Easter

March 28, 2019

Hi everybody!

Happy belated Easter! But it's okay, because I think I said happy Easter last P-Day so I got it in early. One was early, one was late, so it cancels out to being right on time, right? Haha. Or I could go with the Gandalf philosophy: "A [missionary] is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives [or says happy Easter] precisely when he means to." Let's go with that. Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful and Christ centered holiday!

We had another good week this past week. It was actually really similar to the week before. We taught about the same amount of lessons as the week before, which is good, although we would have liked to exceed that. But oh well. We're making progress and helping people, and that's what counts. We also got a lot of people on date! We've been teaching a person named Lexie. Her husband is a member, but she's not yet. Anyway, she chose a baptismal date in May! We're teaching two Navajo kids and we got them on date for baptism on April 23rd. Also, the Hispanic family we started teaching is on date for the same day. So April 23rd is going to be a big day if all goes as planned!

Some interesting things though. One of the people in that family may or may not have gang affiliations and might have some major legal stuff to deal with. Also, two other people in that family (who we haven't started teaching yet) were recently arrested for who knows what. So yeah, there might be a few things they need to deal with leading up to April 23rd. And they're still as flaky as ever. I wouldn't be surprised if it had to get pushed back. Hopefully everything will work out though.

On Thursday (I think), we had President Center join us for studies in the morning. It was actually pretty cool. And it gave added incentive to not doze off during studies. And President had some pretty good insights that he shared. It was also kinda funny when he told us why he's started to do studies with the missionaries. He was straight up and said basically if he doesn't study with missionaries, he doesn't get studies done. He said he gets distracted with email, phone calls, and mission president stuff. But anyway, it was cool having him over I thought.

Easter was pretty great. Church was good, and our recent convert, Ivan, got set apart as a primary teacher, and then he got ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. That was really cool. And it was

also just awesome in general because of the holiday. Easter really is the best! One of my favorite scriptures is in John Chapter 16. It is Jesus Christ talking to his Apostles right after the last supper, and right before performing the Atonement. He said:  "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Christ has indeed overcome the world, and because of Him, we too can overcome the world if we follow Him. He lives! And because of that, we will live again too. Christmas is special because it celebrates Christ's birth, but what made Christ's birth more than just another birthday was who Christ is, and what He did for all of us, which is what we celebrate at Easter. Therefore, Easter can be considered the most sacred holiday on the calendar. I hope we will all remember Easter's true meaning and keep that with us throughout the whole year.

Have a great week! May the Spirit be with you all!

-Elder Oswald

A Successful Week

March 21, 2016

Hi everyone!

Yet another week has passed. And it was pretty awesome. It was our first week implementing the "Enoch West Plan" here in Snow Canyon. And we have had a lot of success! It was the busiest I've been since leaving Enoch West! We taught a lot of lessons, and also laid a lot of groundwork for future people to teach. One guy we started teaching is from Michigan! I thought that was kinda cool. And he says he doesn't think he wants to convert, but he keeps indicating otherwise. He keeps saying all the right things and asking all the right questions. Like how the Book of Mormon makes perfect sense to him. And somehow the Word of Wisdom got brought up in the first lesson, and he said "yeah, I think I could live that", and proceeded to tell us some of the science behind why some of the things prohibited by the Word of Wisdom really are bad for us. Anyway, I think he'll get baptized eventually. He might just not fully know it yet. :)

We also started teaching some Hispanic people this week who are SUPER flaky! Seriously, if every lesson we had scheduled with them happened, we'd probably be close to 20 or so lessons. And I'm not sure how interested half of them are. I don't think they really are. Except for 3 of them, Mona and her daughter and son in law (and they live in a different house than the rest of the family, so if we need to drop the others, we can still keep meeting with them). But they're still flaky too. We also might need to turn them over to the Spanish Elders, since they are predominantly Spanish speakers, at least that's what I pick up from talking with them. But in the meantime we'll keep trying to meet with them and we'll see how it goes.

