2-4-13

Family,

This was a pretty good week but a stressful one as well. Elder Hamblin did indeed leave me. He went to the Wood Heights ward near Richmond, Missouri to serve with Elder Hansen. I am training a new missionary. His name is Elder Andrus and he is from Anchorage, Alaska. He is 22 and has quite a story. When he was 14, his family fell away from the church and so did his testimony. But at about this time last year, he had friends that came home from missions and literally drug him out of bed to come to church. He finally agreed to go and started to build up his testimony and was coming to church enough to where his Bishop from home asked him if he wanted to serve a mission. He had never thought about it but after praying and coming to know that the Book of Mormon is true, he agreed and turned in his papers in August. As a result, his family is active again (most of their family) and they are enjoying the blessings of a missionary serving in the field for their family. He is the 6th child of 9. So far, I have noticed that he is a hard worker and wants to bring the gospel to as many people as possible. It's awesome too because whenever we run into an inactive that says I'm never going back to church, he can totally relate so talks to them and can share his story. I am liking him a lot so far and changing 3 companions in 3 transfers is less difficult now that he's here.

I also received a voice mail from President Keyes on Tuesday or Wednesday (I can't remember what day) that I am called to be a district leader as well. That calling has been more nerve racking than training so far. In the MTC as a district leader, all I had to do was attend meetings and do a little training. Now I have to present full length district meetings for an hour and a half about every week. I also report my numbers each Sunday to the zone leaders and last night they gave me a slap in the face just as what happened as senior companion in Wamego. Ohwell. That just means I have to work that much harder, right? Speaking of Wamego, there was a family there that had a son that was serving in the Anchorage, Alaska mission and actually knows Elder Andrus. His name is Elder Knudsen. I thought that was a pretty small world. At transfers, I got to see Elder Clare at the transfer station again. It was good to talk to him and hear about  the success that they're having in Topeka. On Friday, I also conducted my first baptismal interview as part of being a district leader. I enjoyed it and the 11 year old (soon to be 12 year old) was looking forward to the baptism the next day. So as you probably can tell, it has been a pretty crazy week for me, haha!

I got the news about Grandma. Hopefully she is doing well now and continues to remember who she is. Did they have to cut their cruise short? I also received the news that Grandpa is going to be a stake Patriarch! To be honest, that would be my nightmare calling. But I know that Grandpa will do a great job because he is just that awesome! I'm also excited that Jayce started baseball practice! He's still in caps, right? Or will he move up to rookies? Hopefully he can work on that fielding. Whenever I tried teaching him, he wanted to do something else or didn't want to do what I told him. Just teach him to stay down and instead of waiting for the ball to come to you, reach out and get it before the ball attacks you. That's super super exciting that Nikki Barrow got her call to London! Didn't Ben Toolson go there? I'm excited for her and for all of the relatives leaving for missions soon; especially Michael Peterson. He leaves on Wednesday. Is he set apart yet? I can't wait to hear how he is doing when he gets out there. And yes, I did get the cookies that Sister Petersen sent me. They are actually super good (you know how I don't like strange stuff). Speaking of eating strange stuff, have you ever had squirrel? Well, last night we had squirrel pot pie. The member we ate with loves to hunt. So the other day he went out and shot a couple of squirrels. It was soooooo good! It tasted just like chicken, not even kidding. Now I can say that I've eaten squirrel before. While I was eating it, I just kept thinking of the movie "Up": "I HATE squirrels!" I laughed to myself. So you know last night being the super bowl as well, we tried contacting some referrals. Lo and behold it was during the game and this one guy was like "Hey guys, it's the super bowl, I got to go." I hate how America has become so worldly as to forget who they represent and would rather watch the super bowl than take advantage of the atonement. That's why I regret last year's super bowl because of how much my roomates made a big deal out of it. That doesn't mean I should watch it. But I did and many games prior to that too. I need to do a better job. Also, on Friday we were studying in the morning and noticed a guy across the street was moving in so after we finished our studies we helped him move in. There were only 2 people helping until we got there. He was grateful for the help and accepted our message. Hopefully he can progress. Well, it's good to hear how the family is doing and always love hearing from you. Thanks for all that you do to support both me and Elder Andrus (and my previous companions). I love you and hope you all have a great week. Love,

Elder Sutherland

PS: "When I ripped (rip) my pants. I thought that I had everybody on my side, then I went and blew it all sky high[...]."
"When Larry came round just to put him down, Spongebob turned into a clown. And no girl ever wants to dance with a fool who went and, ripped his pants. I know I shouldn't mope around I shouldn't curse. But the pain feels so much worse. [something] is a lot less fun than a burn from the sun. Or sand in your buns."
Cody can give you the rest. Elder Hamblin and I would sing that all the time.