baptisms for the dead

Hello everybody, so sorry I haven't sent an email in like forever.  No, I'm not dead.

Last transfer was extremely rough for me.  If I'm being honest, I've had some struggles since transferring out of Machias.  I miss the people from that area a lot.  I keep seeing people from that ward even though I'm not there.  Anyways, what has happened lately?

Elder Niven got transferred and got sent to "The promised land." Us WEM missionaries call the most northern zone which borders Canada, the promised land.  

I'm still in the Penny Creek area, but it's no longer Penny Creek Ward, it got dissolved into another ward and now we are in the Eastmont ward.  The rest of this transfer is gonna be chaotic.  Me and my new comp, Elder Ita'aehau, are helping the STL's double cover Eastmont but they are also covering the YSA ward.  Meanwhile the YSA elders got moved to the Mukilteo ward and are helping other elders double cover it.  From what I've heard, President Oakes is gonna try and have 2 sets of missionaries in some wards.

Last transfer I barely did personal study and it totally messed me up a bit.  But this transfer I made it a goal to get back into personal and comp study.  So far I've done much better at it.  Personal study is truly one of the best things you can do as a missionary.  

What else?  The recent convert, Dawn, also known as Sister Champion, got to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead.  We got to go with her and the Mill Creek sisters and it was such a wonderful experience.  Before the temple date we asked a lot of people who could take us for a ride and we told Dawn we might not be able to go.  But I remembered a member in the ward who always goes every week and sure enough they were able to take us!!.  When we told Sister Champion we could now go with her, she jumped for joy and almost cried.  Thank goodness she is still in our ward since the stake boundary changes.  

Random thought: We did a finding activity at a park with a lake.  Me and two other missionaries went down to a dock to check out all the ducks.  When you're a missionary you take pictures of the most random things.  So enjoy some duck pics.  One of the sister missionaries told me she has never seen someone who was as excited as me to be around ducks.  Yep thats me .

Spiritual thought: The day I left for the MTC my dad gave me a silver dollar.  Last week I lost that dollar and got very upset.  One of the sister missionaries in the district asked me why I looked upset.  I told her I lost my silver dollar.  She offered a prayer asking God that my silver dollar will be found.  When we got to our apartment I said a prayer hoping that my silver dollar may be found.  Literally 1 minute later the other elders in our district walked in and one of them handed me my silver dollar.  Point of the story is that God always answers your prayers.  Just ask with sincere faith.  

Love y'all and have a great week!

found a frog in the flowers