Dudes, its a new year. We are all so old…..
Hey everybody,
It has been a while since I wrote a group email, but here goes nothing. I was traveling almost the whole last week, a little sick, but all good now. I got back to my area on Thursday, already knowing that they were going to transfer me. I am going to go back to my first zone, but in another ward and I am going as a Zone Leader. It is super complicated, but Elder Birnbaumer (my first companion in this area) is now in La Masica, as a district leader, so we will still get to see each other, and it will be in my first area too. I hope that it all turns out well. President called me and said that I was going to go there, and he said that it is because I have been obedient, a hard worker, and I teach the other missionaries well, so he needs me to just keep doing the same out there. I hope it goes well for me and that I can learn a whole bunch from the experience.
It is hard to leave this area, I am happy and sad, and also hard to leave my companion even though in the beginning I wanted nothing to do with him. Now we have become one in Christ, and it is tough to leave him and others behind here. I know all will be well, and this time it is a little easier to say goodbye. I am used to having to just say goodbye to people and have to leave or have them leave. It is weird and I never thought I would get used to this.
I hope to kill it in my next area. I have learned a lot here, and I think that the best advice that I could give any person, missionary or member, or nonmember or whatever it may be, is that we all need to learn to love repentance. Repentance is not just asking for forgiveness. It is a change of heart and lifestyle to fit better with what God wants for us. I pray every morning specifically for God to help me recognize ONE thing that I can do better the next day, and at the end of the day, I ask for help to be better at that thing the next day. The next day I put it in practice and try to find the next thing to work on. It may sound like a lot of work, but it is better than making a list of a million things that we need to do better and then doing nothing. I love feeling like I get just a little tiny bit better every day. It makes me feel like this is the true path of discipleship. I am satisfied with my life and my work out here and I am giving it my all.
I love you all and know you are all doing well right now. I know you will keep doing well as we keep working out here in the Lord’s vineyard. I hope you go have awesome adventures in the snow and that you are all safe and having a good time out there. I love you tons and will talk to you all next week.
Elder Searle
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