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From 2/2/2016...

Hey everyone! So a month ago or so we found out that we aren't allowed to have transfer meeting anymore. So the way they do transfers now is the Assistants send out a call sheet to the Zone Leaders that have all the new companionships. Then the Zone Leaders send it to us and call us and tell us who is leaving and who is coming in the zone and where everyone is going and then Tuesday morning all the missionaries that are dealing with a transfer meet together and exchange companions.

So yesterday we found out that i was being transferred toWSan Diego East Zone in the Del Cerro ward With Elder Pimsuwan. He is from Thailand. I also became a Zone Leader this transfer. The cool thing is that President and the Assistants live in the zone and we are super close to everything. the down side is since we have 3 sets of sisters and 3 sets of Elders and one of the sets is the Assistants and the other set one of them is a district leader. That means Elder Pimsuwan and I are Zone leaders and District Leaders. Yay responsibility again haha.  

Last Tuesday we went to Camp Wildwood and had a BBQ and played sports with another zone. After P-day we had dinner with Julie Stites she is recent convert and her husband isn't a member so when we meet with her she usually takes us out to dinner which is awesome! She struggles sometimes because she wants to be sealed to her family forever but she can't yet since her husband isn't a member. I testified to her that I know God has a plan for her and that everything will work out.

Wednesday was a pretty busy day! Elder Barnes had a meeting to go to and so did some other missionaries so we went on exchanges and I was with Elder Seavey for the morning. We went and did service for the guy with all the sand bags which was awesome! The rest of the day we were able to meet with a couple less active families and a couple part members families which was awesome. 

Friday we did service most of the day! Its crazy how much service people need done up here. In the morning we filled up sand bags for a family that had some flooding problems last time it rained. Luckily we had a jeep for the day since we were low on miles we borrowed another set of missionaries car because they had a lot more miles. We ended up filling about 40 sand bags and had to stop because the Jeep couldnt hold very much more. After that we went to a horse therapy place and did weeding for them. They do therapy for special education kids and wounded veterans.

Sunday was a crazy day! For 5th Sunday in 3rd hour the 2016 ward mission plan was announced and then there specific people that spoke about certain topics. Elder Banes and I talked about creating a Family mission plan and setting goals as family to do missionary work. Since we were focused on missionary work for 5th Sunday our bishop thought it would be a good idea to invite President Schmitt to speak in our sacrament meeting. He did a super good job though and it really got the members pumped up to do missionary work.

This past week we also found out that Nathan has to wait until he is 18 to be baptized because his dad wont let him. He turns 18 in October so its not too bad. He is an awesome dude though, he is super committed and wants to get more involved but his dad wont let him. He still is able to go to seminary in the morning and he has read Preach My Gospel and everything. It's really a bummer that he can't be baptized though.

Yesterday we had dinner with the Sommers. The Sommers are awesome missionaries. They invited a less active family and a part member family to meet us. We were able to get to know the two families better and hopefully start teaching the kids in the part member family!

Well I think that's it for this week! Love you guys!

-Elder Chris  LaRochelle