A Farewell to Ashton Park

Well, it was a solid week. We had lessons that actually happened and we have been regularly making new friends. I have been enjoying my time with Elder Craig and Elder Bowen. Another huge thing this week is that I received my flight itinerary! I am going to Mozambique! I leave on the 16th of December which is this Thursday! My flight is pretty crazy and it will basically take three days of me going across America, flying to Amsterdam and then a 12 hour flight to South Africa. Then, I stay overnight there and take a short hop to Mozambique. It is going to be crazy.

One thing this week we have been working a lot on is getting progressing friends. At this point we can make new friends but having people we can meet regularly is not quite there. In fact we only have one friend that we have gotten a second lesson to happen with. A lot of our friends set up a time to meet again but don't answer or are busy when we go. Finding who we can actually work with has been challenging.

A cool thing this week is I was able to eat lunch with my grandma. She was in the area and if I ask my mission president I could arrange a visit. President Zimmerman graciously allowed me to go. Normally these visits aren't allowed but President Zimmerman in his own words "has a soft spot for grandparents." So we arranged a meet up at this mission's favorite restaurant: Kikis. We had a good chat and it was really cool catching up. The whole time it felt pretty weird being a missionary and talking to my Grandma and cousin. But it was really nice seeing her.

Our ward had its Christmas dinner this Saturday. It was a nice dinner and we had a pretty good turnout. A few less-actives were there and we didn't have any friends to invite. It was still a fun dinner and the primary put on a nativity which was really fun. I was really impressed how reverent the kids were. They stood patiently on the stage for about 30 minutes and sang a few songs. It was really cool and reminded me a lot of home. It was nice talking to some of the members and the food was quite good.

This next week is going to be very interesting. I have loved my time here in Ashton Park. The ward is so great. They are kind and experienced. They have desire and a sincere love the gospel. I have been happy to labor here. In my time serving in Ashton Park I have seen this area turn around. The ward is much more missionary minded, there are more people to visit and teach, several less-actives have come back to church and things seem much more hopeful. I have seen hard work and faith make results. I know the future will be different and likely very stressful but as I remember my savior and my purpose here as a missionary I can be made stronger.

A picture taken by my grandma with my companions outside of Kikis