Tornadoes, Christmas and Bathtubs

Hey Y'all,

Final Christmas in the FTM!  Crazy to think that this is the last few days of 2015.  Anyway this week was pretty good.  We started off on Monday with a visit to a less active and his non member brother the McGovern's.  Super legit guys.  They took us to a philly cheesesteak joint and bought us dinner.  Super great.  Best part is the non member brother is opening up to us and will stay around for the lessons now!  Just got to keep nudging him in the right direction.  Tuesday and Wednesday were a lot of finding times.  Highlight definitely had to be with Dorothy Lee though.  Got dinner from her and she fully committed to live the Word of Wisdom!  She dumped out all of her coffee and threw away her coffee pot and gave away all of her alcohol!  That's what I am talking about!  Thursday we did a ton of planning and then went to a family's house for Christmas eve festivities!  I think I am fully prepared for being the jungle gym part of fatherhood after that night.  hahaha  We got picked up by the Harris' after and went and stayed the night with the Perdido Elders, Elder Peel, and Hildebrandt. (For those of you keeping track at home that is not one but two Christmas' on the mission with Elder Hildebrant!)  Partied until 2 AM.  Regretted that decision for the next couple of days.

Christmas was pretty good.  Got some very thoughtful gifts and a breakfast with the senior couple and some military personnel. Super cool guys.  Came home and made some cookies to give to the Kanupke's for letting me skype at their house.  Then talked to my family.  Pretty great ending to Christmas.

Saturday was a lot more finding time as almost everything we had fell through.  That is not the most fun but hey it makes for some good stories.  Sunday was just about the same as most Sunday's.  Hahaha So this morning we had a tornado spotted in our area and a member told us to take shelter in our bathrooms for safety.  This is during personal study so naturally the right thing to do is grab food, water, pillow, blankets and the scriptures and have a nice bath tub personal study hahaha.  I will leave you with that picture.  Have a great week Y'all!  Talk to you next year!

-- 

Elder Funk

Remember who you are and what HE stands for!

Christmas Eve party!​  

Hunkering down during personal study

Christmas Parties in Coke Pajamas

December 21, 2015

Hey Y'all!

Good week this week.  Not a whole ton of missionary work happened this week but it was definitely a spiritual week.  Tuesday we were able to go bring some happiness and joy to people through the realm of music and caroling.  

Then we came home to house a couple of elders (Elder Ellsworth and Elder Renslow) for the Christmas Conference the next day.  Ellsworth brought me a present!  A pair of Coca Cola PJ pants.  hahaha people must think I am addicted to Coca cola or something.  Wednesday we had our 1/2 mission Christmas Conference.  It was great I got to hang out with my MTC companion, Elder Richardson, for 6 hours! 

Came home and went to dinner with a less active.  Thursday we went out with Brother Forster and ended up getting a turkey lunch and I was so tired after that.  Then just weekly planning for the evening.

Friday we did a lot of planning and work for the genealogy library.  On our walk home we ran into a man, Melvin, again.  We ran into him a couple of weeks ago and had a good visit and then invited us to his home for Christmas dinner cause we had no plans as of that point.  Super cool guy.  Saturday we visited with a couple of great less actives and then had our ward Christmas party.  It was a good time filled with much great food.  We had several less active members attend.  

Sunday was a good day at church and a very spiritual sacrament meeting.  It brought tears to my eyes.  If anyone didn't feel the spirit there then.....well we don't have to worry about that because the spirit was there.  Anyway I hope Y'all have a Merry Christmas and remember the true reason for the season!

"Men are that they might have joy" AKA Coca Cola

Hey Y'all,

How is everyone's holiday season starting out?  Great?  I hope so.  Well for us here in sunny Florida it is definitely warm.  It has been in the 70's or 80's all week.  I will start with Tuesday this week.  We had our zone training meeting and it went fairly well.  I was told that I was the weirdest missionary from our senior couple while we were taking our zone pictures....from my understanding weird means the star of the show.  haha So then we went out to try to contact a few referrals that we got to find that none of them were home or that they actually weren't interested.  Such is the life of a missionary.  Had a great dinner with a recently married couple who moved out here because of his military stationing.  They showed us a picture of when he proposed to her....yeah he tried to use fireworks and ended up setting a mountain on fire.  It was in Utah earlier this year.  hahaha made for a great story and picture.  