I can hardly believe it, but Easter is almost here again. It's crazy to think that last Easter, I was still a brand new missionary, not out even 3 months. It's kinda weird having it in March this year, but oh well. The reason behind the holiday is the important thing, and that's Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice and triumphal resurrection. I'm so grateful for what He has done. He has broken the bands of death, unlocked the gates of Heaven, and opened the windows of Heaven. Because of Him we will all live again, we can receive divine aid in this life, and if we follow Him, we can have eternal happiness in the next. That's why I'm serving a mission; to spread that good news to all who will hear, and help all who will receive Him to come unto Christ.

I miss you all! Have a great week! Happy Easter!

-Elder Oswald

PS-There are some new Easter videos on Mormon.org. Check it out if you

haven't already!

Epic Plans, Self-Reflection, Being Sick, and Nuked Pizza Rolls...

March 14, 2016

Hi everyone!

This week was pretty eventful. First we had interviews with President and Sister Center on Wednesday. It's always fun to talk with them. Unfortunately, this was probably the last interview I get with them. President's three years as Mission President will be done in June. I'm really going to miss him and Sister Center. And it'll be weird having a different Mission President my last 7 months.

After interviews, I had the opportunity to draw up some plans for the area. I presented the idea to Elder Burt and he liked it, so we presented it to our stake correlation meeting. We've started to implement the Enoch West Plan in this area. That's the thing we did in Enoch West with the Ward Mission Leaders, splitting with them three nights a week, and focusing on having the WMLs setting appointments. That worked miracles in Enoch West. The WMLs and the Stake Leadership love the idea, at it will be starting this week. So that's exciting, and I think it'll really get things going here in Snow Canyon. Another thing we'll be doing is in the afternoons (which are usually pretty dang slow), we'll be splitting with the Elders who cover Spanish work in our stake and go tracting with them. That way it could help both companionships, regardless of whether the people speak English or

Spanish, we'll have it covered. So yeah, a lot of good things are about to happen I think, and I'm really finally starting to feel comfortable here. I actually feel like I'm in "my area" now.

Unfortunately, amid all the enthusiasm and exciting developments, I seem to have come down with a pretty bad cold. It started on Thursday, and sort of built throughout the day, and then it hit me full for me Friday morning, and I was sick all Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday I was still sick but began feeling much better as the day progressed. I couldn't do much those days. I got to do some service,

but for the most part, I was stuck inside the whole time. That is torture for a missionary! There were a few times where I almost just decided to go teach anyway, but Elder Burt said I'd probably just get

everyone else sick (and most of the people we've been visiting have small children). Also, I guess I've looked and sounded really sick as well. So yeah, that was pretty much the lamest weekend ever! I guess I had it coming. It'd been several months I think since I'd been really sick. Even when Elder Baker got super sick last transfer, or when the whole Cedar Zone got sick, I dodged it. I guess it's my turn. Thankfully though, I'm feeling pretty much better today. Hopefully now I'll have another several months before I get sick again!

I had a sort of interesting experience this week. In district meeting, as part of a training, we did a Christ-like Attributes assessment. It'd been a while since Id done one of those. The most recent was

probably when I was training Elder Bright, or possibly even when I was being trained. So yeah, it'd been a long time. As I was doing it, I realized how different my answers were now from what they were when I took it last. I've improved on a lot of stuff. And some things are completely different now. For instance, patience. As I was answering the questions about patience, I realized that I've become a pretty patient person. That did NOT describe me before my mission. I had very little patience with people and situations, and was often stressed and short and tempered. Now, I've realized I'm very patient with people and situations. I still have my same personality, and I still can't stand stupidity and stuff (and most politicians), but I don't really stress about it too much or lose my temper about it or anything (minus a couple good healthy rants every once in a while). I haven't lost my temper since before I left on my mission. I've found that I'm much more understanding of people and their weaknesses, and I'm more willing to try and understand them than just judge them. I'm still a pretty black and white thinker, right is right, wrong is wrong, stupid is stupid, and I still do enjoy being right (the "everyone is entitled to their wrong opinion" mentality), but I also better understand that humans, myself included, are multidimensional personalities with backstories and emotions, and that the Savior loves them, and it's just better to be patient with them and love them too, whether it be a companion, an investigator, a member, or that jerk who flipped us off when we were walking down the street. And as much as I love being right, that isn't the most important thing, and sometimes I've just got to shut up and forget it, and REALLY just let it go. I've gotten really good at getting along and negotiating with people. So yeah, I realized I've changed a lot and grown a lot, and learned a lot. I'm definitely still the same person; I wouldn't want to be anything else, but I'm definitely a different version of myself than I was 13 months ago. It's weird, but kinda cool.

