Transfer verdict is...

I'M GONNA BE TRAINING!!! WHOOO!   It's really kinda crazy, and I'm more than a bit nervous, but I'm hyper-excited at the same time!  Yesterday was insane, as we were waiting for the president/assistants to call about whether we'd be in a leadership assignment or not.  We wound up missing the President, but the Assistants called a little bit later about me training.  Then, the President called us, and asked Elder Buckmiller to be a Zone Leader!  I knew it!  He's going to Santa Maria, to be companions with Elder Hawes; one of the best Zone Leaders in the mission.  He's a bit nervous, but he'll do an awesome job.  Meanwhile, I get to take my "son" back to good old Taft, to keep the work rolling out here. I can't wait to find out who this Elder is!  There's a bunch of work waiting for us out here, so he's going to have an awesome first transfer.

This week was really good.  I can't think of a ton of really cool stuff that happened, but we worked really hard.  We went into this week, deciding to have the mind-set that it wasn't actually the week before transfers.  That way, we were able to focus better on our job instead of worrying about whether we'd wind up staying or not.  A lot of good came from that, and while we didn't have the chance to see any baptisms this transfer, the next one is set up really well.  People are still looking for this!

I LOVED the cake that you guys made for Brittney.  It's SO telling about our family.   Leave it up to us to have Lego's, LoTR, and "cartoon violence" on a birthday cake for a 18 year old young woman.  It was fantastic!  I also loved the pictures of Danielle playing basketball.  She's a boss!  I do need another album though... the other two are full up and I've got some leftovers.

At any rate, I love you all, and I'm really excited to work out here this next transfer.  I'm gonna learn a TON more than the poor Elder that gets stuck out here with me; but I'll do my best.  It's gonna be a bit strange; because I've only ever done Taft missionary work (which I've heard is different from elsewhere in the mission,) I'll be the senior companion for the first time AND I'll be training to boot!  I'm afraid the poor new Elder won't have a very experienced "father" but I guess it'll all work out.

Here goes round 5!

Love,

Elder Matthew David Clough