Elder Garret West: Elder Pugs

Great scripture this week that's stuck in my mind. "And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer. And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth." Mosiah 27:36-37

I am officially out of the Gila Valley. It was sad to say goodbye to a place I put so much of myself into. I loved the people, the missionaries, everything. I had a good hug with Elder Brown before I left, it was good being his companion. I have to say, it was harder leaving the Gila than it was leaving home (sorry mom). I can't imagine what it'll be like once I have to leave the mission... I try not to think about it.

I received my new companion Elder Pugmire this week! He is in Tucson waiting for a visa before going to Mexico. We don't know how long he'll be here, but we get along great so I'll take Elder Pugs as long as I can!

We are in a "car share" area, so every other week we will have a car (which will be nice during hot weeks), but I'm looking forward to riding a bike again. Unfortunately I let other missionaries use my bike tools and other bike stuff which seemed to have been "lost" or stolen. So I'm back to square one having to buy tools and stuff... Oh well, that's the bike life.

One funny thing that happened this week.

We went to our missionary district council meeting in East Tucson at a church building on Wednesday as usual. When we entered the chapel one hallway was covered in some sort of dust or vapor seemed to fill the room. It wasn't smoke, because it settled like flour on the floor. It was white and stung our throats when we would breathe in. Eventually we found a fire extinguisher on the roof. Some chalk boards had some explicit images drawn on them. We learned later in the week that some teenager took a fire extinguisher and put the dry solution in the ventilation of the church building. Eventuality it was cleaned up by some very kind members. Apparently a few weeks ago the building was tagged twice so there has been some vandalism going on in the neighborhood. We will see what happens in the future, but that's Tucson for ya. 🙁

Work wise ... we are doing our best to get in the door and begin the missionary work in this area. We have met some great people out here but unfortunately they not very committal. Wish us luck on the bikes this week!

Love Elder West