Dear everyone!Wow. What a tremendous week! Full of incredible experiences and some reacquainting with past acquaintances. This area is turning out to be filled with a lot of fun and a lot of new experiences. Just when you thought you had seen it all as a missionary they send you somewhere and you realize how little you actually know and have actually experienced.
First things first, I met a couple of people that knew me from way back in the day. It was a really funny experience watching them connect my name to my face. We were having a family home evening at the Karrens home and we get through the whole evening without anything happening and then at the end of the night they offered to send some of the leftovers home with us, (which we were very grateful for because it was the end of the month and we had no food or money for lunches) so while they were packing up some of the food one of the moms looks at my face and then my tag and then my face and then my tag and then she shouts out to the other mom and they both make the connection and start talking about our little family of blonde heads! :) Then the husbands come in and they make the connection for them and once they have the connection they both agree that they can see it! We talk about our family for a little bit and they talk about our family 16 years ago. Luckily no embarrassing stories came out. Just a lot of compliments about how incredible my mom is! I already knew that! We took a picture and I told them to send it home so mom could wake up to it in the morning. Hopefully you got it and I haven't forgotten your phone number. Overall it was a very cool connection and I can't wait until it happens again. It's a little bit strange when you meet people who know you but you have no idea who they are. Good thing missionaries live for awkward situations.
Second cool experience was with our investigator. If you remember my letter last week I talked about him and his family. We met with them again on Thursday and we were able to set a baptism date with him! We sit down and start to talk with him and his family again and he pulls out a list of questions that he has wrote down. They were so sincere and all of them were asking if I am a member of your church can I still do this with my family. What if I need to spend some time with family and can't make it to church? What if I have work during the week and I can't make it to mutual? From what he was asking we could tell that he was really thinking about being a member of the church so we told him right there that at this point we normally set a date with people for when they want to be baptized. He was so excited! He was so happy that he got to pick a date for when he could be baptized. It was such a great evening! I can't wait to see him continue to progress and get to know him even better. The spirit of love in the home is so amazing! I as so happy that I got to meet this family. They are so kind and so supportive of one another. There is also this little bit of joking that goes on between them that reminds me of our family. They love to be around each other and they know how to have a good time together. Love at home!
Last thing. I live with the Tongan elders now and they are so much fun! I am having a ton of fun being around them and serving with them. They are so sincere. I have fallen in love with the Polynesian people! They are so kind and they are an incredible example of being humble. I have learned a lot about how to forget about myself and being ready to give everything I have to others. I have seen how they all look out for one another and they really are one big family that love and care for each other.
Well that's my week! It has been amazing! This area is awesome! I still miss Stanford and all the incredible people up in the Menlo park zone but the Lord needs me here now and I am happy to serve and love these people!
Take care! I love you all! Keep up the good work!
Love, Elder Maxwell
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