I'm leaving again! I'm taking off for Arroyo Grande! I can't believe I'm
leaving Oxnard already. It's been a total blast out here with this ward and
Elder Law! He's going to be staying here (Although he's opening a new area) and
being follow up trained by Elder Fairbourne! (Elder Jenkins trained him!)
Also, Elder Jenkins is going to be my Zone Leader out there! WAHAHA!!! This is
gonna be too much fun! I'm also going to be white-wash training district leader
again! Hooray for stress!
Actually, I'm hyper excited for this. I'm going to be taking over the area
that Elder Buckmiller just opened; so it's gonna be great. Also; Elder
Buckmiller has finished his mission! I get to see him go home tomorrow!
WHOO!!! It's been incredible to see his growth and the power he radiates now!
Elder Johnson will also be starting his last transfer, and after that, I'm gonna
be the oldest out of all the companions I've had! That's super wierd to think
about; I'm still not quite used to the idea; even though in my past four
transfers I've been the oldest in my district. Also; Elder Lewis is training
already; and he'll be staying here in Oxnard! One of the sisters in our
district has been waiting on a Visa to go to Argentina, and she just got it; she
leaves wednesday. All in all, CRAZY exciting stuff is going down as usual!
This area has been incredibly fun to work in. I have complete confidence
that Elder Law will take care of everyone here; including getting Saul, Coralia,
Gloria, and Raquel ready to accept the covenant of baptism. I'll be waiting for
the pictures!
We also had stake conference; and it was intense! The whole adult session
was about hastening the work, and of course President and Sister Castro came and
owned it. It really put a huge drive on the members to work with us and help
the massive amounts of missionaries we're receiving get stuff done. The adult
session had super bad audio; they wound up having to cut it off and use a cell
phone feed instead. Without the picture, and with the weird recording, it felt
like we were watching conference in the 20's! It was super good though, and had
a lot of stuff I really needed to hear.
We also were able to go to the Temple in L.A. this week; and it was
AMAZING. The journey was great; we saw miles of beach and cool places like
Malibu and Sher's house and the location where Iron Man stopped for strawberries
in Iron Man 2. It was a great drive! We got to go with Alex Martinez and Anna
Reyes; two of the most BOSS recent converts ever; and the temple proper was
incredible. The spirit was insanely strong and the session is rediculously
amazing! Obviously I can't say much, but if you haven't been to the temple in a
while, GO!!! Also; while I was there, we got in a session with four of my
friends from Bakersfield! Elder Flores, Elder Parra, Elder Fernandez, and Elder
Scott were ALL THERE! They're finishing up, and it was so great to go through
there with them. I love the mission!
I gotta run, but ya'll know I love you and pray all the time for you. Keep
that apostasy at bay, and be awesome! Weird thing is; it's not actually that
hard!
Love,
Elder Matthew David Clough
