Letter # 18 - Tornado Alley

Hello, Everyone!

Crazy week for y'all! It has rained every single day since my last email here. This whole week we have seen the consequences of the rainstorm last week. It was apparently a tornado. So there was lots of damage all over the city. That's Tornado Alley for you I guess.


Brandon and Elder Judd
 


Monday - We found out that Elder Judd would be transferred to Grand Prarie out in West Dallas. It has been a fun ride with him. He has taught me a lot and I know we will be great friends for our lives. We also found out that my new companion would be Elder Callister! His grandpa's brother is Tad R. Callister the general authority. I was only told great things about Elder Callister. Elder Judd and I also helped clean up a member's yard after that crazy storm on sunday. Trees have fallen on houses, roads, and fences everywhere. Some people didn't have electricity for 5 days. All of the stop lights were out as well.

Tuesday - Transfer Day! The plan was that Elder Del Angel and I would stay in Longview together. Brother Green would drive Elder Judd and Buford to Dallas and bring back our companions. Long story short, there was some miscommunication and he only brought back my companion. They found out 2 hours away from Dallas that they left someone, so they turned around and went back. Elder Callister did not arrive until dinner time. He is our district leader here. He is a hard worker. He is from Las Vegas. He loves to play volleyball. We are going to work super hard this transfer.

Wednesday - What a strange day... it was the last day of the month. We only get a certain amount of miles for the month and we were out... we couldn't go anywhere and no members could come with us. We were at the church almost the whole day. We did a lot of online proselyting, calling, planning, etc. Elder Callister is a beast though. I cannot wait to work with him.

Thursday - It was crazy to start June! The year is already almost halfway over! We did our first week planning together and then went out with a member to visit some families down in Kilgore.

Friday - Lots of knocking on potential investigators doors. We are trying to clean our area book out. We feel that God is a very organized person and that once we become more organized, he will bless us immensely. That night, we got chased away from a house by a mean pitbull. It was terrifying.


Elder McCallister and Brandon
 


Saturday - Saturday and Sunday were our Stake Conferences! They went really well and i learned lots! Elder Callister and i attended the breakout session for ward mission leaders. We basically got chastised for being missionaries. Ward mission leaders here don't understand that we have specific assignments from president Taylor. We have been asked to do things a certain way that apparently these mission leaders don't agree with. It was definitely sad to be in a setting where you are being attacked by members of your own church. We get attacked every day as it is. We don't need it from our members too. Afterward, Elder Callister and I were talking about it, and we both mentioned how we had felt a very small nudge to attend the young men's breakout instead... i know that was the spirit trying to get us out of a sticky situation. We didn't listen and were punished for it. Live and learn.

Sunday - Stake conference was incredible. The main theme was families. I loved all of the talks. We drove out to Marshall to visit some of our potentials out there continuing to try and clean our area book. It is looking good now!

That is about it for this week! I love you all so so much. Have a good week!
Brandon