Happy New Years

So tuesday we dropped off Puertas at lunch time and said our goodbyes. It was weird and i was just kind of anxious to get my new comp. I was super nervous for it but at the same time very excited! i ewnt out with the other two spanish missionaries for a little bit and we just taught a few lessons. Then at 4:30 i had a "trainers training" meeting and when we were finished we just waited for our new greenies!!! Ahh man i literally was pacing back and forth just so anxious. I felt like dad a little bit when he is waiting to leave somewhere and doesn't want to be late. But finally the vans pull up and out jumps everyone. I see the only hispanic there and just say "MIJO, Elder GomEz!!!" It was weird seeing him and just looking at my future comp for however long we are together. I was way pumped though to finally get him and he was pumped just to have a companion again ha.

We left though, went to dinner, and then taught a lesson to alejandro and stacy's dad (who were just baptized). We are feeling really good about him and had an awesome lesson. he said he's gonna have to come to church and stuff first before he figures out if this is what he wants ( we're thinking, alright finnee then just come to church hah). But I was teaching them and then nudged elder gomez who told me later that his heart just sank in his chest when i did that and he started teaching but he is seriously so awesome! At times i feel like i'm getting trained again just because he's an awesome teacher and obviously he is fluent spanish. He has been helping me a ton with spanish too, just like grammar things and new verbs and vocab, i don't feel like such a bother either when i ask him every two seconds what something means or how i say something ha. But really he did awesome and we were busy to the end of the night and he only got a few minutes to unpack. I swear this past week has been sooo crazy! I've just been adjusting to the new role that i have now and it has been way stressful i will be honest, to deal with all the ADministrative stuff, but also worry about the ministrative things.

This is a game my mom made for me, Daniel and Travis on our missions. They are "Los pasos de JesuCristo." They are the steps of Jesus Christ. Basically it's a memory matching game with little commandments we make to be able to live with Jesus Christ again. SO FUN and interactive. I passed mine on to my kid in the mission and I think Daniel passed his on too. They are still circulating our missions years later!

It was just so crazy cause i had to plan a district meeting with another district for combined district meeting on friday, then i had to call in the agenda and get numbers from my missionaries, and just all this stuff that seemed so overwhelming last week! It was kind of fun but at the same time it was wearing me out. Every morning this past week i have been waking up with just a nasty stomach ache and i think it's just the stress and nerves of not wanting to do something wrong. It'll come though and alreadyi've made huge strides in time management! We try to finish planning even before we get home at night, just when we are in the car and stuff, and then when we get home, we review it and edit it. We haev been doing well though. For a while i was nervous just about planning our days without puertas. It made me realize the things that i was really dependent on him for and now it helps me see where i've grown too. It is soo funn to have the a district to "worry about". I just like being able to connect with different missionaries that i didn't really get the chance to before and on wednesday, i even got to do a baptismal interview! That was really fun. Another elder told me to just try saying a prayer after each baptismal question that i ask him and just ask heavenly Father if they're ready. I was kind of like, "yea right like i will really get an answer right there" but when i was doing the interview, after the small talk and get to know you stuff. After the FIRST question i quickly said a little prayer in my head and i literally felt my answer come to me, it was like little chills down my spine. And so i continue with the next question and do it again, and THE SAME thing happens. It was truly awesome. Something little but profound. it was just a huge testimony builder that Heavenly Father answers prayers.

My boy is doing well though, he has actually been teaching a lot and he's really good with people. The struggle i'm having is just balancing dealing with the district and making sure i give time to show Elder Gomez that i really do care about him and just bonding time. I mean during the day we talk and stuff and get along really well, but then at nights when we come home it's like planning, then phone calls to people, then more phone calls and number stuff, and then it's 10:30 bedtime. It's been hard even writing in my journal i will be honest but i hav been catching up with the days cause i especially don't want to miss recording all my experiences right now.

District meeting on friday went well actually, there were things i know i could've changed but it was fun to teach with everyone. I just need to make it more fun to be honest. I think this time i was so worried about filling the time that i didn't think enough about how to make it more fun and get people more engaged. One of my weaknesses though is that i'm way too hard on myself and that's how it's been this past week. it's hard cause i'm putting this huge load on my back because i want to prove that it's not just puertas that helped us see so much success, that i had a part in it too. So I have just been kind of beating myself up a little bit for little things and Sunday too, Man i got so frustrated, All week we had been running around seeing our solid families and finding new ones, and we had some good prospects to come to church but not a single one showed up! Ohh man i was seriously soo frustrated. We literally have been so busy this past week we even worked through lunch one day withall the appointments we had. It feels cool to know that we really are just doing everything that we possibly can, but then sometimes i feel like we are running around like headless chickens and aren't focusing our efforts where they are needed most. I don't know, i was just bummed to not reap the benefits of our efforts, but they will come. I know that we have these little tests of faith and diligence and even obedience so maybe this is just one of those tests. This transfer is gonna be huge though. I know it will. We have some really cool families that i know have been prepared, taht i'm excited to work with. We are working hard and i feel like at the end of the day taht we have been doing everything in our power to help God's children in this area. I think i just need to be more creative and focus more on specific needs of these people. I'm glad they send us in two's though because elder gomez has been a huge help through all of this too. He seriously has been there to call me out when i get frustrated. He's like, "hey elder, if i can see your frustrated, then so can everyone else" and it just kicks me in the pants and i start smiling again ahah. He truly is amazing though. he knows why he's out here and just wants to help everyone. He is a really good teacher and wlil get even better too. He's got good ideas for trying new things and i dont know what else to say, i got lucky, my boy is SWEET! He's from Mexico City and lived in vera cruz for a while. Then they moved to provo 6 years ago (he knew Elder Puertas haha)! His parents are converts and that happened when he was like 6. But he is the youngest in his family with 2 older sisters. He didn't even go to college before either, he came straight out of high school. But here we are, loving being missionaries and enjoying all the good and the frustrating experiences. I know that i'm growing a lot too, it jsut takes some time for me to see it. I am trying to not be so hard on myself because i know that i'm wearing myself out ha.

I'm getting the hang of this though. Just balancing responsiblities. I feel close with my district though which i was worried about and we got 1 pair of sisters and one pair of elders. Everyone is training so we are young but still, we got some fire in our crew and everyone is pretty pumped to be working.

I'm sorry that this letter was a little bit shorter. Honestly my head just feels like it is full to bursting and i can't even remember everything that happened this week. These days have gone by soo fast and yet i feel like it was ages ago that i wrote home. I'm glad that transfers are over too, it was kind of hard when we waited for puertas to leave cause he kind of "checked out" right before he went to his new area and then i was just anxious to get my new comp. But now we are settled in and are finally going grocery shopping for Elder Gomez. Other than the pop tarts and candy i got for christmas, we have nothing hahah. We have big plans for this transfer and are soo excited to see the Lord's hand in the lives of his children. I know that we will see miracles this transfer.

Anyways, i love you guys so much and it sounds like eveyrone is doing well. I'm sorry to hear that everyone is going back to school but now it's kind of likie the countdown for summer again :) I'm glad you guys had some cool experiences going to the temple too with everyone! and doing baptisms for the dead i bet that was soo awesome. I miss you guys a ton though and love you guys, i just pictured you all doing fireworks on new years eve hahah we still have the smell of used fireworks outside our apartment (although it wasn't us!!). I hope everything is going well with Jimmy and Katie's school search and daniel and emily's...future plans? HA anyways, i love you all and can't wait to hear from you guys soon! the church is true!
les quiero
Elder Edwards