Hi Everyone!! I hope this email finds you well.
Another week I feel like I have forgotten in its entirety...
it is really weird how fast Mondays come. Let's see... what did I do this week???
I have been learning recently I really enjoy administrative
stuff. It is kinda unexpected to me because most of the time I hate being
bogged down with details. I just like making it happen. But it turns out I love
details when I believe that if I solve some administrative issues that
everything will go more smoothly. I probably would have really enjoyed writing
programs for software because that is essentially what I seem to like to do.
Identifying a problem and creating a system that simplifies life and solves it.
One little example is formatting a directory of all the missionaries that we
make at the beginning of each transfer. We had to type out the same thing three
times (one for the zone leaders, one for us, and one for the mission office).
That was really annoying. So we formatted it with excel so that we only have to
do it once and it is done three times. That was awesome. We have done other
things like that too in an attempt to help the Fort Collins Colorado Mission be
more focused on Our Purpose.
But I super love missionary work too! On Tuesday I was in
Windsor with Elder Dutton. After teaching a lesson than ended right before our
5pm dinner, we found out dinner was actually at 5:30pm. Soooo we ended up going
to an apartment complex looking for someone to talk to. We ended up seeing a
guy pulling up with a large couch to one of them. "Perfect!" we
thought, "We can help them move the couch!" But if you have ever
offered to help a random person do stuff, more than 9 times out of 10 they say
no, which is what happened. Soooooo, I helped anyway! :) They appreciated it.
And we ended up talking to a cool named Ryan for 10 minutes that lives in that
apartment. Hopefully we will see him tomorrow. After dinner we went tracting in
a different complex. We found this really nice family that only speaks Spanish.
It was quite exciting trying to teach the Gospel in Spanish... The wife read
the introduction to the Book of Mormon in Spanish that I had on my iPad. It was
really fun and really hard because I don't know Spanish very well. We did set
up a return appointment for two days later and sent the Spanish Elders. :)
I got to go up to Casper on Wednesday. I decided to drive
the whole way. I am weak. Driving for four hours is not awesome... and yet we have
had missionaries drive 4 hours and 5 hours one way to a meeting and then had
them drive back after... that is less awesome. A 10 hour day of driving!!
Fortunately I was able to get back the next day so I could sleep in Windsor in
preparation for a meeting on Friday morning. Ironically on Friday morning the
missionaries who made it first to the 9am meeting arrived at 8am and drove in
from Casper... I think they left at 4:45am.
Other missionary work... we contacted two families this week
and received a referral of a family. We are excited to work with them! One has
an unbaptized 14 year old daughter who already finished her personal progress
(usually is completed shortly before age 18). I am impressed! We are
optimistic.
The Semi-Annual General Conference happened this last
weekend too... I learned a lot from conference. I had a chance to watch the
Saturday Afternoon Session with President and Sister Brown where the three new Apostles
(Elder Rasband, Elder Stevenson, and Elder Renlund) were sustained. That was
the first time I have ever witnessed that! It was awesome. The one thing that
sticks out most from that session is that the leaders of the church are human
like me. When I spent the time with President and Sister Brown, I was reminded
of their humanness - they have a family they love and desire to learn from
General Conference like me. Also, Elder Martino (who visited our mission a few months
ago) spoke during that session. The biggest difference in the leaders of the
church made 'decisions [that] determined their destiny' and they have been
called by God to lead today. They aren't people I worship or put on a pedestal.
They are simply people who are walking the path to the Kingdom of God! Pretty
sweet experience!
Lastly, I had an opportunity to talk with one of my favorite
missionaries (Elder Sullivan) a few days ago. He finishes being a full-time
missionary in 3 weeks. He said how happy/grateful he is of the growth our
mission has experienced since he first got here. I agree. I am SUPER happy that
the commonplace struggles that once permeated our mission are slowly fading
away. We have grown a lot. While doing a mission tour two months ago with her
husband, Sister Zeballos told us that we are serving in the best mission in the
world because it is our mission. I have never personally said, "The
Colorado Fort Collins Mission is the best mission in the world" because I
have never honestly believed it. I have been frustrated at times with where we
are at. But I agree with Elder Sullivan. It feels SUPER good to be a part of a
mission with positive trajectory. Our mission leadership council on Friday was
one of the best that we have had with some awesome engaged and enthusiastic
missionaries. I am now proud to call the Colorado Fort Collins Mission my own.
I am grateful that I was called here; I wouldn't change it for anything.
Have an amazingly awesome week!
Elder Jeff Campbell :)
Pictures...
- you know you have been a missionary for a while when you drive to a new town (Wheatland, Wyoming) and you locate the church building to take pictures in front of it... haha.
- and when you are sharing a shake with another Elder who you met 24 hours ago. haha.
- and a member let me hold one of his AR-10s. I got a picture so I could show Elder Brazell. I still know almost nothing about guns. But I did get to hold one! :)
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