Changes ahead- August 9, 2015

Transfers are coming up again.  We will be losing another one of our great Assistants to the President.  We will miss him.  He has been a lot of fun to know, and is a great example of hard work.  Seems like so many of the really great Elders have experience driving a truck with a trailer.  I am guessing that experience come with some sort of hard work, and that helps mold them into who they are.  So my counsel to those of you raising young men and young women who will one day serve missions:  let them work really hard.  Let them learn to take care of things.  Let them believe they can succeed.  Don't hover over them or get them out of tough spots.  Let them learn.  You will be glad you did.  And when your missionaries return home, don't treat them as though they are the youth who left on the mission.  They have learned, let them use what they have learned.

 This is our second missionary from the Branch!  He has been called to serve in Manaus Brazil.  He has prepared well for this mission.  He has learned quite a bit of Portuguese from his father and in the Branch.  He has been out with the Elders.  
The video of him opening his call was delightful.  He is eager to serve.



It was a really busy week.  Our numbers of missionaries are increasing, and that is wonderful.  But that does mean that I need to set up new apartments.  Sweet Sister Underwood helped me organize the storage shed so that I can grab a basket of things an apartment will need as I set one up.  It was a lot of work, but should help us as we move towards the transfer.  With the increase in missionaries comes an increase in bicycles and that means we need storage space.

I received a wonderful message from an Elder this week in which he reported the need for some repairs in his apartment.  He said that my words had touched him and that he wanted his apartment to be a place where they could feel the spirit.  These good missionaries have been good about getting rid of things that don't increase the spirit in their apartments.
I just threw this picture in because people like to see the missionaries!



We were invited to dinner with two delightful people in the branch.  What a sweet couple!  They met while on their missions, but didn't get together at all until they both were at BYU.  So, my returned missionary friends, don't forget to look up those with whom you served!

We also were able to go to the Atlanta Temple for baptisms for the dead on Thursday.  We had all but one of our youth there.  Pretty amazing, especially considering how busy these young people are.