Hello, everyone! It's me, Elder Z.S.Weber, reporting in to you from
the Prairie Ridge Ward in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's good to be back
again! Yep, I've got a bit more pep in my step than I had last week,
which is good. Depression, no matter how small it might be, just
doesn't go good with me. So, knowing that I've managed to reclaim my
spark of happiness over this past week is reason enough to celebrate.
And after what I discovered this past week, I have even more reason to
pass around the bubbly (aka Martinelli's). It was as I was at the
Mission Office for Transfers, and my new companion, Elder Anderson,
dropped the bomb on me.
"Oh, by the way, you're the District Leader."
Brown had a discussion with his Assistants, one last check-over on the
Transfers to see if everything was in order. And, after some
deliberating, they decided that it was a better idea to send Elder
Muir to be with his future companion, Elder Wangsgard, in Cheyenne,
rather than bringing Wangsgard down to Fort Collins. So, that meant
that Elder Anderson and I would be covering both the Prairie Ridge
Ward and the Taft Canyon Ward. Crazy, I know. However, in addition to
that, there had to be a new District Leader, then, as Elder Wangsgard
was to be the District Leader. So, as the most senior missionary in
the District, the calling fell to me.
So, yeah, this past week has been pretty stressful, all things
considered. I mean, I'm seventeen months out, and so far the only
leadership I've had was Senior Companion, and that was with Elder
NeVille. Even then, I let him make most of the decisions. So to go
from that to being a District Leader gave me a little bit more than a
start. However, over this past week, I feel like I've bounced back
from that shock. I'm still not certain if I'm okay with the
transition, nor do I think I ever will be, but I'm at least going to
do the best that I can in my new position that I can in the time that
I have it. So, with that news, let's move on to the week!
The week started off with Tuesday, with tearful goodbyes to the Ward I
had been quickly loving, and moving on to whatever insane world the
Lord had in store for me. There, at the Mission Office, I met Elder
Anderson. Now, last week, I said that Elder Anderson was from Canada.
I must say, though, that I had heard wrong, and that he's actually
from Alabama. He's a fairly nice elder, though he's only been out for
three months. Though the 'greenie fire' burns bright inside of him,
he's able to contain it for the most part. He isn't as relaxed or
'chill' as Elder NeVille, Hale, or Buchanan were (if you remember
those last two, at least), but he's a great elder nonetheless.
Tuesday was mainly spent moving into our new home with the Lambournes
in the Ward and getting ready to get work. However, the work moved
slowly, as the very next day, Elder Anderson came down
with...something. I'm not exactly certain what it was, but it put him
out of commission for most of the day. We were able to catch the
world-wide Missionary Devotional that morning (which, by the way, was
totally awesome!), but about an hour or so after the devotional had
closed and we'd left the meeting, we ended up spending the rest of the
day at the house, waiting for Elder Anderson to get better. When he
didn't, I gave him a quick blessing of comfort and healing, and he
spent the rest of the evening sleeping it off.
so was I. The morning started off with some light stop-by's with some
of the potential investigators we had on our lists. After we weren't
able to get in with anyone, though, we had a break from our labor, as
we went to a Zone Lunch at the Stake President's house. After
listening to a very instructive message from President Foster (the
Stake President), we went back out and got on to work. The rest of the
evening was spent with more stop-by's with the other potentials on our
list (which were, again, unfruitful efforts) and...tracting...cue
shudder. However, the evening ended well, as I was able to finally
meet and talk with Brother and Sister Lambourne, the couple that are
housing us, and are among the kindest people I've ever met.
Thursday led into Friday, and it brought with it a great and
much-needed change in pace. As many of you know, I absolutely love
doing service, and Friday brought with it a lot of great chances to do
Elders Christenot and Chan, and headed over to the Stake Center to do
service for the Bishop's Storehouse, which is basically distributing
food to families in the area that are in need of support. It was
great, being able to distribute the food and most basic of commodities
to others that needed this service, and seeing them so filled with
happiness and joy from the service we gave. It filled my heart with
joy.
Then, after lunch ended, our District met up again to give service to
this family, the Johnson's. Their son was going to be moving to New
York (I think...) in the next few months, and so they needed to get
some of his stuff moved out of their house and his apartment across
town, and get it stored away in a large storage garage. The work was
mostly fast, and actually didn't take much effort to do, so it gave me
a good chance to get to know my new District-mates. Apparently, Elder
Christenot has been out four-and-a-half months, Elder Chan has been
out for three months, Elder Anderson has been out three...and I've
been out seventeen. The gap in mission-maturity between me and my
fellow District-mates is shocking.
However, the best moments of my week was probably spent in teaching.
Over the past week, I've had a great chance to teach this kind woman
named Beth, who is planning on marrying a member of the Taft Canyon
lesson with this couple, Robert and Crystal, who are very interested
in the lessons. They were referred to us by a member of another Ward,
the Terry Lake Ward, so he came and helped us out with teaching the
first lesson. However, it went really well, and I'm looking forward to
having more experiences teaching them.
So, yeah, that was my week. Thankfully, it was much more upbeat than
last week's, which was quite the downer. And I don't like downer
weeks. However, with this week, I have had a chance to grow some more,
and so it is time for the Spiritual Thought.
As I've already stated several times, I was very against the decision
to send me to Fort Collins. With the work progressing as it was in
Mariana Butte, and the friendships I had formed with the members and
missionaries in that area, I just wasn't ready to leave just yet. That
feeling of animosity that I had only grew when I found out that I was
going to be serving as a District Leader and covering two separate
Wards. So, for the first few days while in the Prairie Ridge Ward, I
was just inwardly writhing in anguish and throwing a silent fit.
Immature, I know, but that's just how it was.
During that time, I would go to bed each night with the same prayer in
my heart every time—Lord, why did you do this to me? Why did you take
me away from my area to here of all places? Then, one night (Friday, I
think), I had a feeling to change the way I was praying. Call it the
spirit or me finally acting mature or whatever, but I decided to
listen to that thought, and instead of having a pity-party for my
prayer, I asked Heavenly Father to change my attitude towards my
Transfer to Prairie Ridge/Taft Canyon Wards, and help me come to love
the area.
That next morning, I rose with a noticeable spring in my step. I still
wasn't fully happy with the transition yet, but I was willing to make
the best out of my situation. And so, my message for y'all this week
is to simply pray. Our Father will always listen, and so long as our
desires are good and are to help His plan come forth, He will help us
receive the desires of our hearts. I am a witness of this truth, and
as such can promise you such. I know that our Father answers our
prayers, and leads us to the answers we need. This I bear solemn
testimony of, in the name of His Firstborn Son in the Flesh, Jesus
Christ, Amen.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
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