It wasn't too Patriotic on the 4th of July here in Houston because there is a ban on fireworks since there is a drought so it was very quiet day. Some missionaries may or may not have gotten a hold of roman candles and fired some off. But we played football with a bunch of missionaries and I was QB and my team dominated but not because of my skill though ha ha. We later had a BBQ with missionaries who didn't have dinner appointments with members so we cooked up some hot dogs and drank some Hawaiian punch. I also got my ukulele so I was pretty happy.
Well I hit my year mark next Monday which is pretty insane - I still feel new to all of this. Today I had the blessing of finally meeting President and Sister Pingree and their 5 kids. They have 3 older daughters who are 19, 16, and 14 if I remember correctly. Then 2 younger boys who are 11 and 8 whose names are Jacob and Joe. So when President Pingree walked in and started to greet all the missionary's individually I thought I would be funny and cover my name tag with my backpack strap so he couldn't see my name. So he finally gets to me and without missing a beat, he looks straight into my eyes and says warmly "Elder Barton it's so great to have you here!" and gives me a handshake and a hug and goes on talking with the rest of the missionaries. That really impressed me that he and his wife prepared themselves, taking who knows how much time looking at our pictures and names, and start memorizing them. So the meeting starts (it's just the Cypress and Klein Zones) and President Pingree - the best way I can describe him is a 40 year old man with the personality of a 20 year old jacked up on Mountain Dew. Well better yet, he reminds me so much of John Bytheway, very funny and down to earth with the younger generation, but yet very, very spiritual. So in this meeting the Pingree's introduce themselves but very interestingly each one of the children of the Pingree's would get up and introduced another child in the family. After that the 19 year old girl played a musical number, then the children got up one at a time and gave about a 5 minute talk on one of the points in Preach My Gospel. And man they are all very good with public speaking - it was like they have done this a thousand times, including the 8 year old who is a goof ball. Then Sister Pingree got up and talked about how she loves us very much and she wants to do her best of being our "mother" while doing a juggling act with kids in school, sports, etc. She also talked about how we shouldn't compare the Hansen's to the Pingree's and vice versa. As she went on with her talk, you could feel her love for us and how special each of us are to her. She then invited missionaries in the future who can to come over to the house and play ping pong or basketball with her kids or go on splits because they would love that - but of course, not during prime proselyting time she said ha ha. President Pingree got up and shared with us 2 distinct impressions he has gotten already for our mission. He talked about loving everyone and finding with faith. I just got to say I was scared and sad to lose the Hansen's but the Pingree's are a blessed and chosen family who deserve to be here in Texas and I am so grateful that they are here and I love everyone in that family so much even though I don't know them too well. Miracles will happen here. I love y'all