Now for something funny from Sunday. It was kind of an off-day for Elder Burt. The first mishap was his lunch. He was going to bake a frozen pizza so he started heating up the oven. Unfortunately, his previous companion apparently used the oven for extra storage and Elder Burt forgot to check. After a few minutes, he opened the oven and found out he was baking a cloth bag full of plastic dishes. Luckily we got that out of there before too much of it melted/caught on fire. It still made a little mess and some bad smelling smoke, so we had to open the door and air out the apartment. Now jump ahead a few hours. We didn't have a dinner appointment, so Elder Burt decided to make himself some pizza rolls. He decided to use the microwave this time. So he put them in, and I wasn't really paying attention. A few minutes later, we heard a small explosion come from the microwave. He

shut it down and opened it up and smoke was coming out. Inside, the plate had broken, and the pizza roles were pretty much charcoal. And we once again had to air out the apartment. We were trying to figure

out what happened, when he mentioned that the directions on the box said to microwave it for 10 minutes. That didn't sound right, so I looked at the box. It did say 10 minutes...for oven directions. For the REAL microwave directions it said 60 seconds. Yep, that did it. He nuked the living daylights out of it, to the point that the plate actually exploded. And that's why you always pay attention to which directions you're using. Haha. It was funny and we had a pretty good laugh about it.

So, on Monday we had a family home evening lesson with our recent convert family (the family we took to the Temple VC) and all their neighbors. We talked about the importance of families, and shared The Family: A Proclamation To The World. I love that document. There are so many things nowadays that it totally warned against, over 20 years ago. And it's pretty much a basic recipe for a happy family, given to us from a prophet. You can't get much more awesome than that. Anyway, the dinner/lesson/activity was really good and really fun, and it's good that Ivan and his family have so much support from their friends. I'll include a picture of that below.

Well that's about it for today. I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Oswald

Exchanges, Temples, and the Breaking of the Trio

March 7, 2016

Hi everyone!

Ok, I actually have more to write about this week. A lot of stuff has happened. I guess I'll start with exchanges and zone meeting. I went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders, Elder Shawen and Elder Tolman. Elder Tolman came to Snow Canyon with Elders Burt and Ludwig, and I came to the ZLs' area with Elder Shawen. That was really fun. Elder Shawen is pretty cool, and we had a really good time. We taught a couple super awesome lessons, and we learned a lot from each other. We also did a lot of service. First we helped a very wealthy old lady move. Holy cow! She had WAY too much stuff! She wasn't a hoarder or anything; her house was really nice, and she didn't have a bunch of useless junk stashed away, she just had A LOT of really nice stuff, and a very big house, most of which was kind of unnecessary, especially since she basically lived by herself and was pretty old. We

almost fell down the stairs a couple times because some of her boxes were so heavy, and one of her steps moves when you step on it. But we survived. Then we helped another person move. And later, we helped an elderly nonmember lady pick up the dog poop in her yard, that I'm pretty sure has been there for at least several months (the dog's not even alive anymore). Then we taught a lesson, and answered some questions about the Plan of Salvation. It went really well. Then we taught a few other people, met some members, then I got packed up we and ended the exchange that night. Unfortunately, I forgot to get my stuff out of the ZLs' car, and by the time I realized I was missing my

suitcase, it was too late to drive to meet them. So I had to make do that night and then pick it up in the morning. Exchanges aren't exchanges without something going awry, haha!

The exchange was good for me because I still don't know a whole lot of people here, so it was good for me to get to know some other people in the zone. A couple days later we had zone meeting. That was pretty good. We did a lot of practice with asking inspired questions (which is something I can definitely improve on) and teaching simply. And we did a ridiculous amount of role plays. Role plays are useful, and they can be fun sometimes, but they can also be really awkward and just plain weird. I have a lot of mixed feelings about role plays. Anyway, but I was able to meet a few more people at zone conference too. So I'm starting to get used to the area now.

