Hoopin' and Hollerin'

Today is the first day of the new transfer. Elder Cronin - who was in this area for three months - has left and I am left to run the show. I'm getting a new companion, Elder Reed, who's been out for 3 three months more than I have. I still haven't met him. He's coming from an area 4 hours away or something so I'm just chillin' at the mission office. Elder Cronin said he worked in the same area as Elder Reed once upon a time. I'm kinda excited to be the area leader, though. It's a new experience for me so I'll be raising the bar. I look forward to it. With the Man upstairs on my side, I'll conquer and enslave victoriously.

The weather here's been bipolar. Throughout the course of January, it's up and down from sunny and warm, to cold and dark, to 6 inches of snow in 4 hours and EVERYTHING melted by the next afternoon, raining cats and hogs... Nature's a mother. I just don't get it.

This Saturday - the 11th - M. Russell Ballard will be visiting our mission. I'm super stoked.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but we've got a handful of eternal investigators who are youth leaders and ministers at a local non-denominational church. I've learned a whole pantload working with them and it's been a huge blessing. They help run the youth program of Capital Christian Center on the other side of town and it's been interesting seeing the interworkings of a church other than my own. I've gathered their church services are more of an attractive production than a formal meeting. They have a paid staff and clergy that run the shows. They hold services at a handful of different sites around Meridian, Caldwell (another Boise suburb), and Boise. There's not a whole lot of hoopin' and hollerin' but services include group prayers, sitting, standing, praising, arm-raising, chanting, live music, and intricate lighting. Quite literally, it's a stage production with an audience. The pastors and preachers are more or less motivational and public speakers but they'll preach and teach outa the bible... Here's a group of folks that are doing the best they can with what they've got the best way they know how. Good Christian fellas, too, which kinda caught me off guard. They're spending all their time and effort in bringing everyone and anyone they can closer to Christ. It's really quite a phenomenal deal and they do A LOT for the community! They provide a sense of unity and decency throughout the area and I commend them all. It's a huge comforter knowing that there is still a whole lot of good in the world outside the LDS church. Here are people who know nothing about the restored church but are still more Christ-like than a good deal of Mormons I know. It's a beautiful thing! And really it's a question of "when" they'll see the restored light rather than "if" and they're getting a whole lotta folks ready for us - LDS - in the long run.

Well I gotta split but until next time, good night! Party on Wayne! Party on Garth!
I'll write again soon. But I love ya and I'll catch all ya'lls later.

Kindest personal regards,
The Incredible Elder E!