eldercaliforniadreamin: Transfer week!

Well this has been a special week. I am sending this email on Tuesday instead of Monday because this week was transfer week. Every 6 weeks we have missionary transfers. Elder Toki and I have been together for the last 2 transfers because he has been training me. We became so close the last two weeks so we were hoping we would still be able to stay together but we knew it wouldn't be likely. We had grown so close and I learned so much from him. I was nervous, but excited at the same time because this is the first time I had been with another missionary, but the Lord knows what is best for me. He knows where I need to be, and who I need to be with to learn and grow the most. So we got transfer calls Saturday night and as expected Elder Toki and I will no longer be companions. For this transfer I will continue to serve in the Del Campo ward in the Carmichael stake, but my new companion is Elder Maloy! I am so excited to now be serving with him. He was previously the Zone leader in the North Sacramento Zone, so he is a great missionary and knows so much about missionary work. I am so excited to be able to learn from him this transfer and soak up all I can to improve myself as a missionary and servant of Lord. Elder Toki will be transferring to the Elk Grove Zone where he will be serving in a YSA ward, as a district leader. He is a fantastic missionary and I can't wait to serve around him again. He will always be special to me as my first companion. This transfer our whole zone completely changed. Every companionship got split up. So I am surrounded by all new missionaries and I am excited to work around them. We are making great progress here in the Carmichael Zone. We have 10 investigators on date for baptism this month!

So we were able to have a lesson with almost all of our investigators. There is so much that happens each week it is hard to remember it all. So far we still have Neal, Isabel and Brian all on date for baptism! Unfortunately we just found out last night, Brian actually lives just outside the ward boundaries. So we had to pass him off to the Zone Leaders. We are still having one more lesson with him tonight before we switch. Neal is so amazing we had a lesson with him last Wednesday and we helped him understand what it really means if the Book of Mormon is true. He had a belief in it already but he was not fully putting it together that because this book is true, the gospel has been restored, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and the priesthood authority was restored through him. The Book of Mormon is truly the keystone of our religion. When you know that is true everything else falls into place. Neal is on date for July 23rd. We had a lesson with Isabel on Thursday. She is such a spiritual women. She has a strong belief in all of our doctrine, and wants to be baptized. She is just struggling with some addictions. We have been praying for her often and she has been praying as well for strength to overcome these things. She has made progress. She used to drink 4 cups of coffee a day and now she has cut it in half and is drinking 2 cups. This is such great progress for her. She is starting to feel the strength that comes from relying on the Savior. She is on date for baptism on July 30th. I love teaching. There is not a greater feeling in the world than sharing the gospel. It is the happiest moments on a mission. I am so grateful I have the opportunity to spend the next two years sharing the gospel with others. I know its true and I know it blesses lives.

We had a great 4th of July. We had dinner with the ward family and they had some pet chickens. We got to hold them! I was so surprised they let you hold them. I have never held a chicken before so it was an interesting experience haha. Afterwards we had a zone meeting at the church from 7-9. They did this to prevent us being out at night on the 4th of July and keep us safe from the drunk people and fireworks. It was a great meeting. We discussed our goals and got to meet all the new missionaries transferred here. One of our new Zone Leaders is Elder Pennington. He is from Aubrey, Texas and was in the same stake as me back home. The Frisco Shawnee Trails stake. He is in the Aubrey ward. It was so cool to meet some from the same area I'm from. We have a great Zone.

Well that is pretty much my week. It has been eventful with many opportunities to learn and grow. I love the California Sacramento Mission and I love the people here.

Elder Hallmark