2 Months

Well this is weird! Saturday is a special day its the day we get ready for... the rest of the week i suppose! Actually we've done service this morning until now and the Millcreek ward missionaries have a baptism at 2 that we'll be going to so we're still fairly busy amidst this day of trying to get things done.

So last night we got some bad news. Shortly before we left the office we received a call from the mom of a sister in our zone, sister Morgan. I was sister Morgan's district leader back in February when she arrived to the field, and now I'm her zone leader, and she's companions with her trainer who was also in my district back then. Her mom told us that she had recently found out that she had cancer and wasn't sure the best way to inform her daughter. Man. Elder Rosa told me "...this is the part I hate about working in the office." We told President Van Cott and he talked to her and gave her permission to talk to her mom. Sister Morgan called us this morning and we gave her a blessing. She's a strong girl.

Anyways! Not sure you needed to hear all that but it's definitely been on my mind since last night. But this week I've been thinking about my current assignment and decided to view it mostly as an administering job. It's not the most glorious or spiritually enriching work but it needs to be done and it assists in the efforts of some 220 other missionaries. Honestly it just feels like a job. We're working office stuff from 9 to 5, 5 days a week. Haha. It's not boring though. I enjoy it.

We go to the ward's institute on Tuesday nights and a nonmember girl showed up this week. She's been studying religion and was interested in the Mormon church. She actually showed up to one of the district meetings that morning and the missionaries there talked to her for a little bit. She really liked what she saw in the members and what she's learned so far about the church. Her name is Melissa (pronounced mayleesa though). Elder Rosa and Aaron (the ward mission leader) talked to her for a little while afterwards while Cameron taught me about the atonement. She's coming to church on Sunday! And she's going to try to come to the baptism that's today as well.

I'm really not sure what to talk about... haha. I probably make my life sound super boring. Elder Rosa and I laugh a lot though. It's fun. We'll really miss the Housers when they leave. And we'll probably feel super lost. haha.

We drove out to Indio yesterday because we had to swap some cars out there (remember where that's at Jeren? :) haha) and Elder Rosa felt like he needed to visit one of his old investigators from Desert Hot Springs. So we stopped by and she let us in and it turns out she's really been struggling. The other missionaries there haven't been able to contact her and she stopped going to church a while back. Elder Rosa was able to bear his testimony and help rekindle that spark of interest in the church for her. She felt a little weird about going back to the family ward since she'd had a falling out with a few people there so we gave her the info for the singles ward out in Yucca Valley. I felt like it was definitely inspired for Elder Rosa to stop by. I've noticed that he just has a way with some people and connects with them in ways others can't.

We had dinner last night with a girl in the single's ward that's engaged to be marriedon the 21st of December. She's the same age as Megan! I was like... what! I think it just made me more scared to get married. haha.

My face is a "gorgeous sight to behold" huh? Maybe that's because for the first time in a year, I didn't cut my own hair! haha :) there's some members that own a salon that will cut the missionaries' hair for free.

Well. I guess that's about it. I'll only email like 7 or 8 more times. Is that crazy or what? I want to start telling people I've been out "about a year and a half" when they ask. haha. I'm sick of people asking if I'm excited to go home and what my plans are. No need for me to be trunky until the 20th of January. haha

Love,

Elder Nelson Browning