Dear Mom,
We finally didn't have a slow week this week. We taught 9 lessons! Whoot! Hahaha. I was so mad Wednesday though, because we had this amazing and rock solid day planned out, and as we were biking down to Anaheim, my chain started skipping. What? I just got a completely new drive train, theres no reason it should be skipping. It kept skipping, and I looked down right as the chain broke and fell off the chainring! What?!! I couldn't believe what I saw. There was no way. I had inspected my bike before we left, as I do every day. I take better care of my bike than most do. I coasted to a stop, put my bike against a tree, and ran back to where my chain was, in the middle of La Palma Avenue. I got it and brought it back to my bike. The masterlink had broken and was nowhere to be found, so I decided I'd shorten it by half an inch, re-attach it with my chain tool and then we could continue with our plans until noon, at which point we could ride to a shop and buy a new chain. Within 30 seconds of getting the chain re-attached it broke again, this time in a new place! I couldn't believe it. What the poo. So I look at the chain again. This time to re-attach it I would have to take a full inch off of the chain, which meant I needed to be careful on gear changes and that we wouldn't be able to go about our plans until after I took it to a shop and bought a new chain. I was getting frustrated. Not only should this not be happening to us because we had a great day planned, but it shouldn't be happening at all as this was already a brand new chain. I inspected the chainrings and the cassette, and couldn't find anything that would be causing this. So I inspected my legs, as they are aparently a lot more powerful than I thought, and couldn't find anything wrong with them.
Nothing was adding up. I said a quick prayer and asked for help that I might be able to figure out what to do. My companion was looking at me like "now what?" and then I decided to do the only thing I could. I sat down on the ground (in my nice clothes btdubs) and started taking off another inch of chain to bolt it back together. Out of nowhere, two of the sisters in the ward suddenly appeared behind us. They had seen us stopped and had pulled over to see if there was anything they could do. One of them called her husband, who just happened to be leaving work (Brother Dyer, he owns a company making electronic speed signs) and who had this massive truck (it was a big diesel long-bed). Brother Dyer works almost right next door and was picked us up with our bikes. He took us to a bike shop about 2 miles away, and then insisted on paying for the chain. I couldn't believe it. It was just $20, but I really didn't want to spend any more money for a few months. I am so thankful to him. We got a new chain and installed it, and then were ready to go for our week.
I have no idea why that happened. There are somethings that can't be explained, and this is one of them. Perhaps if we had continued on, we would have been in danger. Perhaps something else would have happened. Who knows.
What did the Elders teach about?
I have had a lot of fun working in the office. It's a nice divider in our week, and it helps break up the days. I think Turner enjoys being with the Zone Leaders too. It has been really busy splitting everything to get ready for today, but hopefully it was all done well. Tomorrow I will be doing new maps and everything for the mission. Its fun because it requires coding to make the map polygons, and I love coding. It will be sad to delete the Irvine and Newport Stakes though. For the first time, the California Anaheim Mission no longer has any beach.
Our companionship is going great! Elder Turner is very misunderstood I think. He has so much to offer if you listen to him.
I love our new apartment. I am fearing I may have to move at this transfer though.
No ants :)
Its hot. Its really, really, hot.
You applied to a new job? Why? What is a typical week like for you Mom?
I remember weather I think... I miss storms.
(private words just to Mom)
I can't believe how fast everyone is growing up.
Love, Elder Clark
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