Wednesday we had a really productive day working with less active's.  We met with one woman, Sister Kupfer, who has been out of the church for a few years but is going to be coming back.  She always has a lot to say but has such a great spirit about her.  Thursday we went out biking to go try to contact some less active's and ended up on Joy street.  Guess where Joy street led to......The Coca Cola Factory!  So yeah Joy (street) comes from Coca Cola.  Other than that not a whole lot happened that day.  

Friday was just a day of trying people who weren't home and Saturday we had another super great spiritual lesson with brother Ramos.  Hopefully he will desire to come back to church this week with his family.  

Sunday was a wonderful day.  We had church and then after were able to take the sacrament to a couple in the hospital, give a blessing to one of the sisters investigators, and give another blessing to a woman in a different hospital.  It is days like that where our numbers don't show that we did anything but for those people we made all of the difference in the world.  I live for days like that.  It is one of the greatest parts about being a missionary.  So ya I hope y'all have a great week this week and if you haven't watched "Why we need a Savior" on Christmas.mormon.org.  I highly recommend that you do that this week.  Such a powerful video the church has put out.  BYE!

Preparing for Jesus' Birthday

Hey Y'all,

So nothing to exciting right off the top of the head so I will just go ahead and share my week.  Tuesday we went and tried to teach this one guy who just turned everything we said into a reason that we are wrong.  Yeah so I didn't care much for that lesson.  Wednesday we had everything fall through but we were able to go take a picture of a "Happy Birthday Jesus" scene in someone's yard and then talk with them for an hour so I loved that.  Then we went caroling with the youth.  Fun stuff.  Thursday was pretty uneventful.  Things falling through again and ended the night doing more caroling with a couple in our ward and then heading to Pace on a tradeopoff

Friday in Pace we got to see a lot of people but then got held up by a Indian guy cause we knocked on his neighbor's door (not his door but his neighbor's) at 6:40.  That is too late to be working....so we had to call President Smith to get this guy off of our backs.  People these days....can't trust anyone.  Saturday we helped a member drop off some mattresses at Sleep Number that they would never pick up from his house.  Then went to the church and had a lesson with a couple that went well.

Sunday....Sunday fun day!  Went to church and after we got a message from the Stake Executive Secretary asking us to help out a counselor in the Stake Presidency so we did and ended up driving all around Pensacola only to be locked out of the Stake Building trying to help him.  It's was for a good cause though so it worth it.  Then had a super spiritual lesson with a less active, Harold Ramos.  Got a call from the sisters wanting us to give one of the people they were working with a blessing and when we got there they only wanted a prayer.....awkward.  Watched the Christmas devotional to end the night.  Wonderful devotional!  So spiritual and I learned so much!!!!  I would encourage all who missed it to go watch it!  I hope y'all have a great week!

Deep Friend Golden Brown Greenie

Hey y'all,

Hope y'all had a happy thanksgiving full of wonderful food.  This week for me was a wonderful week.  Monday we helped a less active put up Christmas lights and he gave us money to go out and get a super delicious pizza.  Tuesday, we packed and road tripped to Tallahassee.  On our way there we had to go to the bathroom so we pulled off to do so.  It just so happened that the exit we took was the exit it Bonifay!  hahaha I wonder how that happened ;)  Took a little detour and got to see Father (LD) Henderson!  We knocked on the front door and Tanya answered and said, "Elder Funk!  You are not the missionaries we were expecting"  hahaha Come to find out that they were feeding the sister missionaries that night....awkward....So we stayed and chatted for a few minutes and got to meet the sisters in Bonifay and talk with them.  Great time.  So glad that I got to see LD again.  I miss him like crazy!  Anyway, we continued on to Tally and slept over with some other missionaries.  

Wednesday, it was a long morning.  After much agonizing pain and "labor" I am now the proud father of Elder Magnusson.  haha He is from just outside of Sacramento, California.  Funny part is he served a mini-mission in Santa Rosa, California and then got reassigned to here so he came pre-trained!  hahaha I knew there was a catch behind me training ;)  He is a great guy and all ready to dive into the work.  We road tripped back and did some teaching and ended the night going to a member's to see if they would come to a lesson with us and we ended up getting voluntold that we are going to be playing the ukulele in accompanying the youth in Christmas caroling on Wednesday this week.  So they gave us a ukulele to practice.  I have been jamming on that thing all week.

