Elder Ben Hilburn: COVID-19 TRYNA TAKE US MISSIONARIES OUT!

This week hasn't been the most exciting week but it is still a great time to be a missionary! This whole Cornavirus stuff is freaking everyone out and it is for sure making it hard on us missionaries to do our work! We are still allowed to do our normal everyday proselytizing but everyone else is panicking so no one really wants to talk to us lol. Which isn't much different as our normal day proselytize...haha. People act like we are the cornavirus when we try to come up to them and talk to them lol. It's all good tho, every time someone doesn’t want to talk to us or straight up insults us I just think to myself, "sucks for your dawg, it's your salvation that your dissing on" Anyyywaayyy, enough about that lol. I would say the highlight of my week was going on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went to their area and currently they are serving on Ball State University.

It's a pretty big campus, Comparable to BYU or UVU. Most of what they do there on campus and what we did was walk around outside and talk to everyone and anyone. It is pretty fun because you have to just start random conversations with people and it can be challenging sometimes but that is what makes it the most fun. The atmosphere was just super cool. I felt like a college student all day walking around campus. It was pretty dang dope. I haven't seen so many people in one place in sooo long. Well about three months to be exact hahah. It was a sensory overload! We were super busy though all day. We had about five appointments. All with college students of course, it was pretty cool having lessons with people on campus. Just not what I am used to but I thought it was pretty dope. It was a bit of a good break because it brought me back to my last area of being super busy and staying busy all day. Which is what I need and love as a missionary. So it rejuvenated me to go back to my area and grind even though there ain't as much going on. Oh, also I forgot to mention that I was in a trio for that day. That was also hecka fun. Being with two

other dudes makes it double the fun hahaha.

That next morning Elder Ravsten (the zone leader) asked if we wanted to go on a run and a I was like "ehhh I'm super out of shape" but then I didn’t want to seem like a pansy so I was like "aight let's send it for the boys" So we did. Didn’t’ necessarily like the run itself but we ran all through campus so that was pretty cool. I was kinda dying towards the end because I was doing everything in my power to keep up so I looked sorta in shape, it was rough but I needed it. Turns out it was four miles which isn't really much but that was a lot for me for not running for so long lol. Overall the exchange on Ball State was pretty dang lit. Due to the cornavirus though, literally that next day after I left they shut down campus all together. Also they shut down every other major campus in Indiana. Everybody is freaking out its nuts. Also there ain't nothing in the stores anymore so don’t know how we gonna survive lol. The lord will figure it out for us missionaries so not worried at all.

Yesterday felt pretty slow because we had no church which throws everything off. Usually our Sundays are pretty full and busy but without church that threw everything off haha. It's all good though we had a unique Sunday!

We got to go do service for our good ole fellow Kim G. The guy we've been teaching. We helped him around his yard again and moved some things for him. He is super into metal detecting so after we finished the stuff in the yard he pulled out his detectors and showed us the ropes. It was kinda funny to see him all into it lol. But now I can say I am a first class detector and I'll find anything you throw my way yooooo.

We have been receiving emails from our president like multiple times a day for the past couple of days updating us on the situation with Covid-19. We are supposed to have zone Conference this next week but we have been told by the missionary department we are not allowed to meet together as big groups. They are working on doing zone Conference over video chat somehow so that will be interesting. Even though they cancelled church we are still allowed to do everything that we normally do. Might be hard though because no one will want to talk to us haha.

Other than the pandemic that is going on currently, missionary life is pretty dope! I know that everything is happening for a reason and it is inspired by God! I know that President Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God and he is leading and guiding us through this time! I love this gospel with all my heart and love proclaiming it to everyone I come in contact with. Nowhere else I'd rather be!

Love you all, stay inside, and SEND IT FOR THE LORD

ELDER HILBURN