when it rains it pours...

that’s not at all to say that things are bad here- just that it rains A LOT!! it is pretty much always raining and i like it! :-)

so yep, i am starting to get over the sadness that comes with transfers. last week we had a zone conference, and i saw the sisters that are in my old area now. i asked them about all my old investigators and they gave me bad news and more bad news. i felt sad, because i really had learned to love those people and now there are two new missionaries there that really are just looking at the teaching record that we left. so, after that (it was kind of like "closure" for me) i started the healing process. having a lot of good investigators here helps a lot.

so, in other news i STILL haven’t received those packages. actually, at zone conference i came close to not getting ANYTHING. luckily, i got a letter from another missionary that went home. he told the story of all the surgery he had to get... other than the thin-ness of the letters, zone conference was awesome. i was really far away- we were on a van at 4 AM and the van got us home at 8pm. the van ride was like 5 hours and the conference was worth it. we learned how to extend better commitments and help people keep them. in the way of new cool investigators we have got these three teenagers that we are teaching. they are between 15 and 17 and live pretty close to each other. we found them when we got an address from one of them in the street one day, then like a week later we passed by there and he had his two friends over playing video games. so, we asked them if they’d like to hear a message too. they accepted. now we have taught them a few times and they are cool guys. they are all reading and praying. and the coolest part is that when we read together- THEY UNDERSTAND!! it is SOO cool. usually we have to explain EVERTHING to our investigators. no wonder most of the them don’t read the bible- they don’t understand it. so of course they believe whatever their pastors tell them the interpretation is. they seem to think the pastors have the secret decoder for the bible, to make it mean what they want. anyway, these three really read and understand- and they come up with tough questions. i LOVE IT. investigators that ask questions are the best.

as for my new comp- he is cool. like all people, he is pretty weird about some things, but hey- he is brazilian : ) we get along good, and i really love teaching with him. he is a good teacher because he teaches so sincerely. today, i think that we are going to watch a movie and clean the house- pday favs.

alyce: sounds like alyce it going crazy at school! awesome! good luck with the car situation...

mom- teacher of the year, huh. That’s cool! i guess that’s what happens when you move to just one school : )

dad- this week i got something for you: the other week i was at church and it was a fast sunday, right. and i was sitting there enjoying the testimonies. then one person, tells their conversion story. well, in a ward of converts, with almost nobody that was born in the church, soon everyone was telling part of their "conversion story" as a part of the testimony. it was AWESOME!! you will never know how proud i am to say that my father is a convert. so... i was wondering if you could sort of write me YOUR "story". you know, like your experience with the missionaries and how you felt at church, and what helped you know it was true. (if you could do that in a paper letter, so i could have it, that would also be great) also, for you dad> i thought that you'd like to know that our ringer on our cell phone that is the alarm to wake up in the morning is.. get this.... the outfield! "i don’t want to lose your love, tonight". funny, huh! i don’t know who put it on our phone, but i thought of you.


sorry, the letter isn’t huge, but i am tired and not thinking my A-game right now. also, this computer doesn’t seem to like my camera, so pics of the apartment next week.

love ELDER HELLAND