Newbie

Hey ya'll

This week has been a good one. Elder Bell is my new companion. He is from Ogden and went to Utah State before he came out. He is a greenie for sure. Its fun though. I try not to pick on him too much, but sometimes its just fun. :) I promise I don't do anything too bad or over the top. Not like what some of the members do or suggest. Haha. Last night we went to teach the girl. Her name is Erika. We were going to teach her about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. Because she is single we needed to get a member to go with us. So we got Jay Akoi. He is a ward missionary and in EOD school. We went to the lesson and taught a really good lesson. I began the lesson and then transitioned for Elder Bell. He took over and just started talking about, well, stuff. He was trying so hard to teach what they taught in the MTC, but it wasn't going well for him. Needless to say, it was his first time. I remember my first time, so I'm not to worried about Elder Bell. He'll get it all soon. However, Jay made a ridiculous comment when we were done teaching. We were walking back to the church and he turned to Elder Bell and said, "Are you new?" "Yes," said Elder Bell. "Oh," says Jay, "I was wondering why you weren't talking Elder. For a while I was thinking, 'Is this new Elder retarded?' But now I know that you're just new." . . . Yeah, I didn't know what to say after Jay said that. You might as well rip out the new Elders heart and throw it to the ground. Oh, crazy members.
The Chabots are doing really well. They all came to church again and this time they brought Mike with them. Mike came with us to Gospel Principles and Elders Quorum. Brother Manwaring was teaching Elders quorum and when he found out that there was an investigator in class, he changed his whole lesson. Well not really, he just changed his focus towards Mike. And it was amazing. Mike was ready and listening to everything. It was great. Mike has been talking about going on a mission. He keeps taking inventory of himself and what it would take to go on a mission. So on Tuesday when we go over to their house we are going to talk about repentance and on Thursday we are going to talk about Baptism. It's been a while since we brought up baptism. Last time each kid said no. So we are hoping that these next couple of lessons will go well.
I feel right now like I am at the mercy of the Lord. Not a bad place to be right? I feel as if I have no control over anything except for when I read the Book of Mormon each morning. Its a weird feeling, but I've realized the dependency I have upon prayer and the Lord. It is quite exhilarating to want to see something happen, but not know how its going to happen, and then watching it unfold before your eyes perfectly the way the Lord wanted it and the way that you had hopped for. It hasn't happened to many times in my life, mostly because I'm to head strong and stiff necked, but I hope it will happen more and more as the next 7 months come to a close on my mission. Scary thought.
I love you all so much. Thank you for the amazing examples you are and for those who have written letters to me. Each one means a lot, even if it was from last year. I read them all the time and they have just as much meaning now as they did then. Thank you.
Elder Call