Ninja Wars

Okay, so I have been a little afraid to post this story, but I'm going to post it and hope that I don't get in too much trouble.

Over the past year and a half, I have been trying to make the elders feel as comfortable as I can in my home.  They have their own apartment with a separate entrance and separate driveway, so if they want to come and go with out being bothered, they can.  There are some missionaries who interact more than others.  Now I think I have finally broken down some small barriers and that's a good thing.  Here's what's been happening.  Remember back with Elder U and Elder B2?  They came charging into the apartment one night when I was doing some touch-up work on the wall (see post on 9/11/2011).  That opened the door for me and I took the chance.  I have randomly taken the opportunity to leave little reminders in the apartment. It will usually be something little like a glow in the dark alien or ninja figure (no bigger than an inch).  The ninjas go in the refrigerator -of course, because they are cool. ha ha ha. 

Anyway, on occasion, I have seen odd little things hanging on pictures or lamps etc.  It's the elders way of returning my little reminders.  The Easter Bunny even left Nerf guns in their baskets on Easter so we had a battle with my nephews one day. 

I guess somewhere along the way it came to be known as the Ninja Wars. I guess you could say there was a big battle last week. Remember, last week was Mother's Day and that's one of the rare days when the missionaries get to call their families.  So while one elder was talking with his family, the other elder had a little free time.  They had a dinner appointment at 5pm and we had family dinner about the same time, so we left for my sister's house and left the missionaries to lock up the house.  That's fine, but when we got home there were ninjas, flamingos and aliens all over the house.  Those elders move fast!  But the coolest was the picture of my nephews (notice the picture at the top of this blog) had post-it notes with the elders' names on them.  I loved it.  Anyone in a leadership role or otherwise who takes offense to this story, please understand that I totally encouraged this behavior and it doesn't take away from time that could be spent on missionary work. 

Transfers were Wednesday and, as expected, Elder B has been transferred.  He will be district leader in his new area.  I know he will be awesome.  The hard part is that he is assigned to an area that starting in July will be part of a brand new mission.  Yup, you got it, he is no longer in our mission.  That makes me kind of sad, you get to know these guys and then they get transferred and don't come up to report on their week.  Welcome to Elder U from Pennsylvania.  Elder U has been out about 9 months, in fact he was companions with Elder W while at the MTC.  Pretty cool huh?

So, this was not a very spiritually motivating post this week, but I thought you might like to read about the human side of our elders.

As always, remember to be awesome this week.  I will try to do the same, though some weeks are harder than others.  Share the gospel with someone this month, they will be blessed for your efforts and so will you.