Fireflies and a Hurricane

Hello everyone! Elder Ostergaard and I had a real good week. We had unlimited fried chicken with a member, caught fireflies, and drove through what can only be described as a tropical storm.

To start off the week, we went with some members to a restaurant name "Sunrise Cafe" where a greek family sells enormous amounts of food for a relatively low price. When we got there, it was just us 4 in the restaurant but soon, a bus arrived from the veterans center and the place was filled. It was a cool time, I was able to eat 2 1/2 plates of chicken and save the rest for laters. It was awesome. 

While we were in the restaurant, I thought the sun had set. When I looked at my watch I realized that it was still supposed to bright as ever outside. We went outside and saw a cloud that struck fear into the depths of my soul. They sky was a weird blackish green, and the cloud blotted out the sun well enough that the avatar could have fought firelord ozai. It was eerie, to say the least. Elder Ostergaard and I left and drove right through the middle of it. We couldnt see very much ahead of us at all, and the wind and rain tried to take us off the road. It was pretty nuts

Yesterday, we made our sunday fried chicken dinner, according to tradition, and ate it outside. The member we live with have a big old backyard that stretches back until it meets a cornfield. Just as we finished up our chicken, we looked to the yard and saw little blinking lights floating around in the dark. Fireflies were everywhere, elder ostergaard and I ran around catching them in our hands just like in the movies. The corn right now is probably knee high, and we looked out over the field and the whole thing looked like it was sparkling, there was an unbelievable amount of them. Eventually we got tired from chasing bugs, so we hiked our office chairs out to the edge of the field and just watched the blinking of the fireflies. Soon after we settled in, a lightning storm started in the distance. Then the wind started to blow and i heard what I thought was rain but really was just the wind on the corn leaves. Then when I thought it couldn't get any better, a train passed in the distance. It was unbelievably beautiful.

Times like that strengthen my testimony a ton. We had a disappointing sunday and a family we're teaching didn't show up to church. That really stressed me out because I love them a lot. But I know for a fact that Iowa is the place I am supposed to be, and I'm grateful that God let us have that time to relax and see something as beautiful as that. He loves us a lot

I know the message we share is true, and I love sharing it. I'm about to hit my one year mark this week and it makes me sad that I only have one year left of the best experience of my life.

I love you all a lot! Have good weeks!