What's up everyone!!! Pretty crazy week, we drilled a deer!!! (Don't worry mom we were fine) and I got the flu on Wednesday and it sucked.
Can't really sugar coat that experience too much, being a
sick missionary sucks. I'd typically just plop down and take down tangos or
lead the Georgia State Panthers to the Sun Belt Championship or watch Netflix
but you can't really do that on a mission. You're either sleeping or
studying.... And you can only sleep so much and you can only study so much in a
day. On the bright side it made me be grateful for when I'm not sick, gave me a
new perspective of how fortunate I am to
have this time to serve.
It was a week of giving blessings, our ward is just going
through a rough time right now haha. Between car accidents or slipping on ice
or just being sick, it kept us busy this week. I was even in on the fun and I
asked Brother BooYa to give me a blessing. The priesthood is real, major
blessing in my life that I hold it and can use it to serve others.
Well, we got transfer calls on Saturday and I'll be
taking my talents to Conrad, Montana. It hit me pretty hard, and it's still
hitting me hard. It's honestly not fair, 4 months ago I said bye to family and
it feels like I have to do the same thing this week. Feel the exact same way I
did back in July. Why do I have to love it so much??? They say leave the area
better than you found it, but the area made me better.
So here I am, back at square 1. Feeling the same way I
did before I left. I'll be training a new missionary in a new area for the
holiday season and I'm freaked out haha. Heavenly Father and President Wadsworth must
have some serious faith in me cause I got no idea how I'm gonna pull this one
off, onward ever onward.
Sorry if this is a complete downer of a email, but oh man
this is weird. Belgrade was special. The people here feel like family. Elder
Christensen is practically my brother. Just nuts that I gotta say bye to this
family too. Andy Bernard said it best "I wish there was a way to know you
are in the good old days before you actually left em".
These past 4 months have been the hardest of my life, but
they were the good days, and now I have to move on. As stupid as it sounds it's
that same feeling I had walking out of the Magic Kingdom after going hard with
Kurt back in January or filming that last time lapse in Rice Eccles. I just
compared Belgrade to the drum and feather and that mouse, that'll tell you how
sweet Belgrade is. Ugh it just doesn't make sense, why did I have to love it so
much. Don't know how I'm gonna do it, I'm scared like I was before I left, but
I got the same answer I did before I left...
"Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, for
the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest."
I'm going to miss Belgrade, but there is work to be done in
Conrad. Still have to find Luigi, Guido, Fillmore, and a few other cars and I
guess that means I have to leave Belgrade to do it. It's tough grasping the idea
that I love this place as much as home, and now I have to leave it. I thought a
mission gets easier the longer you have been out but I have cried more the past
2 days than I have since I started this mission. Doesn't get easier, God
just makes you stronger.
Once again sorry if this is a complete downer of a email
but wow, just doesn't feel real. Words can't
describe how I feel. Why do I love this so much??? The past 4 months
have straight up been mental, physical, emotional, spiritual warfare but I love
it. Walking out of church on Sunday felt the same as it did walking out the
Sunday before I left. We aren't supposed to tell anyone until Monday but we told
our ward council and next thing I know it's being announced in Sacrament
Meeting (#NoRegrets) and I had to say the closing prayer. Felt like another
farewell, thought I only do one of those??? Brother Rogers who is the
most BA Ward mission leader out there had tears in his eyes when I told him,
these people have changed my life. Whether it's drifting in a '69 Camaro with
Cameron Richards or hearing Brother Gehringer list the starting lineups for
every Packers team to play, living in a trailer at the Chidesters, Flarp with the Bishop
and Mexican Horse Races with the Turners. Community Cafe and the Thrift Store and the nights with Sister Fife and Bro BooYa. Elders quorums
with non stop Dumb and Dumber references and Chuck Norris jokes,
#AmericaIsNumber1.
Truck loads of potatoes. Spending every second of every
day with an elder that is practically my brother now. Seeing Oscar dressed in
white and walking into the Robison's home and seeing Hannah, Lilly, Thomas, Benji,
and Henry. Brother Robison told me I changed their life, but they changed my
life. Saying bye to Henry was like saying bye to Z!
When I
accepted that call In March it was to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and
strength. To work my butt off and be obedient. No where does it
mention there or in Preach My Gospel or in The District videos that I
would love it so much. It doesn't mention that I'd be so heart broken to say
goodbye to people I love. I was called to serve, but in reality I've been called
to love. Had no idea I would love this work so much.
Love you guys, the church is true. Understand this email was
pretty much a giant rant but WOW. This is nuts. No freakin way I'd put myself
through this if I didn't know for a surety that this gospel is true.
Got a new missionary to train on Wednesday and his first
transfer is the holidays. I gotta be rock solid for him, and I'm not sure how
I'm gonna do it. I need the Atonement now more than ever, onward ever onward.
Have an awesome Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be grateful for, I'm
grateful for Belgrade and everyone here that changed my life, grateful for the
next chapter in Conrad.
"It's about the journey, yours and mine. The lives
we touch, the world we can change, the legacy we can leave behind."
- Elder K
Btdubs, population of Belgrade is roughly 10k.... Conrad
is 2500....
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