the sandwich that had filled my belly the day before. But behold, neither he, nor I were able to find the place where the bread had gone. And we supposed that it had been the rat, that he had led it away in to strange paths and was lost. And it came to pass that I, Elder Helland, did not murmur, but did frankly forgive the rat, for it supposeth me that he was hungry. But behold, my companion was exceedingly desirous to eat the pb&j, and swore in his wRATh that he would bring vengeance against the rat for the crime that he had committed.

This morning we were cleaning the house, an enormous task, pois verdadeiamente foi um grande bargunça. Anyway, we were cleaning and I decided to pull the couch away from the wall and guess what I found? My bread and a whole grip of other stuff that the rat had stolen and hidden there.
That is where I draw the line.

Today we designed an intricate trap, and next week I will send the pictures of tonight’s catch.
It is time to fight back.

Anyway, sorry about all that junk. The truth is that this has been an awesome week, I just got all excited about the rat and wrote WAY MORE than I wanted to about it. Oh well. This week we found a lot of new investigators and we are excited to work with them. We found this family of three that are really cool. The daughter is 19 and she really knows how to study the book of mormon already. We left her with 3n11 to read and when we came back the next day she had read it all and shared her favorite part with us. She read us like verses 3 and 4 that talk about the voice that the people heard. A small voice, calm and little. But nevertheless, it did pierce them to the very center and did cause that to shake. She read us the scripture and then explained why she liked it. She said that she knew that the spirit does speak, it speaks to the heart and doesn’t always use words. Like this instance, it had touched them, and they knew that it was from God. She told us that she had prayed and that she had felt that the spirit talked to her too.

That was pretty cool.
She went to church this Sunday and is excited about all the things that she is learning. Her family is also reading, and progressing.

We are also teaching this old lady that is going to church. She is a little weird, but she says that she prayed us there, so we are working with her to get her intergraded into the ward.

MOM-
That comparison that you gave last week about the boat and the atonement really has been on my mind this last week. As a mission we are studying the atonement and, I put that into my study journal. One of the activities that PMG gives for studying is writing a short talk. Maybe I will mail one next time that I mails stuff. Which by the way, is probably not going to happen until next week, because today we have to prepare for zone conference tomorrow. We are going to train the missionaries in the zones about the area book again, and how they can use it to plan better everyday. There is so much to prepare.

DAD-
Hey there big guy! You are gonna like the cool pictures of the trap that we made. We will also take a picture of the dead rat.
Love ya

ALYCE-
Hey goonie! Guess it will be TWO weeks without talking to you. You guys can write two letters because I might be able to read the letters another day this week, but even if I can’t, I can still spend a lot of time on the computer next week.

Well, I am off to get the chapel ready for the conference tomorrow.

Love elder helland