April 20, 2016 Change Is Good!

Hi Family--

I haven't been able to talk to him for a bit, mostly because he's in the English Ward, but last I heard he's been going to church consistently ever since that first time he came back in February. I'll ask the missionaries that are working with them how he's doing.

The Baptism didn't happen on Saturday. It's kind of complicated, there was a death in the family of some close friends of his and there was a scheduling conflict in the chapel involving a different funeral. So it got postponed for a bit, it will happen either on April 30th or May 7th, he's still super ready.

It sounds like you had a pretty legendary trip. Those dives sound epic.  We'll have to go back someday. Visiting Latin American countries will be fun after, I'm going to try to keep my Spanish.

I like what you said about change. I've grown to love it as a missionary. Change is good and provides opportunities to restart and apply what you've learned from past experiences. I look forward to every new companion and every new area because I always learn something from my current one that I can do better the next time I get a chance to restart. Elder Faust said "Something should move and change" you know you're successful when things are moving forward and continually changing for the better. Otherwise you're stagnant which is against the great plan of God. God's plan is Eternal Progression, and progression can't happen without change. And we change ourselves by constantly changing our actions to be more inline with God's will. Also known as Repentance. Being inclined to reject change could cause you to reject Christ's atonement by choosing to miss an opportunity to repent. Embrace change, pray for change, and make change happen.

Speaking of change. We had transfers happen this last week. A lot changed in the zone but not much directly affected me. Our district got a new Sister and one of the Portuguese Elders went to the Bronx. We are still waiting on 2 new Brazilian Portuguese Elders that are supposed to be getting their visas cleared and will be coming in either during this transfer or at the beginning of the next one. Other than that a new District leader came in in one of the districts in our zone, he's a pretty new missionary, I love young leaders. Speaking of young leaders, Elder Mackintosh finished training this last transfer and got called as a zone leader in the Poughkeepsie Zone. My trainee's a stud.

I Love you family, I hope you have a great week.

Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride