Dear Family & Friends,
With a week fraught with Spelunking, Asians, Venomous snakes, and strange dogs. It sure was a wild one!
Monday: We went to a cave that is near a member's house, for a district outing. The cave was about a 1/4 mile long, and I don't know how far down it went. We went down for a long time until we saw our breath in front of us, and there was ice forming on the walls and roof of the tunnel we were in. We found an area with mud cascading down from a big hole in the wall. Elder D_ climbed up there and said that there was a pond of mud up there.
We walked farther into the cave until we came to a stream, and then we followed that deeper into the cave. The ceiling started getting lower as we followed the stream, until we were left with only a 2 foot high crawl space. We crawled along for a bit, but ran into a dead end. Soaking wet, we crawled back to where we could walk. Everyone, besides the two sisters who stayed where they could stand, was cold and wet. So we called it a day and went back to the member's house, where we roasted hot dogs in the rain.
Tuesday: We taught 3 Chinese people today, and none of them spoke very much English. It was very difficult, because they don't have a belief that God exists. I am planning on getting a Chinese/English translation dictionary, so that I can communicate better with them. Then to top the day off, we received 2 media referrals from Temple Square and they are both Chinese! And neither of them speak English! Who needs to get sent to China for a Mission when you can get sent here?
Wednesday: More Chinese? If you please?
One of our Chinese Investigators brought his friend to our lesson, and she is interested in learning about our religion too! Now we have 4 Chinese Investigators & 2 referrals who are still visiting Salt Lake City! I am definitely getting some form of translation device on Monday so I can talk to these people!
Thursday: We went to Meramec Springs with a part-member family today and hiked along the river. It was really beautiful and I got a lot of pictures of the iron forges that were used to make cannons during the Civil War. I was taking pictures of the river when Brother F_ called to me and said there was a snake! This is where the venomous snake comes in...
I went running over and stood next to the river where Brother F_ was crouching. There was a big black snake curled up on some grass next to the river. It was about 3 feet long, and about 2 inches thick. The F_'s gathered around as I grabbed the snake by the tail and lifted it from the ground. It began flailing around like something possessed and I lost my grip, dropping it on the ground. I grabbed the snake's tail, and lifted it up again. It started flailing again, but I had a good grip on it. I was holding it with my right hand, so I went to grab the head with my left.
As I reached out to grab it's head, it made an S-shape with it's neck and lunged at my hand. I jerked my left hand downward to avoid it's fangs, and threw my right hand outwards from my body to keep from getting bit. But the side of the snake's head struck my hand, and I felt a burning pain flare up on the back of my hand. I threw the snake in the river, to get it away from all the people who were standing around me. I brought the back of my left hand to my mouth and began trying to suck the venom out. My companion grabbed me and hauled me to the ranger station to get my hand looked at.
We got there and Brother & Sister F_ were freaking out and saying that it was a Cottonmouth that bit me. I tried to say something, but the ranger told me to lie still. She called the head ranger station, and they began talking about calling in a helicopter to life-flight me to the hospital. I had just about had enough with this crazy talk. So I jumped up and said, "It wasn't a Cottonmouth! It was a Northern Water Snake!"
The Ranger lady looked at me like I was stupid, "What makes you think you know what it was?"
I began naming off all the signs that it wasn't venomous: "the snake's eye's pupils were round, it's head was round, it wasn't acting aggressive when I picked it up (it was trying to get away), and..." I grabbed an alcohol swab and wiped off my bloody snake bite. "There isn't a venom streak, and there are multiple fang marks, not two primary venom fangs!"
After I had just made the Ranger lady look real stupid, I then proceeded to pull out the pictures of my Dad playing with lions, and holding 2 rattlesnakes. The ranger asked if my Dad was crazy, and I said, "He's crazier than anything you can think of. But that is the only kind of crazy I'd rather be!"
Friday: Today was super boring compared to the excitement of the previous day. We had a Zone Training Meeting, and I slept through most of it (cause there were a bunch of instructional videos we watched and the lights were off).
Saturday: We taught one of our Chinese Investigators today and one of the members in our ward, Brother C_ (he's Chinese too), came and helped us teach them. After the lesson Brother C_ needed a ride to work. We gave him a ride, but we had to stop by our apartment to grab something first. We left Brother C_ in the car as we ran inside. As we grabbed what we needed, Elder S_ looked at me and said, "We better hurry, or Brother C_ is going to turn into Fried Rice!"
We both froze and looked at each other, and then we burst into laughter! That is now one of our inside jokes.
Sunday: Today was Father's Day and even though Elder S_ & I weren't fathers, we got to have pie with the Elder's and the High Priest's Quorum. I couldn't believe how good all the different pies tasted! I feel sad to say that I had at least a slice of every pie... But I regret nothing!!!
Even though this week was a crazy one, I have felt my Heavenly Father's hand in everything. I could have been bitten by a Cottonmouth on Thursday, but God was watching out for me. He knows that I wanted to go to China for my mission, so He put me in an area with tons of Chinese people who don't speak any English! I know that if I keep my faith in him, he will always watch over me.
I love you all!
