Well the big news this week, along with the temple of
course, is that we got a brand new 2015 Nissan Frontier! Because we had to
trade out cars I got to drive down to the temple with Elder Geisler so we
didn't have to beg members for a ride. It is sooooo much nicer than our old
truck. I guess this will be one of the few times I have a new car!:)
We'll Mom looks......alive....I think;) I am glad to hear
everything went well. Thanks for letting me know when it happened. While I was
at the Sacramento Temple this week I put her name on the prayer role! Hope she continues to improve quickly!
Haha well the Elder in this group picture from our hike last week isn't giving me a death glare, he is looking
at me to figure out what was going on cuz I had an apple in my hand and then
right at the last second I hid it behind my back. That is also why the sisters
are laughing in the back.
Well I have only been in this area for 2 transfers, and only
with Elder Larson for 1 so I didn't really expect to leave, especially with
only 7 weeks left. I would have loved to train again, but unfortunately zone
leaders don't do that very often unless there is a great need, and I wouldn't
be able to help the new missionary all the way through the 12 week training program.
Elder Benedict is getting to train though!! He is sooooo excited, and of
course, so am I!! I am going to be a grandpa! ;) Haha it will be fun. Elder
Geisler is getting transferred down to the Lincoln Zone, and he will be a
district leader down there. It will be sad to see him go, but he will do great
I am sure.
I can't believe Elder Holbrook is leaving either! We got to
see him at MLC this past Thursday and he was talking about how he had gotten to
the point where at the end of each day when he took his shirt off he just threw
it away. We laughed but it made me realize how fast the time goes by (once
again). He is excited to get home and ready for school. I am sure you will be
hearing from him as he gets ready to move in and things.
Okay, so about the temple...this could get lengthy so bear
with me. On Friday night, Elder Geisler went on exchanges so we could go down
together the next day. I really am so lucky I get to go on exchanges with him
and we have a lot of fun together. Of course he is just as goofy as ever and
that was a party. We drove down to the Yuba City Stake Center at 10 AM to meet
the other Elders that had our new truck, and we swapped with them. After a few good minutes of freaking out over
how nice the new car is, we drove down to the temple. Since I really have never
served in the south and have only been there on exchanges with the AP's and for
a few other appointments, I had a really hard time finding my way around down
there, so the GPS is a HUGE help. When we found our way to the temple, it was
beautiful. It sits up on a hill overlooking the valley and is just beautiful.
It was kind of funny cuz Elder Geisler and I looked at each other and at the
same time he said to me "This temple is huge" as I was saying
"This temple is small".....I never realized how lucky we are in Utah
to have so many beautiful temples with such a large capacity to do temple work.
When we got out of the car at the temple we looked around the parking lot and
noticed several people from our ward up in Palo Cedro. As we waved to a couple
of them, about 5 of the young men (who had come down to do baptisms) came
running over to us to give us hugs. I was so surprised they remembered us, let
alone that they were excited to see us. All of the ward members were shocked to
see us as well and they kept asking if Elder Geisler and I were companions
again. When we got into the temple I started seeing even more people I knew,
and I realized that they were from my current area (Oroville) as well as Chico.
It was amazing to see people from all the areas I have served in so far (Except
Olivehurst). The session was very full, and I guess they only can do one
session at a time in this temple, so we ended up in the very back. When Brother
and Sister Hourany finally came in they could barely see us and so we didn't
get to do anything really except wave. When the session started I realized 2
things. The first was that I haven't been to the temple in FOREVER and couldn't
remember almost anything. The second thing was that the new video that I saw
was about 100,000 times better than the old one. I will admit, I was a little
anxious to get through so I could talk to the family, but I really enjoyed the
session. I had forgotten about how peaceful it is in the temple and I could
finally hear myself think. It was fantastic. When we finally got into the
Celestial room it was a very joyful reunion. They kept commenting on how I
looked like I had 'grown up', but I am guessing it’s just cuz I probably have
less hair than they remember. I had a cool thought as we were in the temple. I
thought that if I was so happy to see these people in the Celestial room after
only a year, how wonderful will our reunion with loved ones be in the Celestial
kingdom after this life? Surely it will be wonderful. We took some pictures and
I put them in the mail this morning. I know there are some on Facebook as well,
so you can see them there.
As far as the lunch thing for my homecoming, I am all down
for 1 hour of church and then lunch. I figure if I add up all the meetings that
I go to (and right now I go to church and ward council twice each Sunday) I
have been to enough church to count for a while! ;) I am totally kidding of
course, but I think the after church food thing is the best. That way I won't
be nervous to speak and avoid eating. Anyways, that’s my thoughts but in the
end it doesn't really matter that much to me, so your call!
Elder Harris and I talked this week and we realized that as
well. We were sort of bummed, and after fruitlessly discussing a way to skype
into each other's homecoming talks, we decided that we would just have to be
there in spirit. Oh well, you can't win them all.
I can't think of anything I would need for Christmas...in
fact I will probably start sending stuff home to you guys right about then. I
am not sure what we will be doing on Christmas as far as missionary work goes.
We just talked this past week about Thanksgiving and we will be cleaning church
buildings in the morning and then just hanging out with whatever members will
let us for the rest of the day, but it will be a "non proselyting
day" but not a pday...somewhere in between. I am not even sure which area
I will be on on Christmas (see the email I sent to dad). But I guess we will
see how it goes.
Sorry if this letter seems short again...I promise I am
trying to write about how everything went. I guess it just hard to put all into
words. We had 2 investigators come to church this week for the first time, one
in the family ward and one in the YSA branch. That was great! Hopefully we will
be able to set baptismal dates with both of them in the near future. It is
weird to think that this will be my last transfer here, but it is great
motivation to work hard to the end. Thanks for everything and I look forward to
hearing from you soon!
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| Michael's investigator cleaning his gun |
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