Thanksgiving Hangover

Lot's of fun things happened this week including thanksgiving, and a couple of exchanges.  I guess I'll start with exchanges.  The first exchange we went on was with the District leader in the Palmdale 4th ward and his 2 companions.  Elder Hyde went with the District leader and I went with both of his companions.  They just changed the way that exchanges are done so now all of the Elders work in one area... the leaders area.  So we had 5 missionaries in my area on Tuesday.  Which also means we had 5 elders in an apartment for the night with only 2 beds and a lot of candy and soda.  Anyways, both the Elders I was with go home in less than 2 months.  I have noticed that missionaries either go out with a bang.... or they crawl to the finish line.  I hate to say it... but both these Elders have just been enjoying the ride on the back of their District leader companions coat tails.  It was a really hard exchange to be on because neither of them were that motivated to fulfill our purpose as missionaries.  That didn't slow me down though.  I made sure that I would stay positive and excited the whole day... Oh boy did I do it.... but oh my heavens it sure wiped me out for the next couple of days haha.  In our companionship study on the exchange we were talking about how we feel about what we have accomplished on our missions.  They both were really deep in thought and expressed some really tender and regretful feelings.  I WILL not have any regrets from my mission... because I will do all I can NOW.  If we want to avoid problems in the future... then we do what we can to align our will with God's will today. Or in other words... we don't procrastinate the day of our repentance.  I invite any missionary or any person who is thinking about going on a mission to read "The Fourth Missionary"  My brother sent it to me... and it made me realize what it takes to be the best missionary I can be... sacrifice.  Sacrifice what I want for what God wants.

The other Exchange we went on was with the assistants.  So it was a much different experience than the first.  I learned a lot and felt the spirit.  In both of the exchanges we had blown through our plans much much quicker than we thought we would... but miracles were apparent with the assistants because we were optimistic about the work even if it was simply knocking on doors or street contacting.

Thanksgiving was awesome.  We started off the day in the best way possible.  We played football with 30+ members at the park and it was a riot.  We played on the nice wet dew and everyone except me had cleats... so I think I won the award for most times on the ground.  I hustled my hardest and my dad would be "so proud of me" if he was there.  After that we had to plan for the coming week which was overwhelming because this next week we will have lots of meetings and then have to do a lot of trainings for the missionaries in our zone.  Back to the good stuff. Then we went to a thanksgiving feast that my bishop and his wife put together for anyone in the ward who didn't have family to spend it with.  6 of my investigators showed up for it and it was so great.  I have never seen them so happy and so thankful.  Bishop Mcfarlane is the best bishop ever.  He truly lives a "number one christian life"  I want to be like him when I grow up.  After this we went to the So***'s and had some more delicious food and got to play with their kids for a bit!  We played dark tag... it was a blast.  I love that family so much!

We had a couple of baptisms planned for this weekend... but they weren't able to come to church this week so that was a bummer. However, we might just have a big baptism the following week! Pray for the Ka***'s and the Co***'s.  They are so close they just need a little heavenly push!!

Shout out to my Sister! I love you and I am so proud that you are smart!  Can't believe you are graduating this week! WOOT! I would love to have a elementary teacher like you!

Check out the He is the gift video... super great.

Love Elder Crandall the Vandal