Iowa City Week #6: Dawn of the Seven Week Transfer

And so begins the eighth transfer of my mission, in which I am very excited for the prospect of getting to stay with Elder Scott! I figured that would be the case, but I am indeed excited for it. 

Fall is a'coming!

As for the rest of the District, Elder Jackson's new companion is a missionary - Elder Roberts - that he had served with previously in Osceola, Iowa, so that must be fun for them both. Elder Zabriskie's second boy is a fresh young lad from Logan, Utah named Elder Devenport. I thought for sure that he would get sent to Davenport for his first area when President Jensen first announced his name at Transfer Meeting (the Iowa City missionaries have permission to attend each Transfer Meeting, regardless of whether or not you or your companion is leaving), but that is apparently not his case. Anyway, the Iowa City South District is going to be fun to be a part of for these next seven weeks, so I hope many miracles will be witnessed as we continue to serve the Lord.

 Singing the mission song after Transfer Meeting. I'm at the center.

 Sister Stahle, a missionary I served around in the Davenport District, went home this past week. I hope all shall be well with her back home!

I've been thinking a lot this week about what it truly means to be obedient, in which I kept in mind Elder Lynn G. Robbins' talk from this most recent session of General Conference. Ask yourself, which way do you face? Are you obedient to the commandments/mission rules because you are told to be, because you want to impress your leaders, or because you truly love the Lord your God? The latter is the reason why we should be obedient, because most importantly, it is the most beneficial for our personal well-being. If we do not have any portion of humility, desire or charity within our hearts as we continue to try to walk the path the Savior walked, we may see some outward success in sharing the Gospel, but what sort of lessons would we personally gain from such behavior? Think on that, because as I continue to improve myself as a missionary each day that is something I try to do - focus on working hard and following the Savior out of a sincere, consecrated desire, and from this I can testify as Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge did in The Fourth Missionary: this way is, in the end, the easiest, happiest, smartest and most meaningful way to be a disciple of Christ. I am not sure who may benefit from this thought, but I hope that at least some of you who are reading this may be edified as I was. Look inside yourself, and if there is any ounce of pride within you, do your best to purge it from your heart; otherwise, that pride will continue to fester within yourself and ultimately lead to some unhappy consequences.

 Our whole entire zone carved pumpkins for Transfer P-day. Which is your personal favorite? Mine is the one I'm holding with Angel Moroni on it, along with the sun, moon and stars.

As for things that happened this past week, Elder Scott and I are still struggling to find new investigators, but we are still working hard to do so. We have many potentials for us to visit back with this week in order to accomplish such a goal, so I have hope that things go well for us. Diligence and patience are things that one must observe when performing the Lord's Work, for they are two Christlike attributes that are essential for one to develop faith that he'll have success. Some cool things happened for us this past week, though, because for one thing Mark finally came to Church this past Sunday! It has been difficult for us to gauge if his heart has actually been touched by anything we have been teaching him for the past month, so we truly hope that his attendance at the Iowa City Young Single Adult Branch (yes, we actually went to a different Sacrament Meeting, haha!) yesterday morning will help him. Also, the North elders had a double baptism this past Saturday! Those who were baptized were a woman named Theresa and her daughter Emily, and they seem happy to be part of the fold of God. I am happy for them as well, for even though it is tough to be a part of the Lord's True Church at times, the Church and the Restored Gospel bring the greatest of joy that cannot be found anywhere else.

Sometimes it's nice to have members make you goofy meals like this epic pancake for dinner.

 Well, that was my week! I love you all!

Scripture of the Week: 1 Corinthians 9:14 (The message of Paul's writing is simply put: if you preach the Gospel, live it.)

Missionary Advice: Read Helaman 6:1-5, and then ponder and pray about how you can apply principles from those verses into your own missionary efforts. I promise that you will learn something that can personally benefit you in your efforts to share the Gospel with others.

This is called Plandyland, a game that Elder Scott created for our Get-to-Know-You District Meeting. It was quite a blast, if you can't tell. 


Take that, cheesy Mormon family decals.

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