October Transfers

[This was an email we received from Elder and Sister Whiting who work in the Mission Office.]

Hi,

It was good to see your son again. He looks great!

We just met these two Elders at the church parking lot in Anderson to give them  some stuff from the mission office. While we are talking to them a young man walked up and wanted to talk to them. Said he was an inactive member. He seemed kind of lonesome and looking for something. Offered to give them some gas money for a donation.  We left them talking to him and going into the church. Hope they can inspire him to come back. 

Dear Family,

Well I guess I will start with the transfer news. Elder Porter is getting transferred down to Sacramento and I will be DL again as well as training again. So that should be interesting. 

That picture from Sister Whiting was cool. It was way random too. After the Whiting’s left, we took him inside to get a tithing slip and we talked with him for a little. He reeked of marijuana, and while we were inside he accidentally dropped his joint on the floor of the church...that was kind of weird. But he talked with us and then left afterwards, not really interested in the church. Plus it wasn't in our area, so we couldn't do much either. But it was cool. Yea it was weird to be talking to a guy about the church with a bag of cookies in one hand and a backpack full of candy on...haha but it was cool. [The Whiting's brought Michael the package we had sent out with Elder Coburn last week on their visit.]

Well I hadn't heard about that movie until today, and multiple people have mentioned it. It sounds really cool, sometimes I wish that my mission was that exciting...then again, I am alright sleeping in my own bed at night and not having to deal with that. [Steve and Laura just saw "The Saratov Approach" about two missionaries kidnapped while serving in Russia.  Laura almost walked out of the movie when the parents received the news from church headquarters.]

Ugh so on that note about service for members...Last night at dinner we found at that apparently the Stake President has told all the members that they aren't to use the missionaries to help them do yard work and stuff around their house that they can do on their own. That floored me, because our white handbook says quite the opposite. So now it is even harder to build member trust and get along with them because they think that we can't help them. This week we had to drop all of our investigators and most of the Less-Active members we have been working with because they aren't progressing or even showing any interest in the gospel...so my new companion and I will be starting over...It is really sad. It seems like everywhere I go the work slows down...but I heard from Elder Benedict and apparently the work in Chico has exploded since I left, so I guess that’s just what I am supposed to deal with. 

That costume was awesome, I was way impressed. The last time you made me a costume I ended up as "The white witch"...haha but I don't think that was your fault. They better be dark brown, almost black pants (if not black). That would be sweet. [Michael was actually Gandolf from Lord of the Rings, but he left the beard at school.  This year Laura has been making Ryan's costume.  He will be Ezio from Assassin's Creed.  Ryan use to sit next to Michael while he played this game.]

I hope you all have a good week. It sounds like things are going well. Let me know if I can help with anything. I will talk to you all again soon. Thanks for the letters and the package. I am going to see if I can get rid of that candy before I get diabetes. We helped in primary yesterday and so I was able to get rid of a chunk of it. Slowly but surely!