welcome to a new transfer!

Hello friends, how are you all? And welcome to a new transfer! This transfer is a little extra crazy because it's only 5 weeks instead of 6 so that the missionaries who are going home can leave in time for Christmas. And then the next transfer is going to be 7 weeks instead of 6 to compensate for the missing week so, crazy stuff. My prediction now that I'm training again is that I'll be down here in Hondo Pass until the February transfer but who knows! I've never been in an area for more than three transfers so it will be interesting to see.

My new companion is pretty great, her name is Sister Dummar and she is from Rexburg, Idaho. And she used to live in Heber, Utah, so naturally everyone she meets knows someone that she knows! It's kind of crazy actually and kind of cool.

This week has been a bit crazy with transfers and training and all of that fun stuff so sadly, we didn't get to teach too many lessons. We also had about three of our investigators break up with us so we are on the lookout for new investigators! If any of you have or know any, please send them this direction! We have a lot of new potentials though so here is hoping that things go well soon.

We were able to pick up one new investigator this week. Her name is Elsa and she's about 70 years old. Our lesson with her was quite the mess but, she agreed to let us come back so we'll have to see what we can do. We've also been meeting with Charles this week and he is doing pretty well! He's been a lot more open with us about what his thoughts are and he is really starting to pray and come closer to Christ, which is fantastic! We also last week had a random lady text us and ask us to come over so, I have no idea who this person is but you had better believe we are going to her house.

I'm starting to get pretty excited for Christmas and Thanksgiving and the like. It's just an awesome time to talk to people about Christ! So, hopefully things go well =D

This week I have been thinking about how often times, we have questions about something in the Gospel or don't understand something or have doubts, not because what we are hearing or learning is untrue or not from God, but just because or understanding of it is wrong. For example, in the intro to the Book of Mormon, it says that it contains the fullness of the Gospel. When I was younger, I thought that meant that every doctrinal truth or principle could be found somewhere in the Book of Mormon. And I was confused when things like baptism for the dead or temple work or something like that weren't in there (or I just don't know where they are). What I later came to realize is that my understanding of the "fullness of the gospel" was incorrect. I thought the gospel of Jesus Christ was just another way of saying all of the doctrine of the church. But, what it really is, is faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The Book of Mormon teaches us many things, any maybe all of the doctrine really is in there somewhere and I just haven't found it yet, but the "fullness of the gospel" means that it teaches us not only those 5 things, but also teaches about them. How to do them, why they are important, etc. And if you think about the Book of Mormon, doesn't to do just that? How many times and even chapters are there to help us understand faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Tons! Anyway, I hope that makes sense. It's just interesting to see how, what I had learned was always true, it was just my understanding of it that was incorrect. Another example is Helaman 16:15-19. Those hard hearted people were right in their questioning Christ would should show Himself to them, in fact, he would! But they relied on their own knowledge and their understanding of what was being told to them was wrong. If they changed their understanding that would have made all of the difference. Anyway, hope that makes some sense!

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love,

April