The week here was busy, crazy, and fun. Looking back on the week, it’s hard to remember that transfers were this week. On Wednesday, we helped take the departing missionaries home and bring the new ones back from the airport. It was crazy to see Elder Bills going home! It feels like he just left Newberg. I only had six weeks with Elder Bills, but he was one of my favorite companions. He was one of the most humble people that I have met. I am definitely grateful for the chance to serve with him! Thursday was busy. We had a meeting for the trainees and their new trainers. It was crazy, because it was by far the smallest group for this meeting that we have had the entire time I have been there. But the smallest and littlest things were going wrong! It was frustrating at the time, but everything worked out. After that, we drove out to Bend because we had their zone conference/Christmas talent show on Friday. That was a lot of fun! It was good to be able to see Elder Oswald and be around some of the missionaries out there. We came back on Saturday. On the drive back, we got to a fork in the road where we usually go through the Santiam pass because it is quicker, but the highway was closed and we had to take a 50 minute detour down through Lebanon! It was a beautiful drive. 

We didn't have a ton of time to proselyte this week, but it was cool because yesterday we were able to see some cool miracles while using the time that we actually did have. After one of our lessons, we were walking to the car and I thought I heard a vacuum for a car in a garage, but kind of disregarded it. As we were driving away, we passed that home and saw that there was someone in the garage vacuuming his car, so we turned around and stopped to talk with him. He turned out to be a really cool kid who is graduating high school this year and he said that we could come back on Thursday to talk more! We had a similar situation later that night. We were driving to go visit someone and passed by the home of a potential investigator that we had neither met, but had both tried knocking multiple times. There was a lady outside, so we decided to stop and go try to talk with her. Apparently the person that we were looking for does not live there anymore. But the lady that we met was really nice and she was going through a lot of different things right now. It was definitely inspired that we were able to drive by and see her and talk with her at this point in her life. 

This week should be fun. We have Christmas talent shows for three more zones this week! It should be fun, and then it will be Christmas. 

Staying in Newberg

I will be staying another transfer here in Newberg! I am excited to be able to spend Christmas here around President and Sister Tateoka. It will be a lot of fun. The Elders in the 2nd ward (Elder Greenwood, who has been here as long as me - he was trained by Elder Bills and Elder Patterson, and Elder Cluff) will both be staying as well. We are excited to be around each other for Christmas. 

The week here was really good! We had MLC on Wednesday. President felt inspired that we should focus on commitment invitations. As we prepared for the training that we were asked to give, it was really cool to see the revelation come and to know that the things we were preparing were exactly what needed to be talked about. We had an exchange this week with the Elders in Jefferson. Elder Radmall, one of my old District Leaders, is who I was with! It was a lot of fun. We had a cool experience right after we

exchanged. We wanted to go give a Children's Book of Mormon to one of the boys that we are teaching, but we had just recently given away our last one. So we dropped by the mission office really quickly to pick one up. Right as we were leaving, the janitor man of the building was there so we talked with him for a bit. We were able to run right back inside and get him a Restoration pamphlet in Spanish and then refer him to the Hermanas that cover the area.

This week we also had transfers calls! It was a busy week getting things ready for that. But it went really well! We had a meeting with President and Sister Tateoka about transfer week and all of that stuff, and then afterwards we were able to help President for a few minutes to put up his Christmas lights. That was fun! We also had our ward party this week! One of the people that we are teaching was able to come and was welcomed a lot by the members. It was good to see them have a good time and to be able to connect more with the members. 

Continue to Light the World!

Everything is going well. The zone conferences went really well this week! President really thought that they went well and was really happy with the way that they went! It is crazy how quickly the transfer has flown by. It is going to be another busy week with transfers coming up. We were able to go on an exchange while we were over the mountains with Bend and Redmond. It felt really good to be in the sunshine again! It has been a lot of fun to participate in Light the World. We have been sure to participate in each day, however we can. It was really cool because on the way back from Redmond we stopped at a place in Salem to eat dinner. For some reason, I was not nearly as hungry as usual. I am usually able to eat most of the plate that I get. But I didn't and took the rest home. As we were leaving, we pulled up to the street to turn on the main street and we saw a homeless guy. Right as Elder Patterson was about to turn, I just yelled, "wait!" I was really thinking about it and he was really confused, but I was able to quickly grab the food and hop out and give it to this man and to give him a Light the World pass along card as well! It was nothing of my doing, but the Spirit was the one that put the thought into my mind really quickly and to make it all happen. It has been cool because this campaign does help us to look outside of ourselves a little bit more. 

After our zone conference on Thursday, we were able to go on a short power exchange with the Elders in the Salem 1st ward because we were going to be doing something in Salem that night. I was able to go over and have a lesson with Jeremy, who we used to teach in Salem 1st! It was cool to be able to see how far he has come. His wife even came to church on Sunday and they are doing well as a family! That was fun to see. 

Yesterday was really good as well. We were able to watch the Christmas Devotional with Camille and her husband Brian. That went really well! Camille took Brian and their kids this week to the temple visitor's center and they really enjoyed it! It is cool to see how she has only been a member for about 3 months and she is such a great missionary to her family and those around her. She is a great example and is extremely converted. I really liked the talks from the Devotional as well. I liked President Uchtdorf's talk a lot. It seems to me that recently the Prophets and Apostles have been talking a lot about the love that Heavenly Father has for us. He wants us to be able to look back to Him and not get so down on ourselves.