Your gonna want to read this one.

I really only have one story for you today, and it is pretty long so I will just get started, but small side note first. I have a new companion and we were in the MTC together ( which in a MTC of twenty six people is actually a pretty big deal) His name is Elder Jack from Zimbabwe.

Anywho here we go.

Story: "I am an idiot" - Elder Tucker

So since this week was my companions last week on mission.  It was mostly spent visiting the people we had become close with and him giving some departing words of advice.  Also we have been trying to get a youth activity done before Elder Ochieng went, which we did.  So we went and visited all the youths of our branch, got an activity planned to play some games and eat food and watch a movie called FREETOWN. (fantastic movie, 10/10 would definitely recommend it  to a friend.) So at the activity we played some games, and had fun. MY team lost in almost everything except musical chairs, but it was still super fun. But while we were playing the games i put my bag and keys on the table.  Well sometime during the party my bag and the keys were moved. I was under the impression that my companion took the keys and put them in his pocket, needless to say I was wrong.  After cleaning the church and getting a Matatu back to our house, about thirty minutes away. I asked my comp to open the gate.  His reply was thus, "I don't have the keys, I thought you had them." After a minute of panicking we devised a plan, on how to break into the house. the next hour and a half is as follows:

 After a few unsuccessful attempts at breaking the back door lock, and turning my weight lifting bar into a cane, we decided to take the door off the hinges ( also not possible).  So we decided to very carefully take off one of the the windows on the door, then work from there.  After trying to carefully take it off, we gave up and just broke it.  Then we found out a way to undo the deadbolts, and finally got inside, ate, then figured that the keys were at the church so we would grab them at sacrament meeting the next day, and went to bed.

Here is where I become an idiot.  We get to the church and look for the keys, no where to be found.  I am now feeling like an idiot, wondering what the heck we are gonna do.  And a little boy comes and sits by me and empties my bag looking for sweets.  Guess what he finds at the very bottom of my bag.....A SWEET! AND THE KEYS!  so in the whole process of breaking into the house it did not occur to me once to check my flipping bag for the keys. Yeah I face palmed pretty hard, then laughed silently to myself for the next twenty minutes, cause I am pretty sure my mind is gone.

That's how I learned, that sometimes the answer to your problem is literally inches from your hands and you have no idea unless you look.

Have a great week, love you guys, and try to keep a hold of your keys

Elder Tucker 

I thought he wasn't able to write then I found this! He had attached this to a letter I had written which Jeron had also responded. Happy Tears flowed.

Mom

I am alive and well we have to be in 20 min. Had a long day but we were helping a member.

I did want to send you a story this week which reminded me of you.  So here Christmas isn't super big.  No one has decorations up and I rarely hear Christmas songs.  But I went into the supermarket the other day to grab some stuff for dinner and they were playing a song from your Christmas list. It was one about peace part of it was "everyone would have a friend, and right would always win, and love would never end". I don't know the name but I remember you listened to it a lot. I walked in and had a crazy big flash back to making soup while you got ready for work listening to that song. I only thought I was standing there for a few seconds, but apparently it was like three minutes.  Because a worker came and tapped me on the shoulder to ask if I was okay, cause I had just walked in and been staring at milk for the last few minutes.  However when he tapped me on the shoulder I jumped and cause I was crazy startled and threw the loaf of bread I had in my hand.  It was a really interesting few minutes.  But long story short, I miss you mom.

Anyways I love you lots and hope this week is great. Ter

"In or out? In...out? or possibly waiting at the door?"

Titile is a paraphrased quote from the movie "The Ringer".  I think it is what is going on in our assistants minds sometimes.  This week we had some political unrest, but they wouldn't tell us if we were inside or not till about ten-o-clock, when we should already be done planning and then going out to proselyte but hey, whacha gonna do, anyways stories!

Number 1: "We aren't crazy, no not crazy at all"- Elder Tucker quietly speaking to himself

To be completely honest with you guys, sometimes mission and the heat just fries your brain. Most people who know me or have been in a math class with me know that I tend to talk to myself when working out things.  So while standing at a Matatu stage planning for what to do since we got bounce. I was talking it out and this little boy and his mom walked by, and the little boy asked the mom in Swahili, "Why is the crazy mzungu talking to himself?" then I just started laughing which didn't help my cause.... I could be a little more gone than I thought.

Number 2: Perching

So ever since I was a little kid I have really liked high places. I like to sit and think I call it perching. Most of my flats have a high place to sit and just talk with god, and admire the world.  Well yesterday I just wanted some quiet, some me time.  Yes missionaries like that sometimes.  So like usual I climbed the water tower, and was admiring the stars( which by the way are beautiful in Africa, cause less lights).  But my companion thought I had gone to the bedroom.  So he locked the doors and then accidentally fell asleep on the couch, leaving me locked outside. When he goes to sleep, he goes down hard, but after ringing the doorbell for like ten minutes.  I was finally able to get in the house.

Sorry my stories aren't super awesome this week like they are normally, but honestly this week was pretty boring, so my choices were a little limited haha, Sometimes a mission gets really boring.

Elder Tucker

(Mom is not happy with the perching-will be praying for being busy with missionary work and keeping his feet on the ground.)