Cutest Missionary

We've been having the best conversations with Chris on Mondays. 

He has so much to talk about and doesn't mind sharing his feelings.

Today the wifi connection wasn't great so we ended up talking without video for a while. 

It was so weird to not see his cute face smiling at me.

How did we go for two years without talking to Marty at all except on Christmas and Mother's Day?! 

That was so normal for so long (not talking to missionaries) and now seems so peculiar!

In Mexico, before Covid, Chris remembered an elder talking about a little pueblo and Chris said,

"I never want to serve in a town that small!" 

I told him the story of his Gram when she was a young woman. 

After having a particularly UN-inspiring missionary from New Mexico for dinner at their home in Chicago, she said to her mother, "I'll live almost anywhere, but I NEVER want to live in New Mexico!"

And of course she did live in New Mexico for almost 60 years!

Chris said a town this small has its challenges, but he's learning to love it.

He said if he stays another transfer, he'll be excited to keep teaching the people they've found.

We've been impressed at how proactive Chris is in thinking up ways to meet and teach people. 

Most missionaries in his mission are averaging about 3 lessons a week, 

but Chris and his companion have 3-5 lessons a day.

This has been a real strength he's shown while serving.

Instead of waiting to be told what they can do and who they can meet,

Chris is proactive in finding. Instead of saying, "we can't because of Covid," 

he's good at finding what he can do. When his president said they could stop by members' homes and introduce themselves, Chris told him in Kansas they could also visit "gray dots" (people who had been taught by missionaries previously) and asked if they could contact them as well. The President agreed.

 

After being sick a couple of weeks ago, he's still not 100%, 

but said his stomach hurt for a different reason today.

He'd been doing backflips to entertain some kids.

His companion had seen the photo of Chris on the trampoline on my Facebook birthday post and said, 

"I know you're really humble because you've never shown off that you could do one." 

Chris laughed at that standard of humility (and confessed he had a lot of work he could to do be humble). 

But of course everyone wanted to see him flip.

So he did one and then did another and another 

as the group of kids cheered him on and wanted "just one more."

Fun fact: His companion with him on his 20th birthday is the same companion as a year ago on his 19th birthday, just before he got sent home because of Covid. Exactly one year ago this week. Crazy.

I entertained myself with Facebook filters during lags when the wifi went down, 

but before the call was actually cut short.