So I lied about Wellsville. When I talked about it I forgot about the YSA branch. Wellsville is not the largest area in the mission. While it is an extremely large area, it's actually the 2nd largest in the mission. The YSA is larger. Mostly because it overlaps a bunch of units which makes it understandable that it would be larger. It's about 100 miles tall and 30 miles across. Give or take. Basically, we do a TON of driving. The YSA elders when I first got out here had an unlimited mile truck. But they switched that to the mission van for whatever reason. The mission is allowed 3 cars that are unlimited miles. Currently it's the President's car, the Mission Van (They use that to pick up elders from the airport) and the AP's truck. Anyway, we go through a ton of miles and spend a lot of time driving.
So our district is pretty big again. Which is sweet. No senior couples though. We've got Elder Whatcott and I, Sister McLaren & Sister Stoddard, Elder Jones & Alt, Elder Cramer & Fieseler.
Elder Whatcott is from San Diego California. If I keep getting these Californian companions, I'm really going to want to move there. Geeze! He is super solid. Good guy. Wants to work hard. Everyone in the YSA loves him. #WhatcottProbs is an often used hashtag in the YSA.
Sister McLaren and Sister Stoddard are actually the Clarence Sisters and the YSA sisters. Their main focus is the Amherst Ward (Clarence area) but they also assist in YSA. Lucky for them. They get to have like 8 hours of church on Sunday. But they are solid. Sister McLaren is a genius with the scriptures and an amazing pianist. Sister Stoddard loves shopping and shoes. She is also an amazing pianist and singer.
Elder Jones, Alt, Cramer and Fieseler are in Amherst. I don't know a whole lot about them yet. Cramer is a stud though. I like him. We've talked a lot before.
So Wednesday we got to go to UB (University of Buffalo) and set up a booth in their commons area. Super sick. I walk in and there is like 100's of people getting food and going from class to class. Music was blasting (It wasn't Mo-Tab. Oh well. Tender Mercies). We set up a booth and got to hand out cards. We can ask them if they want a card and we can answer questions if they start talking to us. But we can't proselyte. But I went to town handing out cards. It was fun. The sisters were with us too. When I first walked in and the music was blasting, Elder Whatcott turned to me and said "Welcome to Babylon." I didn't hesitate in replying, "I love Babylon!"
So we had lunch with a member of the YSA branch. His name is Jordan. He actually is cousins to Josh Boardman a kid I know from school. It's a small world when you're a mormon. Jordan is awesome. He also came on a teaching appointment with us. He is studying nutrition and stuff. Getting his masters. Solid guy. He helps a lot in the YSA.
So we are out street contacting outside of UB south campus. We are on public property so we are good! But we are talking to a ton of YSA aged peeps. I walk up to this one girl and her boyfriend. Start talking to them. Briefly explain. Give them our phone number. Think nothing of it and just keep contacting. An hour later she calls: "How do I join your church?" I think my jaw hit the ground. We talked to her for a bit and tried to convince her to go to Mormon.org because she googled mormon and got the usual polygamy stuff. She called *67 (which is reasonable) so we don't have her number. Hopefully she calls back and/or comes to church!
Institute!! YSA just always has activities. It's fantastic! Of course they have their weekly institute class. Right now they are going over the Presidents of the Church. It starts with a dinner. Then class. Then dessert. Then we play soccer/some sorta activity. Super fun! We did like this 3 on 3 soccer that Leo was running. Because he's from South America and loves soccer.
Speaking of Leo, he is awesome! He is a Recent Convert. He is also just such a go-getter which is awesome. We went over to teach him some more about church history because he felt like he didn't know much and wanted to know. It was an AMAZING lesson. It was more of a tutoring session than a lesson. We just went over some of the information, he asked questions, we explained them. He even pulled out his phone and was googling the info himself. Taking notes!! We just guided him through the basics of the church. PLUS, he fed us sushi. Which was awesome. He loves sushi. And I love sushi. Which is great! Whatcott had only had it like once before but he seemed to enjoy it. AND He has a pug. I freakin' love pugs. His name is Cocoa-Lee (I don't know how to spell it). But freakin' adorable!
We also got a referral for the spanish elders from street contacting. It's been nice because it warmed up to 45 degrees so people were actually out and about!
Matt is our progressing investigator. The guy is such a stud. Basically he looks exactly like Matt Boonmee from back home. And his name is Matt too! He is ready for baptism, just has to clear up a few things first. But knows the Church is true. Is almost finished with the Book of Mormon. Comes every week! Just a stud.
Niall is our other progressing investigator. He's a little bit older. Like 24 or something. He is a genius. He is like the think tank for his company that does stuff for the military. Right now they are designing thermo regulating vests for helicopter pilots. To keep them warm or cool. Pretty much a genius. He has lots of questions. He has finished the Book of Mormon. He came to church. Has tons of potential. Just got to get him more comfortable with the doctrine. But he was like helping explain things during Gospel Principles. It was fantastic!
On Saturday we went to a little St. Patrick's Day parade party. Had breakfast. Chilled. Then went to the parade. The parade was basically just a ton of people using the excuse to get drunk ha! Every single float seemed to be pointless and just had 5 - 10 people on it completely wasted. Then everyone in the crowd was wasted. BUT it is the 3rd largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the nation. Pretty fun. Pretty funny! Peter in the branch got kissed by a random drunk girl.ha!
Funny quote from District Meeting: "I can take you!" Sister Stoddard talking to Elder Jones.
So the Amherst ward (same building) was having this fund raiser for scouts. They were selling pies and it was a pizza dinner. So the Bishop had all 8 of us come and eat. Which was dope. Then the Scout leader had us bid on pies on his tab. Which was super sweet. I didn't want to spend too much so we lucked out and only bought a pie for $35. Which was one of the lower end ones. But he also had the other 3 sets buy a pie each. Basically we just kept bidding to run up prices on the pies. It was all a fund raiser and everyone was rich so it wasn't a bad thing. Everyone thought it was fun :)
As far as church on Sunday, both Matt and Niall came. Super dope. It's about the size of Wellsville but each is their own individual family units. So it seems bigger. Rather than the branch being 3 families. It's weird being in the Stake Center for a small branch though. But it's fun!
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