Transfer to Oroville

I am getting transferred up north to Oroville to be one of the Gridley ZL's. I am so excited because my new companion is Elder Page. We came out to the field together. If I could pick anyone to be my companion I would pick Elder Harris, but I have been saying for a long time that number 2 would be Elder Page, because he is awesome and we get along really well, so I am excited! And if that isn't enough, both Elder Geisler and Elder Benedict are going to be in my zone, and on top of that, Elder Geisler's companion is the DL and Elder Benedict is my DL, so I get to go on exchanges with both of them!!!!!!! Hahaha it is going to be a party these last few transfers! [Michael trained both Elder Geisler and Elder Benedict.]

Good luck to everyone with school starting up soon. I hope they enjoy it!

Well I am glad you like the letters. I always felt bad reading Gavin's letters because they were so spiritual and mine were more like a travel log. I hope they help you sort of feel what is going on out here though. It is really hard to convey through words everything, but hopefully you can get a little taste of it.

It was awesome because the day after Sam left his bishop called us asking for a report, and I just got to talk Sam up for awhile! [Sam is the mini missionary they had two weeks ago.] It was great. Sam said he loved it and wished he could stay longer, so I would say he gained a testimony of the work part of missionary work. Her called us a couple of days later and told us that he met with his stake president that day and now they are going to submit his papers. I was so excited! He will do great. Oh, and btw he lives in the Gridley stake, so there is a good chance I will see him around.

President Marston is good, much more lenient and relaxed than President Weston. The new mission president is a great guy, very loving and very driven, especially considering he is twenty years older than his predecessor. He does have a much more open sense of humor, and likes to make jokes. We were in a leadership meeting with all the ZL's and Sister Training Leaders in the mission and he had us working in groups, elders and sisters together. At one point, when directing us to sit across from each other for some discussion, he said "this is good practice for your marriages, you need to be able to communicate effectively with each other in a close setting" or something like that. Haha it made it way more awkward, especially for a group of romantically deprived teenagers, but it lightened the mood. His wife is good, very serious and stern almost, but loving at the same time. You can tell she is a big support for him, probably a driving force almost. Overall they are great and I love them, it is just a transition.

That is awesome that you could see them in the movie! I am excited to see it. Glad to hear it was better than the previous, but your right, the first one was epic. [Steve and Sinjin are in the new Saints and Soldiers: The Void movie.  They are seen in the first couple minutes of the movie.]

That is so cool!!!! Dad better sit by the phone, I am sure Hollywood will be calling soon! Haha Aimee and Lindsay, of course they would. [Aimee and Lindsay were absolutely drooling over two of the main actors.] Well I am glad they enjoyed it!

We caught Sinjin in the credits, but weren't fast enough for Steve, but he is listed as well.

That sounds so cool to go on a backpacking trip like that, but I am sorry to hear that Daniel was sick! I would love to go camping or backpacking when I get back, but maybe we should wait until the snow melts. Wow, that is a cool example of prayer and the faith that Daniel had. I wish I had half that much faith. [Daniel headed up on the trip without Steve.  The next day Steve felt he needed to be there, so he packed up and met the boys on their 20 miler.  Daniel wasn't surprised to see Steve because he said he had prayed for him to come.]

So this week we got a call from one set of missionaries in the zone telling us that one of the elders crashed on his bike and was now in an ambulance with his companion on the way to the hospital. We ran over there and got to the ER right as they got out of the ambulance. I guess there is a policy that only one friend or family member is allowed in the ER per patient, but they made an exception and allowed all 3 of us because we were missionaries. That was really cool. Some guy in the waiting room was throwing a big fit over it and demanding to speak to the supervisor because we shouldn't be allowed to all go back when others were only allowed one. What was ironic was that this guy was by himself and was allowed to see his family member or friend. It was just sad to see that in the world today so many people are so focused on what is 'fair' that sometimes they don't want to see the bigger picture. Anyways, it was cool that the hospital made an exception for us, and it all worked out in the end. I will send a picture when I can. Oh! And the funniest thing was that this Elder is probably the hardest working and most obedient missionary I have met, next to Elder Coburn, and this accident happened just 5 days before he was scheduled to go home! Luckily it was just a bad case of road rash, and no broken bones. He will still go home today, on schedule.

That is so crazy that Kim is coming home already!! She is the family member I have seen most recent out of anyone (although I guess I have seen Brother Wakefield more recently since he was at the airport). I hope the homecoming goes well. It is so weird that it has already been 18 months, all the sisters that came out with me are reporting to the mission home today and the heading home tomorrow morning, weird!

I just ate one of those protein bars. They are really good, especially the chocolate chip. You were right about them. No one told me how much fiber they had in them, but luckily I had been eating a lot of fiber one bars and spinach over the last few weeks. I gave a protein bar to another elder to try and I guess it kind of tore him up for a little....haha oh well. I don't think I need anything. I was packing this whole last week and was pretty proud of myself for not collecting too much stuff. It makes transfers soooo much easier.

Well have fun at the mission farewells and stuff. Nah, I don't have anything to pass on. Have a good week. I wish I could train again, but I guess not in this life ;) Thanks for everything and I will let you know if anything changes. Have a great week!