Hey all you dirty beach pirates! I love you all. Thank you all for being rad coast dwellers. It makes my soul happy to see the boards, the sunburns, the ocean hair and pure love for life. I don't think you understand how much I wish I could have been there with you. You are...pretty much the best family I could ever ask for, no joke, and you can bet your bottom dollar I will join you in the future ocean adventures. I can't wait to eat good food, surf, hit up all the local shops, skate, experience Z-boy nostalgia, play on random beach playgrounds and resist Mom when she tells me to shave off my sunbleached, dirty beach beard (mom, you have a year to learn to accept it). Good times ahead.
So rewinding back to the recent past, here's this week's deets:
Monday was super trunky. Why? Other than the emails which made me want to go run and jump into the ocean, at night....I met some incredible friends. It was late, and we were just about to walk into our flat when I heard the old good sound of a pack of longboards wheels on the cracky pavement. There were 4 of them, 1 girl named Hermione, and 3 boys. I didnt give any extra notice, until I noticed the kind of boards they were riding (Rayne Demonseed, Comet Voodoo and 2 Loaded boards), and that the girl was wearing a legit backpacking set-up. They stopped on the other side of the street from our house, so I had to go over and talk to them. Turns out...they are all super legit longboarders!! And...they knew about Adam Colton and Orangatang, and Longtreks and bacially everything else that is awesome. Instant click, best friends, and our discussion opened up into a whole new world of skate talk that I havent had in over a year. We talked about local places to bomb hills, their training for their next Longboard trek up to Amsterdam, news in the downhill world and...yeah they let me ride their boards. In my missionary get-up, I got to shred down the street a couple times and I felt some freedom flow back into me. It was the best feeling ever.
So now, I have super good friends my age that live across the street from me, and they even asked me to go boarding with them. Investigator sports?
Life was extra good that day.
After Zone meeting we made a zone-wide video making fun of the PMG District dvds. I acted in it as the new, super naive missionary that wanted to baptize the world, and afterwards I got to edit the whole video. Haha this video is super funny, basically making fun of all the stereotypes in the mission. Fun stuff.
I went on exchange with Elder White, a super chill kid from Utah that used to skate. We get along really well, and we worked hard.
It was crazy foggy and misty this week!! It seriously looked like a zombie apocolypse.
Official year mark. So I kept the tradition strong and burned a shirt. Felt good to be a pyro
More garden service
We refound an old investigator named Stephan, and things are looking good! He loves Bob Marley and is super chill and down to earth. He even commited to coming to church! Let's go Stephan.
Church was suprisingly good. Two of our less actives that we have been working really hard with showed up! That made me really happy. Two investigators, David and Ethan, also showed up, which made me even more happy! I gave a talk about the Plan of Salvation, which I turned more into the doctrines of premortal life and intelligence. It was fun to dig a bit deeper, and already have had some good responses. After 4 months of hard work and love, I truly feel part of the ward now, and there is some major mutual trust built up. I love these people, and it will be sad to leave them.
Every area where we dwell, we should make a difference.
This came to mind yesterday, and these are my greatest joys that I've experienced and been a part of in Barrow:
Our beloved Connie is now going to the temple this weekend to do confirmations. She has come such a long way.
The Bishop has gained much more confidence, resulting in better leadership.
The Kents have come back to full activity.
I am grateful that these people let me into their lives, and I am grateful for Heavenly Father's hand in this work. I will remember this forever.
Well everyone, I love you all. Thank you for all the support and love and music that you have sent to me. Keep on being rad, keep on being elegant beach pirates, and keep on living life. Peace out familia
Elder BA
p.s. Ghost on the Shore is now the soundtrack of my life
Zombie Apocalypse
Burning of the shirt:
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