Week 73 - February 9,15

Dear Mom and Dad, 

Well another week down. It has been a really good week in terms of teaching. It has been our best week so far this transfer. It is crazy to think I have been here in Randburg for 5 weeks already! But we taught a lot of people this week and stayed busy for the most part. That always helps the time to go faster. It is crazy every transfer seems to go faster and faster. This has been the quickest transfer so far. 

Well that is fun for Linday. She will be a great missionary/nurse. That is fun that Ashley got to come down to see her give her farewell. I do remember her. Well I hope Ashley can make a decision. That must be hard to try and decide about her work. 

 We had our ward conference yesterday, and I couldn't help but think of you,  Dad . I know these conferences are hard work. It was a great conference, and the topic was "Love one another." We really did hear some great talks on loving our neighbors, and just loving each other as the Savior loved us. We also had a lunch after at the church, and that was nice as well. 

Yeah Grandma told me about her trip, and I hope she has fun. 

I was at the area office this last week, and I talked to Doctor Barton who is the area doctor. I told him my Great Uncle was John Holbrook, and he said he knows him well. He is his first contact, and he talks to him often. He said he would tell him hello for me.  

Thank you for getting me a deer tag! I was going to ask you about that, but I forgot. That is super exciting to think I will be home by that time next year. Also exciting to think about school stuff. I am glad they are sending you stuff about getting registered at SUU.  I will also check my other email to see if they have been sending me anything about school, and I will forward it to you. 

Well that is exciting to start to hear a bit about the Cedar Temple. I hope that they will have broken ground at least before I come home in the next six months. It sounds like they might be preparing for spring to start if they have blueprints and a contractor there. Just keep me updated on that as well. 

 We go sing at that rest home every Wednesday, and President and Sister Dunn came and joined us. It was fun to have them there. I am glad Sister Dunn is putting on some pictures that you can see. I will have to look at the pictures to see what they look like. I am not sure what car she got us by. The car I drive is a Chevy Aveo. it isn't too nice, but for a missionary car it is alright. The fountain you saw were at a members.  Actually we went there with sister Masters and had a little picnic and watched the fountains. 

We can go out to eat whenever. We have an hour each day for lunch, so we can do whatever with that time. We actually do go to our apartment for lunch most of the time. This is actually the only area that I have lived in my area, and we do not drive into our area -so it is actually quite easy to go back to the flat to eat. 

Well I am enjoying my zone and I am doing great with elder Peterson. My zone is also really fun. I do have a lot of missionaries that I have been around. Like Elder Cazier, Barton, and even Elder Robins. It is fun to be around them on Fridays and Mondays. The family that emailed you and sent picture  was a our former bishop. The Taim's. We went over to their house to eat, and they like to send pictures to the families of the missionaries. 

WE are still eating with members quite often. some weeks we have a dinner appointment every night, and other weeks it is just like 4 a week. It is really nice because I don't have to try and make food for myself.  I just have fun with them, and we are never pushy about referral. I don't like openly asking for people to teach. It is better to let them bring the people after you have build trust in them. Our ward is really good though about giving us referrals to teach. 

Our investigators are doing well. Our best investigator is Jackie. She has really improved her smoking this last week. It is cool to see her progress, especially as she turns to the scriptures. If she doesn't read her scriptures then she falls back into smoking more a day. It is cool to see the spirit in her life. Nathan is so great to keep pushing her. He is like "come on mom!!" we always joke with them, and sometimes we just have to be forceful with her to read. We just finished teaching her the Plan of Salvation or Lesson 2. She really loved the concept of Agency, and how she had to make the choice to stop smoking, and how it was a gift to choose. I have never thought about agency that way. 

Our other investigators are good. Like we have Thoko, and Willamina and Ester. We are still seeing them. We are teaching Thoko about the Plan of Salvation as well. She is great, and has good understanding. We have been reading the Book of Mormon with Willamina and Ester, just to help there understanding. With Willamina especially the language of the Book of Mormon is confusing, so we read with them. 

Other than that we are still trying to find new people. We taught two new people this week. One names Nurse, and the other Precilla. It is nice to be finding new people. 

Well that is exciting about State swimming. I hope that Calvin is happy with his decision on events, and I am sure he will do great. Just tell him to be confident in himself. I am excited to hear more about how they do. I hope that the team can all drop time and give Park City a run for there money. I guess we will just see. Make sure Calvin sleeps a lot this week, and Carb loads. Well tell him good luck!!

Most days are pretty hot still. The summer heat is still here, and i think it will be for about another month. WE don't get too much rain now either. I guess we did have a really cool thunder storm this last week. The lightning and thunder here is super crazy. That is weird that it warm weather there, and no snow. that will not be good for this next summer. I hope you can get some snow/rain soon. 

I guess something fun this last week. We went paint-balling last Monday. It was our zone vs. another zone. There were like 40 of us there. It was super fun, and I shot a lot of dumb missionaries. Ha Ha!! It was cool to just have some fun actually. I am pretty sure our zone won, but it was fun. 

 I have seen a bit of mail. I did get the Christmas card actually! But other than that I am still getting mail from October. There is mail coming through though. I still don't know about packages. 

but we just come to an internet cafe to email. I still have the same amount of time, I have just gotten more efficient at emailing I guess haha.

Well I am working hard, and it is nice. It is just great the feeling you get as you work hard. I really am learning so many great things. I also know that I will keep learning new things as I continue on. It is amazing all the things I have learned, and just how I have learned more about myself. I have also learned how important the gospel is to life. Well I love you and I am so grateful for your support. I hope you have a good week. I Love You

Love

Your son