Hey Everybody!
Ok, so the reason I had to switch my P-day from
Monday to Thursday this week is because
we were having some meetings earlier in the week. Elder Anthony Perkins of the first quorum of the
seventy came to our mission to give us
some training. So we split up over two days, half the mission had a meeting with him on Monday, and the other half
had their meeting on Tuesday. This wasn't just
any meeting though, this was full on
training course that lasted the whole day, from 9 am to 4 pm. So it was a SUPER long meeting but it was so
good. Elder Perkins knows what he is
doing. He had a ton of insight and wisdom on just about everything we needed as a mission; how to learn, how to
teach, using the Book of Mormon, using preach my
gospel, everything. I could tell for sure
that he knew exactly what revelation is and how to follow it. Some interesting facts about being in the
first quorum of the seventy is that it is
actually a full time calling. He has his P-Day
just like we do, but he spends the rest of the week working at the church headquarters. He works directly with the
apostles and the crazy thing is that he
knows them personally! He told us of an experience
he had where he was on a visit with President Nelson to some country (I forget exactly where). Well President
Nelson wanted to go swimming but Elder
Perkins had forgotten his swim suit. Luckily President Nelson had an extra pair, so they went swimming. Then it
hits Elder Perkins, he swimming in a swimming
pool with one of the apostles, in HIS
swimming suit! So yeah, he knows each of the apostles personally which is so cool.
This past week, as I'm sure you're all aware, was Halloween. For us as missionaries, we aren't allowed to be out at night on Halloween. Makes sense, probably not the safest time to be out teaching. So that night all the missionaries in my zone went to a member’s house and it was a blast. They had food and all sorts of games like table tennis and foosball. The best part of Halloween though is that it is the one time during the year that we get to stay indoors and watch a movie. Yes, an actual movie! Nothing too crazy of course but still it's a real movie. We watched "The Cokeville Miracle" and I thought it was pretty awesome. It's definitely a good movie and recommend you guys watch it. It's kind of cheesy at times but good none the less. It is based off of the situation a while back in Cokeville, a small town, where some mad man held the elementary school hostage with a bomb. Well, miraculously, none of the students or teachers lose their life and this movie covers exactly how many miracles took place that day to make sure that whole school stayed safe. It is awesome and definitely a tear jerker. It's kind of funny at some parts because they try their hardest not to make it Mormon based so when people pray they say "Dear God" instead of "Dear Heavenly Father." Or when they go to church they don't give any signs of it being a Mormon church even though it clearly is. Like the people are only caring around a bible and stuff like that. But the dead give away that this was a Mormon community was that at the end they are singing a primary song. Now I'm pretty sure we are the only ones that use this song so it was almost like at the end they were saying, "Yep, you guessed it! We are Mormons!" Haha. Awesome movie.
Well, quite an eventful week for me. To add to it, I forgot to mention that we had transfers as well! As for me, I didn't get transferred out, but pretty much everybody else did. Seriously, in this past transfer there were eight of us, 4 elders and 4 hermanas. Well, they shut down one area of hermanas which means my district is now down to only 4 elders and 2 hermanas serving in this ward. Then one of the other hermanas got transferred out along with Elder Bernay (my companion) and then one of the other elders as well. So out of the original eight that was here, there are only 3 left. This makes it some much harder, not only work wise because now there aren't as many of us, but also emotionally because the two that stayed are the ones I didn't know as well. So basically all the friends I made over the past month and a half are gone and I have to start over... Again. As for my new companion that I have, Elder Castillo, it's kind of difficult, not because he is hard to get along with but because he is from Honduras. So there is a bit of a language barrier still. Don't get me wrong, I can speak Spanish just fine to him but not really about things that would be of interest like hobbies or sports. Those words just aren't in my vocabulary right now. Thankfully though, this will force me to speak in Spanish more and be able to practice it every hour of every day. By the end of our time together, I should be speaking like a native! So that is something I am looking forward to.
So that was my week. Pretty crazy to say the least. But it's working itself out and I am readjusting to the new way of doing things. Oh, not to mention I'm the senior companion now because I've been out for 8 months and Elder Castillo has been out for 5 months. So now I'm the one with more experience and I have to not only lead this area but also set the example for a younger missionary. It should be interesting....
Love you guys and I'm going to see if my P-Day stays on Thursday or if it changes back to Monday. I'll figure that out. Bye!
Love
Elder Biehn
This past week, as I'm sure you're all aware, was Halloween. For us as missionaries, we aren't allowed to be out at night on Halloween. Makes sense, probably not the safest time to be out teaching. So that night all the missionaries in my zone went to a member’s house and it was a blast. They had food and all sorts of games like table tennis and foosball. The best part of Halloween though is that it is the one time during the year that we get to stay indoors and watch a movie. Yes, an actual movie! Nothing too crazy of course but still it's a real movie. We watched "The Cokeville Miracle" and I thought it was pretty awesome. It's definitely a good movie and recommend you guys watch it. It's kind of cheesy at times but good none the less. It is based off of the situation a while back in Cokeville, a small town, where some mad man held the elementary school hostage with a bomb. Well, miraculously, none of the students or teachers lose their life and this movie covers exactly how many miracles took place that day to make sure that whole school stayed safe. It is awesome and definitely a tear jerker. It's kind of funny at some parts because they try their hardest not to make it Mormon based so when people pray they say "Dear God" instead of "Dear Heavenly Father." Or when they go to church they don't give any signs of it being a Mormon church even though it clearly is. Like the people are only caring around a bible and stuff like that. But the dead give away that this was a Mormon community was that at the end they are singing a primary song. Now I'm pretty sure we are the only ones that use this song so it was almost like at the end they were saying, "Yep, you guessed it! We are Mormons!" Haha. Awesome movie.
Well, quite an eventful week for me. To add to it, I forgot to mention that we had transfers as well! As for me, I didn't get transferred out, but pretty much everybody else did. Seriously, in this past transfer there were eight of us, 4 elders and 4 hermanas. Well, they shut down one area of hermanas which means my district is now down to only 4 elders and 2 hermanas serving in this ward. Then one of the other hermanas got transferred out along with Elder Bernay (my companion) and then one of the other elders as well. So out of the original eight that was here, there are only 3 left. This makes it some much harder, not only work wise because now there aren't as many of us, but also emotionally because the two that stayed are the ones I didn't know as well. So basically all the friends I made over the past month and a half are gone and I have to start over... Again. As for my new companion that I have, Elder Castillo, it's kind of difficult, not because he is hard to get along with but because he is from Honduras. So there is a bit of a language barrier still. Don't get me wrong, I can speak Spanish just fine to him but not really about things that would be of interest like hobbies or sports. Those words just aren't in my vocabulary right now. Thankfully though, this will force me to speak in Spanish more and be able to practice it every hour of every day. By the end of our time together, I should be speaking like a native! So that is something I am looking forward to.
So that was my week. Pretty crazy to say the least. But it's working itself out and I am readjusting to the new way of doing things. Oh, not to mention I'm the senior companion now because I've been out for 8 months and Elder Castillo has been out for 5 months. So now I'm the one with more experience and I have to not only lead this area but also set the example for a younger missionary. It should be interesting....
Love you guys and I'm going to see if my P-Day stays on Thursday or if it changes back to Monday. I'll figure that out. Bye!
Love
Elder Biehn
