Back to Work

Hello hello - 

What I thought would be a nice reprieve from traveling from place to place for three weeks has been one of the slower weeks of my mission! This past week has just been crawling by and I'm so ready to get back on the road. I'm glad we tried it out, though, because now we know to schedule some exchanges for Week 1 of next transfer instead of taking a break. After meeting with President Ahlander several times, I'm starting to realize that this assignment won't be dying with me; President is excited about the progress and the feedback he's getting from missionaries we've been out with and he wants this to continue after we go home. With that being said, we're paying more attention to the efficiency of the entire process so that when we go home, our replacements inherit a non-jank, well-oiled system. 

This next week looks pretty fun, with time in Tule Springs, Elkhorn Springs, and Red Rock. We have Leadership Training on Friday, so we won't be going on exchanges then. We have to give a training on going on effective exchanges, and I'm not necessarily looking forward to it; not quite sure yet as to how we're going to make that fun and interesting. I'm sure it'll be fine, though! 

There's an article in this month's Ensign that I really liked about ministering to others. A section that stuck with me was about finding "the one". Elder David A. Bednar was in England, if I remember correctly, and mentioned that the Apostles are always sent to find "the one" when they travel; they just happen to go to meetings and speak to multitudes on the way. And even then, he's not speaking to a lot of people, he's speaking to a group of assembled "ones". It's been on my mind all week long, and I've been doing my best to be on constant lookout for "the one" - it makes all the difference and influences nearly every action. 

I love you and hope to share some good experiences with you next week!
Jesse

Elder Dowdle and Elder Tunney