"If I walk, would you run"‏

Man oh man. Where to even begin. Well....as it has been made clearly apparent by my companions today, I now have as many days as I have fingers until I no longer get to be here anymore. It hits more and more every day. I'm starting to teach with more emotion knowing that it will be my last. I'm starting to testify to strangers as I have never done before. I am promising blessings to those same people as if there were no tomorrow, quite simply because there's not too many remaining. It's all starting to come to a close.

This upcoming week will fly by. Today as an entire zone we will be going to the Iowa State Fair and filling our bellies with deep fried butter, twinkies, and oreos. There will probably be a turkey leg in there as well. Tomorrow I leave bright and early for the Nauvoo temple with the rest of my departing group. I also will probably be there on Wednesday because our zone most likely won the friendly competition. Thursday is District meeting. Friday is service and weekly planning. Saturday is transfer calls shortly followed by my last sacrament meeting as a missionary on Sunday. After that there is not much left to do other than to pack and say my goodbyes. It will fly faster than any other previous week.

This last week was a great one tho. Last week in church as an entire stake we fasted for moisture and rain. Well guess what happens when a bunch of Mormons pray for rain...they get it in large quantities. I haven't seen a drop all summer until this week and it is like the heavens unloaded all that they had previously held back. We had so much rain this week in comparison to the past. On one of those days, I was not so happy about it tho. While dodging a fallen tree I wrecked on the bike. Not too bad so I get back up a little frustrated and embarrassed so being a man I took off and sped away as fast as possible. About 10 minutes later because of the aggression I wrecked again. This one was worse tho. I tore up my shirt pretty good and muddied my slacks. My elbow is also now scabbed over with a good size pavement burn. I also, in an attempt to save the bike, laced it on top of me and instead of using it to catch me as I hit the barrier used my own feet. I hurt my bad ankle pretty good. Nothing serious but it hurt. I made it 103 weeks without a bike wreck as a missionary....It just had to happen! I learned to not get angry tho! =)

I've become a huge fan of Menchie's Frozen Yogurt. It's the best. We went twice this last week because we met some people there. The first time we met a lady named Sharon who we met at the human services building while doing service. She's cool. We had a really good lesson with her. We also met Vanessa, who is the BYU girls basketball player from a couple of weeks ago. Both really cool and we got fro-yo. Fine with me. =)

We had two more invitations to baptism this week. One with a part member family. The wife is not a member. She's actually a former collegiate athlete as well. She's just starting the Podiatry program here at DMU so we'll work with her. She accepted. We also invited Gary's fiance to be baptized when she felt that it was true and she accepted as well. As of right now, they don't have dates set in stone but we're working towards that. Today we'll be going to the fair with Alex, the girl who will be baptized on the 15th of September. She dogged us the other night tho so that was ridiculous. We had dinner planned with her and as we pulled in she pulled out. Oh well. We'll see what's up with her today. We still had dinner with her mom and had a great lesson there as well. It's so amazing how the gospel can help every situation.

We made a woman cry because we tried to invite her to read and pray. She is a the girlfriend of a member and after Elder Pope invited her to pray she just started to cry and ran into the bathroom never to be seen again. Ooops. It was pretty awkward. We eventually decided it would probably be best if we just left. I'm not sure if we'll ever see her again.

We had lunch on Saturday with Ken. He's a sweet guy. He's lonely and uses the word "flea-market" far more then necessary but aside from that he's cool. He has so much random stuff in his house from the flea-market. I'm not sure if any of you have seen the show, "Hoarders", but most of it takes place in Iowa I'm pretty sure. Ken's not close enough to be a contestant for the show but he could be on American pickers. He's just got so much random collectible stuff like cars, and carvings, and kaleidoscopes. It was fun to eat with him and have him show us around his place. It amazed me tho that with every item in his house he knew where it was and how much he originally bought it from the flea market from. Pretty amazing.

I had the opportunity to sing and talk in church this week. My comps teased me and called it the "Excell Show." It went very well. I sang a Sally DeFord version of "Be Still My Soul" and I talked about honoring the priesthood which I carry. Both went really well and I received many compliments. It really hit me tho....that was my last time bearing public testimony as a missionary. Wow. I'm going to miss this for the rest of my life.

Things I learned this week:
-Don't ride a bike aggressively in the rain
-Fasting and Prayer can bring rain in large quantities.
-There is no way to look good in a helmet.

You know I've written nearly 100 letters home now. I'm not running out of things to talk about tho. How could you with such an amazing plan as this gospel. I mean if we can have 364 semi-annual general conferences and still get something out of it...that right there should be indicatory of it's truthfulness. I am so thankful for the gospel. I am thankful for the church that allows me to access the gospel. I am thankful for my family and the support they are. I am thankful for the companions I have had that have taught me so much. I'm thankful for the life lessons I have learned on my mission . I am thankful that Heavenly Father gives multiple second chances. I am thankful that the Lord has watched over my family and friends in my absence from them. I am thankful for the miracles I have witnessed. I am thankful for the testimony I have gained. I am thankful for the people that I have met that will affect my for the rest of my life and into the eternities. I am thankful for the 2 countries that I have come to love deeper than before. I am thankful for prayer. I am thankful for scriptures. I am thankful for pioneers that have motivated me to be where I am. I am thankful that I can now see my potential and I am thankful for the desire I have to work towards it. I am thankful that I was able to be away from the world and see where personal caution tapes need to be placed. I am thankful for my Savior. I am thankful for his eternal and infinite Sacrifice.

Really that atonement is all that matters. I cannot answer the question "How does it work?". It is simply miraculous in every sense of the word. It is really THE miracle of our existence. But if you take away that first word in that question, it becomes "Does it work?". I am thankful that I can testify with so many others in the affirmative! It does work! It is all that really matters!

Until next time...when this all comes to a close; The last installment of my mission blog. I love you! I hope you can feel that from here. I have a pretty decent idea of all the people that read these. I pray for you. I love you sincerely. I am pulling for you and I hope you can feel that.

I love you all very much!
Hugs and Kisses ya'll,
I love you,
Elder Excell