Thursday, We started the day helping Brother Kanupke deep fry a turkey for thanksgiving!  Those things are the best!  Not the healthiest but definitely the best turkey I have ever had.  We had a good lunch with them and a few others and then Brother McGovern, a less active, came and took us to his house to eat with his brothers.  Funniest dinner appointment ever.  Five guys in one room.  Conversations get interesting hahaha.  

Friday, we went out and worked.  Nothing too special.  We did the same thing Saturday.  Yesterday we had a good time at church.  I had the privilege of teaching Sunday School about the Second Coming.  So I just turned to the book of Revelations and read a few things and  just talked a lot about that.  Priesthood got interesting with a couple of the brothers getting a little political and then getting called out by a member.  hahaha good times.  After church we didn't get too much done but it was a fun day.  So yeah  great week.  Hope y'all have a great week this week and are grateful for all that we have been given.  I know I am definitely more grateful after this week and every week on my mission.  I love y'all and pray for ya daily.

Love,

Elder Funk

Remember who you are and what HE stands for!  

(gobble Gobble) Lol

Hey Y'all,

Sorry about the lack of an email last week.  I forgot about it until they kicked me off so I am making sure to get on and send this one today.  So this week was pretty good.  Tuesday we were able to teach almost all day so that was wonderful.  We set a BCD with an investigator, Mamie.  Super great spiritual lesson with her at the church about the Plan of Salvation.  Wednesday was another day full of teaching and another super spiritual Plan of Salvation lesson.  We taught from 2 Nephi 2 about the Fall of Adam and Eve and how it was necessary and Miss Hill told us that she knew that that was true but could never find where it said that in the Bible.  So we were able to help her realize the importance of the Book of Mormon.  Wonderful!

Thursday we helped a member work on his house.  Super great member and he really needed it so we had no problem spending a good amount of time over there.  Fridaywe did a lot of finding and weekly planning.  Saturday we were on the bikes a lot more and able to go see several people and get a lot of work done.

Sunday was a wonderful day.  Went to church and then came home for some work and went out to see all of our plans fall through so we were going to local members in the area that we hadn't really met and had two really great spiritual experiences with them.  One is a less active member who hasn't been to church in years but was more than happy to welcome us in and right before we were about to leave she opened up to us about everything for 40 minutes.  So grateful that we were able to stay a few minutes more than we thought and have that experience with her.  Ended the night with transfer calls......(drum roll please).........I will be staying in Pensacola and will be training a new missionary!  I am going to be a father!  I am interested to see how that is going to work out hahaha but it will be a great experience.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I will end with a line from President Smith that hit me hard these past couple of weeks:

No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.

-- 

Elder Funk

Remember who you are and what HE stands for!

​FA-18 Hornet (Blue Angel) in a bottle a member made for me.​

​I found Gossner's Milk!  ​

Genealogy and Ping Pong

Hey y'all,

Pretty good week here in Florida.  Tuesday we went on trade offs.  I got to hang out with our District Leader, Elder Hildebrandt.  Super great time!  We picked up the Bishop's son and went out to help this elderly woman fix a security camera on her house.  We found out the problem and told her we would come back the next day to finish fixing it.  We went out to lunch and then saw a couple other people.  Had dinner and then dropped some paperwork off to the sisters at the church where they were having institute and there was a ping pong table so naturally we played a couple games.  Wednesday we finished fixing that camera and went and saw a few less actives and got them working on coming back to church.  One, Dorothy Lee, was able to come to church!  So exciting!

Thursday we went out with Brother Forster to see a couple of people and had a good time with him and got some giant slices of pizza.  Friday we did some family history at the college genealogy library.  We were able to find some records for a woman who was looking for her great grandmothers death date.  We found the article in the paper about it and it was such a great experience.  Saturday was a rough day.  We had great plans for the day and then everything fell through.  Oh well it makes for good stories right? 

