Well, the highlight of this week had to be meeting L. Tom Perry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!! Elder Tolle is a team roper, and Bill Marriott was having a western event on his farm in Hume, VA for magistrates and dignitaries from around the world. He was asked to teach them how to rope at a booth. 4 Other missionaries went. Myself and some other missionaries had to go before the event started. As we were walking to the car, this HUGE old guy walks towards us. I was like, "no way haha that's L. Tom Perry." He came up to us in his cowboy attire and shook our hands. I had shaken his hand when I was really young (like 9 or 10) and he had told me I was a future missionary. I knew he wouldn't remember saying that, but I brought it up anyway. He looked me and said "You made it Elder, Congratulations!" It was a cool experience! I went with the other missionaries to their area to do service. We split wood for one of their investigators. They guy had a splitting machine. I fired it up and we split that wood so quick! The 2 other elders kept saying "Man this is going to take forever! There is a ton of wood here!" I didn't say anything, but in my head I was thinking "This is nothing!" It took us probably an hour to split it all. Way easier than the stuff we did back in Olympia...

Joey didn't come to church on Sunday. That was such a bummer. We weren't able to teach him this week either. He has been so busy with ROTC. He told us that he has been reading the Book of Mormon here and there. We are hoping that are lesson with him this Wednesday with go through. Otherwise his date will have to be pushed back. Mary is SO CLOSE! Yet, everything is trying to stop her from gaining a testimony. Health problems, work problems, family problems, it's insane! I have never seen a more prepared person be hit with so many trials. We are doing everything we can to fight against the evils that are plaguing her. We are hoping to set her on date for baptism this week for the weekend before Thanksgiving.

We had a mission-wide fast on Sunday for the purpose of meeting our monthly baptism goal. For 3 meals. The longest I have ever fasted. It was rough at first, but as I thought about why we were fasting, the hunger pain went away. Breakfast sure tasted good this morning though!!! The last time the mission did this, the number of baptisms soared! 

On Friday I had an experience that I have had nightmares about my whole mission. Must be because Halloween is close. We went over to this less-active home for dinner. The parents are old and are members, the daughter isn't and her boyfriend isn't. The daughters children are active though. It's confusing. So the daughter of the old members made us dinner. We were sitting at the table while she was finishing up dinner in the kitchen. She told us that she had been working on this meal all day today and hoped that we would like it. She set some chips on the table, and I was thinking "Oh heck ya! We're going to have soup or stew!" I was pretty hungry at that point. She then brings us two BIG bowls filled to the top. She sets it in front of me and I look down at whats inside. I could have sworn I hear lightening crack or a witch scream in the background... For dinner we were eating cheese fondue. My heart dropped. For those of you who don't know me, I HATE cheese. On my mission I have gotten used to it being in things, but this was the real test. Plain melted cheese. I kid you not, this bowl could have fit a softball in it. I am here today to tell you all that I ate that ENTIRE bowl, and I still HATE cheese. She couldn't even tell that I didn't like it. After I had finished my bowl, she asked me if I wanted more. HAHAHAHAHAHA! What a nice lady... I kindly told her no thank you, and that I was full. It worked. After we got out of there, my companion was dying laughing. He knows I hate cheese. He told me that he was super impressed though. He said he thought for a second that I liked cheese during the dinner.... Heck no.... 

Halloween is almost here! President Riggs has told the mission that we get to watch 2 movies on Halloween night! He hasn't said which ones yet... Apparently he joked around with the Zone Leaders that he wanted us to watch the Avengers, but then Sister Riggs said no. He then said told them that because she said no, we won't watch it. What a jokester. Last Christmas we watched Kung Fu Panda 2! 

Love you all!!

Elder Michael Litchfield