One Year Down, Another One To Go!

I started celebrating my one year mark the right way by waking up with the awesome camel that Nana sent me that says (in her own voice), "happy hump day"! I also got the package from mom and dad! I LOVED IT!! Right as I opened it up and saw the Star Wars quotes on the sides, I knew it was gonna be epic - and it wasssss!! The way the story begins was such a hoot and everything was super creative. Thanks sooo much!!! I think the best thing in the package was the gobstoppers with the funny quote about "even if the jawbreakers of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee...". I also loved the towel I got, since I already have 2 towels in my bathroom, I decided to pin it up as a decoration on my wall lololol. I didn't really do much to celebrate besides burn a shirt in Tina Marie's backyard and have a zoom call with the boyz! The mission has been treating me well and I haven't been too down anymore since I am starting to be more useful with my time. I have been trying to read up on some more talks and I loved the, "See others as they may become" talk by Thomas S. Monson.

 

I was thinking of making a group chat with all the guys serving missions from my home ward this next week (when I get some time) to see what and how they are doing missionary work to see what is most effective for them. Hopefully we can exchange ideas and maybe be able to help each other out. I talked with the members in both wards, here in Mebane, about giving us some more service opportunities and they have really been calling us up more often to help them out. It's been great! I also got a ward inactive/part member family list that I need to hit up and start having lessons with them. I am also planning on starting English classes after this up and coming transfer. I'm excited for this next week and hope that these things move forward with power and guided by the Lord's hand!

Interviews

This past week was truly one to remember! On Friday I had my interview with President AND Sister Henderson. President Henderson is a doctor and is suuuper serious about our safety because he has seen the effect of Covid-19 on people and he doesn't want to tell any parents that their child has it. I first was with Sister Henderson and it was like a ‘breaking the ice and allowing her to know more about me’ type of thing. Then I met with President Henderson. He is such an awesome guy! We talked about my work experience and my plans for the future here in the mission. He used a term called "quiet obedience". He explained that phrase is like, "yeah everybody in the mission is obedient, and it's no big deal to even talk about how obedient you are or aren't". I loved that so much. We talked about some personal struggles and he was super chill about it and just told me to move forward and never look back, and so I have! I talked to him about making my area a "spanish speaking area" and he was all for me doing instructive videos or whatever to teach people English/the gospel. He did say that if these people are getting pretty serious, that I should turn them over to the hermanas because the hermanas are technically in charge of all the Spanish speakers in the zone. All in all, it was a great time getting to see and talk with the Hendersons! Right after the interviews, I went on my exchange with Elder Shafer in my area and it was awesome. He is such a good guy with good intentions. It was pretty good to get a break from our companions and we both learned so much together. At the end of our exchange, we went to an investigators house to give him a blessing and a quick lesson. It was this elder’s 2nd ever blessing and it was a great learning and spiritual experience. We ended up having another lesson with that investigator on Sunday with his brother in law, who is a member...Which means he had a "sacrament" meeting! The work may be different than before, but remember what the Prophet Joseph said that, “no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progessing"! And with that in mind I hope you guys have an amazing week and I hope y’all are feelin’ my prayers and receiving the blessings for my effort!!

New Mission President!

Since President Matthew S. Holland got called as a general authority in April, we need a new mission president. The new mission president is David Henderson. He got assigned to us temporarily until our new president get here from Australia. (I guess he is having visa issues!) My brother, Will, actually had President Henderson as his mission president when serving in the Peru Huancayo Mission! Crazy stuff!