First week with Elder Palmer and Todd and Shea Hill sealed in the Temple

This has been an awesome Week 1.

 

It's been so much fun being with Elder Palmer these past couple of days, and I'm really impressed by him. He's constantly looking for ways to improve and be a better missionary, and he's incredibly humble about the things he does well. Right before his first lesson this week, he was so nervous about what he's going to say or if the family will be able to feel the spirit. He was great and did just fine; I wish I had been teaching like that my first week. We get along really well, too, and have been having a good time together as we've been working in the Valley Vista ward.

 

Being on bike makes for such a rewarding night. I've honestly never gone to bed so fast in my entire life. We've been working nonstop the entire week, getting out and making contact with the people that past missionaries were working with as well as the majority of the member base. It's not too often that an area gets double-transferred, and so we have to put in a little more effort the first couple of weeks to ensure everything is how it's supposed to be. The ward is fantastic; the members are so nice and accommodating as well as pretty diverse. We have a couple of very new neighborhoods in which there are a lot of younger families and then we have a lot of custom lots with families who were out here before the highway was built. The ward has been very good to us this week as we've been trying to find out what exactly is going on.

 

About a year and a week ago, Shea Hill was baptized out in Tule Springs. This past Saturday, I was able to go to the Las Vegas temple and witness her and her husband, Todd, receive their endowments and be sealed together as a family - forever. It was absolutely incredible. The sealing ordinance was so beautiful and simply done; when they brought in their children, I lost it. It reminded me so much of my own sealing to my parents, and I was filled with the Spirit as I witnessed another family participate in an ordinance that means everything to them. I love those guys so much, and it was so good to see them dressed in white together at the temple. 2014 has been a good year.

 

Anyways, having fun and working hard! Love you guys so much and I'll talk to you next week!

 

Jesse

 

Elder Palmer and Elder Dowdle