March 2, 2015
Once again this week was filled
with adventures. I can't believe today is the start of week 6 in this
transfer and I am down to my final 2 transfers starting next week. Sounds
like you also had an exciting week. Well onto the questions…
- How was
your week? What were the highs/lows? Well
again, this week was a pretty good week. One of my favorite things
has been reading the New Testament. I'm now about 1/2 way through
Acts. I’ve enjoyed reading about
the work that goes on to try and spread the gospel. I’m starting to
understand more fully why things began to fall apart and the great apostasy
came to be. I’ve really enjoyed my reading. Good things are
happening in the ward. They have definitely
been very supportive of the things that we are doing to try and help the
ward with their missionary work. Another fun thing is I was able to
go on exchange with Elder R again
last week. Nothing like exchanges every week for the past
month. That was kind of a tough day. We didn't have a ton
going on and things were kind of slow that day so it was kind of hard to stay
motivated and keep positive. But we managed and had a successful
exchange and things are continuing to move forward as the weeks go on here.
That is part of the reason I want to stay here in State College. But
to be honest, there are days that I want to stay and there are other days
that I want to get out of here. However, I will with whatever
happens at this point and continue to focus on missionary work wherever I
serve. Another thing is that we survived State Patty’s Day on
Saturday. State Patty’s day is a
day for Penn State students to celebrate St. Patrick’s day early. They’re out on spring break on the 17th. Basically it’s just a big booze fest.
It was easy for us to survive we just had to stay out of downtown.
We had a meeting at the church on Saturday and then stayed out the rest of the day. We had a few appointments after the
meeting but not by downtown. From what I gather it looks like things
survived fairly well. It’s wasn’t
as crazy as in years past. We were downtown Friday night as students
were gearing up with booze. We were eating dinner downtown and I saw
one person carrying a keg around and lots of people were carrying around
12 packs of beer. On a completely different note, I’ve enjoyed reading
articles in the Ensigns about the importance of families and how the
family is the central unit and part of Heavenly Father’s plan. Our
gospel principles lesson yesterday focused on the importance of
family. When I look at my ward here in State College it’s crazy to
think that this is where I will be in a few short years. Most likely
a poor, broke college family trying to raise a few kids. Well I
guess enough ranting with that. Overall, it was a good week once
again.
- How’s the weather? It has been decent. Today is cold because it is windy. But otherwise the mid 20's have been rather warm when the sun is out and there’s no wind.
- Is the library open yet? Yes, it finally opened back up today at noon. So when I leave today you will have to check the traffic cam.
- How do you feel about transfers? I have no idea what to feel. I have been here for 6 months (4 transfers) so with that, my guess is that I’m probably leaving. I told President and the AP's that I would love to stay here the rest of my mission and also train my last 2 transfers. So I have no idea what is going to happen but honestly, I will do whatever and go wherever I’m asked to serve. For some reason I am ready for this transfer to be over and ready for something new. These past 6 weeks have dragged on forever. I think partly because the weather has been so crummy/awful.
- Any mission news coming up? So the long awaited announcement on iPads is official. It looks like it won’t affect me since I will be almost done when we get them. Here’s an excerpt from President’s email.
From Pres J…This is not
a trick to get you to read my email. The long awaited update from the
missionary department came last week with some important information.
Here is part of the email they shared with me. It will answer many of your
questions.
“At
the recommendation of the Presidency of the Seventy, the First Presidency and
Quorum of the Twelve have approved the use of mobile devices in your mission
beginning in May 2015. We invite you and your wife to participate
in a special training entitled “Disciples of the Lord in the Digital Age,” led
by members of the Missionary Executive Council and the Presidency of the
Seventy. Soon after the special
training, representatives from the Missionary Department will visit your
mission to provide additional instruction for you and your missionaries. Staff
will contact you regarding plans for the visit.
“Missionaries
in authorized missions use Church-approved and owned mobile devices. Every
device is part of the Apple Device Enrollment Program (DEP), which allows the
Church to enforce device protections. All mobile devices are purchased by the
Church and shipped to the authorized mission.
Missionaries will be asked to pay a technology use fee (about $380) if
they are serving in the United States or Canada, are from the United States and
Canada, and are scheduled to complete their mission on or after November 23,
2015. After their mission, the DEP restrictions will be removed and the
missionary will have the option to keep the device. The technology use fee will
be paid as outlined in notices provided to stake presidents. Missionaries will not pay a technology use
fee and will not have the option to keep a device after their mission if they
are from outside the United States and Canada or scheduled to complete their
mission before November 23, 2015.”
- How are things with the investigators?
- CC? We tried to have a lesson with her on Saturday but she was not home. I am not sure where she was. We couldn’t call her since her phone was out of minutes because it was the end of the month. But things are going good with her. She came to a RS activity and really really liked that.
- Sierra Leone sister with the LA husband? Well not much has changed with her. We talked to her at the door the other day and we gave her a card with our number on it. They said they would call us to set something up. Hopefully it will all pan out.
- Any new prospects/leads? We have another referral from a member. The guy works with someone at McDonalds that may be interested. We are working on contacting him so I’ll wait to report.
- Do you need anything? There is a new Vocal Point CD out called Spectrum. I would love to get that in the Easter package. But that’s it. I am trying to acquire as little junk as I can over the next 3 months.
- Can we pray for anything specific? Please pray that all goes well with transfers and I can finish out my mission strong over the next 2 transfers.
- What are 5 positive things from the week? 1) We got another member referral. 2) It has been slightly warmer. 3) It is a new month. 4) It is the end of the transfer.
- Dinner appointment stories? We had dinner with some people last week that are cousins to some people in our stake. They are the Zimmermans in the 3rd ward. We discovered that her sister is friends with someone that I know on student life & leadership at SLCC .
Well there is my week. I hope you all enjoy the email. Thank you for your continued support and emails. I find them fun and entertaining. I am just grateful I get emails from you. Some people don’t have much contact with their family. I know some missionaries that only get letters every few weeks.
Love you,
Elder Muir
PS…exactly 3 months from today I will be sitting at the mission home
waiting for an exit interview and on the final countdown to come home. FYI…I
sent an email awhile back to Tyler at SLCC regarding the dates that we will be
gone for the summer but I have not heard anything back on it. I will keep
waiting a few more weeks. I may have you call and talk to him and also
ask what I need to do to register for classes in April. It looks like things
are blocked right now on my space so I can't register from here.
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