25 June 2012

so, transfer call: im going to lone mountain stake, its up on the north west side of the city, up by where i served before. i'll be covering only one ward (which im excited for!) the mountain crest ward. we'll be living with members and after my two week stint in a car i'll be back on bike lol. and i'll be training a new missionary! which is what i was hoping for. i'll meet him tonight, so i'll tell you about him next week. im pretty sure hes gonna be the best missionary ever :) it'll be interesting because not only will he not know what he's doing, i wont know the area either, so hopefully he catches on quick cause i'll need his help!

so the end of this week has been full of saying goodbyes and packing (actually not much packing happened, that'll be an activity for this afternoon i suppose). i hate saying goodbyes! being a missionary is weird with that. you go to an area knowing that you will only be there for 3-6 months, yet while youre there (if you're doing your job right) youre trying to build the strongest relationships you can build. and then as soon as those strong relationships start to materialize, it's time to move. time is flying though, i cant believe its almost july!

hopefully it's cooled down for you in ohio, i heard it was pretty nasty hot/humid for a couple days. every time i pray i thank God for the sunshine and the warm weather. i figure there must be some reason i should be thankful for the warm weather, and that if i keep praying it i might someday figure it out lol.

so i know this little girl named kelsy and she is 3 days older than lily! (so naturally, kelsy is one of my favorite people) yesterday, as i was saying goodbye to chris and ashley (kelsy's parents) kelsy and her siblings attack elder christensen and i with water guns!!!!! it was a lot of fun, my tie got a little messed up, and our car windows need to be washed, but it was worth it lol. made me wonder what all my little siblings are up to.

i guess i'll have lots more to tell you next time. please pray for me and my new son, we're gonna need some help in this new area!

love,
elder donovan

18 June 2012

its getting pretty hot here, but thats okay, cause they gave us a car :) :) i'm still ready for transfers, but the car helps lol.

fathers day was tough to get people out to church. everybody went out for breakfast with their dads instead of coming to church with me :( it's okay though. this week will be a bunch of me saying goodbye to people and telling them one more time to read their scriptures. i'll find out Wednesday or thursday if im training a new elder and then saturday i'll find out where im going. and then monday i'll tell you all about it :)

both friday and saturday i got to go on splits with different elders in different areas. it was great! i got to meet a lot of new people and it was fun to teach with some people that i dont usually get to teach with!  we taught one kid, his name is ryan, hes 19, and he has been meeting with the missionaries as often as possible for about the last 3 weeks. idk his whole story, but basically, he walked into church, talked to the missionaries and said, "i want to change my life" and he has! hes read a lot of the Book of Mormon and the New testament, hes stopped smoking and drinking, and he is really really excited about his baptism at the end of the week! he's inviting everybody lol. it was cool to see how quickly and how excited/motivated he is to change!

we're gonna go out and brave the heat today and play some football, it should be good fun!

this weekend is stake conference here, so that means im gonna make a big push and i'll be done with the BoM next time im email :) im excited to finish! this time going through is definitely the most quality read of the Book of Mormon ive ever done! its awesome! im excited to do the same in the new testament!

i hope everything is going well for everyone! make sure you dont waste your whole summer! do something productive! i know most of you are :) actually, i cant believe how many of my friends are all over the world doing great things, its crazy! singapore, spain, brazil, mexico, australia, chile. it's awesome! keep it up!

i love all of you!
-elder donovan

Words of Wisdom

you can let the sun run circles around you, or you can try to catch up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11 June 2012

not too much going on here :/ we're still waiting for our car that they told us we were going to get. and no one came to church. zero. im ready for a new area. bleh. buuuuuuttttttttttt, my scripture reading is doing well! im on track to finish the book of mormon by the end of june and then i will have six months to finish the new testament (this was my new years resolution) my other new years resolution im still 20 pounds from lol. i'll get there too.

ive been struggling lately because i am not the boss. i want to be the boss. we visit the same people over and over again and none of them progress. i want to go visit new people but my comp wants to keep visiting the same old people. he is also very ready to go home. he has two months left and wishes it was two days. it makes it hard to be motivated. so im just going to focus on my scripture reading and accomplishing my goals, and i'll pray for a good transfer call.

deep thought of the day : (im making this up as i go, we'll see what i come up with...) the sun rises and sets at the same altitude in the horizon, but at opposite points in our world, according to our perspective. are we trying to move like the sun, across our whole world, literally as far as it can go. or do we stay in one spot, because we know the sun will rise in the same spot the next day.

think about that

haha

love,
elder donovan

4 June 2012

i dont have a lot of time today, so i'll make it quick :) but i'll make sure to tell you everything you need to know!

it hit 108 this past week! that was ridiculous! buuuuut good news is, i now have a good bike THAT ACTUALLY WORKS and they are going to give us a car soon! with AC :)

scott and espiranza finally came to church and i think they really enjoyed it! they are still very excited about studying the scriptures! also theresa (the one that texted us a month ago and told us she didnt want to see us anymore) she came to church as well! it was cool to see her, she was friendly as always and everyone at church was excited to see her.

i went to the eye doctor for the first time this week! that was exciting! the put me through all these stressful tests and poked stuff in my eye. he gave me a prescription for glasses and then told me i had to go back this week because it measured that i had "high eye pressure". he said it was probably nothing, he just wanted to check. im afraid my eyes are going to explode!

that was pretty much my week. kinda blah. i guess not every week can be super exciting. im looking forward to transfers in a few weeks. time for a change i think.

hopefully this letter finds you all excited for summer and popsicles and swimming! i myself can not wait until october when i will see 90 degree weather again!

remember: a song of the righteous is a prayer, that will be answered with a blessing! keep singing or whistling or humming while you mosey :)

...also, think about moseying, its incredibly underrated! (just something ive been pondering)

love,
elder donovan