Monday, August 29, 2016

You Can Not be a Real Missionary Down Here Without Getting Bit by a Dog.....Punk Chihuahua!! (pics)

Hey Everyone!

Transfers: They are coming up on Sep. 6th. We find out on the 3rd who is getting transferred.  We find out on the 6th where and who the people being transfered receive.  We find out Thursday the 1st who is training.  There are 24 missionaries coming out: 2 sisters, 4 Spanish elders, 18 English elders. Do not send any mail past Wednesday the 31st just as a precaution of I might be moving?

Ok so being down in the South there are some hard to understand words and phrases. I encountered a new one this week.  We were at a member's house this past week and they were telling us about their grandchildren.  He was telling us all about how they loved their Mayner.  "That Mayner is the funniest character!" so on and so forth.  Elder Downs and I are looking at each other the whole time thinking what is he talking about??? Who is Mayner? This guy is crazy and on lots of medication so we wondered if he was just rambling on about nothing?  Then he started to talk about Mayner's good friend the nice red little race car that gets him the ride in the helicopter.  Then it  clicked for the both of us, he was talking about Mater, the tow truck from Cars the entire time.  He just didn't pronounce it right, and we were so confused for the majority of the conversation. Also another fun word heard this week was instead of humidity...Humididity.

An update on the Dawkins family.  We met with them once this past week and everything went great.  They were at church last week and the Paiges invited them and us over for dinner and a lesson.  Plus Brother Paiges AC guy stepped through his ceiling when he was doing an adjustment.  Brother Dawkins is a Drywaller and was able to fix the hole. We had dinner. We learned a little on how to fix a drywall hole in our ceilings and we taught a great lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ; faith, repentance, baptism/receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. They loved the lesson! And we will see them again this Friday.  We also helped them to paint the soccer field lines at the Valdosta Boys & Girls club Saturday morning to get ready for soccer season!  (still waiting to hear on whether or not I can coach)  Then yesterday she and little Cooper came to church all by themselves. This is huge because she is the investigator.  Brian is a member and grew up a member but went inactive for 20 something years. He is ready to come back and be active again but he we not feeling good so he stayed home.  Sabrina the investigator came all on her own which was so awesome to see her take her own initiative to come to church and make that decision without Brian's influence!

Something fun that we were able to participate in this week was the "happening".  This is an event on Valdosta State University's campus where they have booths and tents set up to show the new students what Valdosta has to offer, or in other words what is Happening.  We were able to get a booth set up and pass out cards, cookies, Bibles, and Book of Mormons. We taught lessons and just got the church's name out to the college community.

Just one more fun fact: I was bit by my first dog this week! It was a little punk chihuahua.  He snuck up behind me as we were walking down a country dirt road and jumped up biting me in my mid thigh.  It punctured my pants, but not my skin, and I have a few little holes in that pair of pants now.  I was able to kick it and get my revenge before it could get away though, so I felt accomplished! Plus you can not be a real missionary down here without getting bit by a dog.

I went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week and had a blast with Elder Davis.  Also we helped someone move, and we have become so pro that we did it in a hour and a half! Boom!
Also helped a sweet little old lady with some yard work. We also hosted a cottage meeting.  It was an Ice cream social with games that was an informal thing to have members invite friends to.  It did not catch on as much as we had hoped it would, but it was still nice.

Dad: sounds like you could have used some super missionary moving power we crank things out here!  We have done so much moving this summer being that we are next to a military base.  I am glad to hear that everything went smooth with the move though! love you too!

Talia: I did not go to the middle school but I have heard about the infamous Ms. Maude.  Just do your work and get the good grades you can and every teacher will just leave you alone!:)  3 flights of steps is a lot! Love you!

G4: Oh we all know you love school you do not have to put on any attitude to try and trick us.  Dylan did a painting on the art wall!  That is super cool that you are going to get to do a painting too! Sounds like your group has a great Idea and hope it turns out well. I did some art this week too!

Tay: Wow you guys smoked Mt. Home. (12-0)  Isn't there a mercy rule or something? keep up the good work!!

Mom:  How is it having classes instead of a class?  And how is it having your child in your class for the first time?  I am glad that Trav is figuring things out and things are going good for them!   I think you will have so much help this year with student mentors you will run out of stuff for them to do.  That is cool that Trav will have Ben and Drew in the same complex.  You get them with that gum! No one shall get the best of my momma!  (middle schoolers chewing gum! Ugh!)

Love you all!!

