Into the 100's

Well, we are down to less than 200 days, and just in time I received pictures from Nate, so I can make a post. He did not write anything about the pictures so you are on your own guessing what they are about. It is fun to see him and guess what I think he is up to.













I will insert this story here by the baptism stories. I don't think it was either of these people but might have been. This story is written by Nate's companion.

"On Saturday, we were able to witness a fantastic baptism. Several people showed up and the Spirit was strong. Dave Gladen, age 20, is now officially a member. He is champ. Yet little does anybody know about what happened only an hour before the baptism.
Since both Elder Hancock and I are new to the Crystal Lake chapel, we asked 4 people how long it took to fill the baptismal font. Each of the 4 people told us that it took 2 hours to fill up. Since the overflow drain is so low, we decided to put tape over it so we could raise the water just a couple more inches. We turned on the water and expected it to fill up in 2 hours. We left the church to go work on some other assignments.
After 50 minutes had passed, we had a feeling that we should check the font. Upon entering we found the baptismal font completely brim to the top seconds away from overflowing. Literally, all the font steps were buried under water, and the water level was even with our feet. We both let out a yelp and I quickly shut off the water. We busted up laughing not really knowing what to do. The drain was at the bottom of the font under 4 feet of water. I turned to my companion, "Well, the only way to unplug it is if one of us goes in. I vote you." He asked, "How am I supposed to do that?" I thought about it, and gave him the most logical answer. "Since we don't have a lot of time, take off all your clothes and go in there." After laughing some more and a lot of hesitation... he agreed. Minutes later my companion comes out of the bathroom.... naked. So imagine, 2 missionaries standing by a font, exactly one hour before the baptism. One is fully dressed and laughing (me), the other is naked and in shock (my companion). As soon as he plunges in, the water level billows over and just floods the nursery room where the font is located. He was having a tough time pulling the drain which made my entertainment even funnier. Then guess what... the drain is the slowest drain EVER. Minutes passed by and it had only dropped an inch. Both he and I were doubled over laughing as he stood flat out butt naked waiting for the water level to drop.
Then came the funniest part of all! I could hardly contain myself. Finally the water level had dropped enough and he went to put the drain back in. This proved to much more difficult than imagined. I soon saw my companion gasping for air, flailing his arms, and his whole body sprawled out naked in the water, in attempts to put back a small little drain. Oh boy did I laugh my gut out! Finally he came out shivering. I checked the nursery and noticed all the water that had flooded into it. Just perfect.
We rushed home because we only had 30 minutes till the baptism began. We grabbed lots of towels and rushed back to the church to dry up the water. As you might expect, everybody entered and wondered, "Elders... don't you know how to fill a font?" If only they knew what we had been through. Ahhh.. the memories!"



It looks like someone gave Nate a Birthday Party. Kind of looks like a bunch of Beehives. But I am glad he had a party. Happy Birthday Nate.






Maybe mission home pictures...




In an e-mail Nate wrote about the following pictures.

"This past week has been pretty crazy. Friday night elder rainey and I were in the upstairs planning what we were going to be doing for the next day and we just kept hearing sirens going off all over the place. We live right off of a main road so we figured there was something going on up from where we lived. so we go look out the window and all these fire trucks are cruisin down our street right past our home. So we run to the back window to see these flames coming out of the house right behind us. So we throw on our shoes and run over there. The man who developed the entire neighborhood that we live in had been building his dream home for the past 2 years and they were planning on moving in next week and Friday night it burned completely to the ground. Sister Spencer was telling us how it was suppose to be the "house of the county" something like 7500 square feet to ashes. It was intense and because we live in an unincorporated part of crystal lake they don't have fire hydrants and they had to wait for all these trucks to show up with more water. so they would spray the house for 10-15 minutes than sit and wait for 5 minuets for another truck to show up while the fire would just grow and spread. It was an exciting night."




Random:




Crazy we are coming to an end. Just like Colby and Jason, it is good when the two years is over and they can come home, but it sure is a blessing to have a child serving a mission. I truly know I have been blessed by Nate's service.