Sunday was a pretty good day.  Church is always such a great blessing.  I love when the speakers are able to give wonderful personal experiences and testimonies on the subject that they are speaking on.  It makes the meetings so much better!  Well as always I bid you farewell until we meet again.  Live long and prosper!

Stuck in a Halloween night fort

Sup Y'all,

This week be pretty good.  Super quick but good. Tuesday the sisters had a baptism for their investigator which was great!  Baptisms are always fun to be apart of.  Prior to that we had our plans fell through and we heard of a cool 1500's replica ship that was docked in the bay so we went and looked at that for a while.  Super cool.  I'll try to send a picture of it. Wednesday we went out and did a lot of less active work and finding.  Got some good work done there.  Thursday was a very fattening day.  We had a member take us to a buffet and then an hour later we had a potential investigator, Robbin, take us out to eat.  He wanted to go to Golden Corral.... So we settled on Whataburger.  Then we had a member drop of Pizza to us an hour later.  So yeah.

Friday we went to go help a member clean out his gutters and fix a whole in his roof.  So he started by taking us to a buffet.  Then I got up on the roof and cleaned out the gutters and started to repair his roof.  The rubber tar stuff that he gave me started to get on my hands and I ended up stuck to the roof.  I may or may not have pulled of some of his shingling things.  So after cleaning up from that we went to the ward Halloween party.  Chili for days!

Saturday we biked out to go see a couple of people and got some solid work done for a couple of hours but then my bike decided to give up on me.  Flat tire again so we walked the 3 miles home.  Then we went to the mall to contact people and I got some peanut butter cups in case any children came to our door.  (They didn't so I got to eat them all hahahaha)  We were in at 6:00 so naturally the right thing to do with all of that time is to take all of my companions and my mattress's and box springs and build a giant fort.  Good times.

Sunday we had church and a giant meal with a less active.  Went out to try to see some more less active's who apparently moved.  Oh well.  We will find them sooner or later.  So yeah that be my week.  Have a great week!  Live long and prosper!

-- 

Elder Funk

Remember who you are and what HE stands for!

October 26

Y'all be trippin!

It be Monday y'all!  Wonderful day!  Well you are here so I will give you a quick replay of a week in the life of Elder Funk.  

Monday=P-day not much get done.  Tuesday=go out with President Smith and try to teach about family history and baptism.  Not go so well.  It okay though he still take us to dinner.  Wednesday=road trip to Niceville to see a doctor then go work with less active members.  

Thursday=Attempted bike time.  Flat tire means return home, repair and try again.  It work second time.  Friday=weekly plan and family history.  Saturday=More attempted bike time.  Flat tire means return home, repair and try again.  Second time the charm right?  Go out flat tire 4 miles from home makes for long walk of shame home only to get picked up by a stranger and taken home! yay!  

Sunday=two investigators to church and one (Miss Mamie [may me]) is going to come to the ward Halloween party and bring food.  Potential new member?  I think yes!  Then go meet some new less actives or at least meet the house where they used to live.  Still fun.  Now we have much rain fall from the sky and make everything wet.  Fun to drive through less fun to walk in.  

Well if you would like more information on a week in the life of Elder Funk either email him, write him, or most importantly join us next week for another brand new week!  Love y'all have a great week!

Burning Hot and Sacrament Talk

Sup Y'all,

Well this week was pretty good and fast.  Monday we went and played glow golf.  (glow in the dark mini golf)  I still have my skills as a putter.  They are still non existent.  hahaha.  Tuesday we had our usual meetings and went out and did some finding. 

 Wednesday was another fun finding day.  (Idiotic moment of the week:  I turned the stove top on to cook lunch and wasn't sure if I turned the right one on so without thinking I touched it and burned a few of my fingers.  You would think I'd learned that lesson as a kid.....)  So yeah that kind of sucked.  

Thursday we went out with Brother Foster and he took us to get Krispy Kreme to take to a lesson and then took us out to lunch.  Such an awesome member.  We then did a bunch of biking to people's houses and were coming home for dinner and stopped by a member's house to see how he was recovering from surgery and it turns out we were an answer to his prayers.  He isn't allowed to lift heavy objects so we helped him out and he got us dinner and frosties!  

