So because there were 4 white boys in a flat together (in sutherland: super white ward) and we were there for so long, the sisters in our district started calling us the "the sutherbrothers." Elder Smith and I had an investigator that always struggled to remember that we were "elders," so he would usually get it wrong and call us "bretherens." So the 4 of us (Elders Bohne, Zimmerman, Nelson, and Smith) were referred to as the sutherbrothers or the sutherbretherens.
Story 1: Energy Drinks and Flashing Lights
One day a member (less active) stopped Elder Bohne and Zimmerman on the street and offered them lunch. They accepted, but then opened the bag to find that next to the meal were two energy drinks. "Energy drinks aren't that bad. What could happen?" Hahaha
So that night after coming out of a dinner appointment, Elder Smith and I noticed that we had 19 missed calls from Sutherland B. Slightly worried, we gove them a call back.
"Hey, what do you guys need?"
"Is Elder Nelson there?"
"Yes...."
"Does he know Morse code?"
"....um no"
"Oh....well there's these flashing lights out in the ocean and we think someone needs help!"
"...It's probably just a bouy"
"No, it's been going for about an hour now!"
"..."
"We called the police, but they haven't showed up yet! What do you think we should do???"
"Well, it's probably nothing..."
"Elder Bohne has a funny feeling about it!"
"...whatever you say..."
"Okay we'll stay here until someone shows up."
They finally started to come down off their "high" about 10pm (disobedient, I know haha).
They gave us a call and we drove out to pick them up. They were so embarrassed about it that they wouldn't tell us what had really happened till a few weeks later. Haha that's why you don't do drugs, kids!
Story 2: Spider Hunt in the Flat
So as I've previously mentioned, I have successfully conquered my fear of spiders. Because I don't mind grabbing them, Elder Smith would be on the lookout for big ones and then he would make me catch them for him (he would never touch them). One day we found a massive one and so I put it in my bag till we got back to the flat. Once back, I transferred it to a jar. Elder Bohne thought it was cool (as long as it was in the jar), but Elder Zimmerman totally freaked out when he saw it (he went into the other room and closed the door). As soon as he closed the door, Elder Bohne leaned over and whispered "I have an idea..." hahaha
So we switched the spider to a different jar and left the original jar open on the floor. We then hid the spider in the cupboard. I went into the other room to try and talk Elder Zimmerman down and we start up a friendly game of chess.
*from the other room*
"ELDER NELSON! Where is your spider??!?"
*Elder Zimmerman goes pale in the face*
"Why?? what happened to it???"
"Elder Nelson was playing with it right here and just let it out and now it's gone!!"
Me: "it was only for like 10 seconds! I was coming back!"
At this point, Elder Zimmerman started flipping mattresses, looking under blankets, moving furniture, etc. He then proceeded to clean the entire flat with a zeal I have not seen since. While this was happening, Elder Bohne and I were just relaxing in bed, watching everything. Anyway, he eventually found the spider (the next morning) and all was right in the Sutherland flat.
Story 3: The Perfect Day
So shortly following the visit from President Ballard and Elder Stevenson, our flat was inspired to renew our missionary efforts. Someone (Elder Smith) wondered aloud if being perfect for a day was even possible. In kind of a wild frenzy loss of sanity, we all got on board with the idea of creating the perfect day. Needless to say, this was a poor decision. We received (what I consider to be) a Devine rebuking. In this life, PERFECTION IS STILL PENDING. I can't remember all of the details from that day of infamy, but pretty much everything we tried to do ended in epic crash and burn fashion. Some of the more notable achievements of the day: the dishwasher broke and flooded our flat while we were gone; it poured rain the entire day while we were on foot (we forgot umbrellas and the bikes had flat tires); none of us had time for personal study (enough things went wrong that we couldn't fit it in); every appointment canceled (kind of a blessing because we probably would have missed them anyway). All in all, it was a fairly miserable day. I don't know if there is any doctrinal significance to be learned from this, but take from it what you will.
There were heaps more stories that may come out later, but these were three of my favorites. Although the passing of Zimskies is sad, I'm grateful for the memories we had together. To all my friends serving missions--be safe out there. I love you all
Elder Nelson
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