I'll pause here for a moment to just make a note - transfers are tomorrow. Yes, once again, that great transfer machine has hustled and bustled the whole week through, making missionaries nervous about what might happen. Such was the case this past week when I, being district leader and having charge of telling the missionaries under me whether or not they are being transferred, was badgered and pestered and hounded (isn't that funny? All three of those words are talking about animals...) day and night by those missionaries asking if there was any news from the Zone Leaders. "Nope. Nothing yet. I'll let you know as soon as I know."

I'm going to say this next bit with the note that I try my hardest not to paint the picture of missionary work with rose colored glasses. Life as a missionary is tough. It's awesome, it's amazing. Like I said, there is laughter and joy and such, but bad things happen. Sometimes it's hard to keep of the image of chanting a chorus of "Called to Serve" between doorsteps. Sometimes it's hard to keep that smile on your face.

We had a change very early in the week. A missionary serving in my district decided he just couldn't handle it anymore. He took me aside before District Meeting and bore his soul to me, telling me about his frustrations and difficulties and then finally concluding "I'm going home." After talking to him about it for a few minutes, showing my love and appreciation for him, I managed to change his mind and he said he would stick it out. Well, that only lasted two more days when he was hit with more challenges and gave me a call letting me know that this was for real, and there was no going back. 

If the missionary of whom I am speaking is reading this, I want him to know that I do love and care for him, and hope that everything works out well for him. The Church is true, as true as the Gospel. And that's about all I have to say about that.

That's about the most difficult part about my week. Everything else was pretty good, fantastic even. Elder Colvin and I have been 'Tearing it up,' so to speak. We've been teaching people, finding people, giving service. I got to interview a guy for baptism. Oh. This is a funny story.

I go out with those Elders to the apartment of the guy I'm going to be interviewing. They introduce me, tell me a little about him, and then leave. We start talking, chatting about the baptism, any questions he has, etc. Then I start asking him questions. I get to "Have you ever committed a serious crime?" to which he replies "Yes." *shoot* I think to myself. This means that I have to call the mission president to have him Okay the baptism.  "Okay," I say, "Don't tell me the details. How long ago was it?" I ask a few more questions, finish the interview, and then go to the other elders. "Can I see the phone?" I take it and make my call. President doesn't answer, so I leave a message. I come back with the others to find them all in a state of shock. "Wait, you really called him?" They go on to say that it was all an elaborate prank, that the plan was for the guy to tell me, "Yeah. I committed second degree murder and cannibalism..." and to top it all off say "Mmm... I'm hungry." I got a good laugh out of it, but we had to cover it all up with the mission president. 

There's a guy we've been teaching named Jon. He's said that he's half-and-half on everything. He halfway believes in God, halfway believes in modern prophets, etc. Well, we had a lesson with him. We sat down, and he started talking. He said, "You know, guys. I've made a decision. I'm going to keep the law of chastity from now on." Both me and my companion stared in disbelief. That was a total surprise to us. He then asked when he could be baptized. For the sake of irony, he chose February 14th. He's been investigating on and off for over a year now, but it looks like progress will finally be made!

We were out a little way from town driving down the road when we got a call from a member. "Elders, I'm really sick and could really use a blessing." Incidentally, we were pretty close to his house and had a couple of spare minutes, so we diverted course and were there in no time. He was in pretty bad shape, too. He's old, has been really sick with the flu, and to top it all off has been having some other abdominal problems which I don't really care to describe in detail. Needless to say, this was a man who was very sick. He had already canceled all of his appointments for the coming week. We stood around him and laid our hands on his head. He invited me to give the blessing. 

I'm going to jump off track for just a second to tell about another blessing. (Incidentally, we had the opportunity to give three blessings this week) A member's son was very sick and asked for us to help him give the son a blessing. After the father finished, his 9 year old daughter asked "Wow. Did you memorize that whole thing?" He explained that it all came through the Spirit, and that Heavenly Father told him what to say. 

With that being said (jumping back to the first story), I was told specifically to say that he would be healed in no time. It surprised even me, but I said it. When the blessing was all done, we shook hands and he thanked us and we went on our way.

The very next day we got a call. "Elders, you've done a miracle! I'm healed!" He got up in church and bore his testimony, very powerfully, about how each of us can perform miracles on behalf of the others. It was pretty awesome.

Not much more I have to say or need to say.  I'll just end by saying Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Alex Anderson