Howdy all!
I should start off by telling you that I’m really tired, so if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, it is a product of a frenzied mind. Life has been really good. I get almost no sleep (we didn’t get back to the flat until 11:00 last night, and we still hadn’t eaten dinner) eat almost no food (see last parenthetical statement coupled with just overall running around so much we don’t have any time), but I’ve never enjoyed my mission so much. (already noticing some spelling errors, just spelled much “mush”, but corrected myself) We were able to help President Back on who the new trainee’s would be with on Wednesday, and that was really cool. I love being able to work with President Back, and he’s given us so much trust and values our input a lot. He also sends us off to do things at a moments notice. It got to Saturday, and then he decided that we should get the district leaders and zone leaders up to speed with personal visits before they have to call in, which is on Sunday. So we split up the mission between the four AP’s and went and got everyone up to speed. We had to drop our prosleyting day to do it, but I think President is right that it’s important to get that stuff done, so we did. Luckily, our investigators and less actives know that we’re unusually busy, so they’re not too fussed over not as regular visits with them. The ward is good, but it’s going to be quite different from Belconnen. The Belconnen ward is so on top of things, here, I’ve heard that the ward here leaves everything pretty much up to the missionaries.
Well, I guess I’ll answer some questions!
Where is Elder Pederson (the new one) from? Springville, Utah
What is he like? 6 foot 4 inches and an athlete. He’s massive, and will be playing football for SUU when he gets home. (his two brothers have played/ are playing for that team right now). He’s really funny, and he’s always himself. He’s maybe not the first person you would think to put in leadership (he was a junior companion when he was moved up here, and only served as a district leader for a transfer or two near the beginning of his mission before he was released), but is absolutely perfect for the job. He relates well to everyone, is devoted to being an obedient missionary, and knows without a doubt the church is true. He’s just always himself, never puts on a face, and is always making jokes and sometimes is pretty blunt. We’re good friends now, and I have loved serving with him.
Where are you living, close to the mission office? Just down the road a ways. I’m not too sure about the actual address, but pretty close.
Is it just the two of you in your flat? No, the other APs live with us as well.
What are your responsibilities going to be? Well, that I know of, We collect mission statistics, train missionaries, and assist the President. I’ll let you know as more comes in.
How often and where do you travel? We have one work week then a travel week. We work in the office and our area for a week, then travel across the mission for trade offs the next week. Even with our work week, we’re still all over the place.
Are you with President Back a lot? Quite a bit. Not everyday, but almost.
Is your comp driving or are you too? He’s driving for now, he knows the mission better than I do.
Do you ever get to proselyte? Ocassionally. This week not too much, but with trade offs, we’ll be proselyting with other missionaries, and then we have our work week.
Do you know how the Cambodian couple is doing? Did the wife get baptized? Not yet. It will probably take a couple of weeks, she hardly has any time to meet, but they’re doing really well.
Do you have your travel plans home yet? Well, the office does. My travel plans home are just travel home at this point.
Well, love you all, have a great week!
-Elder Shelton