January 16, 2017

Hello

First off, glad everything is going well with the move! That's crazy
that President Monson set apart Grandpa Webb as a missionary. 
I had no idea! Thanks for telling me that story, that's pretty cool. It will
be weird coming home to a different house but I can't complain too much 
because I'm very familiar with the one we're moving into haha.

Well this week was a crazy week. Elder Holt and I had a really good
feeling about it from the very beginning and were pretty excited and
it turned out to be really good. We were able to find quite a few new
investigators to teach and it was a lot of fun. One guy we found is
named E-- he's from Russia, and he definitely has a
thick accent haha but his English is good and understands us clearly.
He's awesome. We were really surprised to hear how he was pretty
religious back in Russia and even has a daughter. He said the part he
grew up in isn't very religious or even believes in God, so we
definitely were happy to know he had a basic knowledge. We gave him a
church tour and he even came to church. He really enjoyed it and is
excited to continue to learn.

We found this other lady named J-- and she was probably my favorite
this week hah--they are all great, but she was extra cool. She was a
potential investigator and we went over and she was playing with her 3
German Shepherds in the back yard......so we only went to the fence
lol (they were protective) but she was cool with chatting to us. We
talked with her about the plan of salvation a little bit and it then
somehow transitioned into the Book of Mormon. She then went on to tell
us how she has been wanting to read it for a while and now and she was
so grateful. She then told us why she was so grateful and that was
because she found out the other day she has a brain tumor, so she has
definitely been reaching out to God a lot and needs him in her life
more. So then I said, "Hey my mom has a brain tumor! And has
definitely relied on God and the plan of salvation a lot as she has dealt
with the problems of it all".  She was stunned, but it clearly
brought her lots of comfort. It was cool, she's a really nice lady.

So what kind of put a damper on the week was that I found out I'm getting
transferred to Montpelier, Vermont. I'm really excited! But I'm just
not a big fan of a ton of change (even though as a missionary it
happens so often haha). Bedford has been a super good experience for me
in a lot of ways. Being in a place where families are really torn, and
drugs are so common, and where the lifestyles are just so different,
it really opened my eyes even more to how blessed I am to have things
like a family that's close, a safe place to live, food, and especially
the gospel. There are a lot of people though, that have great attitudes
about everything and are just happy to be alive. I need that more for
sure--haha. I've loved going around the streets of Bedford and
Manchester and talking to people it's been so fun haha I'll definitely
miss it, but I'm excited to see what blessings come in Montpelier
Vermont. By the way, the Joseph Smith Memorial is in my new zone so I'm 
really excited about that.

Love you guys!  I'll send my new address next week. And I'll have some
pictures hopefully lol. This is a picture of P-- the 9 year old we
are teaching. When I told her I was leaving she was so sad. It made me
pretty sad, she wouldn't even take a picture with me hahaha--I told her
I would do all that I could to go to her baptism in a month. We'll
see! She's great.