Transfers + Stress= -_-

Hello, everyone!

This week has been a stressful week. Again. ("Again? Freaking again?") 

So, we have been cleaning our apartment for 2 new Elders to move in- and we were in the process of doing that last Monday when President Guffey called and I was asked to be a trainer.  Then we go on exchanges, where I was with Elder Andrade from El Salvador, and he loses his wallet with some immigration information in there (hooray for driving around for 2 hours visiting different places looking for it).  Next was zone conference on Thursday, where I am the only missionary asked to give a 5 minute talk (which isn't stressful if you're prepared... guess who wasn't prepared :(  )  That night we get a call from the Assistants telling us they are splitting our area- the Sage and Ladera wards will both have their own missionaries starting this Wednesday, but that neither ward is going to get whitewashed.  So then we start speculating which ward we'll be covering and who our companions will be.  Then, on Saturday, President Guffey calls again and tells me that my trainee (that I would've begun training two days from now) has some paperwork for the military that he needs to have all figured out before he can come down. In essence, I was told that sometime that I don't know when (I'll probably find out the day he gets here) I will be receiving a brand new missionary.  Until that unknown day, Elder Schraedel and I will be staying in a trio in the Sage and Ladera area.  Once my trainee gets here is when the area will be split.  The worst part?  We still don't know which ward we'll be covering when the area does get split.  And to top it all off, those first 2 pictures are the closest I've been to fresh snow since spring of 2016.

That was a fun way to start the last 7 months of my mission. *gag*

That 3rd picture is artwork from Laguna (my previous area) in one of the Sage member's homes, my last area.  Someone put three bird feathers together and painted an eagle on them.  Isn't it pretty inconceivable? ;)

We started teaching a part member family recently.  The 12 and 13-year-old kids aren't baptized.  They are already active, they just need the permission of their mom in order to be baptized.  They're mom is against the church because her ex-husband is participating in it.  (side note: Don't let your pride destroy other people's salvation, please! It's already destroying your own, don't drag others down with you!!  [that's what Satan's trying to do, don't become his MVP]) We have began to move forward in faith that they'll be able to be baptized soon.  And so are they.  :)  They spend every other week with their mom, so they only go to church whenever they are with their dad- until recently.  The 13-year-old boy, named Logan, decided one Sunday that he was going to go to church, but he was at his mom's house that week.  Solution?  Wake up before mom, and "run away" to church.  XD  Naturally, Mom's furious, but two weeks later when they're back at her house, she says, "don't run away. I'll take you to church." 

Logan: 1

Mom: 0

God will provide a way for you all to keep His commandments!  All you need to do is exercise your faith and "go and do" (1 Nephi 3:7) in order to help you grow and become!

Te whanaunga mo ake tonu!

Elder Eli James Dial