Friday and Saturday were a lot more biking and trying to find people to teach.  As fun as that sounds when the temperature decides suddenly to spike up to almost 90 degrees again it isn't as fun.  

Sunday was a wonderful day though.  So Elder Ellsworth and I were to give talks about missionary work.  I decided to give mine as a rebuking of the ward into missionary work.  Well wouldn't you know it.  President and Sister Smith walk into the meeting 5 minutes before it starts.  The talk went super well and was received really well.  We had a couple on investigators there and are going to see one of them with President Smith on Tuesday so if any of you want to pray for that it sure would be appreciated.  We then had interviews with President Smith during the priesthood hour and got to spend a bit longer with him and Sister Smith than normal.  What a wonderful blessing that was.  The spirit and love that they have is incredible!  That short visit gave us so much motivation and desire to work and we are looking to run with that.  

I hope y'all have a great week!  Don't touch burners that are on!

High as a kite with a Frosty

Y'all Homies!

How is life everyone?  Wonderful!  Kind of a longer week here but a good week none the less.  Monday we played some volleyball with the zone.  Super fun stuff.  Tuesdaywas a lot less active finding and we ended up buying some pizza and taking it to a less active's for dinner.  That is one way to get into the door.  Not the cheapest but it tastes good.  Wednesday we had a good time working to find people to teach.  

Thursday we had a family history booth on the campus of Pensacola State College.  Not too successful and we had the wimpiest bash ever.  hahaha this guy came up and in such a nervous voice tried to bash six missionaries.  He walked away very quickly once he realized what he was up against.  hahaha.  Friday we helped a less active move and played some floorball (in door hockey).  Tiring day. 

Saturday we had a nice day.  We had a church tour with Cathy and then helped set up a wedding.  (quick side story: they had balloons and one of the women let a couple of them go and so I stood on a ladder and got a pole and got two of them down but the third was at the highest point in the building so naturally we put the ladder on a table and I got onto the second to top step and got the balloon down.  Smartest idea I've had? No.  Worst Idea I've had? definitely not.  sorry no picture of it though)  Then we biked to a less active's house to meet them and they invited us to meet the family and have some party food while they were watching football, baseball, and hockey.  I am not mad though.  

Sunday we found a lot of people who weren't home and visited a member who had surgery Monday. So here is how it all goes down.  We get there and he needs to go to the post office to drop some stuff off so he asks us to ride with him.  We get in the car and he says he wants a frosty.  Not thinking anything of it I say "you know brother Kimball the last time you wanted ice cream and we were with you on a Sunday we ended up getting ice cream (the ice cream was from a church function).  Now I am just waiting for a frosty to just magically appear in my hand"  His response, "Watch this".  He starts driving and before we realize what is happening he is in the Wendy's drive through buying three large frosties.....awkward....it tasted good though.  So yeah that was the high light reel of my week.  Push on everyone! Till I write again I bid you adu. (however you spell it.)

Elder Funk 

Companions with Snoopy and President Smith for Conference

Sup Y'all,

Pretty solid week this week.  Not a whole lot of teaching but a lot of spiritual experiences for sure.  So starting off the week we went bowling and had a blast.  After some specialized coaching from another elder I was able to kick the ball down the lane and get a gutter ball hahaha Other than that the next couple of days we just went out and worked. 

Thursday we had a specialized zone training on how to work with the ward council and use family history.  Super good and edumactional conference.  I got to be companions with President Smith and provide some training on how to find and work effectively as a companionship.  Talk about scary!  No practice or notice and then get called up to train on how to do it when I am  not qualified to teach on that.  I ended up pulling him aside and having to reprimand him for not teaching with me in unity.  Was that where it was supposed to go?  Probably not.  Was it funny.  

Friday we went to the church and played floorball (hockey in a gym).   Fun stuff but I am not coordinated enough to do that kind of stuff.  hahaha.  Saturday and Sunday was spent watching the amazing sessions of general conference.  Super great messages.  Some of my favorites were Elder Lawrence's "Our direction is more important than our speed" and President Uchtdorf's about simplifying our discipleship.  Watch, read, and rewatch them.  They are incredible!  Bonus part of my week is this morning I won a snoopy dog at the library we email at!  Boo ya!  

Well be good and quit making things complicated!

