Looking Back

Hello everyone!

It is always great to hear from you on Monday and see how you are all doing!

This last week has been a productive one!  My companion and I were going through a rough spot, but we were able to talk it out and talk about what we both want to accomplish in our missions and here in this area.  We have both changed a lot this week.  One thing we talked about is that we want to seek out more the will of the Lord and do His will instead of our own. We have had some great experiences this week because we were able to have the spirit with us more. 

There is a returned missionary that just moved here from Nicaragua two weeks ago with a friend named C. C has been a "friend of the church" for ten years, he has never received the missionary lessons but has attended a lot and he only looks for work with members of the church. G (the returned missionary guy) and C were looking for an economic place to live, and so we told them that we would keep our eyes open and tell them if we saw anything. Yesterday, after church, we went to see a recent convert, F, and she told us that she is renting three rooms!  When we went to our lunch appointment, C and G were there because the members had invited them to get to know them, and so we told them about the rooms for rent.  After lunch, we took them to F's house, and showed them the rooms.  She made them a great offer, and they said they were going to think about it. We went on with the rest of the day, and as we were on our way to dinner, we got a call from C thanking us and telling us that they were going to take the deal with Fermina! It was an answer to prayers, the house is close to the chapel, and C will be living close to two strong members, so we hope now he will feel the desire to get baptized! He accepts everything, he just says he has not received the answer to get baptized, but when he does, he will.

There is a kid going on his mission next week in our ward, and he gave his talk yesterday.  He is going to St. George.  It made me remember when I gave my farewell talk, and it also made me look back on my mission and realize how much I have been able to change.  I realized that I still have about ten more  months to go, and that I can change so much more and progress and learn even more than what I already have.  I am so thankful that I chose to serve and that I can have the experiences I am having and learn the things I am learning, because I couldn't do it anywhere else or at any other time in my life.  The mission is the best two years of my life, and the best two years FOR my life.

Well, that is about all for this week. I will send some pictures home today!  I love you all!

Elder Austin Michael Kipp