Greetings from the Great OCM!!!
Transfers:
After
meeting all of the new elders who arrived in the mission the day before
(there were 5 of them) at the trainer/trainee meeting just before
transfers, we made our way into the chapel to await the call over the
pulpit of where we would be serving. I really had no idea where it would
be. . .
They called me to serve in an area I have become very
familiar with, not because I have served at or near there, but because
over the past months I have learned of the many ancestors of ours that
lived there. I have been called to serve in Mansfield Ohio!
Before
the transfer meeting began I thought to myself. Wouldn't it be great if
I could serve up near Mansfield, where our ancestors are from! And I
was very excited when they called me there. My companion, fresh out of
the MTC, is Elder Jones from Alpine Utah. He is over 6 feet tall and
eager to become an outstanding missionary. We were doubled into the area
and ever since then we have been learning the ropes. I am super excited
for the next 3 months. And the previous elders already had someone on
date to be baptized, so we are looking forward to having a baptism here
in the next couple days.
The second day in our area we received
a call from the assistants informing us that Elder Jones' luggage had
been found (most of his luggage was lost in the airport). They then
informed us that we would have to pick it up in Danville, where a
previous missionary would be dropping it off. They asked me to meet them
at the Troyer's bakery (the Amish bakery). I was ecstatic! Another
chance to go to Danville and see bro. Troyer, one of the Amish Saints I
love. We made the 1 hour drive to Danville and it was so great to see
the Troyer family again! How I love those Amish saints! I was also very
pleased to hear that one of my converts from Danville is strong as ever
in the gospel, with a calling, and recently went to the temple to do
baptisms, and is now taking a temple preparation class. This news
carried me throughout the day. There is nothing greater a missionary
could hear.
So life is going well as always in the Great Ohio,
I feel like life could not get much better. I am a missionary and that
in and of itself is something to be immensely grateful for. I feel as if
I have spend every day of my mission working my heart out and the
blessings have been so great and I am not looking forward to it ending. I
have only a short while left in this great Ohio. My thoughts turn to a
scripture in Mosiah, where it describes the people of Alma, and their
love for the Waters of Mormon, the place where they came to a knowledge
of their Redeemer:
"And now it came to pass that all this
was done in Mormon, yea by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was
near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of
Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them
who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed
are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever" (Alma 18: 30)
This
is why I love the Ohio so much, for here is where I have come to a
knowledge of my Redeemer, and of this great work, and the blessings of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I shall sing to his praise forever
because of my experience here in the Great OCM.
