Heading to Olivehurst

I can never sleep after transfer calls. I will be going to Olivehurst, CA to be one of the Yuba City zone leaders. I will still be in a car down there. The mission owns or rents the house, so I probably do get to mow the lawn.  Oh, and there are 11 zones in the mission, so 22 ZL's.  Coburn said the members take you to the Air Force base sometimes...and that is where the SR-71 blackbird used to be based out of.  It has been nice knowing that I was going to get transferred because I have been able to pack little by little for the last week or so. What was weird was to have Elder Geisler packing too....kind of a strange situation. Not only are the Elders moving to Redding, but the area north of us (Fall River) is being joined to Palo Cedro, as far as missionaries go. So now Elder Geisler and his new companion will be in charge of 2 of the biggest areas in the mission...so that will be an adjustment...I am a little jealous. It is kind of nice to be getting out right now so I don't have to worry about that. Well we can say we were the last elders to live in the Palo Palace! [Sister missionaries are also coming to Palo Cedro, and will be moving into Michael's apartment there.]

Poison Oak

All the seasons have seemed really short, but yea, this winter was very short. Hopefully we will get some more rain, because it looks like there are some fires starting up in the mountains west of Redding. (Today we are in Redding getting the oil changed right now.)

Valentine's

Thanks for the GPS. We got it this week and Elder Geisler is really excited. Thank you so much for all of your help. I am glad you got the stuff I sent home. Thank you so much for your help. 

Mike's Baptism

The baptism was great. I was really surprised because usually right before the baptism it is a frantic scramble, but this one went perfectly. No snags or anything. I was very surprised. I guess that just means that The Lord was really in charge of this one. I put some pictures in the mail today. Sorry you will have to wait a couple more days to see them, but you will get more of them.

Half-way Mark!

Downhill?? I don't know about that! But it is exciting to see that I have made a dent in the time out here. So far I am pretty satisfied with how things have gone so far. At first I thought that I would be disappointed with only having 3 baptisms so far, but I feel like I have done what I was supposed to and worked hard. Plus it is hard not to be satisfied with the fact that I was able to keep up with Coburn for the first 4 months. 

Special California Fast

Uhm, I don't think I am that humble...I guess what I have been trying to do is think about myself less. Although it is tough, I can tell that it helps a lot. When we are out working, or teaching, or finding people, and I am not thinking about being tired, hungry, or about what is going to happen after the mission, time seems to go faster and easier. It also is easier to be obedient. This week I realized that all the things I need to improve on (being bolder and being exactly obedient) all revolve around being humble. So I continue to work on this. 

Palo Cedro for Another Transfer

So yea, I am not getting transferred. Luckily I will still be here for Mike's baptism!  Mike is doing great. He had to move out of his apartment this week due to some issues with his roommates, so he is living with some members for the next 2 weeks. It is amazing to see what he is willing to do to get out of a toxic situation and move towards his goal of baptism. It has been exciting to see.