For the first time, I need to begin a post with a warning. If you find images of infected toes troubling, you may want to skip this post. I thought I might not include these pictures but realized that these kinds of problems and how they are dealt with by missionaries are very much a part of missionary life.

Here is the before picture which shows Kevin's big toe with an ingrown toenail. This is after he had spent several hours tracting with it hurting.

Here is the after picture (i.e. after another missionary performed surgery with nail clippers).

Kevin reports that, although the after picture doesn't look great, his toe felt much better.

Here we find Kevin in a dreadlocks cap that was given to his companion by a member who used to sport dreadlocks. Kevin put socks into the cap to make it appear more real.

I guess the member kept some of the dreadlocks after they were cut off and showed them to Kevin and his companion. Kevin said looking at them was unsettling to his stomach.

Kevin is about three-quarters through his mission but had a new experience this week. I will use his words with some minor editing.

"In the morning we taught one of our investigators who is from Taiwan. He is a young guy who is 25 years old and doesn't have a strong Christian background. We taught him about faith and prayer and it was a really interesting lesson because everyone else I have taught already believes in Jesus Christ and everything but to teach someone who doesn't is a great learning experience and helps you better appreciate the basic principles of the gospel. When we taught him he had never prayed before and as we read stories and scriptures from the Book of Mormon it helped me have a better appreciation for the gospel and how I have been blessed to grow up with this knowledge."