There was an intense rain here on Wednesday, which lasted for only about ten minutes. It just started really quickly, and we were walking on the street and had no time to run for cover, so we just kept going. My shirt pocket was filled with water by the end (like in Ace Ventura). Good times. I love Florida rain though. It's always so warm, and there's so much of it in such a small amount of time, but the sun comes out right after and you dry in about three minutes.
On Friday, I went on exchanges with our district leader, Elder Comstock. He came to my area though, and he doesn't speak Creole, so I was in charge of every lesson and harvesting and all that in my area for the day. Holy chicken, I thought I was going to die! Good thing there's the gift of tongues though. I haven't really felt it too much since being here, but that's because I've been relying on my companion a ton. But now being alone with teaching four appointments and harvesting for two hours, I relying on it a ton, and somehow I knew exactly what to say, and I could actually understand what was being said back to me. The church is true, my dear friends, because I don't know how to speak Creole! It was such a cool experience though!!
I think I'm slowly going insane. Our apartment (which consists of two other Elders, Elder Wood and Elder Bailey) decided to become Hogwarts, so we each have our own house, and we have duels and do trivia to get points. What is happening to me? Elder Wood gets super into it, and has now dressed up as Hagrid, Dumbledore, and Voldemort. I took a picture of Hagrid, just for your enjoyment.
Besides going crazy, this week was okay teaching-wise. We spent a lot of time with Elta (Tatyana's mum) trying to teach her, but she's just not receptive at all, and it's gotten to the point where she just yells at us when we go over. She finally told us that she can't drive Tatyana to church anymore, and she doesn't want us to meet with her more than once a week. We're definitely going to keep praying, but Tatyana might have to wait another four years before she can be baptized without parental permission. We'll see what happens there though. On Saturday, we found four different Haitian families though, all of whom want to be baptized and all of whom are really committed. There's a lot of potential for baptisms these next couple of weeks, which is awesome!!
Well, I love you all. The church is true, and there's no way it can't be because there's no way that we could be out here, saying the things we say and doing the things we do without help from the spirit. And I'm pretty sure we should have been killed a good 50 times by now. The Lord protects his servants, that much is certain!! Have an awesome week!! And if you have any questions, just let me know and I'll try to include them with next week's email.
Lanmou, Elder Skidmore
p.s. The other picture is of me, my companion (the other short one), Elder Wood and Elder Bailey, then Reynaldo, a really cool Haitian member who comes out and teaches with us a lot. He's leaving on his mission tomorrow to Lousiana.
