It sounds like the
funeral went well on Saturday and I am glad Grandpa will now be helping
to hasten the work on the other side of the veil. President Daines was
able to tell me personally during interviews on Wednesday and it was
good to hear it from him. I love President Daines! I know the family is
ordained of God and I am so glad to have had Grandpa Matheson be a part
of mine.
There has been lots of changes this
week and I have a new companion . . . again . . . this time it is Elder
Campbell and he is a new zone leader. We are still in a trio, now me,
Elder Rasmussen (who is still in training) and Elder Campbell (whom was
dropped off today). Elder Egbert, my previous companion in our trio, was
transferred this morning to an area north of Columbus as a district
leader. So everyone is getting scrambled here due to Elder Patch going
home. But we had a really great week:
Me, Elder
Egbert, and Elder Rasmussen together had one of the best weeks of my
mission. The news about grandpa and Elder Patch on Wednesday was hard to
take in, but because of it I have a renewed vision for my mission and
an increase in faith. We had a blast being hardworking and obedient.
Everything seemed to fall into place this week. We had investigators
suddenly begin to progress and the spirit was poured out upon us and the
investigators because there was nothing to restrain it. We were all
obedient, worthy, hardworking missionaries and it was amazing what
miracles happened. For example, one investigator randomly decided to quit
coffee (before we had even taught the word of wisdom). Another straight
up told us she wants us to baptize her, and 2 investigators who
previously were not progressing decided to come to church this week.
Overall the Lord has poured out his spirit this week and as long as we
keep the ball rolling, we will accomplish much more.
It
was a bitter sweet moment yesterday when we learned that Elder Egbert
would be transferred. I grew close to him in the short time we were
together because I feel like we were doing everything the right way. Now
I am sitting across from Elder Campbell and I look forward to serving
with him.
Also this week I went on an exchange
with one of our district leaders. We were on bikes all day, the weather
was probably in the teens at the high, and we were biking on ice and
snow. Definitely a good journal entry that night. But the funny thing is
I love the extreme and being out in it. So I enjoyed the exchange. The
weather here overall has been brutal. We had about 5" of snowfall at the
beginning of the week and then the temperature got as low as -6 one
morning. Today it is warmer with sleet and freezing rain, and I believe
the next couple of days are predicted to be very cold (We have a
contact on our phone called "tell me" and when we call it an automated
voice will tell us the weather.). So another typical winter week here in
the Ohio.
I am glad to hear that Elder Yardley
will be returning home soon. It is always great to hear when a good
friend finishes his mission! Let me know how his homecoming goes!
I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!
Love,
Elder Beutler