Elder Legg
Comparison of Elder Downs and I drawing skills.  

Left: my drawing of him
Right: his drawing of me


Carilyn sent them in a package. They are sticky finger flingers
 These have been stuck to the ceiling for a week


Member's car


Sister Stark and I

Spider the size of my hand!

Golden orb silk weaver also similar spiders down here banana spiders

Yard Service

Elder Davis and I on exchanges

Our weekly 2nd harvest service we do every Wednesday

Oh and I am the horse champ!

West Point hat and 2 old pepper gun replicas

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

7 Months!

Hey Everyone!

Well it is official I have made it to 7 months out and still goin!

So this week we were challenged by our mission President to up our goals and actions in teaching more lessons.  We already had our goals set for this week and it was set for 7 but we decided to bunker down and try our best to beat it this week.  We ended this last week with 12 other lessons and carried the districts........... wait to reach our goals set! We felt pretty good about ourselves!

Part of being a missionary is being in the service of your fellow men.  Whenever an opportunity presents itself we rise to the occasion.  Well we also here in Valdosta help a food bank out every Wednesday.  This week there was a new missionary meeting in Macon.  Since both other sets of missionaries have a new missionary, Elder Downs and I were the only ones able to go.  We were able to get everything done that they were going to assign all 6 of us by the 2 of us.  When we were done the boss of the facility came in and checked things out and was so impressed he offered us both jobs on the spot!  Of course we are missionaries so we declined. It is always good to help others out though and to know you are able to be successful in bringing ease and joy to others!  We help lots of people move all of the time especially in military towns and so a little joke is we are missionaries first and professional movers second.

As I mentioned earlier we met with our mission president this past week and so I was able to have a personal interview with him and ask if I could serve as a rec. soccer coach.  I have not gotten an answer yet, but he is thinking and praying on it.  A lot of it depends on if I stay in Valdosta another transfer or not. He did like the idea of getting involved in the community more and getting our image further spread. I am Hopeful and crossing my fingers that I can, but I will follow the Lord's will for me wherever it takes me!

So this August has been strange.  This is usually the hottest month of the year and the most brutal. This is all I have heard from the other missionaries and locals.  Well for the first 2 weeks it has been stormy and overcast and not hot.  It was in the 80's about for a good amount.  Well this last week August found itself.  We had the entire week of low 100's with 90% plus humidity each and everyday.  That will melt lead I swear! Always tons of fun though!

Well as all know, football is huge in the South! Football is especially large in title town USA. One of the schools here just moved up to 7A and has like 3,700 kids I think. The other is still 6A.  Since they are not in the same division any more they will not play during the season, so they held an opening to football season Winnersville classic Friday night where the two town rivals dueled it out.  They used the division 2 college Valdosta State University's stadium.  There were roughly 20,000 people at the high school football game!  There was a cop mobile command center out and all the cops in town were there.  It was insane the amount of people there.  People were parked in the local parks and on the grass islands in the parking lot. It was quite the experience. Valdosta High the title town school won against Lowndes High 38-13.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fz1vpmdpukghyr0/DSCN5887.AVI?dl=0


Dad:  I am glad Trav and Audrey made it safely home.  Yeah the soccer videos were great and Tay looks like he got hit hard.  haha yeah the pepper was not much fun I am surprised you tried any of that chilli!?  well I have some big news for you! I met a guy this week named Scooter.  and he is a red neck, hunting, dog breeding fool!:p  I had to try so hard not to laugh when I heard his name!

talia:Oh my gosh you are in middle school this year huh?? what the what?  that is nice having all of the classes in the same hall.  and yeah I have been sick too here lately. but not throwing up that is bad!:/ hope you feel better girl I am praying for you! Love you!<3

Tay: what is up Slayer? yeah that rocket to the crotch did not look very friendly. (see video) I am glad to hear that you are rocking it though!   sounds like you need to toughen up that defensive line though they cant just rely on you! what if something happens? just like it did they have to be able to stand for 7 minutes alone! love you bro!








G4: oh girl life just sounds so hard to be you with school being your Horrors of life!:p  you with your comp books will be the talk of the school I am sure! and good I am glad you got your blessings!

Mom: yeah building up go go go stamina is hard.  wow there have been lots of teacher and coach changes lately huuh?  that sucks about leah's knee!  yeah I remember brother Hollinger and there is a guy here in the ward that is form Emmett so that is cool.  cameron will get fed well there! a member served there a while ago but he came back fat.  I hope kylie is able to go back out quick also I remember her having the homesick problems.  yeah we have been hearing lots about the olympics and it sounds like we are killing it like always!  yeah so what was travs bachelor party? what are their plans?
Also could you send some drop box links to me with videos of some of the FX stuff I was in please?


