Elder Thomas: Hot Rods & Stuffed Animals

Well week six came again...I have been transferred to a new area and have a new companion too! I am now is southeast Mesa, I serve between Main St. and HWY 60 (North and South) and between Val Vista and Greenfields (East and West). This area seems really nice. I think that there will be more work here because we do have some less fortunate people here and they are usually the ones that listen the most.

I was sad to leave my last area because things were finally starting to happen! The night that I was leaving a girl in the ward came up to us and told us that her friend wanted to take the lessons from the missionaries! We were so excited for the ward because they havent had a baptism for quite some time now. I hope that I helped plant the seeds that lead to all of the things that will happen there. I dont regret any of the time that I spent there because I was working my hardest. I was able to bear my testimony in most of my wards because the bishops found out that I was leaving and wanted to express their love for me; can I just say that I LOVE bearing my testimony! It is so great to be able to share that with anyone that will listen. During my testimony I would reveal how long I had been on my mission for, after sacrament meeting everyone was coming up to me absolutely shocked that I have only been out for 6 months, that is a good thing though right? I hope that they see me as spiritually mature. I have really been studying hard lately and I think that it is paying off! Those of you that knew me before my mission know that I didn't like to read or take the time to study what i needed to. Now I enjoy it and complain that I only get to study for 1 hour a day. It was really hard to say goodbye to the people of the Lehi Stake, but it had to be done and I cannot wait to meet the members here and start working with them.

So now that you know the boundaries of my new area I will tell you what little I know of my new companion. His name is Elder Hadley and he is from OREGON! This is the second companion of mine that has been from the Portland area! He is from hillsboro. I am taller than him by a solid 2 inches, but he weighs 45 pounds more than me. (This gap will probably grow because now I am back on my bike). He has been out for about 21 months and I will probably be his last companion. We will get along, I have no doubt that we will have great success here.

This area is bigger geographically than my previous one and I will probably shed the 5 pounds that I put on while being in a car. We live in a members home that is extremely nice, they are out of town (in Hawaii) until next Tuesday, but I am looking forward to meeting them!

Side note : I am still going to be able to attend Dustyn's baptism even though I am not in that area, I am just going to call a member and they offered to come pick us up.

Elder Bickmore and I had several cool experiences last week as I was saying goodbye to members. Whether it was getting a ride in a Dodge Viper or sitting in a Ferrari, Seeing an extreme collection of animals killed by one of our members or getting all of the hugs I could ever ask for. I loved serving in the Lehi stake and I hope that the people there loved me back.

Elder Bickmore and I are the missionaries of course! Like my $3 tie?