Snakes

hello family
so this week has been good. and crazy. im going to work my way backwards because it will be easier for me to remember. so on Sunday me and elder rumsey were asked to give talks in sacrament meeting. not that big of a deal. but they had to be about 20 min a piece. so that was kind of scary. i don't think i have ever given a talk for that long before. it was on dedication. i prepared all week for it. and by all week i procrastinated until Saturday and Sunday. but elder rumsey was really nerves to talk. he is not a man of many words in the first place. so we got our talks done on Sunday at a bout 9:00 am. and i had elder rumsey give his talk to me first. so he started speaking and i timed it. so when he finished i stopped the clock and it was 2 minutes long. im like are your freaking kidding me you need 18 more minutes. so he wrote and wrote and wrote. and gave it to me again. and this time it was 5 minutes. (15 more to go) so he wrote on the way to church and in the foyer before. we looked at the program and he was first. so the time finally came for him to speak. and the grand total time was 6 min 11 seconds. i was kind of nerves before but now all of a sudden i have to speak for 14 extra minutes. ugghhh
so i get up there and speak and speak and speak. and i was only 20 minutes in. dang im all out of things to say. so i read a whole section in D&C. and boar my testimony on every thing i could think of. i made a joke that im going to sing for the last five minutes of my talk. so total i spoke for 27 min 29 sec. so a member of the bishopric had to get up and speak for the rest of the time. people told me i did good. but i knew i rambled a lot to make up some time.
Saturday was a special day. it was the rattle snake round up in mangum. a member took us for lunch there. so its a festival were every body goes out to try to catch as many snakes as possible. and there is contests for the biggest snake and the heaviest and so forth. but why the member took us there for lunch is so that we could eat snake. man it was gross. they deep fat fried it. so it was greasy and stuff. plus it was still on the bones. so it was hard to eat as well. it kind of tased like rubber o rings dipped in oil. then after eating it they took us to the back were they kill them and butcher them. there was this big black guy that was just about to start on a fresh snake. and he started cutting up this snake and stuff. took of the head with a hatchet and then started skinning the thing. the head was still biting and stuff. and he started taking out the guts. he slapped this purple organ on the table. and said hey you in the suit. come over here. so i walked over and he was like eat that. "what is that" i asked. he said it was a snake gal bladder. so i picked it up expecting him to stop me and say jk. then he was like go on. so i popped it in my mouth chewed it up and swallowed it. probably the grossest texture i have ever had in my mouth. it was still warm and moving when ate it. the best way i could describe it would be a giant gusher fruit snack. with out the strawberry flavor. but i acted as if it tasted good. but only because 30 people were watching me. and elder rumsey was filming it.  but any ways after that we went home. and taught this guy the restoration and he just basically told us all of the problems he is facing in his life and all of the problems he used to be facing. man its hard to take all of that stuff. in i will tell you one thing. my life is good. really good. i get to wake up ever day and make some soup its the best. i get to sleep in my bed all by my self its fantastic! (name that movie)
Friday was district meeting. we had waffels for lunch. and our district is super big now. we have 11 people in it now. its probable the biggest district in the mission. heck the quail creek zone only has 12 missionary's in it.
but the rest of the week is going good. training is fun but its a challenge because he doesn't know anything about missionary work. but here is the kicker he thinks he does. so he trys to tell me im doing things wrong but im not. and i just smile and say thank you for the advise elder. thank you for pointing that out to me. its funny but you just kind of have to roll with it. because all new missionaries are the exact same way. im trying to teach him everything i know. and trying to help him understand the things that happen in this mission. how people have there agency and they can choose to accept or reject the gospel. and just because we made plans doe sent mean there all ways going to go through.  and that's why we make back up plans and back up to those back ups. and if an appointment falls through or an investigator drops us its OK life goes on. you just have to look at the positive things in life.
its really funny to because looking back i was the exact same way. told elder damond what to do. and thought he was doing it all wrong. but really he was a great missionary. im going to have to look him up when i get home and apologize. for everything.
but i guess i will talk to you in two weeks on the phone. what time would you like me to call?
but thats it for this week i love you so much and keep up the good work.
Love Elder Clements
PS. i think its the lord of the rings song. or hobbit or what ever.