Bad Attitude & Baptist Blowout

Sup Y'all

So this week was a dooozy. (however you spell that)  Monday we got bashed in the Walmart check out line.  Wonderful start to the week.....He invited us to a Baptist blow out so we accepted the invitation to go.  We then carried out our day as usual.  Tuesday we had district meeting and went on a trade off with Elder Peel.  Super cool elder.  We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch with the district then went and tried to see a lot of people and went to McGuire's Irish Pub for dinner.  Wonderful experience.  There everyone that goes writes their name on a dollar and puts it on the wall.  Literally millions of dollars on on the walls and ceilings of that building.  I got the garbage burger which consists of just about everything.  I will give you a few toppings to give you an idea: Ice cream, hot fudge, wasabi, pineapple, liver, 5 types of cheeses, peanut butter and a bunch of other things.  hahaha sounds disgusting but it actually wasn't too bad.

Wednesday we got Krispy Kreme for breakfast, traded back and worked the rest of the day seeing a few people.  Thursday we went out with a member to breakfast and then we went and helped him move things from three houses into his ex-wife's house.  Took all day....so much lifting and then ended the day by going on another trade off with Elder Woodland this time.

Friday we went and saw one person while I was in Perdido and then came back to P-cola so that we could weekly plan for this week.  Saturday was less than stellar.  Were leaving the apartment to go work and found out I had a flat tire with no pump so we went to a tire shop to get it inflated and the little nozzle thing on the tube came off so I had to go buy a new tube and spend all morning getting it in the tire.  Went out that afternoon ready to work and nobody we planned to see was home so we are starting to bike back and are about seven miles away from home and my other tires pops.  Like really?!?!?!  So I gave up and called a member to come pick us up.  We got the car from the sisters so that we didn't have to bike anymore.   

From getting the car we went to the "Bad Attitude Baptist Blowout" that we were invited to Monday by the guy at Walmart.  Interesting experience.  Lots of shouting and running.  All I can say is "It's good to be saved".

Sunday we had a pretty normal day.  Go out and visit people who aren't home but then we went to a Stake Priesthood meeting and were able to gain a lot of understanding about how we can help our ward with missionary work.  The biggest thing I got was to BE BOLD!  So that's my plan this week.  Have a great week everyone!  Enjoy conference.  It is good to listen to the prophets.  Just ask the people in Noah's time.....oh wait.....

September 21, 2015

Sup Y'all!

Quick Highlight reel for ya because no one likes seeing a giant email and having to read it all.  (well missionaries at least)  So Tuesday I went to get my bike fixed and they said it'd be $120 to fix it.  haha yeah no....So I just got a better seat and left.  Went to see our investigator Cathy who is progressing slowly but surely.  Wednesday we got a new investigator who used to be a preacher and he loves the Book of Mormon and wants to know everything about it!  Freak Yeah!  Thursday we pretty much weekly planned.  Friday we didn't do a whole lot.  Saturday I got to go to Pace with Zone Leader Elder Otu.  Super spiritual giant so that was great.  Got fed a lot so I got to be fat for the day and that was nice.  And yesterday was Sunday so there was that.  Well we are getting kicked off so peace out!  Have a great week!

Speaking the Language

Sup Y'all

Pretty good week here in P-cola.  Monday we didn't do a whole lot so that was boring.  Tuesday we were able to meet with a couple of people and get to know them so that was fun.  Wednesday we went to the edge of our area (the ghetto) and went finding in there for a few hours and it was cool.  Met a super sick guy named Wayne who had gold teeth and a do-rag on and we are now homies. We also met a super great less active family named the Sledge's.  They are super chill and love having the missionaries over so we will probably be seeing them again this week.

Thursday we weekly planned, did some family history service, and then went to see some less actives who weren't home so we stopped by a members house, Bro Kimball.  He is awesome.  He is one of the most decorated Vietnam Veterans in the South Eastern United States!  He showed us all of his medals which included three purple hearts!  Super cool.  He and a friend took us out to Chick-Fil-A for some dinner.  Delicious!  Friday a ward missionary took us to a New York style pizza place and we got a couple of slices of Pizza as big as our head!  I was going to take a picture but then my stomach got the better of me and they disappeared.  sorry but not really.   We were able to see a couple of people and then came home and went out to dinner with a family to CiCi's Pizza.  So after that day I was kind of sick of pizza.  Saturday we biked almost all day and now I have a sore bottom.  Not very pleasurable.  We were able to see three less active families though so it was worth it!  

