Week 36: The Spuds of Helaman

Hey Friends and Family!

Well this week has been AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Monday for P-day we played basketball! I am getting really good... well at least I think I’m getting good! This week we also had tons of lessons! President Brinkerhoff was inspired to challenge us as a mission to baptize 100 people in October. So we have gone to work, as a mission, as a zone, as a district, and as companionship's. The spirit of missionary work has TAKEN OFF! Within the last week we have set 2 baptismal dates just as a companionship, 4 as a district, and 13 as a zone! And we are only one zone in 12!

Well this week we had SPUD DAY!!!!!!!!!! Yes, Idaho has a holiday dedicated to Potatoes!  The whole town shuts down for it! It is a BIG thing here! It started with the Spud Parade led by Uncle Sam on a horse! Tons of different floats passed by down Yellowstone Highway. Different Cars, People running for mayor, sports teams, stores, and little people riding miniature horses.... I’m not sure why but we went with it.... Every float threw candy and pelted the crowd. My whole district plus some other Elders showed up so being a large crowd of missionaries EVERY float wanted to either give us candy, or injure us with hardened sugary projectiles! After the Parade everyone made their way down to City Park for the Spud Party. There was a free stage where people could show off their talents, different booths for food, toys, and other fun stuff, different games to be played and the icing on the cake, FREE loaded baked potatoes. :) Only in Shelley.... All the missionaries went about talking to people and handing out pass along cards and just enjoying the day. And then the time had come... the SPUD TUG!!! Single elimination, tug of war challenge where the losers fall into a mashed pit of Potatoes! My team was going to be Me, Elder Blake, Solomon, and Carter. But then because of some complications with another team we got an additional girl from BYU-I. Not a good start. We decided our team name would be the Spuds of Helaman. That got a good laugh from the crowd. And boy was there a crowd!!! ALL of Shelley was watching! And cheering for us! I’ve never felt so popular! :) And then they called out the team we would be facing... and 6 buff construction workers stepped out. CRUD. We tried our hardest, but needless to say, we got pulled in. And Elder Carter went in... Hard. A headfirst swan dive right into a pit of gooey sticky mashed potatoes!!!! By far the highlight of my day! :) So after that we all went home to get showered and cleaned. There were other events, like the potato sack race and demolition derby. But we had appointments so sadly we couldn't participate. Later that night we had tons of less actives, non members, and investigators get together and we played basketball! It was a great opportunity to fellowship and we are thinking about making it a scheduled thing.

On Sunday Elder Blake and I spoke in another ward. This makes 5 wards in the past 2 weeks :) Elder Blake talked on Service and I talked on Charity. We also had an investigator Aaron, come to church! He said he really enjoyed it so that was great! :)

Well that’s all I got for today! We are going to do shopping, laundry, and then go bowling for P-day! Love you guys and hope you are doing well!

Love,

Elder Rash

**Note about photos - Elder Rash said in his email this week that he found Grandpa Davis old farm south of Shelley. Sounds like Elder Rash did a little trespassing rather than tracting while at the farm and got some dogs sicked on him....but he survived and was able to compete in the Spud Day as you learned from his letter. Hope you enjoy the photos...we did!

 

Elder Rash at Grandpa Davis' Old Farm

(This building was used to house summer farm hands. Caleb's grandpa gave him a tour of this farm when he was 13 years old)

 

Elder Blake on the Farm

 

Elder Rash at the Potato Cellar

 

 

Elder Rash on the Farm

 

 

SPUD DAY!!!!!

 

The Spuds of Helaman

 

 

 

Elder Rash on the farm at sunset. He loves the Shelley sunsets.