Love you all!


Elder Legg

southern pride billboard on freeway

Valdosta downtown



One of Georgia's bugs

Chilling 

Ghetto Sled

More Ghetto Sleds


The guys

Elder Benesh is bored



Monday, August 22, 2016

Reptiles & Rain (pics)

Hey everyone!

Well first things first....... Congratulations on Travis's wedding.  Somehow he found someone?  From the depths of my heart really though, I hope they are happy!  Best of luck Trav I love you!

Well my week I do not think was nearly as exciting as the one it sounds and looks like they had at home, but we will see if I can't try to dazzle someone with what I did?

So the weather has been odd for an August down here everyone keeps telling me.  August is supposed to be the hottest month of the year here, but last month was definitely hotter.  It has been too stormy lately for tons of heat to role in.  The lightning and thunder and rain though have been quite fierce.  So even though the storms are keeping us from being drenched in sweat, we are still being drenched.  Yeah my duck feather hair was even soaked through--my hair repels water like duck feathers. Every apartment I have been to has had a fan. It is good to sleep with for the summer and to dry things out with!  And yeah it has done a good job. However there is no way a little bit of God's fury can keep his missionaries down.  We go out wind, rain, or shine. So on Wednesday we were biking along and we got caught in a storm. Elder Downs said it was not safe to bike in the low visibility, but that has never stopped me from spreading God's word before.  I told him that is why we have lights on our bikes, and we are going to do work.  I knew of a referral family near by I had tried before with elder Hiatt, but never found anyone home, so we could try them.  We bike over and knock on the door while emptying out the puddles from our shoes under their porch.  She was actually home and at first told us she was too busy, but noticed our quite rugged and wet condition, so offered us some towels.  This led to us talking for a little while longer, and her telling us her husband was on his way home from work, so we could wait around a bit and come in when he got there and teach them.  So that is exactly what we did!  We taught them, they invited us back the next day for another lesson, and we will go back in a week to follow up on their reading and commitments!  God blesses those who are willing to do his work and do not let satan stand in the way of this I testify!

We have been working with the Dawkins, and he is  less active and she is not a member.  He told us this last week he is ready to come back, and is just waiting on his sweetheart to be comfortable.  He is cheering inside that she accepted the gospel but does not want to have any influence on her conversion.  He is awesome and so is she! I love this family and hope they continue to progress to eternity together!

Stake Conference was this week and Elder Satati of the 70 came.  He gave great talks and was an intimidatingly large statured man!  Something that stood out to me is that fear of rejection from friends, family, colleagues, or strangers about sharing your religion or beliefs should be non-existent. When you share the Gospel they only reject the Father and the Holy Spirit who are truly testifying of truth to them.

Something cool about this week is that we met a reptile enthusiast.  He owns and tames exotic/aggressive reptiles.  He has/tames a Nile Monitor that is about 3 1/2 feet long right now, but will get to be about 9 feet long and I held it on my shoulder.  He also has a Asian Monitor that will get 10 feet long. He also has an iguana and some massive snake?    I did not mention Reptile Gardens.  And we are going to his reptile store later today to check out more cool stuff!!

Tay:dude holy cow I have not seen a picture of you in a long time and your hair is out of control! don't you know on varsity everyone is going to out run you because of you wind drag?????  I am glad things are going good with you and that the truck is getting looking and running good!

dad: well I am glad that even an imposter of me has still got it!  yeah the pictures all looked great and like everyone had tons of fun! haha you finally got you Slide on huh? people have made comments to me on how you are looking skinnier. Love and miss you too!

Talia: No pics of your nails? haha I am very glad I was a good dancer and you were able to enjoy me!!:) What Trav didn't dance with you??? you looked very cute going down the aisle.  I love you too!!

G4: I am glad that even though it was travs big day that you still got pampered also!:) I love you girl!

Mom: I am glad you made it through the wedding and week.  sounds like everyone had a blast and that you put on quite the party!  no it does not seem real to me he is married.  I keep thinking how weird it will be when I get home. you looked very nice and I got some emails on how you looked like hot stuff. I am glad things went smoothly and happily this week! I do not know yet I have the meeting tomorrow? (about coaching) He is a nice awkward person.  I enjoy him.  Yes I pull them out every night but when I am rained on I put the shoes and soles in front of our fan in our room on the floor.  I have only had blisters from digging that one Saturday for a few hours.  My bag works good in the rain it keeps my stuff dry and that is all I can ask! love you!

