Monday, June 13, 2016

Saying Farewell to the People I've Grown to Love

So today's letter is going to be a little different.  I'll explain why in a minute.  First off, news about transfers!

It turns out that we guessed right, I'll be leaving Dolan Springs early tomorrow morning.  I definitely have some mixed feelings about it.  I do really love Dolan Springs and there are a lot of people that I will really miss.  There were a lot of hard goodbyes this weekend.  After being in a small town with a small branch for so long, it's started to feel like I'm really a part of the town, like there are some real relationships that have formed, and I know that it probably won't happen quite that same way in any other area that I go to. I'm sure that I'll meet new people that I love and care for, and that I'll love my new area, but I don't know if there's another place in this mission quite like Dolan Springs.  

That being said, I'm super excited for my new assignment!  I'll be serving in the Green Valley Stake in Henderson!  And my new comp will be an elder that I served around a lot while I was out here in Dolan: Elder Leakehe! He's a really cool guy, so I'm really excited!  And Elder Aitchison will be training someone in Dolan Springs!  He's going to do an awesome job with it! 

So now I'll explain about why this is a weird letter.  The letter itself will be pretty short, because I've got a lot of pictures over the last few days, and I've decided I'm going to send them all with descriptions of the people and hopefully a few good stories with each!  We'll see how it goes.  

For now, just know that I love you all!  

Elder Excell

This is Randy Warner!  I think I've mentioned him before.
He loves drum corps and boards dogs.
The Winningham family.  One of our favorite less active families we
worked with.  They've been coming to church lately which is awesome!
This is Brother and Sister Stevens.  Everyone just calls him Grizz though!
--The Lei's were given to me by a Hawaiian member of the branch
to bid me farewell!
This is Brother Ford!  He went out with us all the time and would always
drive us everywhere.  One time he was out with us for almost 8 hours!
The Pikes and their grandkids.  Hailey is the little girl on the left who
was baptized recently!
Ray and Sandy, the desert nomads I mentioned several months ago!
Betty.  One of our favorite investigators.
The Saccomanno's.  They're the only young couple in our branch.
The Miller's.  She always called me "extra large" (for XL - Ex-cell) - :)
She was kind of like my adopted grandma!  :)
The Clausi's.  They fed us dinner every single Sunday!
The Nelson Family.  The mom, on the left, and the son are
getting baptized this Friday!

The Larsen's
Vinny, Annika, Serenity, and Brandin.  They are some kids we've been teaching!
They're awesome!
The Stafford's.  They were one of my favorite families!  Brother Stafford has done everything.
From Paramedic to Radio Host to Roadie for Aerosmith.  He's awesome!
The Sanders.  They fed us dinner every Tuesday!  He was our branch mission leader.
The Barker's, the Petersen's and the Kindl's.  Julie was baptized a few months ago!
The Gosser's and the Sanders.  Probably my favorite family of investigators ever!
I will definitely come back and visit these guys eventually!

Q&A - 6/13/2016
1.)  Are you staying cool in the summer heat?  --Doing my best to stay cool! Dolan Springs is actually one of the coolest areas in the mission because it has a higher elevation, but It looks like I'll be moving back to Vegas where it's about 10 degrees hotter on average than it is in Dolan.  Also, I've heard from a few people that Vegas actually pays off the weather companies to lie about the temperature being lower than it really is in Las Vegas so it doesn't deter tourists.  It definitely sounds like a conspiracy theory, but I think it might be accurate.  I need to find myself a good way to measure the heat for myself I guess! 

2.)  What are you most looking forward to in the week ahead?  --The new area!

3.)  How will you be spending what may be your last p-day in Dolan?  --The usual mostly.  We'll go to Kingman for the last time and probably visit a few more people in the evening!

P.S.  It's good to hear that you guys are trying to dwell on the positive about selling the house.  That really is the most important!  One of the most important Christ-like attributes is faith, but I remember hearing Jeffrey R Holland say that if you can't manage faith, then hope is the next best thing. There's a lot of power in hope.  Just think of the man who told Christ, "Lord I believe, Help thou my unbelief."  Keep working at it. Know that I love you and that I think you're amazing!  Thanks for everything! 
Love you!
Ty
Some hummingbird feeders that one of our investigators makes.  She makes them all
from raw materials!  They are really cool!

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