Tuesday, March 22, 2011...Transfer week and new companion

hey mom! wow it sounds like a lot happened this week! I'm glad that the camp trip was fun, I'm sure the girls enjoyed it. and thanks for the packages! i got them on Saturday, i had to go to the post office to pick them up. but its ok i loved them! thanks for the "finger football thing" haha it was funny and all the st. Patrick stuff was funny too! I'm eating alot of the candy right now and I'm going to get through it very soon! oh and i don't think thanked you guys yet on the valentines day popcorn factory stuff! thanks so much for that too, its really good! i got it like a month and a half ago, i didn't realize until last night that i forgot to thank you. I'm glad to hear that Cole is really happy to leave, i think he's going to really enjoy the South, although i don't know how different Georgia is from Mississippi. but I'm assuming there pretty similar.

well this week was cool, we had dinner of at the g_____and they made us chitlins! if you don't know what that is then google it. and lat night we went to the J_____ and had a craw fish broil! it was so good! they had 15 pounds of craw fish! i ate around 70-80 craw fish it was so good! i really hope that i get to have another one again sometime! lets see all we did this week was pretty much pack up Elder Mc's stuff, hes so excited to go home. he leaves tomorrow morning. right now i have a new companion, his name is elder A_____. is from southern California! hes a cool guy so far, i think that I'm going to really enjoy being with him. well nothing really is going right now, i hope that things back home are still going good. ill talk to you next week! sorry my letter is short today I'm kind of in a hurry because of transfers and stuff. well that's it for now, thanks for everything bye!

love hank

March 14, 2011 Yazoo City

Yazoo City, Mississippi

We've never heard of Yazoo City, but now we have!  Hank loved it.  We'll have to ask him more about this place, and of where these specific pictures were taken.  Very old, a lot of history.  Also, in 2010, this city was hit by several tornadoes.  In April, and again in November.  We'll definitely have to ask Hank more about this place.

Monday, March 14. Pictures!

First baptism.  Feb 2011.  The tall man in the middle,baptized the other two.  Hank said this was the
"highlight of the week, for sure". 

The baptismal font. 
In Hank's letter regarding this baptism:
"the water was Brown! haha can you believe it?! ....Elder McMurdie is like, 'This isn't as bad as some other water I've seen'...But the baptism still went well, nobody cared that the water was brown."

Monday, March 14, 2011

Excerpt of email to John:

hey dad! well this week was a lot better, and interesting. Well as you know I went down to Hattiesburg for a few days for leadership training, it was cool but it was really long. While i was down there elder w and elder b were there too! we hung out the whole time it was really great to see them again. apparently they said that they really miss me back in west Monroe, it was great talking with them again.

...i knew that the pictures they were going to be taking were going to be on the blog for you guys to see so whenever i saw the camera i would think of you guys. well that was the whole hattiesburg thing. back at Vicksburg everything is still same, but its good. Mc goes home in 9 days. I'm doing good though. He's really excited to go home. i get a new companion next week, hopefully i get i good one.

...well this week we had the big storm with all the tornado warnings and stuff, it was crazy! i loved it, and you were right i would love to see a tornado or something i was really hoping to see on this week, but maybe next time. and i also did hear about the japan quake, we were at this office waiting for something for Mc and on the TV all they were talking abut was the quake, i was like whoa, 8.9 is a big earthquake. I'm sure that its going to be on the news for a while.

...that's awesome that A.J.did his eagle project, i can't believe that he's already almost done, it feels really good when you finish it though. it looked pretty good, i looked at the pictures of it that mom sent to me, it looked really good.

well that's about it, that's cool that Bethany is saying the prayer! that's a crazy story! wow i don't know if I'm going to see it but if i do that will be cool to see her. well ill talk to you next week, thanks for the letters, bye!

love hank

Excerpt of email to Lisa:

hey! well this week has been better, the whole leadership training thing made everything better. elder W and B were there! it was so great talking to them! we hung out like the whole time! it was so great talking with them! they told me that they miss me back in west Monroe! we talked alot about how everything was going, and stuff. the actual leadership training was good, but it was also really long, haha!...

.... I'm really glad how everything turned out this week. then after the whole leadership training thing we went back to our areas. i got 3 letters this week, 1 from David and 2 from you. thanks for the letters they really helped alot i got them just at the right time. i feel like I'm doing better, I'm getting a new companion next week and i hope that i get a good one. haha I've had 3 good ones in a row i don't want this routine to break!

well other interesting things this week i guess you can say hat we had some car trouble this week too like AJ. well guess what?! we were driving in the ghetto a few days ago at around 20 miles per hour and all of the sudden a little kid around 8-9 years old jumps in front of our car! Mc slammed on the brakes and we hit him. you know, so we stop the car and get out the parents were freaking out at the kid for jumping in front of us. the kid gets up and and it seemed like he was in shock or something he didn't cry talk or move or anything. the only damage i could see was that he was bleeding a little on his head and that's all. they took him to the hospital just to make sure that everything was alright and everything was. all he had was just that scratch on his head. well the police guy came over to fill out a report and everything was good, then he asked for our ID's. well Mc gave him his and everything was good, then i gave him mine and he wasn't too happy to see it, he said,"your names Jefferson?" he said it in a slightly upset tone of voice. i was like,"yah" then he filled it out and left. Mc said that its because the president of the Confederate states was *Jefferson Davis and it seemed racist or something to him. ...well that was the crazy thing that happened this week, and now I'm up to today! ...thanks for everything! bye!

PS did you tell the clantons to tell Jake that I'm still writing the letter back to him?

*Just for the record...we didn't name Hank after Jefferson Davis!  We just liked how it sounded . I guess we should have done our research!

Pictures of Leadership Conference-Hattiesburg

 These pictures are of Hank's Zone at a Leadership Conference in March.  We all got a kick out of the "Nice" shot, and the "Goofy" shot.  Look at Hank.  

Hank, front row, second from left.



Goofy Shot...he doesn't move!  I love it.  This is SO Hank!



Monday, March 7, 2011- Some Homesickness

I debated whether or not to post this on Hank's blog.  We got an email from him on Monday, that really hit my heart.  I've decided not to post most of it, because I don't think Hank would want it posted.  But I will say, that he has hit some homesickness again.  What I'm grateful for, is that he mentioned it, and that he is doing all he can to work through it.  He loves his companion, ...but what's been tough, is that his companion is going home in 2 weeks...and having a "trunky" companion has been real rough for Hank.  Please keep him in your prayers...anyone who reads this.  I'm grateful that he's trying, that he's talking about it, and know this is a growing time for him. 
The part I will post is the following:

"well i guess the big thing that we did this week was that we went to yazoo city on Tuesday. it was cool to go there because I've heard so much about it. I've taken alot of pictures and next week, ill send alot of pictures to you. well everything back home is good? that's cool that stake conference went well, were not going to have ours for a few more months probably. that's cool about Jake eating road kill dog! that sounds awesome! i hope he is doing good. i got a letter from him like a month and a half ago that i still haven't sent yet because I'm still writing it. could you please tell the clantons to tell Jake that I'm going to send his letter soon? thanks. "

(His good friend Jake Clanton is serving in Paraguay, and we heard from his parents that he ate some tacos from a place there that was known for using dog road kill in their food.  We passed this on to Hank...clearly, he got a kick out that!)