THE news

Hello one and all!

Just like all weeks, this week had several ups and downs! However, I'll be sharing 3 of them with you today.

First of all...

The biggest news of all...

I've got my Visa!

I'M HEADED TO PERU BABYYYYYY!!!!

My time in Tucson has been a blast! I feel like I have made a lot of life time friends, and I have grown so much because of my time here. After my explanation of the week, I'll go over some of my highlights of my time here in Tucson!

Anyways...

This week on Elder Bahnmiller's mission!

One of the first families that I met here in Tucson are seriously awesome. I'd say that they are mission legends. (For sake of privacy I'm not going to say their names. I'll just say they are the B's)

Mrs. B has a book where she places the pictures of missionaries that come and administer to her. It was really cool to get to look through that book and see all of the missionaries! And, I am now in that book as well. It's really cool that I have technically been "immortalized" in this book.

What I wasn't expecting was Mrs. B gives all of the leaving missionaries a T-shirt. I now have a seriously cool shirt that says: "FedUp? God Delivers!"

It seriously looks like the FedEx logo, so its quite funny to me.

Secondly...

Some missionaries put in our zone chat that they needed some Elders to help out with a service project; moving some furniture. Before my companionship responded, one other companionship said they would. We still offered to help, as we thought that if they were moving furniture then they would most likely have quite a bit to move. So, we pulled up.

Whats funny is that we had planned to be there to help out for an hour and a half.

When we got there there was already 3 companionships (including those that put in the call for help). So, I thought something along the lines of: "Lets go! They must need a lot to be moved if they've called in this many missionaries!" 

Nope.

Turns out there were 3 pieces of furniture that needed to be moved. We all laughed it off, and the missionaries that called all of us must have felt bad because they gave us pizza! (In hind sight I feel kinda bad for them myself, but I still find it kinda funny. Just a goofy situation all around lol)

I guess the highlight of the situation was that we got to be in our service clothes for like 45 minutes. It was really good to take a short little break. But, the work moves on!

Alright... highlights of Tucson!

Arriving in the mission field! It is so awesome that I finally get the chance to serve a mission, and to help and serve other people!

I have had some seriously awesome companions! All three of them are spiritual giants, and they are all examples to me of what it means to be a missionary!

FRISBEE! Like, almost every other day! That is one thing that I will sure miss about Tucson. The sports here are crazy! Plus, MOST people try there best at sports, so we get to have a lot of fun! 

Side note, lets count my injuries that occurred during sports (in general)

- Tripped over my companion. My leg got cot between him and another missionary. That hurt for the rest of the day.

- Had a missionary crash into me during frisbee, caused my legs to hurt for 2 days.

- That same missionary kicked a Soccer ball at my head, and DANG did that hurt. I had a headache for a couple of hours. My glasses didn't break, though! Knock on wood!

- 2 kinda bad slides. One I fell on my knees and got grass burn. The other I slid and scraped my thigh raw. Those sucked.

- My pride. Somehow thought I could catch every frisbee that came my way. Yeah....

- My ENTIRE BODY AFTER EVERY GAME. I think I must play too hard because I'm always wheezing and seriously tired after frisbee.

The people here are amazing! During my time here in Tucson, I didn't go a single day without food, so that was awesome! The wards here are insane! The people here love the missionaries, and they always wanted to talk to us or feed us. The one time that there was a new person at church, so many people welcomed them, and we somehow were late to the party to greet them lol. 

I have seriously learned how to recognize the spirit, and have grown my testimony exponentially. I have had some experiences that have seriously tested my faith and rattled me, but I came out stronger. I am so happy that God has put me through these trials, because I think that I'll be a greater missionary for it!

SPANISH. My Spanish... may not be the best currently, but I did enjoy both my exchanges and my practices with the Spanish missionaries. 

Highlights of my Spanish:

- I got to play a fun game with a member family that ended up with a plate of flour in my face. That was quite fun! In the same visit, I also tried a (Sabrano?) pepper that made my face burn. My spice tolerance is so low. :( I need to grow my spice tolerance.

- I got several opportunities to use my Spanish! On one such instance, a man who actually spoke Spanish absolutely obliterated me for not being able to speak the language. Could I get some barbecue sauce for that roast?

- I feel like my Spanish has grown quite a bit. I can talk... kinda. I do little practices in my head and I am surprised by how much I can say. It's insane. The gift of tongues is real!

Then, on the flip side... ENGLISH. I am quite happy that my first transfer of training happened in English. I feel like I may not have learned quite as much had I gone straight to Peru, but I am pretty excited to get there!

I got to teach a lesson! It may have only been 3 principles of the lesson, but I am quite happy that I at least have one under my belt. I have also got to do several door approaches and I have given some spiritual thoughts. I had been terrified of this part of missionary work, but now I am quite excited for sharing my testimony!

Through all of the trials and the struggles... through all of the strange stuff that I have seen and experienced... I have grown to seriously love God and his gospel. I have seen somethings that are on the weird side, and experienced some stuff that I didn't expect to experience here on the mission. But I am so grateful for what I have seen and done here in Tucson. I love it here, and the people here are amazing. I am so grateful for my time here in Tucson, and I can't wait to experience the next chapter of my mission!

I've made some amazing friends among both the missionaries and the wards here. I am quite sad to be leaving these people. I love all of the people I met here.

But, God is calling. I will (most likely) be in Peru the next time one of these comes out. I can't wait to experience this next chapter!

Adios, amigos! I'll see you on the other side!

- Elder Bahnmiller

1. Pizza after a service project!

2. My "FedUp" Shirt

3. The Moon and Mars