In other news, we are not a trio anymore. Elder Ludwig was able to get a new companion, and he's back in Red Cliffs. So now it's just me and Elder Burt again in Snow Canyon. So no more "Snow Cliffs". Honestly, I kind of like it, because trios can be exhausting. They're basically twice as much companion and half the space. I'm not complaining about having companions, they're awesome, and this is how the Lord set up His missionary program, but it can be tough being constantly in sight

and sound of someone 24/7. Adding another one just doubles that.

Something fun we did on Saturday was we went to the St. George Temple Visitors Center (the VC for short) with our recent convert family (one of them just got baptized the week before). The VC has recently been remodeled so there's a lot of cool stuff that they've added. We had a couple of the VC Sister Missionaries give one of the VC tours, and it went really well. The family really enjoyed it. Afterwards we took them on a walk around the temple and got some pictures with them. They're really cool, and I'm really glad I got to be a part of their teaching. Teaching them has really helped me transition from Enoch West. Anyway, I'm so excited to see them now working towards the temple! That's literally (and I do mean literally, not metaphorically, I know the difference) the best thing one can work toward. It's better than working towards a career, a promotion, an invention, or anything

else we can think of. Temples are of the Lord, and through them we can be with our families forever, and in the eternal perspective, not much else really matters.

Well that's about it for today. I hope you all have a fantastic week! Until next time!

-Elder Oswald

Picture 1: Ivan (the guy who got baptized just over a week ago) and his family in front of the St. George Temple. We took the family to tour the Visitors Center, and then after that we took them on a walk around the Temple.

Pictures 2&3: A couple shots of the Temple. It's definitely springtime here!

Trio

February 29, 2016

Hi everyone!

This will probably be a shorter letter. This was a pretty good week. Lots of stuff happened, but I guess there's not a lot to write about. For one, we're a trio now. Elder Ludwig's companion had to go home, so now Elder Ludwig is with us and we're covering his area and ours. So that happened. For some reason I seem to get stuck covering two stakes a lot. So now I'm covering the Snow Canyon Stake and the Red Cliffs Stake. We've nicknamed our area "Snow Cliffs". Our trio is doing pretty well. Elder Burt and I are getting along really well. Elder Ludwig I think has had a little bit of a hard time adjusting to the trio, but he's been doing better recently.

The work is a little bit slow right now. Basically, there's just about one ward that has work for us. We're working on changing that, but we're in a bit of a dry spell. I think we'll start to see progress in

most of our wards. Except in one of them, the new ward mission leader is a little bit of a fruitcake and he got into a big argument with Elder Burt. The whole situation is dumb, and the guy was trying to

argue some really ridiculous garbage. Basically he just acts like the missionaries are out to get him. I think the situation will improve. It's just a little frustrating right now.

But on a more positive note, we had a baptism! It was my first baptism in the Snow Canyon Stake. It's a guy named Ivan. He's pretty cool. His family has been being taught for a few months now. His wife and daughter were baptized a few weeks ago, and recently he decided that he wanted to get baptized too. Elder Burt had been reteaching him the missionary lessons about a week before I got there. So I've been teaching him about two weeks, a few times each week. Anyway, he's awesome, he has a great family and some really great neighbors who have been helping him towards his baptism. That's definitely been the highlight of the week.

I got to meet our Stake Presidency. They're awesome. The Stake President, President Bowden, is pretty great, and super missionary minded, and really helpful. And his 1st Councilor, President Loo, is just one of the coolest guys. He's a super cool, super friendly Hawaiian guy who is really fun, missionary minded, and really enthusiastic. And he's one of those people who just makes you feel

good after talking to him. We actually had dinner with him, which was super fun.

Well, that's about it. Again, a lot of stuff happened, but not a lot that I can write about without it sounding redundant or not making much sense. Maybe I'll have more to report next week. Yeah, I know I said that last week. I'll send some pictures though. Anyway, I miss

you guys! Have a good one!

-Elder Oswald

Pictures 1&2: Ivan's baptism; from left to right: Elder Ludwig, myself, Ivan, Elder Burt. The other guy in the second picture is Brother Mangum, Ivan's neighbor who baptized him.

Picture 3: I wasn't able to be at Justin's baptism in Enoch West this weekend, obviously, because I'm in St. George now. But I made sure I, or at least my image, was in the baptism picture. :) I'm so excited for him, and for when the rest of his family gets baptized in a few weeks or so!

