Saving Private Ryan

Elder Paxman at transfer meeting, with his new companion who we cannot see. :/

Taken by a sweet member!!

Dear Mom,

First off the Christmas lights look Awesome!!! I definitely prefer the trees and balls to hanging them on the house. Mainly because next year I will probably have to hang them :\

How many people are in your district?  What does being a district leader entail? There are just 4 of us in the district so it is really small, but I like it. Okay, so as far as a DL goes. We are responsible for exchanges, the wellbeing of the people in the district, training, reporting, and a bunch of other stuff, but that is the gist of it anyway.

I received a picture of you at Transfers taken by a member.  You look really healthy and good. Okay so if the picture is of me in a car, then I remember getting that picture taken. If not... I am slightly scared. haha

Tell me about your new companion.  What is his name, where is he from etc. I find this to be a good story. (Dad will appreciate this). So at transfers a greenie gets up to the pulpit to introduce himself, and says “Hey my name is Elder Ryan, like saving private Ryan”. Instantly I thought in my head, he is so mine!! hahaha And he is! We had a good laugh about that one later. So his name is Elder Ryan he is from a town called Brookings, Oregon. He is super fun, he was a band geek, so he says. He is kind of funny and always quotes inconspicuous movies. I love it!  He is an awesome Elder with a great desire to do the work.

How was the first week of training? The first like half week of training I think has gone pretty good for the most part. Of course it is always stressful especially with all the other stuff I have to do to.

How do you like living in Columbus full time?   How is the apartment? Who are the Elders that took your place in Seymour? If you have a full time car, what about the new Seymour Elders? Okay I am living with the Nehrings, so it is more a house. We have a full time car which is nice and we will be living in Columbus full time. The Elders in Seymour are Elder Porter and Elder Wright. Both of whom are quite young in the mission. I think together they might have maybe a year’s time. I still have the bike with me for the future, so no worries there. The Seymour elders share a car with the sisters in Seymour.

What about the continued teaching of Bertin?  He is so close but since he is in Seymour what will happen with him? The other elders will take over his teaching... Which bums me out a little bit, but they will do an amazing job. I also hope to see him at church and so forth, since we attend the same branch. I have faith that if the elders do all they can, that he will continue to do well. I hope all goes well with him.

Thank you for the advice and support mom I am nervous and hope I can do well. I was able to do exchanges with Elder Hjelm, it was really nice to see him one last time before he left. I intend to stay friends with him. So hopefully all that will go really well. I will miss many of the elders who left and who will be going home shortly.

There were about 22 missionaries that left Indiana last week.  Due to that Elder Paxman had 15 friend requests on facebook.  I sent him a list and made sure who he knew and who I accepted etc. Okay as far as the list goes. One, it made me laugh, I feel a little more loved.  All of the girls are sisters from the mission.  There is one request... I honestly have no idea who that is, but I am bad with names and good with faces. So to find out, I am giving you permission to stalk her on Facebook for me hahahaha!! I can't believe I am letting you do this... Although I can always use cute female friends... six months is not too long of a time ;) bwahaha. Plus maybe she would write me.  Elder Aranda got ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the crap!!!! No way!!!!! Well I guess it has almost been a year!! Still dang, that is freaking crazy!! I am blown away by that... Man mom I feel super old now... And lonely, haha. I haven't heard from Aaron yet, but hopefully soon. Mom!!!  You and trying to hook me up with a girl to write me…. I am sure you made me sound ridiculously handsome and smooth... You are killing me mom haha. I would gladly write her though if that worked out. I am okay with that. :D

Your sunbeam class sounds fun, the little monsters. I love kids though. But they can be little monsters. There is one out here named Matt he is barely a year old and he is awesome!! I might have to get a picture with him, he likes me too, so it’s all cool.

How is the camera? Dad and I will work on getting you another new one.  Hopefully yours will hold out a few weeks. My camera functions sometimes and other times I feel like it gives me the middle finger and freaks the crap out! So yea it might be able to get me through a little bit. I will continue to take pictures the best I can.

How is the work? Any people to teach? How big is your area in Columbus? As far as the work goes this week is going to be interesting... We have hardly any investigators, so we will be doing a ton of finding. Which I like, but sometimes it is a pain, especially when the success is terrible for that day, but we will go onward. Columbus is a big miles area because we cover all the northern half of the stake and it is a pretty big stake. It isn't the biggest area geographically or density wise I have served in, but it is still a doozy. We will be re-mapping the area a little, mainly in focused areas, so that will take a bit, but it will really just be a lot of thumping pavement and working with members. We have not found hardly anyone to teach. I think only one person besides members this last week, but we will fix that really quickly, if the Lord wills it as well. I really like the Branch!! It is awesome, small and a lot of white people, but they are great. I really like a lot of the families and I don't even know them really well yet. I like the Nehrings a lot, I feel like I have a substitute mother. President Nehring speaks Spanish and Portuguese, he is really cool. We do laundry in their home so that isn't too bad. We interact with them quite a bit, several times a day I would say.

Do you use the new video “He is the Gift”? Have you seen it? We proselyte with the He is the Gift quite a bit, I really really like it.

Well mom I have to wrap up because I am running behind. So I will share my thoughts really quickly. So this week, I have learned a ton of things. Although one thing that was brought back to my attention, was how much these two years will mean to me and us as missionaries. I love it so much out here!  I have grown a lot and also struggled a lot. I as you know have had many experiences with trials of sorts. Although mine have often been minor in my life, they are still impacting. Trials are there to make us grow. The Lord allows us to pass through such times for many different reasons. One, I believe is so that we may help others in the future. I know that through Jesus Christ and the experiences we have in this life, we can help others around us in unbelievable ways. Also, we are blessed through our service and through the hard times we went through. We are all sanctified through the experiences we have, and in the end it will all be worth every moment of pain, sorrow, and heartbreak. When we stand at the judgment seat of God and can say with tears of joy rolling down our face, I have done what you have asked, and I hope it was enough. To then hopefully hear his resounding voice of "Enter into my rest ye faithful and beloved servant".

I love you so much and hope that you have a great week! I hope to hear from you soon.

Love, tu hijo, Elder Paxman