Love, Elder Hegsted
With a week fraught with Spelunking, Asians, Venomous snakes, and strange dogs. It sure was a wild one!
Monday: We went to a cave that is near a member's house, for a district outing. The cave was about a 1/4 mile long, and I don't know how far down it went. We went down for a long time until we saw our breath in front of us, and there was ice forming on the walls and roof of the tunnel we were in. We found an area with mud cascading down from a big hole in the wall. Elder D_ climbed up there and said that there was a pond of mud up there.
We walked farther into the cave until we came to a stream, and then we followed that deeper into the cave. The ceiling started getting lower as we followed the stream, until we were left with only a 2 foot high crawl space. We crawled along for a bit, but ran into a dead end. Soaking wet, we crawled back to where we could walk. Everyone, besides the two sisters who stayed where they could stand, was cold and wet. So we called it a day and went back to the member's house, where we roasted hot dogs in the rain.
Tuesday: We taught 3 Chinese people today, and none of them spoke very much English. It was very difficult, because they don't have a belief that God exists. I am planning on getting a Chinese/English translation dictionary, so that I can communicate better with them. Then to top the day off, we received 2 media referrals from Temple Square and they are both Chinese! And neither of them speak English! Who needs to get sent to China for a Mission when you can get sent here?
Wednesday: More Chinese? If you please?
One of our Chinese Investigators brought his friend to our lesson, and she is interested in learning about our religion too! Now we have 4 Chinese Investigators & 2 referrals who are still visiting Salt Lake City! I am definitely getting some form of translation device on Monday so I can talk to these people!
Thursday: We went to Meramec Springs with a part-member family today and hiked along the river. It was really beautiful and I got a lot of pictures of the iron forges that were used to make cannons during the Civil War. I was taking pictures of the river when Brother F_ called to me and said there was a snake! This is where the venomous snake comes in...
I went running over and stood next to the river where Brother F_ was crouching. There was a big black snake curled up on some grass next to the river. It was about 3 feet long, and about 2 inches thick. The F_'s gathered around as I grabbed the snake by the tail and lifted it from the ground. It began flailing around like something possessed and I lost my grip, dropping it on the ground. I grabbed the snake's tail, and lifted it up again. It started flailing again, but I had a good grip on it. I was holding it with my right hand, so I went to grab the head with my left.
As I reached out to grab it's head, it made an S-shape with it's neck and lunged at my hand. I jerked my left hand downward to avoid it's fangs, and threw my right hand outwards from my body to keep from getting bit. But the side of the snake's head struck my hand, and I felt a burning pain flare up on the back of my hand. I threw the snake in the river, to get it away from all the people who were standing around me. I brought the back of my left hand to my mouth and began trying to suck the venom out. My companion grabbed me and hauled me to the ranger station to get my hand looked at.
We got there and Brother & Sister F_ were freaking out and saying that it was a Cottonmouth that bit me. I tried to say something, but the ranger told me to lie still. She called the head ranger station, and they began talking about calling in a helicopter to life-flight me to the hospital. I had just about had enough with this crazy talk. So I jumped up and said, "It wasn't a Cottonmouth! It was a Northern Water Snake!"
The Ranger lady looked at me like I was stupid, "What makes you think you know what it was?"
I began naming off all the signs that it wasn't venomous: "the snake's eye's pupils were round, it's head was round, it wasn't acting aggressive when I picked it up (it was trying to get away), and..." I grabbed an alcohol swab and wiped off my bloody snake bite. "There isn't a venom streak, and there are multiple fang marks, not two primary venom fangs!"
After I had just made the Ranger lady look real stupid, I then proceeded to pull out the pictures of my Dad playing with lions, and holding 2 rattlesnakes. The ranger asked if my Dad was crazy, and I said, "He's crazier than anything you can think of. But that is the only kind of crazy I'd rather be!"
Friday: Today was super boring compared to the excitement of the previous day. We had a Zone Training Meeting, and I slept through most of it (cause there were a bunch of instructional videos we watched and the lights were off).
Saturday: We taught one of our Chinese Investigators today and one of the members in our ward, Brother C_ (he's Chinese too), came and helped us teach them. After the lesson Brother C_ needed a ride to work. We gave him a ride, but we had to stop by our apartment to grab something first. We left Brother C_ in the car as we ran inside. As we grabbed what we needed, Elder S_ looked at me and said, "We better hurry, or Brother C_ is going to turn into Fried Rice!"
We both froze and looked at each other, and then we burst into laughter! That is now one of our inside jokes.
Sunday: Today was Father's Day and even though Elder S_ & I weren't fathers, we got to have pie with the Elder's and the High Priest's Quorum. I couldn't believe how good all the different pies tasted! I feel sad to say that I had at least a slice of every pie... But I regret nothing!!!
Even though this week was a crazy one, I have felt my Heavenly Father's hand in everything. I could have been bitten by a Cottonmouth on Thursday, but God was watching out for me. He knows that I wanted to go to China for my mission, so He put me in an area with tons of Chinese people who don't speak any English! I know that if I keep my faith in him, he will always watch over me.
I love you all!
Love, Elder Hegsted