Here's another picture from the baptism in Enoch West that I missed. This is Justin and his family (the kids are getting baptized soon too), along with Elder Char, Elder Baker, and Elder Bright, and a

picture of me (with Elder Bright). :)

St. Geezy

February 22, 2016

Hi everyone!

This week has been really different, and kind of exhausting, but good at the same time. Like I talked about last week, I've been transferred to St. George. I left the Cedar City area Tuesday afternoon and came down. It's weird not being in Enoch anymore. I used to know A LOT of people, and I used to have a pretty good grasp on everything that was going on in the stake. However, here I know hardly anyone, or anything that's going on. So that's weird. I guess that'll come with time. St. George is also really big, at least compared to everything else in southern Utah. After St. George, Cedar City is the next biggest city in southern Utah, with almost 30,000 people. St. George proper has about 78,505 people. But there are other cities that touch St. George that are usually just included with St. George. They are Washington which has around 20,888 people, Ivins with 7,665, and Santa Clara with 6,671. So the grand total for all of them combined is 113,729. So that's about the size of the city I'm in now. So there are definitely some bigger cities I've been in before my mission, in northern Utah, in Arizona, in Michigan, etc. It seems huge and confusing though. I think part of that is because the city is kind of woven around, through, and up cliffs, mesas, and hills and stuff. So it's not entirely in one place, and when looking out over the city, one can't really see the whole thing, so it makes navigation harder and it makes the city feel bigger.

On the other hand, St. George is beautiful! There're red rocks and rock formations everywhere, and the weather is fantastic! It's been around 70 degrees everyday this past week. I love it! Of course,

around May when it starts breaking 100, I'll probably love it a bit less, but I'm enjoying it now. And there are a lot of places to visit down here. I've heard that Snow Canyon is very beautiful, and almost

like a miniature Zion National Park. There's also Dixie Rock, the Temple, a dinosaur museum, and Zion National Park may even be within our P-day driving distance. So yeah, there's a lot of cool stuff. And as much as I dislike not knowing what's going I in this new area, I am glad for the change in pace and scenery. Enoch West wasn't boring by any means, and we were super busy, which is awesome, but being there so long, I think it was starting to get old. The excitement factor was starting to lack for me. So now St. George is keeping it fresh.

I've had a good first week here. My new companion, Elder Burt is pretty cool, and we're getting along well. My first full day in St. George was awesome. We didn't have any lessons during the day, but we

basically did service all day. First we did a couple hours of service at a food storage type place that helps people who don't have a lot of money. Then we helped our apartment coordinator, Elder Andrus, clean out an old missionary apartment and get all of the furniture loaded into the mission trailer and into the mission storage garage, and then helped them deliver some stuff to other apartments. We helped them for about 5 hours, so that made 7 hours of service that day. That was

really fun, and exhausting. We've also had some good lessons this week, most of them with a guy named Ivan who is getting baptized this Saturday. He's pretty awesome, and really funny. And his wife and daughter just got baptized a few weeks ago, and they're really helping to support him and teach him as well.

Well, that's about it for this week. Not too much to report. Hopefully soon I'll start to know this area better. Have a great week!

-Elder Oswald

The Road Goes Ever On

February 16, 2016

Hi everybody!

This has been an intense, action packed week! At least, by missionary standards, so no, we didn't have any car chases, exploding helicopters, epic battles for the fate of Middle Earth, or rampaging

dinosaurs (although that would be cool), or pretty much anything anyone else would call intense and action packed. But it was a fantastic week. We finally hit Standards of Excellence again! It's been about 2 months, but we finally pulled it off again! We taught over 22 lessons, met with people we haven't been able to see in a long time, and found some new investigators! It was hard making it all happen, but by the skin of my teeth, an unhealthy amount of phone calls, and some blessings from Heaven, it happened. Some of our investigators are really starting to progress too! We started meeting with Michael and Garrett and their mom again, and they're doing well, and Garrett's getting into scouting. And his mom didn't even tell him to do it, he just decided he wanted to be involved in the ward scout troop. And the Runnels family is seeing a lot of blessings coming in, and everything

seems to be falling into place for their baptism on the 27th! It was a fantastic final week in Enoch West.

