2/6/2012

Hello!

So yeah, I heard that the Giants won! That is fantastic news! I kept telling my companion that the Super bowl is on and It's driving me nuts. He doesn't like football so he just doesn't understand how much of football freaks we are... When I heard that they were in the lead 20-17 in the 4th quarter, I just pictured you freaking out and having a major asthma attack again. Oh good times! I'm happy to hear that the primary made me some pictures. I'll be looking forward to them! can you please send me pictures of the family, house, and so forth as well? I never get any mail anymore, except for Grandma Halls letter once a week (which I love!) and It literally seems like my companion averages a letter every other day. I'm not jealous tho. :) But the letter will be much appreciated!

So this week was quite, ummm.... interesting. We were not able to teach the normal amount as we usually do, due to the Super Bowl and we had a Zone Conference all the way in Springfield on Thursday. We had to wake up at 5:00 and leave at 6:30 AM and drove the two hours out there. The meeting went really well, I was able to see some Missionaries that I haven't seen for a while, I also saw Elder Denton again! that was good catching up with him. The Mountain Home ward misses him and he misses them also. There is also a Sister missionary that I got to know and get this, she is from Page, Arizona! Nuts huh!?!? Her last name is Boone, I cannot remember her first name but let me know if Grandma and Grandpa know that last name. Turns out that we went to the same Elementary and Middle school. She remembers the Thatchers and we talked about RD's restaurant and there delicious food haha. Also, her companion is from Las Vegas and she swears that she knows me from there. Turns out that she and I had the same Spanish class together. I vaguely remember her. If she didn't say anything, then I wouldn't of even noticed.

The person that is in charge of over seeing the mission vehicles has been given orders from the Missionary Department in Salt Lake City to install these small black boxes in our car named Telesystem International Wireless Incorporated. Or for short, TIWI. It is a GPS type of a device that lets the mission department and the Fleet Coordinator for our mission know where we are at all times, how fast we are going, if we accelerate too quickly, stop too quickly, go over huge bumps or pot holes, it even knows if we don't have our seat belts buckled we have also been given a card with our name on it so we can swipe it against the box so we can log on so it knows who is driving, and if we are doing any of these things that we are not supposed to do, TIWI talks and tells us something. For example "You are driving too fast, please slow down." And if it does that, TIWI will instantly notify our Mission President and the Fleet Coordinator and we have so many warnings before we are not allowed to drive for a certain period of time and its not for a day or two, it's like a few months or more. Of course, there are certain circumstances where you need to slam on your brakes or something like that, and they will understand. The Mission department is doing this to save money, apparently it is a great way to save money on insurance and so forth. I can see this being here for a good reason, these vehicles are a fantastic equipment to help us with the Lords work and they are very expensive, especially if there are 19 to 21 year or older kids handling them. There have been missionaries in different missions that were racing each other in the triple digits and then crashing. But then again, I can see a lot of missionaries getting really irritated with this thing going off all the time. It's literally a Big Brother. I'm just thankful that this I'm just not getting this towards the end of my mission instead of the beginning.

Other than that, the week was good. We were able to teach a few people, and the people that we taught went really well. We have a baptism date for two people for the 18th of this month. It may be changed but they still really want to be baptized. President Merkley keeps telling me that Elder Payne and I make a great team. So we are doing a fantastic job! But we really couldn't of done any of this without the Lords hand in it. So you can leave this in part in the blog or not, Mom, But I'm glad that you and Lauren are helping Dwight and continuing to be that influence on him, But, you both are right, don't push but you need to be bold with him, but not over bearing. You know what I mean? It's like a recipe, you need to have the exact amount of stuff to make a delicious cookie. If you add to much ingredient, or push him too much, the cookie will get ruined and he will run away. If you add too little or hardly mention the importance of the gospel, then the cookie will not turn our right and he will not even be fazed or even about what you have to say. Yes, it takes time, and lots of it, but continue to Bear testimony On how important this is to our life's. When the time is right, ask what is holding him back, what he disagrees about the church. It's a hard thing to do, but that is why I asked you to fast for Dwight. You also need to really pray about this as well. You can plant as many seeds as you want, but nothing is going to grow unless you actually get out there and water the seed and give it proper sunlight. Be the example and don't lower yourself to things that he may want to do that isn't what THE LORD wants you to do. Just remember to share this with Lauren and also know that I'm not saying this, Spirit is directing me to say this.

I hope that you guys have a fantastic week! How is the weather out there? Is there a lot of snow? Have a good one and I'll talk to you next week!

Love always,

Elder Daniel Stuart