New Area - Cedar City, and a ZONE LEADER!

Buenas tardes mis queridos Padres y amigos!    10 October 2011  

 Elder Chad sends birthday wishes to his niece, Chaylyn, who turned three this week!

Well it sure sounds like there is quite a bit going on back up there in your neck of the woods.  Life is really just one big test right? It is how we overcome the challenges and trials that are placed before us. Just keeping pushing forward and doing what you know you should, and the Lord will bless you will the strength to overcome these challenges, or at least push through them.  (Chad’s father lost his job this past week and now seeking new employment. Chad’s mom has to return for exploratory surgery this week to find out why she has stomach pains.)

       This week for me has been pretty tiring and exhausting. It was the week before transfers, so I was basically running around trying to get stuff cleared up.  The thing is that we really don’t know if we are transferred or not, but that is always in the back of out minds. We try to focus on the here and now, but that doesn’t always work.

There has certainly been a weather change down here. About the middle of last week, it just snapped from summer to winter. There was about one day of fall, but it isn’t too bad. I think it is hilarious to see my companion all bundled up with a sweater and a huge trench coat, when I am still just wearing a white shirt. It isn’t that cold, it was just the shock of it changing from around the upper 60s to the 40s over night. Probably the craziest thing was while we were helping a recent convert move from one apartment to another, we actually saw it snow. It was already pouring down rain, so we were battling that the whole time. I did get pretty soaked from head to foot, but luckily we were in street clothes. During the course of the time that we were moving into the second apartment, the rain slowly turned into slush and then into snow. Pretty crazy to have it snow the first week of October! (Welcome to UTAH weather, Chad!)

       We did have a really cool experience this week. On Monday evening we received a call from a counselor from a Bishopric here. He said that he needed to set an appointment with us so his friend could be taught by us. It comes time for our appointment and we meet him and you could definitely tell that there was some potential. We taught the whole Restoration to him. He seemed to absorb it pretty well, so we asked him how he felt about it. He then looked up at us with tear filled eyes, and said that he believed it all and that is was completely true. The Spirit was so strong at the point; there was only one thing we could do. We extend the commitment to be baptized and he accepted it! It was a really great experience.  I am amazed on how prepared some people really are to hear and receive the Restored Gospel. It is just another testimony that the Lord is truly preparing people for missionaries to find, teach, and baptize!

This is the end of the transfer, and before I tell you where I am going, I want to clear up a few things. I know that my time here with my latest companion was pretty crazy and had a ton of ups and downs, but I really think I learned what I need to learn. I think the Lord tested me with the constant emotional roller coaster to try and test me to see how I would react to the situation. It was definitely hard to keep myself from freaking out at times, but I learned a lot about patience and charity this transfer - Two extremely vital things in life to possess. I will break the news and tell you I am leaving the area here and am being transferred to Cedar City. Oh, and I will become a Zone Leader there. It is a crazy thought to know that I am now a Zone Leader. I don’t know if I am completely ready for all of the responsibility that comes with it, but I am sure going to try and do all I can to follow through with my calling. It is a pretty bitter sweet call. I am pretty bummed to think that I am leaving Price/Wellington and all the people that I have come to love so much, but I am excited to the fact that I get to be in an all Spanish area once again, and an area that has a ton of potential. It is going to be a new experience and a crazy transfer, so we will see how that all plays out over the next 6 weeks.

I am sorry the letter really isn’t that long, but I hope it will do until next week. (We are grateful for Chad’s letters.  Other missionary parents comment that they get about a fourth of the size of letters that Chad sends.)   I wish you the best and I am always praying for you!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!

les amo!     ELDER D