June 2, 2008

Dear Family, Greetings from wilmington "home of the Howard high school Stealers (its really spelt Steelers, but that is not a fitting name for the individuals who attend that high school)." I apologize ahead of time but I am experiencing something that I have not experienced in a long time. I am right now in the midst of a writers block and I cannot seem to write my words the way that I want them. Last Tuesday morning I walked out of my apartment and immediately I was hit with a very horrible and uncomfortable feeling. It felt as though I had just walked into a cross between a sauna and a cheap Las Vegas hotel room with a broken down air conditioner. I turned to my companion Elder Witt and asked him what this strange sinsation was and he stated "welcome to a Philly summer." Humidity is the devil, especially when you are outside all day. This week we have been working extensively with a less active teenager by the name of Jamal Lyons. Jamal is an individual who is underprivledged to say the least. He lives in the heart of one of Wilmington's worst borrows. His mother Quintana works two jobs. Therefore the young boy is left to fend for himself. He is forced to take upon him the role of a mother and watch after his two sisters. the fact is, however, that he remains a thirteen year old and he is free to run his life the way that he wants it to be run. As you can imagine he takes full advantage of the fact that there is never any parental supervision. Throughout the week we had been making increadible progress with the young boy. He had really uponed up to us. He was also very interested in comming to church. As the week went by we began to teach both he and his friends. We enjoyed it and I came up with the bright idea to invite all of them to come to church. Sunday arrived and we got Jamal and his three friends up to go to church. We arranged a ride with one of the ward members. To say the least we were quite excited. The trip up to church went great. We had a wonderful time with Jamal and the driver. The car then was parked by our driver and we got out and walked up to the door. When Jamal and his friends reached the doors of the church all Hell broke loose. Jamal immediately ran up to the piano and began banging on the keys. HIs friends started taking a bath in the sink of the restroom. We managed to round all of them up before the sacrmament processions took place. For a few moments they all sat quitely together. Occasionally making a joke. During the opening prayer I opened my eyes to see Jamal standing up on his chair and doing the YMCA. For about five minutes after that they once again sat quitely. Then Jamal decided that he needed to use the bathroom. After a few more minutes one of his friends decided that he needed to go look for Jamal because he was concerned for his welbeing. The next friend followed suit. Then the next friend. I went out and looked in the restroom and low and behold there was no Jamal nor any of his friends. I proceeded to make my circles around the church trying to find the children of the damned. My serach was in vain. The other Elder began to join me in my search. We then looked in the library and found that it had been ransaked and destroyed. Rows of books were knocked down, chairs were broken and markers were every where. Eventually we found them. But low and behold they once again escaped our grasp. A few minutes later the bishop announced in Elders quorom that cars had been broken into and many peoples valuables such as Ipods and Cell phones had been stolen. We then found Jamal and the destroyers in the parking lot. There pockets were bulging with valuables which they swore that they had brought from home. Jamal then decided that he was offended and he and his three buddies agreed to walk home. I just didn't have it in me to follow him. Afterwards the bishops first counsellor went up to us and told us that he has done this everytime he has been here. So thats what happened to me this week. I am still trying to recover.