Musical Fireside and Samia went through the Temple

Hey there -

This has been a ridiculously busy week with a lot going on! I mentioned last week how things need to slow down a bit; this week felt about a month long, but in a good way.

 

So, first things first - I'm in a trio again (see February of 2013)! There's this guy from Las Vegas who can't serve for medical reasons, and so his Stake President and President Ahlander worked something out where he can serve here during proselyting hours and go home at night - we were chosen as his first companionship. His name is Elder Osburn and he's a good guy; he did a year of school at BYUI and is ready to serve the best he can! He drives to our place at 8:00am and then drives home at around 7:00pm. I've had to leave the companionship several times this week, and so I'd leave the area in the capable hands of Elder Palmer as acting senior companion. He's been doing great and handles it really well - it's a good opportunity for him to pretty much "train" a new missionary and he said he's been learning a lot this week.

 

The reason why I've been leaving Palmer and Osburn alone a lot is because I've been practicing for a Musical Fireside we had as a mission last night! Our mission started holding these firesides once a month and the program is entirely missionaries making music - everyone in the valley can come if they bring an investigator. They've been really successful (this is only the third time) and so I wanted to play at this one since it's my last. I got together with Elder Carson, a great pianist and Sister Baird (really good voice) and we wrote a song this week to play last night at the fireside. It's been stressful because we were on a time crunch and practiced every day this week, but it all paid off last night and it was a really good time; I think there were around 500 people in attendance, so that's pretty sweet.

 

The highlight of the week was Samia Witwit's trip to the temple this Saturday! She was baptized last June and she received her endowments at the Las Vegas temple this weekend - awesome experience. Elder Herlin and I were companions for the day and we were picked up by former Elders Torgersen, Peacock, and Kredt. It was a ton of fun to see those guys again, albeit kind of weird; it doesn't seem right to see them outside of the context of a mission. It was great to see Sam again and to see how happy she was, surrounded by people who support her in the house of the Lord.

 

Awesome week; looking forward to another one! Love you all so much -

 

Jesse

 

Samia and her "support staff"