Challenge Accepted!

HOLY CRAP!! Lindsay, Maxwell is the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. I am so happy for you Lindsay and I know that you will be an incredible mother. Grandpa and Grandma you look real good holding that little guy in your arms, Trev you look alright too. I wish so badly that I could meet him right now and hold him as well. I thought about you a lot this week sis. I made sure I told everyone that I am becoming an uncle this week! Surprisingly, they weren't nearly as excited about it as I was. Hearing about the baby brought tears to my eyes, manly tears of course.

I finally made it to the Promised Land. Iowa is a beautiful place. Our first night we stayed in the mission home and spent some time having some orientations and such. President and Sister Badger are the nicest people you will ever meet. They are awesome. I know that I will learn so much from them. I am stoked. On Thursday, we took a trip to Iowa City for transfers. I met my companion and found out that I will be serving in Ames, Iowa for the next few transfers! My companion's name is Elder Dunford and he is the District Leader. He is a way chill guy and we have already had some fun times. He is from San Diego and was a rugby player back home. He knows the gospel really well and I have much to learn from him. He has been out for six months now.

Ames is a great place, but the work is pretty slow. We do a ton of knocking.  Knocking has an extremely low success rate, so it is really hard to feel productive when nobody wants to hear your message. I came into the mission with only one real progressive investigator and he is a character. To say the least, the area needs a turn around. Challenge accepted. We are already doing some things necessary to get the members fired up with referrals and we are trying some new stuff. Hopefully it gets the work going. People here are pretty religious, which is great, but at the same time it makes teaching really hard. People are really content with their own beliefs and aren't really even open to hearing anything we say. I have been rejected by more people in this short week than I have ever been in my life. Doors slammed, people yell at us a little bit, but my favorite is when people walk to the door look through the glass in the door and then just turn around. It sure makes missionaries feel good. But it is all necessary and I know that if we keep trying we will be successful. 

Although this week has honestly been a tough one, I know that the Lord needs me here. No matter how bad I want to be back home holding Maxwell, I would never cut my mission short. I have a lot of work to do. I love being a missionary already and I know these next 23 months will fly by as fast as the first did. 

I love you all so much and I hope you have a killer week.

Maxwell's favorite uncle,

Elder Obray

Elder Obray with President and Sister Badger

Elder Obray with his companion, Elder Dunford