Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night - 03/18/13

I get the feeling that we're in the calm before the storm. Big changes are coming up, one way or another. Moving out of our homeshare, possibly getting a set of missionaries in each of two wards that I cover, and the possibility of me being transferred somewhere completely different. There are lots of possibilities, and I probably won't know anything more until this Saturday, 23 March 2013. I do know that the Zone Leaders will be moving out of the Perkins home and into the Nash home. But that's according to Sister Nash. Mission Pres may change things up at his leisure.

 

Well, we had a bit of excitement this morning. My companion went on exchanges with another Elder so that the two of them could go mountain biking with a ward member. Turns out that he wrecked his bike and now he needs a new chain and maybe a new derailer if he can't figure out how to fix it. Hopefully we can get it figured out before the transfer calls, but we will see. My bike stayed in the garage, so I'm fine.

 

The Cole Canyon ward turned one year old this week! Our ward had a birthday party out with hot dogs and birthday cake at the pavilion behind the chapel. They even invited the missionaries to play soccer and party games. I got winded pretty quick but my companion really enjoyed it. This mission thing is really bringing to mind how weak I am. But at the same time, I can feel myself getting stronger every morning when we wake up and lift weights. Elliott even says I look a little bit bigger. I'm not so sure about that. But I'll take his word for it. I'll be sad when we move out of our homeshare here and don't have their weights to play with. At least I still have my pullup bar!

 

I also got a little sun on Saturday. We showed up to help another set of Elders with a move, and it turns out that the family we were moving didn't have anything boxed up and ready to go yet. Also, there were two families in the house, so we couldn't just pack stuff up and toss it in the truck, we had to wait for her to show us what was hers. It was a long day out in the sun. But, it was for a less-active part-member family, and I usually enjoy packing up moving trucks, so it wasn't that bad. All the other missionaries told me I looked a little roasted at the end of the day. I wasn't expecting to have to wear sunscreen. Most of the time we can move out a whole house in an hour or two if they're already packed up. We were working on this one from 10am to 4pm, and we didn't even finish, but we had to hit our appointments for the day. Good thing our schedule was pretty empty that Saturday morning. I really enjoy service and I really enjoy spending time with the Los Alamos ward elders. Especially Elder "D". He's a goofy, lovable guy from Toella (I have no clue how you actually spell that town) and we just get along really well.

 

We had some fun on Sunday. Our dinner appointment made us an Irish feast and we topped it off with key lime pie and green sherbert floats. And our Afghan refugee family told us that their dad/husband was coming home this week and wants to get baptized. So we made a bunch of phone calls and are trying to make that happen as quickly as possible. He will be returning to Afghanistan for work in less than a week, so our window of opportunity is pretty small. He's been taught and prepared for baptism already, so hopefully he is still ready to go. I guess you'll find out about that next week.

 

Oh, and we finally got our awesome golden investigator on date. She is going to be baptized on the Saturday before Easter. That probably means I won't be around to see it happen. Actually I'm really hoping that they send me and another Elder into the Murrieta Hills ward, and my companion and another guy take the Cole Canyon ward. It's not very likely, but a guy can dream, right?

 

Well let's hope that my companion and I finish out our training strong and hit our goals for the week. This will be the only 5-week transfer of my mission I'm guessing. I'm considering the possibility of extending, but I might change my mind as I reach the end of things. Remember to be of good cheer! Doubt not, fear not.