Yes, I am emailing on Saturday, which means I have been transferred. Well, it could just mean they changed my p day, but I have been transferred to a new zone and a new comp. Hopefully, I'll be here for a while, but maybe I won't. Before I get to transfers, let's talk about the week. Also, I have a super cool experience I wasn't going to share, but I figured I should share it. These types of stories are always good to share.
Happy birthday to my brother! He just turned 18 so wish him a happy birthday!! He's the greatest brother ever and I love him to death.
Saturday: I basically went on exchanges with Elder Gorman all day. We went on exchanges during lunch. I had a few things I needed to get done for my family and a few friends. We ended up going to eat at Red Iguana and got the killer nachos. The nachos are amazing. Zone wasn't too bad. I don't think we did much, but I could be wrong. After zone, Elder Gorman and I went to City Creek and he was going to get some shoes, but ended up not getting them. I was also hungry and bought some Chinese food. Moral of the story: don't go to the food court if you haven't had dinner. Afterwards, we went and hung out with Elder Gatlin and Elder Bastian. Two really awesome elders.
Sunday: Sunday was good. Not too much happened. Music and the Spoken Word and then church. Dinner was good. We ate at the Stott's and they made breakfast for dinner. They also work on our floor and are really supportive. But, it was truly an amazing dinner.
Monday: I managed to help a few people on Monday and I was excited about that. I had a feeling I would be getting transferred out of help services and I made sure I could help people one last time. Elder Gale was sick though so I stayed behind for zone after lunch. I managed to get a ton done. And I made a video for everyone. Book of Mormon class that evening was phenomenal. I love that my mission president really knows the Book of Mormon.
No sugar: I figured I would mention this, but I cut sugar out of my life. Not for physical health reasons, but for mental health. I think not having sugar will help with my mental health and behavior. Anyway, I bring this up, because I am proud of how I have done. I haven't had caffeine since New Year's Eve and that is a miracle. I usually can't go that long without soda or caffeine. I did it growing up, but that's because I was never allowed to have it. I haven't had candy or tons of sugar in over a week. It's weird because sometimes I tell myself, "have a cheat day," but then I realize there is no cheat day. If I were on a diet then yes, I could have a cheat day. But, I'm doing this for mental health and when you do it for mental health, you don't cheat yourself. Saturday, a senior couple brought in Krispy Kreme and it took a lot of self-control, but I didn't eat any. It's been hard, but I know it's possible and I think it will help me with my behavior and everything.
Special experience: I had this experience a few weeks ago and I only told my family, I wanted to keep it personal, but I think it's best told out loud. And I share it because of what I learned from it and how it humbled me. A couple weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon, I had just come out of lunch and I was asked to quickly help someone. I helped them and then sat down to work on the computer. Immediately, another person arrived to be helped. At first, I wanted to just take a break and have someone else help, but I decided I would help. She needed photos scanned and uploaded to a flash drive. I went over to the scanners and then she said that she needed a bunch of slides scanned. I didn't think it was possible, but another missionary told me where to show to do it. Now around this time, I figured I could just throw her off to them and leave. But, I started to think I should stay because of what she told me a few minutes earlier. She explained that President Nelson's daughter passed away the previous day and she was a close family friend to the Nelson's. She needed to get these slides downloaded for a slideshow to be shown at her funeral. What a huge blessing it was to stay and help. At first, it was really fascinating to see pictures of President Nelson back in the day when he was younger. However, I thought more into it. I realized something else. In the scriptures, we are told to comfort those in need of comfort. I realized that I had a part in doing that for the prophet of the Lord. This slideshow would be a comforting gift for President Nelson as he mourned the loss of his daughter. I thought about how not only did I bless the prophet, but also all his family. It is such a huge blessing to realize that the prophet was going to see the slideshow with images that I helped to scan. Of course, it's not much and anyone could have helped, but it still gives me a comforting feeling to know how I blessed the lives of many people and the prophet. Always look at a task and look at the reward, whether it be in the long run or whether it will come quickly. The rewards for doing something might not come right away, and it might not be a reward that you're expecting. But, be willing to help others and serve others.
New zone: I have been transferred to T-ROC: temple records operations center. I basically just index all day. Eventually, I will be helping with creating projects for indexing, but for right now I index. It's super fun and probably good for me because I do a ton of indexing. I am in the discovery floor for night zone, so I am still at the FHL during the evenings. But, during the day, I am tucked away in an office space in the JSMB. This also means I get my own personal computer for work and my own workspace. I love it!!! Oh and my new comp is Elder Eades. He's been out for 5 months and he's from Ohio. He's also my district leader once again, so I feel like I will never get out of being comps with a district leader. Haha. He's super solid though.
Spiritual thought: I love Alma 12-15. This is when Alma preaches to Zeezrom and I love the parallels between the two of them. Both of them went around trying to destroy the church and both of them had spiritual experiences that converted them to the gospel. However, I love that Alma probably recognized this and realized that his old self was the same as Zeezrom and he knew how to handle Zeezrom because he used to think that way. He probably did a lot of self-reflection to see how much he had changed.
Anyway, there's nothing else that happened this week. I'm just extremely grateful for be out here serving the Lord and serving others. Being a missionary is a huge blessing even though I sacrifice a lot and I do this for 2 years. But, it's all worth it in the end because I get to help others and serve them. I know this is where I am meant to be and where I am needed. I may not be out there in the field like many others, but being here is just as good. I love you all and I appreciate all the love and support that I receive. Thanks for being awesome people!!
Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
Mission changes: So, the first presidency announced that we can now contact our family in whatever means we want. Now, this is something that I have always wanted to talk about since a lot of the people on my email list don't know a lot about missions. As you have all realized by now, we leave our families for TWO YEARS. We don’t go home and we usually don't get visits from our family and/or friends. Yes, I accidentally have run into mine twice. Also, we only get to email them (like I am now), once a week. It's hard, but we do it because we love God and we want to serve him. I don't know if that clears anything up. But, basically, I sacrifice social media, friends, family, and everything in the world, for 2 years. Anyway, now on our weekly p-day, we can text, call, email, facetime, or anything with our family. It's kind of a weird adjustment because we are used to being constrained to email or letters, but with these changing times, these resources are to be used for good and this is a way to use them for good. We can now share with them more about our missions and our experiences. Also, it will help those who get homesick easily to get a nice refreshing moment once a week and motivate them to work harder. I'm excited. This doesn't mean that I can just sit and chat with anyone. I can still email back and forth and use Google chat to chat with anyone. So, you can all feel free to contact me. However, for now, our mission president wants us to only facetime or do additional contact with our families. It'll be awesome. 
