More Success in Taylor Mountain Stake; Transfer to Alameda Stake in Pocatello this Week

Dear Dad,

We had a pretty good week. We went over and had dinner with the Collette Family on Thanksgiving. That was very nice of them to invite us over. They have a son on a mission right now.

Thanksgiving was an all day Preparation Day. So we didn't have a whole lot going on. In the evening we got together with some other elders in our zone and played different games. In the morning we all volunteered at the "Run to Feed the Hungry" We had to be over at Freeman Park in IF at 7:00 in the morning. It was the coldest year they have done it. It was a whopping zero degrees when we got there. We had different posts along the path to point the runners in the right direction. Elder Durnall and I with several other elders and a few sisters were posted at the end of the race to cheer and form a tunnel as the runners finished. It was funny, because nearly all of the runners had frost all over their faces. Lips, cheeks, eyebrows, eye lashes, ears, hair, everything was white with frost. By the time we left at about 10:30 it had warmed up to a whole five degrees.

One of our investigators is experiencing some serious opposition. She told us she called some distant relatives who are LDS, and that helped her a little bit. She also called a neighbor that moved away seven years ago that is LDS. He is very excited for her to be baptized. So we think that this should go pretty good.

Last night we had a really good lesson with one of our other investigators. We have been teaching him for a few weeks now. He has been to church twice since we have been teaching him. We read through the second half of Alma 32 and discussed faith. We asked him what some goals were that he and his wife wanted in life. He wants to become a doctor, and she wants to make sure that her home is peaceful and happy. He told us he wants to be a "good son" to his Heavenly Father and do the things that God wants him to do so that God can bless him with the things that He wants to bless him with. We told him that is exactly what baptism is. We invited him to be baptized. He told us that he will prepare to be baptized, that is what he is doing, but that he wants to make sure that he knows the commitment he is making. It was an amazing lesson filled with the Spirit. His wife then chimed in and said that she is grateful that she was baptized because she received the gift of the Holy Ghost and that that has helped her a ton throughout her life. So we explained that to him a little bit.

So this Wednesday I am getting transferred. It will be five months to the day that I served in the Taylor Mountain Stake, 1 July to 1 December. I am sad to leave, especially with all of these things going on. But on the other hand I was hoping to have one more area and I wanted to serve in Pocatello. And that is where I am going! I will be serving with Elder Rudd in the Alameda stake. Elder Goncalves (Gone-Sal-ves) will be with us for the first few weeks because he is going home a little bit early. Elder Rudd was serving in Ashton, as my Zone Leader, while I was in St. Anthony. He is a really good, easy going, kind, hard-working type of guy. Elder Walker (the one I served with) is replacing me in the Taylor Mountain Stake and I will be replacing him in the Alameda Stake. I am way excited to serve down there.

I really hope that you guys will be able to find a home in Missouri sometime soon. I also hope that being able to rent will work out for you guys. That has got to be way stressful not knowing where you will be living. I pray everyday that something will work itself out soon.

That is way exciting that John was able to finish his Eagle Scout Project. Tell him congratulations for me.

I think that is about it for this week. Thank you.

Love,

Elder Call