Hola todos!
Wow, it really has been a busy week... and a crazy one! I couldn't have been more surprised at how everything turned out. So since last Tuesday was P-day and I knew I was moving I packed all day and just got to say goodbye to a couple of people. Of course you never have half as much time as you need to say goodbye to everyone. But it was great saying goodbye to my recent converts - it was a very bitter-sweet experience. They all offered super sincere prayers for me, and showed a whole lot of gratitude. And then Wednesday morning before transfer meeting, elders were going around talking to everyone (since everyone had found out their assignments earlier) and trying to figure out who their companion was. I actually did figure out who it was beforehand and was super surprised. So my companion here is Elder Tyler Oliver, who had served here in the Yuma Zone (in San Luis, right on the border) for as long as I served in Yuma. Not only that, but he's never been zone leader or district leader before, so we are white-washing into Yuma just as fresh and inexperienced as you can be. We found our apartment a mess, with all kinds of food and papers lying around everywhere, having no idea what half of them mean or what we need to fill out. We went back to Tempe for a training meeting the next day (an incredible amount of driving) and thankfully got a little more instruction but not much. So I've basically had to take the lead on all of the paperwork and planning and missionary work in general, since he doesn't know anything about the area, or the members, or how to do all of the leadership stuff. So it's been quite the learning experience :)
I was nervous at first because I thought I was going to have to do english work (it's way common for spanish zone leaders to go to english) but thankfully I found out that I'm serving in our sweet little Yuma branch, and I'm covering the same area I covered with Elder Lindquist. It was super fun surprising everyone, especially our branch president - President Dominguez. He's super happy to see me again, and is getting more started with missionary work in the branch. They're working on a branch mission plan, and on visiting less-actives and recent converts. All of the members and investigators I was teaching were equally excited and some of my recent converts were about in tears - it was pretty sweet. I'm thinking part of the reason I'm back here is because there are people that I was teaching before that are now ready and I'm excited to find out which people the Lord has prepared down here for me to teach and baptize. We're getting everyone down here excited, and trying to show and lead by example. We're getting members involved, and we're trying to build our teaching pool. It does feel like there's a whole lot on my plate right now, but I'm glad I've got such an easy-going companion that is willing to work. It's just a matter of knowing what to do!
Life is also a little different here in Yuma, because there are only 12 missionaries in the zone now. There were a lot of white-washes and a couple companionships were taking out. We actually have only 6 missionaries here in the city of Yuma, and 4 of them are sisters!! President Howes has been making some pretty huge changes lately, and it looks like he has big plans and high expectations for us here. So there are 2 english sisters here, and the 2 spanish sisters, who we share the branch with (it's cool - Sister Donaldson, who was in my MTC district, is training here and is serving with us). It's kind of weird being the only elders in Yuma...way different than anything I've known.
But life is good, and we actually had a way good day yesterday and did well on our 3-ish full proselyting days - there are a lot more calls and stuff to juggle with the zone and the office and everything. But yesterday we had a couple really good first lessons with people (one was the husband of a recent convert) and they both accepted baptismal dates! With one there's going to be some major word of wisdom problems to overcome, but it was just cool to see that there really are people prepared no matter where you go.
They're also doing something different for this month as we're doing more trainings on the Fundamentals from Preach My Gospel. We're getting trained on it one day every week for the next four weeks, and President has called two more AP's to help with the training and exchanges (my trainer, Elder Cuthbertson, and Elder Burgos) - so we're going to be even more busy this transfer.
So yep, we're just trying to get a hang of things and get work done here in Yuma! We're trying to get everyone excited and into setting high goals and achieving them! High expectations yields high results. So it was pretty surreal being here in Yuma again, but it also feels like I'm back home. The people here are great and I'm loving it!
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