Sick Week

It's been almost 10 months in the field...and I had my first sick companion. My companion came down with a flu bug which put him severely out of commission for three days. You would think that three days off would be a welcome change...but no sir! After half a day I just wanted to get outside of the house and work. We were able to find people to split us up so I could still go out and work. However, we toughed through it and still had a great week.

This upcoming week will be interviews with the mission president. What that means for us is that we get the opportunity to train the missionaries as they're waiting for their interviews. It is actually one of the most exhausting days as a zone leader...because it's 9am to 5pm of training with only a few breaks. Nonetheless, it's a great opportunity to see our whole zone at once so we will take advantage of it.

We're also having lots of success in our stakes. We found many new people to teach and have also been working closely to try and get those that have not been to church in a while back. As we've done that we've met many new members who have been able to help us find more non-members to teach. It's funny how when you simply serve others and help them how your objectives get met as well.

Elder Bolling

Reworking the Boundaries

Last Wednesday was transfers. I received a new companion. His name is Elder Lakner and he is from Slovenia. He is also a convert to the church. His story is impressive since there are only 200 members in his entire country and he is the 12th Slovenian to serve a mission. He is a great missionary with a great spirit about him. Our zone also was rebuilt. Actually, it grew. It still contains all of Sandy City but also now includes Cottonwood Heights. This is the result of some reworkings to make the new mission boundaries happen. Next transfer the zones will be adjusted again so that the south mission has a new look. It certainly is an exciting time to be a missionary here!

We also had a baptism on Friday night. Our investigator had been meeting with missionaries for 6 months and had begun to feel the spirit more strongly in his life. It is a testament to the power of the Holy Ghost in conversion. We were excited for him to begin his journey as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. We also continue to work with two more families closely and many others who are promising. We hope to have at least three more baptisms in April.

The weather is also getting a lot nicer. I have always been a fan of spring, summer and fall over the winter, so it's nice that this 6-month winter is finally over. Utah is a wonderful place but I don't know if I could handle the winters for more than two years. Two and a half month winters sound good to me!

Elder Bolling

Growing Pains

This week should be an exciting one. Transfers are on Wednesday. But more than that the UT-SLCS mission will be going through a realignment. Our zones, districts and areas will all be changing in anticipation of the new mission that will be created in July. We don't know the details but we do know that "many of us" will be moving or being transferred. We will be having a meeting tonight to talk about the changes and iron everything out before the mission-wide announcements tomorrow.

It was a different week than last week. With all of the baptisms last week we had significantly lower teaching opportunities. However, it was enjoyable to continue the recent convert discussions with our new members and to look for new people to teach. It's the cycle of missionary work and it continues to roll forward. We are preparing for a baptism this Friday for a YSA that we have been teaching for 5 months now. It will be a welcome sight to see him finally baptized.

It's also approaching the one-year mark of me starting to date Sara. It's quite a funny thing how it seems as though we've gotten closer over the 9 months of the mission. Hopefully she would agree. (I think she would) Either way, the date gives me an opportunity to reflect on how fast the year has gone by. It also builds a testimony that when you are devoted in the service of the Lord all other things work out. Even though I only communicate with her and family once a week...somehow it seems to work out how it is all designed. The blessings of the Lord always seem to happen that way.

Elder Bolling

Weddings and Baptisms!

This week we saw the marriage and baptism of one of our investigators. He had been waiting for marriage papers to come in so that he could do that before baptism. It was a special event. They have had many challenges to overcome and so has their family. Their family has all found the gospel in just the last year. They each bore their testimony of how it has changed their lives and how they know the Church is true. It was moving and gave more meaning to the work we do to see the changes in peoples' lives.

We had three other baptisms last week and each of them were special in their own way. I will say that it is extremely hectic to plan four baptisms in one week. We certainly love the work, but next time I hope they spread out to one each weekend -- because there are a lot of logistics to get out of the way for a baptismal service! Either way, I'm not complaining about the logistics of things -- it was a blessing to be a part of it.

Transfers are in just over a week and we are expecting some big changes. With the new mission, we will be adding lots of missionaries. The idea is that instead of one companionship covering two stakes that one stake will be covered by two companionships. That will mean that areas will be split, zones changed, and missionaries moved. It will make things very exciting and eventful as we move towards the July 1st "split date" of the Salt Lake City South and Central Missions.

Elder Bolling

Elder Nelson Comes to Sandy!

Last night the Sandy West stake had the opportunity to hear from Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear the words of an apostles of the Lord. What made it even more special was when our stake president invited us to sit on the stand...directly beside Elder Nelson! Surprise! His remarks were directed towards the youth and we also brought some of our investigators. They got the chance to speak with him about their baptisms and it was an incredible spiritual experience for each of them. We were also able to locate two new people to teach from the meeting since some teenagers brought their friends to see the event.

We are anticipating 5 baptisms next weekend. Sadly, our baptism for this week was pushed back but it is still happening on March 24th. It will be a wonderfully busy day as we will see 5 (maybe six) people make a covenant with their Father in Heaven. The most rewarding part of missionary work is seeing the changes in people as they prepare for baptism.

The challenge once again becomes finding new people to teach since 5 people will be baptized. We will focus on that this week in the hopes that our April will be as fruitful as March.

Elder Bolling

The Work Moves Forward

This week was a very rewarding week. We got to see the baptism of one of our investigators. It was very special. She was 9 years old but has had a very troubled past and as a result has some emotional difficulties. She had been attending counseling for 5 years because she would not talk to strangers or adults. As we came in and taught her to pray with her mom and read one short verse from the Book of Mormon each day, she slowly started opening up. Not just to us, but to everyone! She even ordered her own meal at a restaurant. It seems small -- but it's huge to her and her family. As a result of the baptism her mother bore a strong testimony of the gospel and has started coming back to Church. All souls, even 9-year olds, have a great opportunity to do wonderful things.

We continue to work with our zone to find ways to help them have additional success. We are anticipating another increase from the month of February. As we continue working closely with everybody that success will come. The most challenging part is realizing that even though you want people you work with to develop on their own they really do need that focused attention to reach their potential. "Coasting" along never gets anybody anywhere. At times it can be a large time commitment but it is always worth it when you see the reward at the end of the road.

The weather has also warmed up. Beginning in April we won't have to wear suit coats -- and the 65 degree weather the last two days had started to get me excited for that! Spring and summer are my favorite times of year and I am very excited to see winter depart.

Elder Bolling

Creation

This week our mission had some exciting news! On July 1st, the Salt Lake Valley will be giving birth to two new missions - the Salt Lake City West and Salt Lake City Central missions. The Salt Lake City Central mission will be carved out of our current mission boundaries and will be initially composed of 100 of the SLCS missionaries. What does that mean? There's a chance I might have a new mission and mission president in four months!

The process is exciting. We will be doing many "pilot" programs to see what will work for the new missions when they are created. Now there will be 8 missions in Utah. The new mission will start off smaller with only 100 missionaries while the SLCS mission will still have 200 missionaries. The idea is that each stake will have its own set of missionaries and some stakes where the work is moving quickly will see 2-3 companionships. The work is certainly moving forward in Utah. I am incredibly excited to be on the "cutting edge" of revelation concerning missionary work. Over the next few months we will be infused with more missionaries to build us up until the "split" happens on July 1st.

In the meantime, the work goes on in Sandy. We are looking at baptisms every week in the month of March. We are planning to do all that we can to make sure that happens. All of the families we are teaching mean a lot to us and we are so excited to see them make the covenant of baptism.

Elder Bolling