Cobra!

Hello ALL! I actually did get to catch up on my sleep small, as we had planned to go and teach that lesson, and it was only 5 PM, so I layed down to nap real quick as my companion did...and we both woke up when the other elders came up from the office at 7...so that plan failed haha, but we got to teach ALL day Friday, Saturday, so we got to find so many new people and teach a lot of lessons so we are really enjoying now. I am trying to go to sleep by like 10 now just to save some minutes and its really giving me more strength for the day :) So I am feeling a lot better now!  

And as for workouts...After that brutal one, of course we had to go back Saturday morning and we hit it hard, and just were going quick quick from workout to workout and Elder Magrangqa was like, uh guys I don't feel so hot, I need to use the bathroom...and went with his companion in a hurry back to the compound. Came to find out after our workout, the security guard told us something was wrong with the south african guy...he passed out like dead cold, twice on his way up to the apartment, so we found him just laying there in the parlor like a dead man and managed to get some food and water into him and he has been just fine but hahah...oh silly Elder M...guy gave us a scare though, but no more working out for him hahaha. 

Well...honestly, all that is haunting my mind right now is the experience we had this morning, which still is giving me the shivers. Elder Nwosu and I woke up early and went on our first jog together and went for a good 3-4 miler which was nice and woke us up good, then the whole apartment got to work cleaning up the apartment from the new missionary castastrophe, boy we can never KEEP the place clean for a week haha, but we got it all sparkling and looking good and then I got started on my personal studies when...Elder Tucker came in looking quite scared and told us he went out to the water tanks, and there was a big black snake inside the cage where the water switch is (to pump the bottom tanks to the top tanks/ essential to filling 3 of our 5 tanks. SO we are macho men of course and strong soldiers you know, stripling warriors, so we grabbed some sticks and I had my broom and we had our stones and we marched down to where he said the snake lay, well it's inside this little stone box, inside the gate to the water tanks...so Elder Tucker climbs on top and we all stand outside the gate and are trying to figure out what to do. It just loooks like a normal ol black snake, no big deal, see em all the time, even had one under the car  at one point, even had one in our house in Virginia one time, no big deal right? or so we thought... 

Elder Tucker began by spraying it with some bug spray while we sprayed it from the front...not much happening...so I gave Elder Tucker some matches and he tried doing it flamethrower style...no visible success or stirring...well, Elder Nwosu became impatient and grabbed a long 3 yard stick and stuck it through the gate and into the small cage and then jabbed at it...missed...and jabbed again. and struck hard...oh boy, did we make a mistake. THAT THING FLARED UP, fanning out and just spread out like a BEAST! and then didn't even come out the front, but ran out the side of the cage, where Elder Tucker was on top. Well, Elder Magrangqa, Nwsou and I all dropped our weapons and ran like for the apartment, while poor Elder Tucker is stuck on the cage and the thing starts hissing and holy my its like 3-5 feet long and forces Elder Tucker to retreat on top of the water tank while it is shooting at him, like lightning quick strikes trying to rip that poor Elder to shreds while we are all screaming and have no idea and are panicking out of our minds and it just keeps trying to climb the tank to essentially kill him, but fortunately the tank was too slippery and it couldn't get a grip, so we are throwing stones at it and its gets tired of him and darts at us, and man this thing is coming faster than we can run! and disappears into the bushes in front of us...and doesn't come out...and as of this moment we still have not seen it again, but it took Elder Tucker about 15 minutes to come down and run for the front gate and make his way around for the front door of our apartment, but my oh my that thing was shooting venom! It was a black Cobra, no doubt about it, and not some play play snake, and we are still paranoid about that thing 7 hours later...ah...but before we had entered the gate on our initial attack..I had stopped and said a prayer that if this was something serious that we would all be okay, so I know Heavenly Father was looking out for us...the only problem now is, its not "playing with a snake", its we HAVE to fill these tanks of water up, and there is a snake guarding it haha, so unfortuanately we still have to make frequent trips out there, so we just got as a group to watch out for each other...but small small, we will live :) 

Then, got to go out and play sweet sweet football and I had a great time. Have so much energy today, I was just bouncing around the field and ah, the ball just felt like my buddy today and was like glue to my feet, so it was nice experience and even after 2 hours of it I was just so pumped that I went home and just did pushups and pullups and handstands and now I'm still energized, which is surprising...guess I'll crash soon hahaha. but nice p-day, so excited to go out teaching again this week and we certaainly had many miracles even through our 2 days of proselyting. funny how our efforts turned out. We didn't teach for like 2 weeks really and had 1 investigator at sacrament meeting....then we get to go out for 2 full days and have 6 at sacrament meeting, so I know the Lord is mindful of us and doubling our small efforts to make a big difference!:) The gospel is so sweet and I just have such a great testimony of our Lord and Savior and all that he has done for us.... 

Something that has been bothering me about the people we teach, and definitely is building my patience and tolerance and love, is that they just don't understand apostasy or restoration. They know it, they learn it, and they will tell you its true, and can quote it back to you, but still think they can go to their own church and everything is fine, which just makes me sad. During one lesson with a woman in which we taught the whole restoration, spirit was there, lesson was sweet, accepted a baptismal invitation, and then told us she couldn't come to church Sunday because she had an activity at her church...what? let me get this straight? okay its straight! So, with righteous indignation (as my Professor at BYU loved to talk about in defending all of the Greek heroes of mythology) I was able to tell her how it was, and it was actually a pleasant experience. I have spent a lot of my mission promising blessings, which is beautiful and nice,but I have noticed in the scriptures that is not all the prophets do, they promise blessings, and also promise the consequences of not obeying, which is kinda promising condemnation, or helping understand the steps to it at least, but I know that if we follow the spirit and do it the Lord's way then the work will be done the right way :) PMG (Preach My Gospel) all the way. 

Something I am working on personally at the moment is my thoughts. I don't have immoral or non-virtuous thoughts or anything like that, but just was reading a book "As a Man Thinketh" in the apartment, last night, and it really hit me. I want to become the master of my thoughts and thus control everything else that happens. Is it the time to be thinking that? Does thinking about that aid me in anyway? Why does it matter? why should it take my time? what does it mean to my progression in anyway. Is it worth thinking about? is it worth worrying about? It's been a sweet experience just today alone trying to master it and always think, okay well why am I thinking about that. How important is that? and its just sweet, don't know how to explain it, yeah I'im ranting, what's new, carrying on. 

and what the weather craziness is going on back home, really? it honestly sounds like the Day After Tomorrow or something is going on back home, even the Lauritzens did not have an easy time getting home...took em a couple days :/ we sure do miss them.... 

Have another great week ahead of us and really excited for the work. Have many progressing investigators and even if we didn't I just feel great! Just going out and testifying and doing my best. as I just focus on doing my best, my peace and serenity really increase. I can't control people's agency, I can only go out and do my very best, if they accept, great and I'm very happy. If they don't, I'm working on that part about still being happy :) I just want it to develop kind of into my football mentality. When I play a game, I don't care about the outcome, just that I did my best. If we lose, no problem, as long as I did my best I'll celebrate more than if we win 7-0 and I play terrible. I don't know if thats the right attitude to have...hahaha but, its worth a shot :) I love you all so very much and I have talked far too much, just want to leave my testimony that we all have angels watching over us, and sadly, we have more and more everyday going to the spirit world, but we have more family enter everyday as well, so as our present hosts continue to bless us, and our spirt world friends watch over us, our friendships and relationships only increase to bless our lives as we continue on...something like that right?! :) love you all 


Love, 
Jesse 
Elder Sumrak