Staying put :)

Hello from a very chilly Somerville!!

This week has been CRAZY!!!  Transfer Texts came this week.  Elder Kilgore and I are staying together for another 6 weeks.  Our roommates, however, are both leaving; they're shotgunning a nearby area.  We told Herbie about T-texts, and he was very nervous-he wanted us to call him as soon as we knew if we were staying or leaving.  Ideally, the texts come at like 7:00 pm, but they didn't come even remotely close to on time.  We got a call from Herbie at 9:30, asking if we knew anything.  We hadn't gotten the texts yet, so we had to tell him we didn't know anything.  He sounded very worried and told us to call him as soon as we knew, and that he'd be up waiting by the phone until we called him.  Come 10:30, we got the texts and found out neither of us were leaving.  I called Herbie, and after ONE RING, there came a hurried and expectant "Hello?" from the other end of the line.  I told him, "Herbie.  I've got bad news for ya-we're both staying."  There was silence on his end for about 3 seconds, and then he started laughing.  He was so happy that his Elders were staying in town.  And honestly, I'm glad that we're staying in town with Herbie.  It's great to have someone who cares so much about us and is willing to help us in whatever ways he can.  However, Herbie is sick, so prayers for him to get better would be much appreciated.  Thanks y'all :)

Our Mission is undergoing a huge change in philosophy-we're trying to focus on Member Missionary Work.  Essentially, people want to do Member Missionary Work, but don't know how.  *ENTER PRESIDENT CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN*  As not only an entrepreneur and innovator, but as a Member Missionary himself, President Christensen has published a book called "The Power of Everyday Missionaries."  This teaches the how of Member Missionary Work and is instrumental in what we're trying to teach our members.  There is actually a series of lessons (based on his book) that Elder Kilgore and I are giving to various members in the ward.  Our goal is to get the Bishopbric on  board and to help them realize that their goals for the ward can be met through Member Missionary Work.  I'll let ya know how that goes.

Elder Kilgore and I stopped by to see our investigator who dropped us, just to check up on her and see how she's doing.  Sadly, the light of the Gospel is completely gone from her life.  It was a bigtime downer to see her in that state, especially where she had been coming along and doing so well for so long!!  But this taught me a great lesson: you can't force people to be happy if they don't first want to be happy themselves. 

And the spiritual thought of the week may be the most powerful one yet.  A good friend of mine told me about a YouTube video I should look up: "Missionary Work and the Atonement."  This video has audio from an MTC address given by Elder Holland, so the audio literally cannot be found anywhere else.  The overall theme of the video is simply "Missionary work is not easy because salvation was not easy.  Were salvation easy, Missionaries wouldn't be necessary.  However, in order to save others, we have to experience a small token of what Christ experienced in order to save us."  Just watch it and prepare to have your mind BLOWN!!  That's pretty much all I can say to try to do it justice.... (Here is the link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y )

Love,

Elder Boone