Sunday funday!  We went to church and had a good time there.  After we visited a super awesome less active.  He talked non stop for about an hour and a half.  He has one of the most solid testimonies that I have heard down here.  The only reason he doesn't come to church is because he has seizures and doesn't want to freak people out.  That night we went to go visit some more less actives and met this one woman, Dorothy, who was talking about us earlier that morning and then we showed up!  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  We are working on getting her back to church and she sent us home with some potatoes, onions, steaks and pork loin roast!  What a wonderful woman!  Well now that I have gotten myself sufficiently hungry I shall go and fill my belly.  Have a great week!

Opening the Flood Gates

Hey Y'all

Super bitter sweet week this week.  Monday and Tuesday were essentially spent cleaning the apartment, leaving notes in the area book, packing, and saying goodbyes.  Saying goodbye to Jessie and LD were the hardest.  We ended up seeing LD Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I was about to start bawling like a baby saying goodbye to them.  Moving on before I start crying.  

Wednesday we went to crestview and I am now in Pensacola Florida with Elder Ellsworth.  He has been out for 3 months and we are opening a new area.  Yeah....wonderful fun.  So we have spent the last few days out finding and trying to learn the area.  I can proudly say that I know where the church is and we found a Krispy Kreme yesterday so we will be hitting that up soon.  hahaha.  Things are a lot different here.  There are people to talk to here.  That is nice.  Oh highlight of the week!  So we went out contacting the other day and it was hot so we decided to go get a drink at a gas station.  When we get up to purchase our drinks the guy in front of us turns around to us and then tells the cashier that he is gonna buy whatever we are getting.  Wonderful day!  Bless his heart!  That alone my made week.  So yeah we are going to be working hard here.  That's about it.  Be good.  Love Jesus.  Have a great week.

I am a Fisher (of men)

August 31, 2015

Y'all!!!!!

Pretty great week this week.  Tuesday we got to drive to Hosford (I still have no idea where Hosford is actually located.....) and stay the night there in preparation for a General Authority visit.  Tuesday we got up and went to the meeting with Elder Stansfill and Elder Nielson of the 70.  Super great messages!  After that we went out to dinner with my recent convert Dusty!  I loved seeing him!  He is still planning on going on a mission next year!  Came back and went on a trade off with District Leader Elder Thompson.  Super great and productive day there!  

Did some planning Thursday and then Friday we went out to see Bro. Lubbe.  He wasn't there so we went out finding then started to walk back and he came and picked us up.  We were talking and turns out that he was going to call us when he got to the house but we were already there!  Talk about spiritual planning.  Saturday we had Jessie's baptism!  Freaking best birthday present ever!  She ordered a dress from the church and it wasn't supposed to get here until Monday or Tuesday.  It was in Jacksonville at 1 AM Saturday morning and somehow made it to Bonifay!  The Lord blesses those who faithfully follow him!  Finished my birthday with dinner at LD's!  Awesome and loving family!  

Sunday Jessie was confirmed and we stopped by to see Jeff (Recent Convert) and he told us that he was going to be going to Alabama for a while so we might not see him again so that was another spiritual moment of planning!  We found out last night that we are both being transferred.  That sucks but on the bright side LD took us fishing this morning and I caught a fish!  Fishing for days here in Bonifay!  

Love you all and hope that you have a great week!

-- 

Elder Funk

Remember who you are and what HE stands for!