I love you all! have a great week
Elder Legg
Elder quorum presidents Chinchilla

Find me if you can! Tifton stake missionaries with Elder Satati of the 70 (the single black one) mission pres and wife (other black people)



Nile monitor most aggressive lizard in world
fun fact did you know that cotton plants bloom with red and white flowers

Nile Monitor


Me ready for the wedding

Elder McEwan and I

Elder Downs and I

our game of candy land gone wrong! I am the red one



Monday, August 8, 2016

Burning the Tie

Hey Everyone!

Well I was a little late but as the old Chinese Proverb goes "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago the next best time is now".  So I finally burnt my tie that signifies I have Burnt through my first 6 months on the mission.  Whoop!  Along with me Elder Downs and Sister
Black reached a year so they burnt a white shirt and a skirt.

Elder Benesh and I have shown or dominance on the risk board as overloard champions!  I also am winning in our Joseph smith X-games: stick-pull, indian leg wrestling, arm wrestling, and ect...  

Super exciting news we actually have an investigator now.  There is a part member Family that has fed missionaries for 15 years.  The last 3 weeks they have come to church and asked us to start teaching them the lessons.  They are reading the Book of Mormon and asking tons of great questions.  I love this family and am excited to ssee their growth!

Something cool!  My Dad on his mission was given permission to coach a little league baseball team.  I always thought "man that would be the greatest thing ever!".  Well I have not been given permission but I have been given a small opportunity where I could coach a rec. Soccer team.  I am going to be asking for permission this next week when I have an interview with President Grayson but also I would have to be able to stay for another transfer so there arer tons of variables.  If things work out it would be awesome!
Mom: Jambalaya difference: tomato or no tomatoes; Creole or Cajun.
Tali:  I miss tubing! And the other water stuff!  Looks like fun on the new lawnmower!
Tay: How is micheal phelps doing? 
Trav: Man working sucks when all you get to do is fix others mistakes.  I was wondering what the honeymoon would be?  and yeah I have heard some cool things about the suicide squad definitely going to see it when The pictures all look great! your hair is crazy and you look happy!!! Good luck this week!!!!!!
G4:  That is a lot of money!
Well this week was boring so that's all folks.
Have to go get a hair cut bye.
Love you all!

Elder Legg

Elders having fun

District
Left to right:
ELder Downs, Sister Black, sister Wagner, Elder Mcewan, ME, Elder Benesh

Elder Downs & I

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Coon Pick

Letter from 7/30/16
Dear Family,


Hey everyone! Well this past week I could not tell you how many doors I have knocked.  We are in the finding stage of Valdosta right now.  Our plans for this week definitely show it.  We have knocking written in for an hour in the afternoon and in the evening of almost everyday. It is all good though.  I am getting my tan on.  Something strange about the Georgia sun, it will sure melt you, but it does not burn me like the western sun.  I have not used sun screen at all this summer. 


Ok, now I have a story to tell that is not for the faint of hear, so if you get queasy you may want to stop reading or listening now.  Ok is it safe???  Are the queasies gone??  Good!!  Ok so there is a special tooth pick that only the "good 'ol boys" use down in these parts.  It is called a coon pick.  What you do is you find a road killed raccoon (male).  You pull over and cut off his man hood. The "thumb" :) (that is a throw back inside joke reference to Trav's mission) has a bone in it that is thin and sharp.  You skin the "thumb" for that bone and you bleach the bone and use it as your coon pick.  One of my new goals is to get and use my very own coon pick!! Super cool right??!!


Ok now you can let the queasy people come back.
I love you guys!
Elder Tyson Legg

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

New Companion, Egg Salad, & Grand Bay Swamp (pics)

























Country Dirt Road
Hi Everyone! 
Transfers: I got elder Downs as my new companion.  He is form Rexburg, Idaho and has been out a year.  And a fun fact for anyone who understands.  He Knows Parker and the Rawlins clan! (Some of our oldest & dearest friends.  Parker is on his way to Colorado Springs Mission this wk)

Well I have a fun fact I learned this week.  I have told you how Valdosta High is Title town USA, But I have not told you what the Valdosta State University(VSU) is famous for.  It was ranked highest STD recorded college in the nation for a little while.  

