Hey hey fam
My week has been great. It is definitely cooling down here. Plus it's been windy too so it's getting quite chilly. We came outside today and the sun is nowhere to be found. Just a gray cloud covering the whole sky... and there is a lot of sky out here. I got the coat and it fits good. It should work supremely if it is fit for russian winters. I think the good weather is coming to a close here. I'm jealous that Rachael is taking all the good weather. And can go swimming too when the good weather does come. That is fun that you got to go hear Caleb speak. I think i did go out to the State Hospital once if i remember correctly. Anybody still floating around that we all know in that ward?
So what sunday is it exactly that you are speaking in church? Also, do you want me or do you think that i should change/update the address that the mission home has or just keep it the same since Wade will still be living their? Maybe i can work something out to have both or something. I'll be sure to look for Elder Bailey once he gets out here. We got another Elder Peterson into our zone recently and often Sister Talbert (an office couple lady) calls me to see which Elder Peterson mail is for when their is no first name on the envelope. We also got another senior missionary couple into our mission as well. So now we have like 6 couples or something in our mission.
Story City is doing good. No big new updates. We weren't able to meet with Colin this last week at all and he wasn't at church. Billy came to church again this week and is still just wanting to keep learning more before he gets baptized. We meet with him and his family at least once a week consistently. His wife runs a day care center and so sometimes when we are over, she has another families kids over as well which can make teaching a little hard. At church this week she was taking care of four other kids when she came to church. Their names are Keishon, Trayshon, Tayshon, and Jayshon. And yes, they are black. So between her kids, billy's kids, and those 4 kids they had 10 children with them at church on Sunday. It was also the primary program at church yesterday. It was so good and the spirit was really strong in hearing the testimonies of those little kids through the songs they sing. And those stories about Blake are funny! I miss those little boys.
So our branch president is President Kjell Aamodt. Pronounced Kell pretty much. He is not a convert to the church. He was raised out in Iowa City. And he lives in Gilbert right now. We actually do a lot of work in outlying little towns and cities. Gilbert (where Billy and President Aamodt live), Roland, Jewell, Ellsworth, Randall, Radcliffe, Mc Callsburg, and Story City is where we spend most of our time. And then we used to have Iowa Falls, Williams, and Alden which are bigger cities too, but they put another companionship of Elders up there this last transfer. They still come to our branch though so that is fun. We do a car share with them as well so on the weeks we don't have the car we spend most of our time in Story City, but the members are pretty good at giving us rides when we need them as well.
So there is a story of these people called Smoke Jumpers. And what they do is they help out with forest fires. They get helicoptered to the above lying ridge and then help from the top down pretty much. So they went to help with this fire and the dispatcher told them to check in through their walkie talkies once they found a good path that they could go down and help fight the fire. So they get dropped off on the top of the ridge and immediately see a couple good paths that they could potentially go down. They call in to the dispatcher and only get static. So they wait 10 minutes and call in again, but they only get static. And then 15 minutes, 30 minutes and only static. So they decide to take their packs off on the top of the ridge where they are safe from the fire and start having lunch. 7 hours later a tired fire chief comes walking up the mountain and asks them why they weren't/didn't help. They told them that they never got an answer from the dispatcher. The fire chief takes the walkie talkie and starts down one of the paths. About 20 feet down the path the dispatcher comes in nice and clear. Then he tries down another path and the same thing happens. The Smoke Jumpers were sitting in a dead zone on top of the ridge. We need to be careful not to sit in spiritually dead zones. They may seem safe and away from danger, but we are not receiving revelation or putting ourselves in a position to receive personal revelation for our lives. Sometimes all we need to do is just start down a path and God will tell us if it is not the right path. I know that this church is a church where we have to keep moving, enduring, and growing. We are preparing ourselves now for Eternal Life so we need to watch out for these spiritual dead zones.
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