We had transfers I stayed in Slough and Elder Johnson is now in Portsmouth. This transfer we lost 14 missionaries and didn’t gain a single new one, so the stakes have called six "mini missionaries" for five weeks (this is a five week transfer). President Shamo asked me to train a mini missionary for the next five weeks. I have also
been called to be a district leader. I am excited for this opportunity. Crazy, how things change so fast on a mission. Now, this is the part you will all think is funny. My new comp is from Eastgrindstead (by the temple) and his name is ELDER WHITE!
!!!!! He is a good guy. He was baptized about 2 years ago. His family is against the church and he is the only member in his family. He is trying his hardest. He is still learning about the gospel but it is amazing how God fills in the rest and as long as we give it our best and have a strong desire and testimony then there is no
need to worry; we can rely on God. Elder White Jr. ;) is a really nice guy and very humble and not nearly as loud as me, but a stud nonetheless. I really like him.
For the bitter…… C....(?) dang I love that family so much. She is wondering if God is telling her to keep searching. Please, keep her in your prayers. They are such a great family and would be the best members. Pray for C...her children and her husband who is coming home soon
n PLEASE pray for them.
Now, the sweet …. Emiliano was baptized on Sunday as planned. It was a very amazing baptism. As I look back on the first time we taught him he has come so far. I was also thinking and reading in my journal about the night we challenged him. Wow, that was a miracle. That guy did not have baptism on his mind at all! I was reading how the spirit literally took over that lesson and said what he needed to hear. I still don’t even know what came out of my mouth, but I do know that it was what he needed to hear. He is great. I will send you pics next week of the baptism. He is 26, from Italy, and he is a CHEF!!!! He makes some pretty dang good food. Wow, is his food good, it’s crazy good!!
Emiliano and Elder M. White
Now some more sweet…This week we were tracting and we went to a former investigators home and out in front was their niece who was an 18 year old girl. Her name was Charlotte and the first words she said to me were "Dang I love your accent!" It is really funny how much the English love the male American accent. They think women sound whiny. But they love the men’s accent. When I talk to someone on a bus, everyone will listen because of my accent. It is funny! Sometimes people will ask for our number and we say, "Here it is, but let me tell you a message first." Most the time after the message they don’t want the number any more... hahaha. Back to the girl on the front lawn it turns out she believes in God and Jesus, doesn’t drink, smoke, do drugs, and she hates them all. She doesn’t believe in tattoos and this one right here takes it all.... She believes in staying morally clean!!!!!! She told us all of this and we didn’t even ask her or tell her what we believed. You guys have no idea but this, in England, is unheard of! So we were way happy about that. Charlotte just got married and is on her honeymoon now so hopefully in a week and a half we will start teaching her.
Sweet again…..Then we also got a call from a lady a few minutes later that found one of our pass along cards and called us. She apparently has been looking on lds.org and says this is what she believes, so hopefully we will get teaching both of these women soon.
Dad, your emails have so much wisdom. (I guess that’s cuz you’re so old ;). But when you talked about priesthood I felt the same way. When we watched conference at the church particularly Priesthood session I looked for you guys and I thought, wow... how time flies. It's memories like Priesthood sessions with dad and my brothers that I will always cherish. It got me thinking about things I did before my mission with the family, like the Havasupai hike, the Manti Temple, the Vernal Temple trips, the "Don White reunion." Memories like that have really strengthen me. One day during a hard time I reached into my wallet and pulled out a note that dad wrote me right before I got on the plane to go to the MTC, and it said something like "There will be days when you will wonder if this is all worth it. I did. Don’t forget what you are called to do. Soon you will regain that focus. This will be a continual process." That right there, dad, kept me going. I don’t know if you knew it or not but that was an inspired writing for me at that time. That note is now taped to the front of my journal. Thank you for loving me, and I love you all.
