January 6, 2010

Hey Peeps!!

This week was pretty fun. It seemed like it took forever though since our last P- day was on Tuesday. They say all the first weeks of transfers take forever though. It's kinda nice not being the youngest missionary out here anymore! We have a couple of greenies in our zone so its pretty fun. They seem like really nice guys so I think our zone is going to be pretty cool this transfer. Elder Byington seems like he is a little more excited to still be here. I think he has decided that if he stays busy he will be happy.

That is basically what our zone leaders told us at our meetings on Monday. They have really wanted to start cracking down on the plan that our mission has of getting at least 20 member lessons a week. The ward mission leader is supposed to set all of those up though but ours doesn't really. He's a really cool guy though. But we have to set most of ours up ourselves. This week we have actually been doing pretty good with the lessons. We figure if we get at least three a night then we will be able to reach our goal of 20 a week. This week is the first time we might actually get that. We have had at least three every night so far. It's been really nice. We stay really busy and it makes time go by really fast. So I think Elder Byington is getting more into being here so that will be nice. It will be nice to be busy and doing stuff. I think this transfer is going to be good.

This week was also pretty fun because of New Years. It was a very different New Years for me... We had to be in our apartment by six o'clock New Years Eve so that was kind of a bummer. There isn't really much to do for 4 and a half hours with just you and your companion. So we just caught up on our sleep that night. But before that at like 5 we went over to Chris Burrows house just to visit him. We talked for a while about life and stuff and then we talked about the Book of Mormon and where it came from and stuff and we gave him a book and he had us write our testimonies in it. So that was really awesome! Hopefully that can progress and we can eventually get in to teach him. It's kind of funny but I think wanting to teach him is the first time that I have wanted to teach him so that he can have this gospel in his life and the happiness in his life rather then me wanting to teach him just so we have somebody to teach. It's pretty awesome and I hope that sometime we can actually teach him!

Anyway, that was pretty sweet. Then Saturday we moved into our new place. It took a lot longer then we expected. We just planned to do it for a couple of hours in the morning but we started at ten and we took our first load of stuff over to their house. Yes, we had to take more then one load because the day before we moved they took our truck away from us and gave us a 07 gold Malibu. sweet.... anyway. So we took our first load over there and when we got there the Ady's had a whole thing that they gave us and they took us around and showed us what we could touch and what we couldn't and stuff like that. That took a while. Then we had to go get the rest of our stuff. Then we put together the "kitchen" we have, which is a microwave, toaster, electric skillet and a mini fridge. We put all of that into their laundry room that has a big industrial sink in it. So that is pretty... fun. Kind of small but it works right? haha. Then we unpacked and got everything organized and that basically took up our whole day. It wasn't a very fun day... but it had to be done sometime, right? haha

But yea, this week so far has been good with the teaching and stuff. Two nights ago it snowed pretty good so yesterday morning and afternoon we spent shoveling for people. That was awesome. It gave us something to do in the day time and it made the day go be quickly and it was actually pretty fun. We met up with the Sundance missionaries, Miller (the hilarious english guy) and Norman (he just got transferred in but he seems really nice), and we helped them shovel in their ward and they helped us. And having more Elders made it even more fun. So that was pretty awesome. Our district has pretty fun Elders in it. I've gotten to know Elder Miller better lately and he is hilarious! Everything he says makes me laugh pretty much. I love English accents. I've decided I need more English friends back home. (and Polynesian friends too. haha.)

Anyway. Taht was pretty much it for our week. We have been looking for places to do regular service in the week to give us something to do during the days. But there aren't very many places in our area so we haven't had much luck. But hopefully we can find some. That would make the day time a lot better. It's hard to find stuff to do during the day because everyone here works or isn't home. So hopefully we can find service.

Well, thank you all so much for the awesome gifts and support you gave me for Christmas. It made my first Christmas away from home a little better. I hope you all are enjoying the new year and are having a wonderful time with family and what-not. Thank you all for everything!

Love
Elder Townsend