Email from Elder Lofthouse 9/23/13 Transfers!

Transfer calls came on Saturday.  My new companion will be Elder Moody.  I think I may have met him while he was being trained while I was down south, but I can't remember what he looks like.  And Elder Neave will be staying here for his extra week.  Did I tell you about that?  So, he wanted to go to conference in Salt Lake (he's from Australia), but his visa requires him to leave the country seven days after he gets released as a missionary.  So, he's going to stay here an extra week, get released over the phone and then go to Utah for conference.  He'll be staying with one of his MTC companions, so that's cool.  It will be interesting being in a trio for a week.

The weather is getting super cold.  It was 72 degrees at 3 in the afternoon, so we got our jackets out.  (I love California weather!)  I ran with my hoodie on this morning for the first time since March.  The sun was down at 7 o'clock yesterday.  I'm not looking forward to winter.  Winter as a missionary is no fun, because you feel really weird knocking on anyone's door after dark even if it's only 6:30, talking to people in the streets kind of creeps them out, and it's just cold.  Elder Neave is very happy that he gets to skip winter this year (It's Spring in Australia).  

This week is one of those weeks where I can't remember what happened.  We saw V a couple times.  He understands that if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith is a prophet and this church is the true church.  He said he believes it's true, but he's not sure.  He said, "If I stay with the Catholic church and it turns out the Mormon is right, I'll lose my family.  But if I go to the Mormon church and it turns out the Catholic is right, then I'll lose my family."  So we told him that he needs to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  We haven't been able to follow up with him on if he's been reading yet.  

M, J's wife, is also listening to us, and they made us dinner the other night.  Elder Neave invited her to be baptized on the 29th and she said that was too soon, she didn't feel ready.  But she didn't say no to baptism!  When the elders first started teaching J, she didn't like them coming over, so J told them not to come back, because his family didn't like it.  But they went back anyway, and now they love the missionaries and we're making progress!  

Well, life just keeps on going.  I have a new favorite hymn, No. 217, "Come, Let us Anew."  "Our life as a dream, our time as a stream glide quickly away and the fugitive moment refuses to stay... Oh, that each in the day of His coming my say, 'I have fought my way thru, I have finished the work thou didst give me to do.' Oh that each from his Lord, my receive the glad word: 'Well and faithfully done.  Enter into my rest and sit down on my throne.'"

Our time is short here!  The temptation to give up and quit early is often there for me.  But I know that if we keep fighting and do our best, it will be so worth it in the end!  So keep going!

I love you all!

Elder Lofthouse