Well our week this week consisted of a lot of knocking.  On Saturday alone we were out for five hours.  Our results from this effort was great.  We found an investigator for the Tifton Elders. We found a lost investigator of the sisters and we were able to get a few return appointments for this week. So we will see if anything come from them. 
The best thing this week though was that even though nothing has directly paid off from beating on doors all day, we have been blessed.  There is a less active, part member family that I love tons.  And they feed us sometimes, and he coaches soccer so we talk soccer and live close to them and they love to have us over.  However, they have been having missionaries over for 15 years and never come to church.  UNTIL the past  two weeks in a row.  He asked us to share a spiritual moment with his family last Saturday, and so Elder Hiatt and I did.  Then we invited them to church and they came.  Later in the week we received a text from him saying "hey my wife has some questions for you guys. When can y'all make it over next?".  So we went over Friday and answered her questions and had a great time talking with them, but we forgot to invite them to church again! :0  They are so awesome, and for our hard efforts, the Lord blessed us and they surprised us by showing up again without need the invite. Also they have asked for us to start teaching them the lessons. Whoop whoop!

Alright some fun things that we did this week were we went to Grand Bay Swamp.  There were no big gators out, but we saw a baby one and a large banana spider.  Speaking of spiders we also had a good sized wolf spider in our apartment Friday morning that decided to surprise me.  I walked around the corner and almost stepped on it. 
That was not my only bug encounter this week though. I also was knocking on a door and got attacked by a swarm of wasps that were apparently nesting in the wreath.  I was lucky enough to only be stung once though.  Plus the old guy who opened the door felt bad, so he had us come in and let us teach him and gave us water. 
There is a very sweet old southern grandma down here, Sister Rigdon, who loves when we stop by and always wants to stuff something in our mouths.  This time she was in the middle of making dinner when we got there, and so she did not have anything done except for Egg salad.  Neither Elder Downs nor myself are fans of this salad.  To be the polite young men we are though......... we choked down 1 large bowl each!!  And she tried to give us more, but we had the excuse of having dinner with a member in a hour so we got out of eating 2 bowls.  She does make a delicious homemade slushy though! They tasted so good and cool you down really nice.  Plus any Eggs we do need or want she provides us them for free!  

Mom:  Well we have a food bank we help out every Wednesday.  This week instead of sorting food though we helped out with a teacher harvest.  With school going in soon Office Max, Target, and some other stores donated lots of school supplies to the food bank and they had a day for teachers to come in and grab free school stuff.  There was a limit on some stuff but all free. And I thought to myself.......man would my mom be here in a heartbeat if she lived down here. (Duh!!?? Free is my 2nd favorite word!!)  Marcos is a pizza place that everyone seems to love down here?

Tay: Wow man EFY sounds like it was a blast I so wish I got to go and do it again! The summer I am back I am totally applying to be a counselor.  I will try and look in to that poem if possible. (Butt Prints in the Sand.  Taylor's favorite Poem is Footprints in the Sand, and Butt Prints is his 2nd favorite)  And heck yeah man good luck with tryouts. School for down here starts this week, so be glad you live in Idaho.  Hey don't you know from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs real men don't cry! :p ha just kidding dad bawls all of the time and he is quite the real man in my book. Look at pg. 27 of the July Ensign there is a little girl who looks like BJ from church. Love you bro! (Here is Taylor's 2nd favorite poem.....)

Butt Prints in the Sand by James Reuben Knowles    

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, “What have we here?
Those prints are large and round and neat,
But Lord, they are too big for feet.”
“My child,” He said in somber tones,
“For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.
“You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt.
“Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand.”


G4: Wow $35 that is a good profit. Tell her I love her!

Tali: Held baby Bennett for hours and didn't feel like it? Isn't he getting big and heavy?  I would say fireworks too, to be able to hear you make that sound each time!:) (every time I say fireworks she makes a crazy pppppffffftttt sound that cracks she & I up)  Died your hair???? I didn't get to do that till I was in high school and had a real reason like going to the state soccer game.  Poor momma! I love you too!

Travis:  Look at you the big boss man!  I feel you I am now leading out the area and it feels pretty weird some times! Love ya!

I love you all!

Me in the Swamp
Elder Legg



Grand Bay Swamp it is 18,000 acres







Tower in the swamp






Didn't his mom teach him NOT to stick out his tongue????







Silk worm nest......
 these are all over in the trees and are super nasty
This is a tiny house and there are tons of these all over
it is crazy to me and a family of 5 lives in that.
 
Many things down here say forget the dog beware
the owner with a pistol or something