Elder Chandler Obray: What Does it Say in the White Handbook?

It sure was a good week over in Ames. The weather here has been fantastic! Everyone is so pumped because it never stays this warm this late into the season. Along with this warm weather means a lot more leaves to rake too. There are massive trees here so you can imagine the leaf output is magnificent. This brings me to my first story. Elder Dunford and I were raking leaves for one of our potentials this week. She has two huge trees in her front yard so we spent the better part of the afternoon raking them into a massive pile (to jump in of course). By the time we finished, the pile was huge so of course I jumped into it. After we messed around for a second, the mission veil was lifted for a second and I remembered that I was a pretty good high jumper back in the day. I decided to consult the white handbook to make sure there weren't any rules on doing the Fosbury flop into a pile of leaves and found that I was in the clear. It made me miss the good old days and made me real excited to get up to USU when I get home. Unfortunately the landing was not nearly as pleasant as I assumed. My back was sore for the next couple of days but it was all worth it! Who said I wouldn't be able to practice on my mission?

We went on exchanges twice this week. Because Elder Dunford is the district leader, we went with the Ames 2nd Elders on Wednesday and went with our zone leaders up in Fort Dodge on Thursday. I was able to lead the area for a day when we went with the 2nd Elders. I was pretty nervous but found that it is definitely not as hard as I thought. We ran into a few potentials that we are going to stop by to see this week. It is also my senior companion week this week. I will be able to take the lead in our finding and teaching. I am super stoked to experience what it is like to be a senior companion because I am pretty sure I will remain a junior companion for the rest of my mission! Haha hope not! I will let you know how the week goes. Pray that our area won't tank even more than it already has!

There wasn't really anything else that was incredibly special. I wish I could say that our area is heating up but unfortunately it is encouraged that missionaries refrain from lying. The work is still slow and our investigator pool is still about as shallow as a shower (quote curse of curves). Fortunately I still had a great week. I had a refreshing optimism the whole week even though we only taught one lesson to an investigator and a couple recent convert lessons with Diane. I guess prayers really are answered. Remember that fire email I sent a couple weeks ago about choosing to be happy? It works!

One great thing that I haven't mentioned before in any of my emails: Growing up I never really had any major doubts about the church and nobody really questioned why I had a testimony, not even myself. I have a great family and my life was pretty good. I had a testimony of the Book of Mormon and that's all I really needed. The more I study the scriptures, the stronger my testimony grows because there is proof all over the scriptures that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church. My testimony of the church only grows stronger when someone wants to bash us or when they tell us that they are worried about our salvation. If only people knew how much sense the church makes. I love the gospel with everything I have. I am eternally grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you guys so much and I hope you all have an incredible week. Share your testimony with someone. I promise it feels good.

Call me Elder Fosbury,

Elder Obray

P.S. quote of the week: "Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience!" Read it with some fire in your voice like Elder Holland does.