September 15, 2009

This last week we went on exchanges with the Assistants to the President. That was a pretty awesome exchange. How it works with them since they are so far away from their own area is that one goes with me and the other goes with my comp and the 4 of us double cover our area for a day. It's great because we get twice as much done! I went with Elder Ale (ah-lay). He is Samoan by decent but from Hawaii. He's a really good missionary with tons of personality! At the end of the exchange Elder Ale had me write "I am... " in my planner and then below it write "1." and below that "2". Then for 1 he had me write "a balanced missionary" and complimented me on my planning because we did a little bit of everything but got a lot done. And for 2 he had me write "Iceman". Haha! I was a little confused at first as well, but let me share his explanation.... He played Basketball at BYU hawaii and there was this guy on his team that everyone called "Iceman". They called him that because whenever he had the ball and going in for a shot, regardless of what was going on around him, he kept his cool and every time he went to shoot it, it was like he was the only one on the court. Nothing distracted him or got him worried. Elder Ale said he noticed that I was always cool, calm, and collected. If something fell through I didn't get upset or frustrated... I just moved onto the next thing with no problem or worry or stress. I really appreciated his comments and compliments.

So we've been visiting a pretty interesting member... Bro Watkins. He's about 50 or 60 years old, ex-marine, and very.... let's say anti-gun-control. Haha! He's kinda crazy and extreme in his ideas. He has tons of weapons of every kind around his house. He would love to see a bloody revolution. Haha! Although his ideas are very... different. He's a good and caring guy with a great testimony of the gospel. His views make sense to me in a very limited sense. I don't know why I'm telling you about him. There's no real significant reason... I just kinda like Bro. Watkins. Haha!

My spanish is improving so much! I love it! I love being able to actually communicate somewhat! Haha! I'm still far from fluent, but I'm still getting better!

He's so busy he forgets to do things, like date his letters.

I am doing well! I think I may have a little cold... or maybe it's the season change. I don't know. But I'm counting my blessings! So being a zone leader is super busy! When I'm not on exchanges with other missionaries (which happens twice a week, every week) I'm preparing for some meeting or training I have to do. So time to write letters is very scarce. My P-day this week was spent moving into another members home to live. The P-day before that was spent driving to Kansas City because the next day we had zone leader's council at the mission home. That was pretty cool. We talked about leadership-type stuff. Haha! What a surprise! Haha! Oh, the night before that we had dinner at the Wittekind's house! That was so awesome to see them all again! I love that family!

So we've been teaching a lot. In the first 2 1/2 days I was in the area we taught 19 lessons! Haha! From Thursday afternoon to Saturday! So that keeps me pretty busy! I've been here 2 weeks and I've gone on 4 exchanges already! I've gone to Newton, Auburn Hills, Wellington and Maize! That really makes the weeks fly by! Every week we meet with the Stake President 1 on 2 and talk about the progress of the zone. That's pretty cool! He's an awesome man!

Sunday I gave a talk in church in Spanish! 15 minute talk! It was about commitments and covenants. I anticipated when I was asked to give a talk the week before that I would be nervous and stressed so I prayed and asked God to give me comfort and calmness when I stood up to speak (because I assumed that it wouldn't come a second before that! haha.) then I left it to the Lord and knew he would grant my request. So because of my faith and looking forward to him blessing me with peace and calmness at that time... the fear and stress and nervousness never came! It was because of my faith and hope in the future blessings that brought the blessings right then! Haha! I love it! God is great! I did very well on my talk. I know God helped me because I spoke better than my skill really is! Haha!

We had zone conference this week. I gave a training on "An Eye Single to the Glory of God." It was short and to the point but pretty powerful. The work is going great here! We have quite a few people that are close to baptism! Hopefully that will happen soon!

What you have heard from my mom is very true! I have been SUPER busy! Although, things have slowed down a bit since the beginning of the transfer! Holy Guacamole! This transfer is already almost half over! Wow! I thought time would slow down for the last 3 months... BUT NO!!! Haha! It's still just truckin' along at the same speed if not faster! Haha!