One Year Older and Wiser Too?

Hey Hey Hey! Another great week here in Ames. I spent the majority of the first part of last Monday in Iowa City for the new trainers meeting. There were only seven new missionaries this transfer. I felt like a little kid sitting at the adult table at Thanksgiving dinner meeting all of the other trainers. It is really weird to think about how I was the one coming to Iowa just a little more than three months ago. It is also weird to think that I am 19 and have been on a mission for almost four months. I still feel like I am a deacon just barely getting the priesthood. Time is flying by! I was thinking this morning that I only have one more birthday on my mission. Two years seems like a minute when you think about it like that! 

I am sure you are eager to hear about my child that entered the mission world this week. His name is Elder Balderston from Farmington, Utah. Crazy enough we actually knew each other back home. We have some mutual friends and we actually hung out a few times back in the day. Small world I guess. From what I hear the first week of training is always the toughest and I will defend that statement. It is pretty stressful making all of the plans, scheduling the appointments and nursing a new missionary.  I sure hope that I will be able to get the hang of it here in the next few weeks. I really am going to miss Elder Dunford though. We had such a great time together and it turns out that we actually had a lot in common. I will forever remember my trainer in a positive way and I hope that my boy will be able to say the same thing. That being said, Elder Balderston and I already get along pretty well so it is going to be a killer few months.

I am really excited for the next couple of transfers. We are working with a new mission leader, and things are starting to heat up already. We have desperately tried to get the ward fired up about referrals in the past, but with no real success. Fortunately that is starting to change! I can already tell that the ward members are starting to get into that missionary spirit. Hopefully I will be able to bring good news about all of the lessons we taught! We already have more appointments than usual this week! I guess it must be harvest season! 

Unfortunately I don't really have anything else to really report on. Besides the birth of my son and Thanksgiving, it was a very average week. We knocked a lot of doors and talked to some really nice people. For the most part, people reject salvation in a pretty nice way. 

Have a great week!

Poppa Obray