Taking The Reins

This week was my new missionary's third week. He's pretty capable so I decided to throw him to the wolves by letting him "lead" in planning. I even left him in the area "alone" on an exchange for a day. It was nice to see that he did pretty well! Training after having been a missionary for 21 months is a more relaxing experience -- because I'm more willing to let him lead because while I still have room to improve, I've seen that I know how to do it already...and don't mind letting him try.

 

We will have a special baptism this Saturday. The lady we've been meeting with has such a strong and special spirit and is full of questions. It's refreshing for a person like me to have someone who enjoys asking so many questions...since I do the same! However, as she's been reading the Book of Mormon and attending church she has found the answers she is looking for and seems excited and ready to take the next step.

 

We are also starting to keep very busy in our new area. For example, tonight my companion and I will be "split" from 6-9pm because we have too many appointments and cannot make them all. That's a good problem to have!

 

Elder Bolling

The Old Becomes New

At the beginning of my mission, I started in Draper in some of the most affluent stakes in our mission. Now, as my mission begins to come to a close, I am returning to a similar environment. For this transfer I will be training Elder Hansen, a new missionary, in the South Mountain stake. The most exciting part of that is that I am serving in the same stake where a former missionary who taught me lives. In fact, his family is helping us fellowship and teach someone in the stake! What a small world!

 

Now, we have to talk about where we live. I'm learning about "finer living". We have our own separate guest house which is nice enough in its own right. In addition, our landlord has offered home-service dry cleaning once a week, stocking of our apartment with food, and the service of weekly cleaning. I always knew people lived like that...I just haven't experienced it myself. When Jesus talked about receiving "mansions on high" for faithful following of his commandments, I didn't know this was what he meant!

 

It is also a nice relief to be back in a family stake. I love all of the young single adults, however, there's something refreshing about the dynamics of a family ward. There are always lots of crazy kids running around and things are a lot more lively. On top of that, we have the opportunity to teach families instead of just individuals.

 

Elder Bolling

The Big Thaw

This week the temperature hit 43 degrees! Hooray! It was the first time in two months that I considered not wearing a sweater under my suit jacket. The thought made me quite excited. It was also a big thaw in our proselyting area. We have not been having much success but all of a sudden three of the people we have been teaching expressed a desire to be baptized.

In our zone we have also been blessed to have three or four individuals call missionaries and ask to be baptized in the upcoming week. Weeks like this are always hard to explain but very welcome news to each of the missionaries.

We will also have the opportunity in the next two weeks to have two mission conferences. First from L. Whitney Clayton and then from Jay E. Jensen. It will be a unique opportunity to hear from two General Authorities in less than a month. And to think, then we'll be attending general conference and hearing from lots of general authorities!

Elder Bolling

Above Freezing

This week was the first week in a month that was above freezing. You know winter has been around too long when 40-degree days cause you to roll down your windows! But since it's now February there is the hope that things will continue to thaw to the point that I don't have to wear a sweater on a regular basis.

 

The zone has settled down into another transfer. Now that I've been in Draper for 3+ months many of the zone members are used to how I do things and it seems that success is following the "new normal". I have a special place for the Draper area since I started my mission here so I am excited to see the success grow.

 

This week is our zone leader council. The following week we have zone conferences with our missionaries and President Miller. With all that looming on the horizon, we will probably have two very busy weeks ahead.

 

Elder Bolling

Miracles In The Wintry Cold (Jan. 21, 2013)

This week we taught a record number of lessons. However, we were wondering how to find new people to teach that could be baptized. By Saturday night, we were a little worried. Then on Sunday, something amazing happened -- we found three new people to teach and received a text message from someone we had formerly taught about how he wanted to be baptized "before February 1st"!

On top of that, two individuals that I had the opportunity to teach many times over the past three months finally were baptized. I was asked to perform the baptism of one of them. Apparently my experience and testimony touched him in some way. It's a blessing to know that you are making an impact.

The weather is still cold. The highs haven't been above 20 degrees for two weeks. I keep telling myself, "at least January is the beginning of the end of the cold"! I believe all things in life are more enjoyable when it's warm.

Elder Bolling

Cold Days

This week has been colder than most. The high each day has ranged between 11 degrees and 19 degrees. The low on two days was zero! The funny part of it is that it still doesn't feel as cold to me as my daily walks to the DC Metro to get to work. The humidity just does something to make all temperatures less bearable. Nonetheless, I am grateful that we're entering the cold part of the winter because that just means we're closer to my favorite time of year...when the weather is warmer!

 

This week we received a call from someone who had taken missionary discussions about a year ago. We had tried to meet her a few weeks ago, but she wasn't home. She called and asked us to come over so she could tell us that she had been reading the Book of Mormon for that year, studying the missionary lessons with a friend, and wanted to be baptized on January 12th! It is exciting to see how ready she is to jump into her single's ward and become involved. It will certainly be a great experience for the ward.

 

We also trained our eight ward mission leaders this weekend as part of a stake training. We were asked to do it since the high councilor was out of town for the weekend. It was a good opportunity and helped me realize all that goes into training people to do a volunteer role in a ward.

 

Elder Bolling

Learning From Great Leaders

Last Monday we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. His family, including concert-violinist Jenny Oaks Baker, performed music for us. It was quite the treat. On top of that, tonight we will have the privelidge of hearing from Elder D. Todd Christoffersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. There are many blessings associated with serving in Utah.

 

In a non-missionary related topic, I found out last night that the Washington Redskins captured the NFC East Championship. The Lord sure does bless us in multiple ways for serving...because that hasn't happened in thirteen years! Hail to the Redskins!

 

The biggest news this week has been the snow. Some of our missionaries are from Arizona and other places warm. They tend to do pretty silly things in the snow. In the past two weeks we've had two bumpers torn up because of snow accidents. It pains us to have to "park cars" so often for missionaries who simply don't know how to slow down.

 

Elder Bolling