Transfer News and 9 Months!!

Hey Y'all!What a crazy past couple of weeks it has been.  

Just a few weeks ago, we received our transfer news and found out that Elder Dawson was going to be concluding his time here in Monte Sano and heading down to Selma, which is down beside my second area in Greenville, in southern Alabama.  I was reluctant to discover that my new companion would be coming from Scottsboro which is a small town bordering our ward boundaries and is also in our district.  My new companion is Elder Peterson and he is one hard working, hilarious guy from Riverdale, Utah.  We get along great and have had a blast so far working together here.  It seems like the time is flying by though; we are already halfway through the transfer and I feel that it just started 2 days ago. 

Recently, we also were blessed to be able to attend the temple again with our Zone and it was so refreshing to enter into the Lord's house and put aside all of the worries of the world.  We also found out earlier in the week that our recent converts, Mackenzie and Quinlan, will be joining the ward on the youth temple trip; they invited us to attend with them for their first time.  So our week was going to include attending the temple twice which Elder Peterson and I were stoked for.  Mackenzie and Quinlan weren't able to make it though because they got sick but there is always the next time to look forward to.  

As the heat of the summer comes to a full swing, our mission received news that Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy will be doing a tour of our mission toward the end of this week.  His time here will conclude in a multi-zone conference in Birmingham on Saturday and I am beyond stoked to hear the words of a general authority and to heed his council and grow as a missionary.  We have hardly had anytime to prepare for his coming though because of how busy we have been.  Elder Peterson and I have focused our efforts these past few weeks on building our pool of investigators and making sure that we are constantly busy, even if that includes spending a few hours tracting out in the blazing hot heat.  Even though it has been difficult, I know that we are greatly blessed for our efforts and desires to hasten the work of salvation.  

As this great work continues to go on, a scripture from the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon chapter 26 has been ringing in my mind: 2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.

As members of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are showered in endless blesings that help us each to show forth the light of the gospel in the way we live our lives.  I know that in addition, each of us is tasked with the job of sharing and proclaiming this gospel so that all of God's children may reap the benefits that are in store for them.  

My thoughts and prayers are with all of those at home that have been effected and displaced by the ongoing Lolo Peak fire.  I hope that this event will cease to bring harm upon everyone at home and that we can all draw closer together to assist in easing each others' burdens.  I love you all and appreciate your prayers and support that I feel and notice clear out here in Alabama.  Have a blessed week!Elder Foster