A Hard Transfer


 I was dreading this past week for the entire transfer. We sent home 16 of the finest missionaries that I have ever seen. This included 3 elders who served as assistants to the President that we have had the privilege of working with. When they are in the office all the time, you can't help but learn to love them, and so they took a chunk of our hearts with them when they left. Pictured above are Elders Garff, Crane, and Spilsbury. Along with these young men almost all of the other missionaries had served in leadership positions as zone leader or sister training leader. We were able to receive 11 new missionaries. It looks like a pretty good group, and the miracle continues. This new group included one Hermana Eyring...yes, THAT Eyring! She is his granddaughter. 

It is just a wonderful miracle to watch these incredible young people do the Lord's work. They get here frightened, and unsure, and they leave with power and confidence. The funny thing is that as we work with them to set goals in what they want to accomplish when they go home, there is some nervousness and fear to overcome as they step into the next phase of life. 

After getting through transfers they also had the Mission Leadership Conference on Friday, so the leaders all came to the mission home for that. Again, some craziness involved in all of that, but it is wonderful to be around them.

Yesterday, we drove out to Sabadell which is about 35 minutes away to check out a new piso for the sisters there. Right now, they live in a pretty sketchy one with no AC and in a not so great location. It looks like a good place, and so we let the negotiations begin, and keep our fingers crossed. While there we took the sisters out to lunch. 

It is getting seriously hot here in Spain. It got up to 94 today with about 50% humidity, and things are just getting started. We are very grateful to have AC in our piso!

I wanted to share a concept that I heard on a podcast the other day. There was a young man who decided to leave the church because the commandments were "too restrictive". He felt like he was in a cage, and the commandments were the bars that kept him caged. He wanted to be able to do all the stuff that his friends got to do, and of course, he was miserable because of the consequences that always come from poor choices. One day he was at the zoo, and as he was looking at the displays of lions and tigers and bears, oh my, he realized that in that situation he liked having bars between them and him. Those bars kept them from hunting, killing, and eating him. It put the commandments in a whole new light, and led to him coming back to the church. The adversary is out there roaming around trying to get to us, and by keeping the commandments, we have those protective bars that keep him away. I loved the analogy. 

We are looking at Zone conferences this week, and so it never ends! We love you all very much. Have a great week.


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