The Greatest two years!!: Ist Transfer to Omak. Week 20

This week has been pretty awesome but sad to say I got news that I am going to be transferred this Wednesday. I'm getting moved up even more north to Omak Washington. My companion is going to be Elder Colunga-Flores from Texas. Yet again my companion is from Texas. From what I am told it is going to be even colder there in Omak but It is very pretty up there. Hopefully I will not freeze while I am up there for the winter. I'm getting a little used to the cold here but it is still not enjoyable. Good thing I am able to layer up and at least be warmer. It's crazy to think that it's already time for another transfer and that I'm getting moved. It feels like just yesterday Elder Mercado got here and we started the transfer. Time really does fly. And Christmas is right around the corner. I can't believe it.

As you can tell by the pictures we got to start this past week off with a bit of snow. I think we got about 3 inches of snow and it was awesome. It's cool to see snow because that stuff doesn't fall much down in good Old Texas. We got to throw a bit of snow around before we had our District council. It was a bunch of fun. Speaking of district council we had a really good discussion on the topic of the fourth missionary. There was a quote in the fourth missionary talk from C.S. Lewis. The Lord is speaking to us saying, "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work: I want You. All of you. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man, but to kill it. No half-measures will do. I don't want to only prune a branch here and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart shall become your will." (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, p. 167) I really love this little passage and how it tells us that we need to give all of our desires and wills to the lord. It is something that is really hard to do but it is defiantly worth it in the end. When we are able to orient our desires with those of the lord we will be better off and become more like him. We will be more in tune with the spirit and better able to follow its promptings. I thought I would share it with you since it can really apply to anyone. It may apply a bit more to full time missionaries but, it still helps anyone see how to become more in tune with the spirit.

This week has been a bit interesting as well having to walk everywhere in the snow. I think I can now say I have had to walk up-hill both ways in the snow. It's a little warmer walking in comparison to the bikes because we aren't rushing around in the wind but it also means that we had to walk everywhere we had to go. Made things a little harder and we had to watch the time so we wouldn't be late to things. The walking is a bit tiring but it is all worth it.

Thanksgiving was really good. We had one meal with the "H" family at 1 and then after that we went over and had another Thankgiving meal with the "G" family. We were so full and yet Elder Turley still insisted on us eating more food while we were at the "G". It was a good time to enjoy being with some of the families here in Othello. After dinner with the "G" we went and walked around for the rest of the night trying to find people we could talk to and visit. We ended up going and visiting two less active families and sharing a message with them. It was defiantly an enjoyable day.

With it being Thanksgiving week most people were spending time with family or were out of town. This made it a bit harder for us to find our investigators and actually teach them. We kept trying though and used most of our time these past 3 days trying to set up time we can go and see people within the week. It got a little tiring and discouraging to not be able to get in and teach anyone but we tried and that's what counts. A successful missionary is not measured by numbers or the amount of baptisms but instead by his devotion to the work and the will of the lord.

Yesterday (Sunday) Elder Mercado and I gave talks in the Spanish ward sacrament meeting. I was a little worried about covering the 10 minutes I was given but from what Elder Mercado tells me I covered it rather well. We both were given the topic of keeping the commandments and more specifically the law of tithing. It was good studying and preparing for my talk and taking time to learn about gods purpose for commandments and why he asks us to pay tithing. I based the larger portion of my talk on the teachings of King Bennjamin in Mosiah 2:22-24. They are really good scriptures and help us see the blessings that come from obedience to the commandments and why we should keep them. I think it also helps us see why we need to pay tithing, although it doesn't specifically say anything about tithing. I wasn't looking forward to speaking but looking back I'm glad I was given the opportunity.

To answer some questions. I'm only able to read my emails on P-day and likewise only respond as well. It is getting a little cold but as it drops below 20 there isn't much moisture in the air so it isn't a very stinging cold. Still not fun to be out in but I'm glad its more of a dry cold.

Glad you had a good Thanksgiving back home and I hope all is still going well.

Love,

Elder Boren

P.S. Elder Mercado shared a song with me that was awesome and I was wondering if you could find the group for me and get me some of their music. He said the group is a womens version of BYU Vocal Point. That would be awesome if you could. And I'm always open to some new ties.