Blog of Elder Hamish Macpherson

Hey look! Elder Macpherson made it through another week! — Hooray! Well, I’m glad to be back here with you all today. First and foremost, please excuse any errors or confusion in this post, I’m writing (as is often the case) from the Tracy public library; and the guy on the computer next to me smells like cigarettes and the other smells like booze and is looking at scantily clad Indian women. Gross!

*ahem* Moving on …

So, I’ve got three things to tell you all this week. They’re all “amazing” in some sense of the word. The first isn’t such a happy tale, the second starts bad but has a happy ending, and the last is just plain wonderful. Oh and maybe I’ll throw some other things in here and there.

I guess I’ll start with the sad story, since I’d really like this post to end on a happier note. It starts with a person we’ve been teaching for a few weeks now. Her name is Penny. She’s lived here in Tracy for quite some time, and recently moved back in with her mom after a divorce. Her mother’s name is Charlotte. Charlotte was baptized almost two years ago now, she too is divorced, but she’s a really nice lady. Penny has two kids. One is about 13 months old, the other is about 6. Both boys. They’ve come to church a lot with Penny & Grandma and have really started to enjoy it (although the 13 month old can be a real handful at times!) Just yesterday Penny was finally able to attend the full three-hour block of church, and we’ve also talked about a tentative baptism date, though nothing is set in stone yet. Anyway, this morning someone called us at 6:15am… we were just barely starting to wake up (6:30am every day, remember?). It was Penny. In short, she told my companion (who answered the call), that their house had burned down this morning at about 3am. All the people got out safe, but sadly the house was horribly burned, along with pretty much everything inside, and worse; none of their three dogs made it out alive. Charlotte is in the hospital from some smoke inhalation, but otherwise they’re okay. Penny was pretty shaken up, and we feel really bad for them. The Tracy ward leaders and members are already on the move though (as well as Red Cross), and since Charlotte’s sister is next door that’s where Penny and the kids are staying for the time being. We drove by the house today, the fire crew is still there. It looks really bad. We don’t know how the fire started yet.

Anyway, it’s crazy times I tell you… crazy times… more on this next week for sure.

The second story is one you’ve heard before. Well kind of. Remember that time my bike got stolen? Yeah, you know, when I was with Elder Bellingham? Yeah, that’s it. Well. It kinda… sorta… happened again. You see, we were briefly visiting some members in the ward, and we parked the bikes outside their house, it was about 8 o’clock or so. We didn’t lock them. We usually don’t when we visit them. Well, at one point I checked the bikes, you know, just in case… they were still there, so cool. We talked for a few more minutes… maybe two, then we went outside to leave. The bikes were GONE. Just like that. That fast. The member told us to get in his car and we cruised around for maybe 30 minutes looking. Nothing. So finally we went home… defeated. Now as you may recall, I was borrowing Elder McNeill’s bike, so I felt especially bad in getting it stolen, though when we got back to the apartment to tell him, he didn’t seem too concerned (I think it’s becuase he’s going home really soon.) — fast forward to the next day; I’m on on exchange with the Elder Clark in his area (him and his usual companion Elder Flores cover the Spanish branch). He has a car, so we were looking out for bikes all day. It was later in the afternoon, about 5pm, and we had pretty much given up, but then we pulled up to a stop light at a pretty big intersection in Tracy; 11th Street and Tracy Blvd. All of a sudden, I saw two kids… on bikes… on the corner. And they were OUR BIKES, no mistaking it. We pulled up about 1/2 a mile ahead of them, got out of the car, and waited. They approached on the sidewalk. So did we. They didn’t think much of it until Elder Clark walked in front of one kid, so he had to stop, and grabbing the handle bars said, “I want my bike back, bro.” They started to yell and swear. The other kid tried to get away. I jumped in his way and grabbed the bike, pulling him to the ground. (Hah! Take THAT!) — I continued to explain in a rather loud voice that the bikes were stolen and belonged to us. The kids were probably about 15-16 years old. They didn’t put up a fight (fortunately). “We bought them from some black guy for $20″ they said dissapointed. Eventually they walked away, probably calling someone for a ride. We stood their… with the bikes reclaimed… victorious! That was a great feeling.

Well I have only a few minutes left before this computer logs me out. The last and best experience was Michael’s baptism on Saturday. It was wonderful. His whole family came. Immediate, and a lot of the extended ones. His good friend Keith who played a big role in him looking into the church actually baptized him, and did an awesome job. We’re so happy for his decision, he’s such a great guy, I’ve really come to love him and his family.

Well, until next week. Stay safe, lock your bikes, and keep the fire of your testimonies burning strong!