Dear family and friends.
I am doing amazingly. I am so excited to be back out on a mission. It has not been easy but I love it. I don’t know where to begin. When I got here I got sent to the mission office to receive a little training then I had an interview with my mission president then had dinner with him and a few others then I went to bed. The next day was zone conference so I got to meet a bunch of other elders and enjoy a very spiritual first day.
At zone conference I was assigned to serve in the Des Moines 3rd ward. So far I have been enjoying it. I have not had too much of a chance to do a lot of what you would call regular missionary work I went on exchanges and worked in a different area for my first day here then I spent the next couple days devoting a lot of my day to doing service work at the Iowa Senior Olympics. I enjoyed both the exchanges and the Olympics. At the Olympics I spent most of my day outside in the hot humid Iowa weather. It was blazing hot and humid during the day then both days ended with a flash monsoon. It was nice to be able to spend that time working with the community and with the other missionaries in my zone. I was able to get to know many of the members of the community and we had an amazing impact on those that attended. At one point I was helping at an event where people where throwing soft balls (not so soft I came to find out) and they were trying to make it into board with a hole in it. I was behind the board to retrieve those that missed and flew away. One of the event coordinators came up to me and told me that I needed to watch this next guy because he threw really hard and I should stand back. So I turned around, walked back a bit then turned to face the front again, just in time to notice a ball coming straight for me and slam into my shoulder. It hurt but I am fine. I just have a bruise that will go away eventually.
I guess I should mention that I baptized someone on Saturday. There are a lot of Burmese refugees here in Des Moines. There was one family who fled to Salt Lake and joined the church there. They then moved here and about a month ago they gave the missionaries a referral for another set of refugees here in Des Moines. The Elders have been teaching them for about a month and 2 of the girls were baptized on Saturday. They have really cool and unique names but we are asked not to use them in our letters so I will just say they are defiantly Asian names. Elder Knight (my Companion I will talk about him later) baptized and confirmed the older 16 year old and I baptized and confirmed the younger 13 year old. They are amazing girls who really want to do what is right. Their English is surprisingly good, however there is a lot they still don’t know. Before I got here the church put out a request for a translator to help teach them and their family, and it just so happened that there was one living here in Des Moines and even better he was a member who had stopped coming to church but wanted to start coming again. It’s amazing the little miracles the lord gives us. These girls are growing fast in the gospel and are really excited to attend girl’s camp this year.
So I am serving with Elder Knight from Mesa Arizona. He has been out for about 22 months. I don’t know how much to say about him other than he is a good missionary and he works hard. Although I have technically been with him for a week, we have been busy and because of some of the events that we have been doing I have spent a lot of time with other elders in my district and not a ton of time with Elder Knight so I am still getting to know him. He likes cars and loves working on them. He loves dirt bikes. We get along well and I am enjoying working with him.
I LOVE being back out on a mission. This really is the lord’s work. I feel the spirit so strong. I love it so so so so so much. Watching people change their life’s and come closer to God. There is nothing better than this. Thank you, all of you, for your prayers and faith on my behalf. I love all of you. Please continue to pray for me. It is going to be a hot week this week and I am going to be on a bike. I am excited for this chance to finish my mission and I look forward to the many experiences and challenges I have ahead of me. Please write me.
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