The Passage of The Marsh

Well, It’s been a bit since I last emailed. Sorry about that, that’s on me. I’ll try to be better. However, a lot has happened, it’s been almost a full month. A whole month since I’ve last emailed, such a tragedy.

In that space of time. I have had some fun experiences. I have to start with Thanksgiving. Yes, I know it’s Christmas this week, but I have to first talk about Thanksgiving. It’s actually one of my favorite holidays! It is where we actually get to be thankful for everything around us rather than just wanting everything around us; I really enjoyed it! We got to go over to a member in the Covington Ward and have a wonderful meal. They cooked the turkey with the dark and light meat separately and used a cool cooking method that made it very tender and juicy. I loved it. The food down here in Louisiana is some of the best stuff I’ve ever had, and it’s probably the reason I’ve gained 30 pounds on the mission!

We also had stake conference, which had some amazing messages. They talked a lot about missionary work, it was really awesome.

We’ve met with Shane again and its been really awesome because he’s become more interested in coming to church again. And it was really cool to see him get through that anti church literature stuff that he ran into.

We then had transfers! This transfer was longer than a typical transfer because they tried it make it so we don’t have a transfer during the holidays, but it just flew by! Elder Marsh has taken his passage to Farmerville, where many of my previous companions have now gone to, which was funny. My new companion is Elder Stewart, and he’s a pretty cool guy.

Also, that cool family that came to church, they have had us over a few more times and they’re really awesome. They gave me a new bread recipe too! It was delicious, and I plan on making more!

On an additional note, I also hit my year mark on the mission a week ago today! It was honestly very surprising. It has only felt like a few months have really passed to me, but it’s been a whole year! Looking back, I have grown so much. I have met so many new people and I’ve had a new companion basically every transfer! I’ve learned so much from each and every single one of them. It’s been a blast and I can’t wait for the next year.

We also had our zone conference and that was really fun. It was our Christmas zone conference and during the last half we got to do bonding activities. Those bonding activities were very fun. I learned how to brush my teeth properly because President Smuin is a dentist. He took some time to discuss how we should brush our teeth, because during those bonding activities, we got a lot of candy, and he gave us toothbrushes for Christmas. Now, I’ll probably never have cavities again, as long as I follow his instructions.

Zone conference with earlier this transfer due to Christmas happening. But this Monday, we had our zone council and zone P-Day where we got to meet up in Slidell with the entire zone and it was really fun. We played a lot of volleyball and pickleball.

Well, since I suppose Christmas is this week. I should leave you with a spiritual thought. Now many people enjoy reading the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew, it’s a wonderful story, but one thing that was introduced to me on the mission, and that I have really loved this Christmas season was reading the nativity story with the inclusion Samuel the Lamanite and from his prophecies, I’ve loved the perspective it’s given me. So I would urge you all to read the prophecies of Samuel.

May the Currents be in Your Favor

-Elder Ward