Side information about Kevin's middle name:
Remember we talked about your middle name, and that I named you after Benjamin Sanderlin Battye. I have always thought that He was named after someone (and that it was someone’s last name). Well— Benjamin Sanderlin Battye was named after George Washington Sunderland. George was married to Margaret Ann Girton whose sister was Margery Lee Girton (Hannah named after her). [and side note here—their parents were not very original with the names of their daughters—I mean so many to choose from and one is Margaret and the other is Margery??/ Really???] So Margery Lee was married to Thomas Joshua BAttye. Margery Lee and Joshua had Benjamin Sanderlin.
Now George Washington Sunderland was born 1833 and died 1905. He enlisted in the Regt I 215 Pa infantry on 27 April 1861. He injured his left leg on 4 July 1861 from "a fall at point of rocks”—(whatever that means exactly). He was discharged with a disability on 16 July 1861. He lived in Newtown, PA. His illustrious career was a little less than 3 months—bummer. But his sister in law thought him great enough to name her son after him…So there you have it! Now you know the ‘rest of the story’!
I find it interesting that I was texting my dad on a totally different topic and he answers with “other info Sanderlin comes from…” That was even before he answers my questions. Must be the Spirit. So I am passing on that tidbit. If I find out more then you know I will share with you.—Go get ‘em—and may your mission career be longer lasting than George’s military career!
Now from the MAN...
Well this week was interesting. I'm in a tri-panionship, and our companionship is the only one in our district, so the district leader only leads us...
anyways the other two of us just got called as zone leaders, so now we all have leadership roles in our zone, which is great, I guess, but now there's even more going on.
This week we started practicing singing for general conference, every morning at 7, which means we have to get up earlier...not fun, and we have 10 days to learn and memorize 4 songs. I'm the tallest in the choir, so I'm in the far back right corner if you really want to find me, or actually I'm one seat in cause there's this readhead kid who took the end.
This week we learned about the Hmong holiday, that's coming up in Novemeber and December, that we'll be in the field for. Its called noj peb caug, or eat thirty. --like What time is it? Eat THIRTY baby! They start out east, and celebrate for a few days in a major hmong city, then every few days they'll move west, untill by december they're in California, and they have the international hmong celebration. Its a week long, and there's about 17-20 thousand that come every day, they eat, they sing, and they eat some more, so it sounds like my kind of holiday.
Oh, and they play a game where a line of boys will throw a ball to a line of girls (kind of like you would in a waterballoon toss). Anyways, its a dating game, and basically if you throw a girl a ball you're flirting with her...needless to say missionaries are not allowed to play.
Also, Hmong people will ask you to marry them, if they think you'll be a good match. They'll say something like, 'I have 3 daughters and you can marry any one you want'....greeaaattt! All my teachers were asked multiple times. Kinda reminds me of Ammon when he goes in to King Lamoni, and he's like 'let me be your servant', and the king is like 'hey marry my daughter', and Ammon is all like...'ummm I'm just gonna serve, if thats okay with you'.
This week I kept reading how we can be instruments in the Lord's hand. I thought it was interesting, so I went deeper. A general authority recently said in a devotional: "on a mission you come to know the Lord, but more importantly the Lord comes to know you". That's really cool, because especially with instruments you can't just pick it up, and learn how to play it right away, you need to practice and make mistakes. The Lord needs to practice with us, and get to know us, so we can be better missionaries. We'll make mistakes, but we just need to keep practicing.
Cool note for trevor, there are elders here who wear, white shirt, tie, pants, and crocs. That is their dress code. They're going to Thailand, and there's like 6 months of rain and monsoons, so they have to wear shoes that won't get destroyed. Also, they don't wear suits, cause its too hot. Just pray you get called there, and you can wear crocs every day!
nothin else,
Elder H
This asian guy in the middle is HILARIOUS. On a choir survey we did, he said he was 'in auditioned college choirs', and so he made it into the general conference choir. He felt bad, so he went to talk to the lady in charge, and said basically 'I lied about my credentials', or whatever. She said to him, 'well elder you need to repent, but the church likes to show its diversity, so even though you lied, you'll still get more screen time than your white companion here'....HA!! Plus he's just a funny guy, and when he actually laughs, it will make you laugh, no matter what mood you're in.
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