On Saturday, we had a special Zone Conference in Beaver with President Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of The Seventy. That was awesome! His big focus was recognizing the Holy Ghost. One of the highlights was when he talked about D&C 8:2 which reads: "Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart." This is how the Holy Ghost speaks to us, and Presidential Christensen broke it down for us. He said the Spirit speaks to our mind in thoughts and ideas, and to our heart in feelings. The thoughts and ideas are often indistinguishable from our own, but we can often see in hindsight that

it was the Spirit guiding. The feelings usually just convey love, comfort, and positivity. Essentially, when we feel it in our hearts, it's just a big hug from Heaven. By themselves, those thoughts and

feelings are useful, but we might not have all the picture. Then he said that Revelation happens when we connect the thought with the feeling. We have an idea, and we feel and recognize the source. I

thought that was a really cool training, and I learned a lot. General Authorities are so cool!

After a couple hours, we had a 15-20 minute break. Seeing as it was transfer call weekend, President Center decided to kill two birds with one stone, and during the break he went around with his notebook and gave people their transfer calls. Near the beginning of the break he came over to me and told me what's happening on Tuesday. After nearly 9 months in Enoch West, I am in fact getting transferred. On Tuesday, I'll be going down to St. George to Snow Canyon, which will be my new

area. My new companion will be Elder Burt, and I've no idea what he's like. Elder Baker will be staying in Enoch West/Parowan and he will be getting Elder Char, who is pretty much one of the nicest human beings ever. Enoch West is in good hands.

It feels so weird knowing that I'll be leaving. It feels like I've been here forever. I've seen Enoch West in all four seasons; the tail end of spring, all summer and fall, and over half of winter now. I've had good times and hard times. joy and heartache. I've learned leadership skills and patience. I've come to know so many people here; people I've taught, other missionaries, members I've worked with, people who have taken me in so to speak. I have actually been prepared to leave for the last 3 months; I thought for sure I'd be transferred after 6 months here, and I thought the same when I'd been here 7 1/2. But now that the time has come, I don't want to go. I mean part of me does, but there's still part of me that wants to stay. I'm really going to miss this place. But to quote The Lord of The Rings: "The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow if I can." I am sad to leave Enoch West. But the Lord has called me somewhere else. My road now leads to somewhere new, and I must follow. I look forward to the new learning experiences (and 70 degree weather) that lay ahead.

And whenever I begin to feel to sad or nervous, I am reminded of what Gandalf told Frodo in The Lord of The Rings: "But that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." Gandalf of course is fiction, but I find so much comfort in those words. It was that quote that helped to comfort me when I left Mt. Pleasant. When I was distraught about leaving Mt. Pleasant, I thought, "Why do I have to leave? I wish I had more time here". Immediately that quote came to mind with such power that I was sort of stunned for a second, and coupled with it was an overwhelming sense of warmth and comfort, a hug from from Heaven so to speak. That not only

comforted and inspired me, but taught me that the Lord knows me so personally, and loves me enough that of all the things he could have brought to mind to help me, he knew me to be a nerd, and he used Gandalf. Over the past couple days, that quote, and those feelings have been frequent in my mind and heart, a constant testimony that the Lord knows and cares about me. "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." I have had a lot of time in Enoch West, 9 months in fact, over which I have learned, and served, and accomplished a lot of work (13 baptisms isn't too shabby), or rather I was an instrument in the Lord's hand in accomplishing HIS work. And now it's time to go, and I leave this area with no regrets, off to make the best of whatever time I am given in my next area. But though, the road goes on, just like I will Mt. Pleasant, I will always remember Enoch West. It's been a good 9 months, and I am so thankful for my experience here. Farewell Enoch West.

Until next time everyone. I miss you all. I hope your week is fantastic!

-Elder Oswald

With transfers, we are losing a couple awesome Elders, Elder Phelps and Elder Lewis. They've become really good friends of mine, and I can't believe their two years are already finished (granted, I can't believe how long I've been out either). I'll miss them a lot, but I'll see them again after my mission for sure.

Picture 1: Farewell to Elder Phelps, my fellow Michigander.

Picture 2: Farewell to Elder Lewis