This past Tuesday I received a call from the AP's that I was being ET'd to the Monterey area Seaside ward. An ET is an emergency transfer. They told me that I needed to be packed, picked up and on my way in an hour. So I packed and called the number they had given me for an Elder Horlacher. So when Elder Horlacher, Elder Giles and Elder Fakava arrived I bid farewell to Elder Sant and Mercer and left with them on "another world win big city adventure." While in the car I was told what was going on. Elder Horlacher's companion Elder Smith hasn't made it here from the MTC or some such, for reasons we don't really know. So I am serving here till February 1st. This is an amazing area. Beautiful view of the Bay, lots of great areas and great people and a relatively new ward. They just split the wards so this ward is full of new leaders all ready to do their calling to the best of their abilities. On Saterday I was able to witness a Baptism. It was such an amazing experience. When Elder Fakava and Zack stepped into the water the Spirit got so strong, I had to fight back tears of joy, and my heart swelled within my chest. I am so happy to be serving here. The only thing that makes this area hard is that it is one giant hill, and we are on bikes. But I am getting stronger and will be back in Cambrian Park soon, so please don't worry about a new address.
My Companion Elder Horlacher is very old, in mission terms. He goes home at the end of this transfer. He is an amazing missionary and he has a powerful testimony. He is a CODA, for those of you who don't know what that means, it is Child Of Deaf Adult. He knows Sign Language and serves as a Sign Language Missionary, and he is from Dallas Texas. He is a Zone Leader, so we go on exchanges a lot. We live with another pair of missionaries, Elder Giles and Elder Fakava. Elder Giles is also a CODA who is called to serve as a Sign Language Missionary and he is the other Zone Leader. Elder Fakava is an Elder from Tonga. He is a great guy. Elder Giles has been out for 21 months and Elder Fakava has been out for 19 months. So I am the young guy in the area. They are all amazing Missionaries. Our Zone, I think this is funny, has two sister missionaries from my first area, and an Elder from my second.
I have a Testimony that the Lord hears and answers prayers. Me and Elder Sant and Mercer were talking about being changed by our mission, and that you have to allow it to change you. So I started to pray that Heavenly Father would help me to be changed by my mission. The next day I was transferred to work with Elder Horlacher, and the first thing that Elder Sant told me when we found out was that this will change my mission, and that Elder Horlacher is a wonderful missionary. I have since found several things that I want to do as a missionary and latter on in my life. And I know that prayers are answered because of what happened with Paul. Paul is our investigator in Cambrian Park, and he has progressed really well. On Friday I received a call from Elder Sant, and I was told that Paul has set a baptismal date. We have been praying for so long that we would know what to say to help him make that choice, and now he is fully committed to baptism. The Lord loves us and answers our prayers, not always right away, or in the way we think, but he does answer.
There is a quote by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, I think, who once said, "When the Lord calls you he makes you equal to the task. But he can only guide your feet if you take the steps yourself." I love that quote. Because it is true, the Lord doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. When we accept callings from the Lord, he makes it so that we can meet those callings and be able to do what he wants us to do. But we have to take the steps to do it. We can't sit by the wayside and expect miracles to happen, we have to show our faith and help make them happen. I know that as we do this we are blessed.
On the topic of Visa's: Elder Stimpson has arrived in Africa on Monday of last week I believe. He had a lot of things to say about the area and the people. But most pertinent to Visas, he said the Mission President said that more missionaries will be coming soon, so maybe visas will start to arrive.
This quote it is for Nicolas and Jeremiah
"BO YA KA SHAW! Sounds weird when he says it. Sounds weird when you say it."
Please ask them if they remember where it comes from they should.
One Momma should know
"Why is the rum gone? Why is the rum always gone."
Two for Daddy
"Deep down you want me on that wall you need me on that wall. Did you give the Red Alert?! You're darn right I did!"
"You can't handle the truth!"
One for anyone else.
"There's one in every family sire, two in mine."
Love you all
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