Week 56...Introducing Elder B & President Johnson

June 30, 2014

Elder Muir can jump rope...Ridgway Branch activity

Oops...Elder Muir & Elder B cream the branch president with a pie

 

Well it sounds like you’ve had quite the busy week.  Sounds like my week, I have been very busy too.  The week of transfers is always busy and I am now the senior companion so it’s been a little crazy having to keep the area afloat and keep everything moving along. 

1. Introduce us to your new companion…His name is Elder B.  You say it the way it is spelled.  He is from Provo and went to Timpview.  He lives in between Timpview and the temple up on the hill in Edgemont.  He came out the transfer before I did and he was in my district when I was in Camp Hill.  Recently he’s been serving in Monongahela which is just south of Pittsburgh. We get along well, but we definitely have some differences in the way we like to do things.  However, we are compromising and letting both sets of ideas help the area out.  
2. Where was Elder G transferred to?  Elder G went to the Harrisburg walking/biking area in downtown ghetto and I think he likes it. 
3. How was your week?  What were the highs/lows?  This was a pretty good week.  It has been crazy with transfers and trying to get Elder B acquainted and continuing to keep the area afloat.  It definitely has been sort of stressful for me.  Unfortunately, this weekend was kind of a rough spell during dinner.  I was kind of stressed and exhausted, but I am over it now.   It is finally Pday and I can get a good break and get my energy back.  Elder B is definitely a go go go sort of person which is a good thing, but sometimes it gets to be too much.  He always wants to be doing something.   He is always making phone calls and other things.   It is good that he is such a hard worker but it definitely starts to wear on me and I need to have some down time sometimes.  But so far things are going good.  On the upside, we have been able to contact a lot of members and he’s been able to meet a lot of people and get to know them.  We also have been able to find a few potentials through all the contacting.  I don't know where they will end up going, but it’s progress.  In other news, we had a fun branch activity on Saturday.   It was a dutch oven lunch and they had a bunch of games for the kids and a slip and slide.  Of course, I forgot my camera but luckily Sis. F got a few pictures of us and hopefully she will post them on my FB.   Another cool thing that I really liked was Sis. Linda K. Burton’s talk in the Ensign from the last womens’ conference.  She shared a quote from Elder Maxwell that I thought was pretty cool.  He said, "All the easy things that the Church has had to do have been done.   From now on, it’s high adventure and followership is going to be tested in some interesting ways.”⁶
4. How was the drive to Pittsburgh on Tuesday?  It was good.  It is crazy driving through Pittsburgh.  The roads are crazy but once you get out of the city it is OK.  I drove home from the transfer pickup in Pittsburgh.  
5. The weather/news made it sound like Cranberry Township had some flooding on Tuesday night?  Did you encounter rain on your drive?  From what I can gather, your area has had about 12 inches of rain since the beginning of May.  Probably more now because that was as of last week.  Sheesh…that’s a lot of rain.  No, we got some rain on the drive home but we went east of Cranberry.   It did rain on us on the way home but not super bad.  Holy cow that is a lot of rain that you reported and I am getting quite sick of it.  It just needs to be nice. 
6. How are things with the new mission president?  Have you heard from him at all yet?  When is the next time that you’ll meet with the mission president (zone conf or interviews)?  We got President Johnson’s weekly email today.  They seem good and we are going to State College tomorrow for a meet and greet with them and he is going to introduce himself and talk about the training that they got at the MTC.  So I will have a report on him next week. 
7. How are things with your investigators/LA?
1. T & R   Things are going well.  We had a short little lesson with him this week.  Unfortunately, we might be dropping them soon.  I hope we don't have too but they are not really progressing right now so hopefully we can get him moving along again. 
2. S ?  Things are well with them, we saw them on Friday.  We have actually started teaching her sister, P, too.  We almost had them at church yesterday but they had to help their mom out with something, so hopefully next week.  Also we have started teaching P’s nonmember boyfriend.  He seems somewhat interested.
3. What about the potential from last week that moved in with the LA?  How did dinner with them on Thursday go?  Well she is in the hospital because of her appendix right now.  So we aren’t able to teach her at the moment. Dinner was actually with someone else.  She is a lady that moved in from the Brookeville ward.  She is super nice and her husband is a nonmember and we may start teaching him.  We are having dinner with them again on Thursday.   
4. Any new potentials or LA?  We have a few potentials that we have found, but nothing super promising yet.  We have also started to talk to some new less actives as well.  Not really teaching them yet but we have possibilities. 
8. Have you been back up to Kane?  When is the dedication of the building that you were talking about?  Yes, that is where S & P  live.  The dedication of the chapel is the first weekend of August and that is when Kane Days is also. 
9. Do you have any grand plans for the 4^th of July?  Does St. Marys or the surrounding area do anything fun?  I am not sure yet.  We may have to be in at 6 pm (that is what happened last year, but I am not really sure).  I don't know if St. Mary's has anything going on.  They were doing some fireworks the other night.  I know Brockway has a big celebration, but I’m not sure if we will make it down. 
10. How was the weather this week?  Are you water logged yet?  The weather is up and down. There have been sunny days, but also lots of stormy days.  Yesterday we had a big thunderstorm roll through.  It looks like there will be rain through the week until the weekend. 
11. Are you happy & healthy?  Yes,  I’m just sick of the rain. 
12. Do you need anything?  No
13. Gma Karen said she sent some gift cards recently, did you get them?  Sis. Kirk  said that she sent a note to you, did you receive that?  Have you received any other fan mail  Yes, I got it all.  I haven’t received anything else recently.  Actually, I guess I got Meg’s letter the other day. 
    
14. Anything exciting, funny, depressing or noteworthy that you want to tell me?  Yes, as I am sitting here at the library typing, the ambulance just showed up for some lady that just passed out or something like that.  I am not really sure though.  We got pictures while we were in Pitt on some of the overlooks.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so Elder G is going to email me some of his pictures and I will send them to you next week.  

FYI…I found the oil vial the other day under the seat in the car so I don’t need one anymore.  Have fun at Tahoe…one more year and I will be there.  Say HI to everyone for me. 

Love you all!!! 

Elder Muir