Dear Family!
I'll start off with the questions like usual:
How is your new
companion?
He's good. Clearly wants to
be the best missionary he can, which i think is what matters, he is very
different from Elder Woodruff though. Both Elder Woodruff and Castro we're very
take charge, type A personality missionaries; Elder Beck and and Elder Wilding
(Concha's new companion) are both kind pretty different. Elder Beck is actually
kind of quite. he's been out for 14 months. Very nice guy. This is his first
time being a senior companion. Like Dad said, it is very different and kinds of
strange to be the one who knows the area and everything. I'll write more about
that after the Q's
Do you know why you had a
change?
Elder Woodruff was made a
Zone Leader somewhere else. also, i've been already able to see how I am
benefiting from the change
What did you do last week
after the cookies on the 52 floor?
I think the cookies was my
favorite part of the day. After that we went to the Nike Boston store which was
my 2nd favorite part. I was again able to resist buying all the over-priced but
awesome stuff there. Then people wanted to go to some other stores to buy
cloths. Elder Concha got a new suit. Then we played soccer with a bunch of
Elders from around the Boston area, which was fun.
Have you seen any of your
people that you were in the MTC with?
yes! someone from my MTC
district has been in my district here the whole time, i guess I forgot to tell
you. His name is Elder Watson (in one of the pictures I sent home he is sitting
a wheel chair making a peace sign) I think it's great we're in the same district
now. He was actually in a car accident a few weeks ago (no injuries but a little
whiplash). He's doing well to. Because his companion got into a crash he's the
driver for them now. Also I saw I saw another MTC district mate at transfer
meeting. It was Elder Kilgore (the tallest one). It was fun to see him to. He's
all the way on the west side of the mission, bordering NY.
Are you writing weekly
letters to your mission pres? E-mails to him?
Starting today I'll be
sending E-mails every week.
Have you met in person with
your mission pres since the beginning?
I didn't have time to write
about it last week, but we had a Zone conference (3 whole zones come together to
get training from the mission president) and I talked to him and got training
from him there. before it started Elder Woodruff and I walked in and saw him and
I told him that I was telling Elder Woodruff about how he (pres Packerd) loves
me more because his family personally picked just me up at the airport at 2 AM.
his response was "yup, that's right!". Also he asked how we were doing and
stuff. The training he gave that day was amazing. he's the epitome of a
spiritual giant. Also we were introduced to who he just chose to be his 1st
councilor, President Christensen, who is Dean of the business school at Harvard.
Super cool to hear from him. He gave an great talk on the importance of having
questions (because that's how we get answers) and in finding out our
investigators questions.
Also I saw him at Transfer
meeting; of-course he gave another amazing talk, but I didn't really talk to him
that time. I talked to Sister Packerd that time though. She's great
too.
Have you driven the car
yet?
yes. Another exciting thing
that I could have written about was just 2 days before that Pday we switched
companions in the apartment so Me and Elder Concha were together. I drove. it
was Elder Castro and Woodruff's idea. They wanted us noobs to have practice not
being with them. We ended up doing service for an investigator, teaching a
lesson, having a few lessons fall through which gave us time to knock on doors
and get told "I'm all set" then we met up with our real companions at our dinner
appointment. It was good
Do you have to get a
Massachusetts’s driver’s license?
No.
Have you had to tell your new
companion where to go to do your visits?
Yes. I'll write about this in
a second
Have you gotten
lost?
made wrong turns, yes, but
get lost no.
Do you come home for
lunch?
Basically every day. We go to
Subway sometimes (my latest order was a 6 inch turkey/ham on wheat bread with
lettuce, spinach, banana peppers, green peppers, honey mustard sauce and olive
oil).(i enjoyed it).
Tell us about the most
interesting dinner appointment last week.
Nothing super interesting.
Since being in MA there's only been a few times I've had to over-stuff myself to
make sure we didn't offend anyone. I've still never been feed spaghetti, which
usually missionarys get feed all the time (and are very tired of it). I've
gotten lasagna and pizza a lot though.
Do you hear much talk about
mitt Romney?
a little. It seems like most
people like him.One thing the Packerd's talked about way back in the MTC with us
was how cool it was we get to serve in MA right during the "Mormon Moment" where
there is all this buzz about Mormons because of good
ol'Mitt
Any weather issues?
