April 23, 2012

Hi there :-) I thought i'de write an email BEFORE we put all the stuff in the computer tonight so i'm not quite so brain dead. Every week a thing gets sent out called the "weekly communicator" which is basicaly like a..."newsletter" i guess? That is emailed to all the missionaries every monday and we do a portion called "Message from the assistants" so i'll write you while i'm looking for inspiration for that :)  

  Thanks for thinkin about me so much :) I can always count on you thinking and praying for me. You know i'm actually really enjoying myself. It's tough at times but I am loving it. It's causing me to adapt but that's a good thing. I really feel like it's an answer to a prayer. 

 We're mostly only in the office at night like from 9 till 11 30ish and for office meetings on tuesday and random other stuff so that's not too bad. We get to proselyte the rest of the time unless we're doing trainings or something. The paperwork Is a killer but believe it or not, i actually find myself enjoying it. It IS preparing me for those long nights of studying/working/having a life and i love that. If i can do this, i can do anything. Besides i pride myself on my mental toughness (knock on wood) and this DEFINATELY exercises mental toughness. Will i ever be able to have a job where i make a living this way? Heck no. In fact I firmly believe there will be no paperwork in the millenium, because there will be no opposision and paperwork directly opposes my very being. Ha ha! But, for now i'm learning from it and i'm grateful for that :)

So today Elder Rasband (as in Ronald A. Rasband, the general authority) came to one of our sacrament meetings and spoke. Definately wasn't expecting that. We got to meet him and everything but in his talk to gave some exciting info that i quickly jotted down. The first stakes have recently been organized in:

russia

indonesia (largest muslim population in the world)
and india .

 And even more exciting, the first branch has been established in bethlehem ! Can you believe it? In bethlehem , there's a branch with people who hold God's only true and functioning priesthood.. That's really really exciting. He told about how him and his wife went to the holy land a few weeks ago and attended the service. It was awesome.

 Also, with kevin, He's SUPER solid. Once he got his answer it's all been so good. He was telling us tonight that he's been happier the last few days then he's ever been in his whole life. "Yeah, i'm happier then i ever was getting girls, doin drugs, drinking... I feel good on the inside because i know i'm doin what God wants me to do." Huh, imagine that, happier with the gospel then you were getting girls and drinking. Now there's a novel idea :p He's awesome. His baptism is next saturday.

  Oh yeah we had our zone conferences this week. We did two in st. george wednesday and thursday then one in richfield on friday. We were basicaly in charge of everything. Literaly. We went late tuesday night and set everything up from tables and chairs to audio equiptment, then took it all down, then set it all up, then took it all down. We conducted them, made all the assignments, etc. Then, thursday night we drove to richfield, got there about 12:30am, got up at 6, set it all up, had a full day of trainings, then at 4pm, took it all down. ha Then drove home and taught the rest of the night. As tiring and crazy as it was it was SO FUN! I LOVED it. I love love love being in the middle of everything so much. I've never felt so spiritualy fed in my entire life either. Getting to see all the missionaries in the mission, being trained by president three days in a row, and then being able to train other missionaries three days in a row was incredible. We did two trainings each day. One on goals and such and then one on being a "dude vs. Disciple". That one was way fun. We acted out being dudes and it was rediculous. We had everyone laughing so hard. then we talked about things we do and don't do in our mission and about giving your heart yada yada. Uh-mazing. I know i talk about being tired alot, but i wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. This is what i always imagined my mission to be :)

 Kinda bummed the summer hits in two weeks because everyone goes home and our teaching pool is gonna be destroyed, but we'll see how that goes.

 Note from Mom: Jer & his comp are assigned to Dixie College – that’s where most of their prostelyting is.

 I Love you!

 Elder Spurlin