Tommy Boy Moment

Sup Y'all,

Let me tell you about my week cause let's be honest.  That is why you are here right now.  So Monday night we went out with our Bishop to see the Waldrops and teach them about the church organization and it went really well.  Tuesday I can tell you that something happened but I am not quite sure what.....Wednesday we were able to go and teach Jessie with the Carroll family.  That went super well and she is all set to be baptized on Saturday!  Thursday we got some weekly planning done.  Friday we went and saw a few people but spent most of the day finding in the hot hot sun. That night we found a suit that was too small for elder Spencer and that I didn't want so naturally we had to have a competition to see who could 'Tommy Boy' it.  I let him go first and nothing.  So I went and funny enough the sleeves ripped off first.  My biceps are just too big I guess. ;)

Saturday.....freaking awkward....we went out with a family to go to this inactive's 90th birthday party.  Now as missionaries we are almost always out of place and we get used to it so you know it is bad when you feel out of place as a missionary...  So yeah we ate their food and then left.  Went and saw some more less actives and ended the night giving a sister a blessing as she goes in for a C-Section this morning.  Hopefully everything went well there.  Sunday was a wonderful day.  Got to meet with the Stake Presidency for our Ward Conference, Jessie came to church, and we had potluck!  AMAZING!  That sent me into a food coma.  wonderful!  Spent the rest of the day either visiting less active members or finding people to talk to.  

Have a great week Y'all!

-- 

Elder Funk

Remember who you are and what HE stands for!

The one and only Elder Spencer

Frying some chicken

Tommy Boy sleeveless suit

August 17,2015

Sup Y'all

Pretty solid week this week.  We will just start from the beginning because that's where it all started.  So Monday we had a member drop off some money for food so we went out to eat and then that gave me an upset stomach so I got to spend some time in my kingdom upon my throne.  Tuesday we went to District meeting which was really good.  Then I got to bring Elder Anderson here.  He has been out for 4 weeks and is a stud!  We went to Piggly Wiggly (grocery store) and wanted to get some chocolate milk.​  We couldn't find it anywhere and then had to ask someone.....it's by the milk if any of you are wondering.  We felt so freaking stupid.  Then we were going to OYM some people and this woman was looking at lunch meat and starting to leave so I asked if I could help her find anything.  She said no but I told her that I would recommend the pastrami....I am not a huge fan of pastrami.....Turns out that is exactly what she was looking for.  We then had a nice conversation about the gospel all because of pastrami.  hahaha 

​Wednesday​ had a lot of good finding time.  Thursday we spent all day out teaching with members and it was awesome!  Nothing better than having members help in the work.  Friday we weekly planned for most of the day and then met with Jessie.  She is getting baptized on the 29th!  Happy day!  Saturday we did a lot of service then more weekly planning.  

Sunday we went to church and then LD came and picked us up and we helped him can pears.  They are super good.  Then he fed us ribs and mac n' cheese.  Super good!  Anyway that's about it.  Be good. Love Jesus.

Riding into the year mark on the Struggle Bus

August 10, 2015

Sup Y'all!

This week was a struggle bus week for sure.  We will start off with Monday night.  we had a dinner appointment set for 7.  So we go on out there and we wait for the husband to show up for an hour.  So we had to chill outside.  We did get steak so I forgave them ;)  Tuesday was not too bad.  The Zone Leaders came to district meeting so I got to hang out with Elder Peterson!  Freaking best missionary ever!  Then the rest of the day was pretty much finding people because everyone was sick or injured.

Wednesday we chugged right along with some thrift store service where I got some FSU sweats!  Then we went to try and see more people who were you guessed it, sick.  So we just kept on trying to find.  Thursday was a bit better.  We started to weekly plan and then we got sick of all of this crap falling through so we decided that we would make a bracket of who the best Disney Princess was.  After days of working on it we are down to the final two!  Elsa vs Belle.  Cast your votes!

We then proceeded to finish weekly planning.  Friday helped this woman and her kids move.  That took forever and got my back super sore but it was all worth it and she is interested in learning more about the gospel!  Saturday we helped a less active work on getting a spot for his new shed and then went out to the Lubbe's for a nice lasagna dinner.  Holy cow.  If everyone in the south cooked as well and as much as sister Lubbe does we would have an even bigger obesity problem here in America.

Sunday we got up and went to church and then went to Josh and Nicki Bowen's for lunch.  Super good.  Then we finally finished weekly planning after all of our plans fell through.  We then ended the night finding.  If I have learned anything from this week it is to put all of our worries and cares on the Lord.  He handles them a lot better and life is a lot less stressful when we do that.  So yeah that was my week.  I hope y'all have a great week and if you only get one thing out of this email make sure that it is that I am wearing a pink tie today.