Today
is the beginning of what seems to be another great transfer! It
was so sad to drop off Elder Kwon at the Train station and to see him
go. He was such a great example and just an incredible companion. I'm
definitely blessed to have amazing companions and Elder Williams, my new
companion, is definitely no exception. He's just on top of everything.
He's so humble, enthusiastic, obedient, helpful, selfless, and so on. I
hope to learn a lot from him.
This
transfer as a mission we also decided to focus more on Being One.
That's something that President Shin has been feeling strongly lately
and it seems like most of the other mission leaders felt the same. We
all have the ability to do great things individually, but our individual
efforts with never be more than that which the Lord can help us
accomplish when we truly become one under the inspired guidance of our
mission president. So we all committed to make a habit as a mission to
always prayer for our mission President and to always pray to receive
revelation on how we can better be one. I'm really excited!
We
also were blessed to see some miracles this week. We have been looking
for new investigators who can progress and God has blessed us with some
cool experiences this week. We have been pretty busy with transfer week,
but we would try to make excuses to leave the office so we can talk to
people along the way. On one of our short ventures, we met a man who
said that he had met missionaries 10 years ago, but had never really
committed to learning or living it. But he talked about how he feels
that now he's matured more and that him meeting us is a new chance for
him. He talked about how there are few people who are truly christian,
but he thinks our church is part of that group. He also said that in
life there are two things that are supposed to help people feel better:
christianity and money, but that he has lots of money and has realized
it doesn't really do any good so he's coming to the conclusion that he
must need christianity. We have an appointment to meet him tonight, so I
hope all goes well! God truly is guiding us and is preparing these
people. We just have to be prepared to follow His will and receive His
blessings. He will never force them upon us!
I
know that Jesus Christ is my Savior! I know that He has restored His
gospel in these days because the worth of souls is too great in the
sight of God to allow us to go without. I know that because of this
restored gospel we can understand God's perfect plan of true happiness
for us and for our families. I know that He is so involved in each of
our lives and that He desires to bless and guide us. I also know that
often He blesses others through us, so we need to always be actively
seeking opportunities to serve and be worthy and prepared to answer His
call to serve. And I know that as we do so, lives change! There truly is
light in the restored gospel and we can see it in the lives of everyone
it touches, including our own. I am so grateful for the opportunity to
share that light with all of His children as His disciple!
I'm
doing well and I have a pretty amazing companion! I am so blessed to
serve with and learn from so many incredible missionaries! I mentioned
it last week, but his name is Elder Williams and he's a stud from Cedar
City. He wants to go into Emergency Medical and has worked as an
Advanced EMT on an ambulance crew for a couple year before his mission.
He's really humble, incredibly diligent, and so enthusiastic in his
desire to worthily serve his God. I'm excited to serve with him for the
next few months. When I first began my mission, I was pretty sure God
would give me at least one difficult or crazy companion, but it looks
like He let me get by without anything but the best!
My
companion had a rough week but I'm fine. I felt a little under the
weather for a couple days, but it was nothing more than light diarrhea
and a little bit of indigestion. Once again I feel so blessed for good
health as a missionary. Thank you for your prayers.
It
sounds like our transfer week is pretty similar to what Dustin
explained as his transfer week. On Monday, we finish all our
preparations, get the new AP and office missionaries trained, review our
plans for trainings, and try to get our other P-day must-dos all done.
On Tuesday, we take a 3 hour bus to the airport to pick up the new
missionaries and then bring them back to the office which takes most of
the day. On Wednesday morning, we start pretty early with the new
missionary orientation and that evening have a Welcome dinner with a
testimony meeting. On Thursday, all of the other missionaries transfer
and the new trainers come here early for their short training and to
meet their new companions. We have a big "Transfer Meeting" around noon
with all the missionaries transferring that pass by the office and then
everyone except the departing missionaries all head to their new areas.
Thursday evening we have a departing dinner and a testimony meeting with
the missionaries going home. And then Friday, we had our Mission
Leadership Council with all the mission leaders for most of the morning
and afternoon. Phew! And then the weekend usually is full of things to
do to tie up commitments given and get things moving for the new
transfer starting on Monday. So it is definitely a pretty crazy busy
week, but to that extent it is a week full of learning, enthusiasm, and
joy.
I love God, I love this work, and, of course, I love all of you! Have a splendid week!!
-Love, Elder Tolman
No comments:
Post a Comment