Christopher said it rained last week.
no. Sometimes it's cold in
the morning which makes me nervous about how freezing it'll be in the winter. I
did wear my big trench coat once when it was raining. Oh, and we did get a flash
flood warning once when it started pouring, but I think we were already back
home by then.
Obviously the biggest thing
this week for me has been getting a new companion and everything. While I was
with Elder Woodruff I was praying I could do a better job being less of a
greenie and more of a solid companion. By the end we were working together well
and we planned together and everything, but he clearly was in charge (which is
how it should have been.) But suddenly now with Elder Beck and I have to make
most of the decisions and it's forced me to step up. I have a huge testimony of
president Packerd's ability to lead this mission and get the revelation we need.
Elder Woodruff left to be a Zone leader, but his leaving also was an ironic
answer to my prayers. I think it's funny Mom asked if I've had to tell my
companion where to go on visits, because so far I've planned all of our days
together. He doesn't know the area at all. Also, he does have a pretty passive
personality. Elder Concha and I both have really felt the extra responsibility a
lot. It was been pretty humbling and definitely good for me to force me to
really pay attention to everything (directions, who everyone is, to write
everything down). Luckily Elder Beck does have a GPS, that's what we use to get
basically everywhere. It'll be interesting to see as the days/weeks go by and he
can learn the area/people more and we can really work together better. Also,
Elder Wilding has been out 9 months, so we're a very young apartment as a whole.
We can handle it though. It's funny I can feel how much more tired I am at the
end of the day just because it's all more mentally taxing.
Quick thing I've been wanting to
brag about: a few weeks ago at district meeting we were challenged to set a
fitness goal to try to work towards every morning and (hopefully) achieve in the
next week. Mine was to run a 6 minute mile. the morning of the next district
meeting I ran a mile in 5:48.
a few more things before I
have to go
The update again today was
great. I heard the Sox traded Adrian, but not to the Dodgers! or anything about
the other players.
My cleats are fine, don't
send my other ones, also Elder Castro left his cleats here.
The calling President
Packerd had as he was called to be a mission president was YM president, which i
think is very funny and another reason to like him.
I got a letter from
Christopher this week, which was really fun. Unfortunately I don't remember if
he asked any specific questions. I do remember feeling bad that his dogs forgot
that the kitchen is NOT there bathroom. I remember in the DearElder from Steven
a bit ago he asked about sports I've been playing and the only time i've done a
sport on P-day was last time doing soccer, but we play some sport with the youth
every Saturday and we've done soccer, basketball and ultimate before. We may
start doing football to get the YM more involved. There aren't any strict
mission rules on sports here.
One other cool thing this
week was I talked to a member in the ward, Brother Alder who works for
Lockheed-Martin! He messaged Christopher and printed out/gave me the
conversation. It was fun to read and good to hear Christopher learned the key to
winning at basketball is getting the rebounds.
My last thing I want to talk
about is that the big emphasis President Packerd always talks to us about
working with the members. Actually working with them, not just asking for
referrals. The idea is we help members do missionary work with the people they
know. That can be anything from letting someone know they are LDS, to bearing
testimony of how the gospel has helped there family, or giving them a Book of
Mormon; it all depends and what would work best for what the member's
friend/person they know needs. If that friend/family is not ready to get the lessons from the missionaries, and maybe not to
receive a BoM, but would getting a specific conference talk/Ensign from you
help? or hearing about the Family Proclamation, or about eternal families, or
being invited to church, or seeing if they wanted to do an FHE with you guys or
something. If you wanted you could even talk to the ward missionaries/Becera's
or something about it.
Alright, I wish I could write
more, but we need to be off. love you all!
P.S. Elder Beck is still finishing so I'll say the last few things I forgot to say.
Happy birthday to Quinn! it sounds like he got good stuff and had a good
time. Is it strange to have a happy birthday, but at the same time know that it
means school is starting right away? Happy School starting to everyone! it
seems weird BYU fall semester starts up again.
And it's very funny to read about Jayna being a fast crawler. When I last
saw here she would just do that thing where she pumps her body forward and back
and then lunges forward once.
Love you all!
Love you all!
1 comment:
great letter. Very impressed that he can run under a 6 minute mile.
Post a Comment