GET THE BLEEPEDY BLEEP OUT OF HERE!

I got an e-mail from Sawyer and cracked up at one of his stories. What happened isn't funny, but how he tells it is hilarious!

It sounds like you guys had a pretty fun week! I wish I could say the same, but me and Elder Palmer have been feeling a little down lately. It's not like we're discouraged, but lately it has just been the same thing over and over again every single day with no change in the results....EXCEPT FOR YESTERDAY! We were just dandily walking in the hot sun knocking on people's doors. We knocked on this old, dumpy looking house, and we hear some guy yell from the side of the house. So we walked over and this guy was walking toward us and started speaking to us in spanish. We started speaking back to him in spanish, and he started screaming, "GET THE BLEEPEDY BLEEP BLEEP OUT OF HERE! WE ARE BLEEPING BLEEPEDY CATHOLICS! GET THE BLEEPEDY BLEEP OFF MY BLEEPING PROPERTY!" Elder Palmer was just like, "Whoa man relax! We're going!" To which he continued his rant. I said, "We are just sharing a message about Christ." And then he cussed us out some more. I have realized that I really need to work on the Christ like attribute of charity because after that experience I was thinking about how much I just wanted to lay that guy out flat! But hey....God bless him :)! President Augustin has really been emphasizing the conference talk that Elder Holland gave at the last conference, and I understand why now. The world is moving farther away from the teachings of God, and we are going to eventually be the ones alone and needing to stand tall.

That's a lot of BLEEPS! Glad he's making lots of friends in Van Horn :)! Actually, if that's his first experience with a person like that, then I feel pretty lucky. 

President Augustin gets Released

President Augustin got released as the Lubbock, Texas mission president. They had their last Zone Conference with him, and saw him for the last time. Sawyer said it was pretty sad.

Elder Varvel with President and Sister Augustin.

Elder Walker and Elder Velasco were Sawyer's companions while he was in Muleshoe. That's the area he lost all his pictures from. I was so glad that he saw both of them at Zone Conference and got pictures with them!

Here's part of an e-mail I got from Sawyer:

I officially had one of the most emotional realizations on my mission so far. I have gone through problems about me not seeing any success on my mission and such, but then something happened this week that was very powerful. Elder Walker went to another area after Muleshoe and had really great success. He was telling me about it at Zone Conference. He put his arm around me and said, "Varvy, thank you for changing my mission. I wouldn't have been able to do the things I did without your help and influence." I almost started crying in the middle of Zone Conference! It was then that I realized that I am making a difference while I'm out here. It was one of the best things that has happened to me on my mission!

Elder Varvel and Elder Walker

Elder Velasco and Elder Varvel. Sawyer loved him as a companion!

This is his old district. Elder Barnes, Elder Palmer, Elder Walker, Elder Varvel, Elder Velasco, Sister Hoover, Sister Dawes, Sister Nowling, Sister Laparra.

Lubbock Temple

The missionaries had a chance to go to the Lubbock Temple. Elder Varvel loves every chance they get to visit the Temple!

Elder Varvel and Elder Palmer

Rattlesnakes & Baby Horses

Here's an excerpt from an e-mail I got from Elder Varvel:

So yesterday me and my companion went out to a lady named Jan's ranch. While we were there a rattlesnake came out from under her car and was slithering right up toward my companion. So we spent the next hour killing it with a shovel and any other garden tools we could find. It was pretty awesome! It was getting pretty mad at us and it was a little scary, but we were careful, so don't you worry! :)

Just what every missionary mom wants to hear! Ugh!

Rattlesnake video!

The rattlesnake head!

Then he went on to say:

Earlier today I buried horse afterbirth. It was just nasty...but the baby horse was adorable! :) He couldn't even walk straight yet! 

I'm glad he's out there living the ranch life!

Here's the cute baby horse!

Happy 19th Birthday!

Happy 19th Birthday Elder Varvel! His birthday happened to fall on Mother's Day this year, so we got to Skype with him! So fun! 

We sent him a 'Just add ice cream' package for his birthday!

We also sent him a new camera! 

Happy birthday from Oreo and Reeses!

Best Mother's Day present EVER! We got to Skype for an hour! He looks great and seems happy! I felt like I was going to have a panic attack when our time was almost up. I knew I wasn't going to be able to talk to him again until Christmas! That's 7 months away! I just need to count it down in baby steps! The next milestone is his year mark which is only 1 month away! I can do this!

Selfies with her favorite missionary!

Savannah came over for the last 15 minutes to chat with Elder Varvel!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER VARVEL! LOVE YA!

Van Horn, Texas

Sawyer got transferred to Van Horn, Texas. It's just east of El Paso, close to the Mexican border. He was in Muleshoe before, and was getting anxious to get out of such a small town. I was a little worried when I found out he was going to Van Horn. It's so small! It's less than 3 square miles, with a population less than 2500 people, and is literally in the middle of nowhere! He lives in a travel trailer in an RV park with no hot water. I was surprised to hear that he LOVES it! His companion is Elder Palmer and they get along great. The people are really nice, and he even loves their cozy little camp trailer. There is only one member family in the area, and no church building. They meet for church at a member's house. He's kind of a city boy, so it's funny that he keeps ending up in these little ranching towns. Good luck in Van Horn Elder Varvel!

Lost Pictures :(

I haven't updated Elder Varvel's blog in quite awhile. He got transferred out of Muleshoe after being there for a long time. He sent me his SD card with all the pictures and videos from his last few months there. Our computer couldn't read the card. Mark took it to work and none of the computers there could read it either. We sent it to a local shop that has special equipment for this kind of problem. No luck there either. I was devastated! The card had 50 pictures and videos on it! We tried one last thing. We sent the card to Florida, to a place where they actually open it up, and take out the small hard drive and hook it up to different equipment to retrieve the pictures. We just got word back from them that they can't recover the pictures either. We don't know what could have happened to it. It isn't physically damaged in any way. It had pictures from his last 3 districts (including when he was a district leader), him with his last two companions (Elder Walker and Elder Velasco), him saying goodbye to all the people he loved in Muleshoe, and tons of other stuff. I'm not gonna lie, I cried several times about it.  He was really disappointed when I told him.  I guess there is nothing left to do but stop worrying about it, and move on. Muleshoe was a great place. He loved the people there. Someday maybe we can go there and meet them all in person. That would be better than pictures anyways.