Well fellas of the world. Here it is. The first email of the year. This week was pretty uneventful but also had some highlights too!

– first things first… I still haven’t gotten my trainee yet. Yep. I know. Crazy right. The APs told me he was coming on Thursday. Then it came to Thursday. And no trainee. I texted the APs. And ya they say he should be coming this week now cause of visa problems. Classic 😅. So ya hopefully I get Elder Esakalonga sometime this week hahaha. Honestly, it seems like a test to me. Like the Lord is just testing my patience. Cause ya that’s something I could work on. I thought I was patient before and then I came on my mission and I’ve got some work to do haha. But anyways, pray that Elder Esakalonga will make it here this week! OK ok currently as I’m writing this I just got a text from the APs that he is coming most likely on Friday…. Which probably still means next week but hey that’s some good news! 😅

– because of that little predicament, I’m currently in a trio with my ZLs, Elder Frisby and Elder Ndara. Elder Mouandza left for his new area on Wednesday so it’s been us three chilling and working like crazy. At least working on the days that we could go out hahaha….

– I swear there’s a virus going around in our apartment. The week before last we were all feeling sick so we stayed in one day. We all felt better so we thought it had passed. Well, on Tuesday morning, Elder Mouandza wasn’t feeling too good and so me and him stayed in that day. I knew he was really sick when he slept from 1-5 in the afternoon and then slept fine the rest of the night. He got better so we went about the week like normal. Then on Saturday, another got hit by the virus. Elder Ndara was bed ridden all day with a massive headache and body aches. So ya we stayed in that day too. He felt better by Saturday night so we were all excited to go out on Sunday. SIKE. We woke up and Elder Frisby is sick now. Hooray! So we were able to go to both of our wards sacrament meetings and then went back to the apartment for the rest of the day. Elder Frisby is currently suffering with headaches, runny tummy, and a 103 degree 👎👎👎. So ya no small thing there. So I’m absolutely praying that I don’t get sick again. Cause I’m getting sick and tired of staying inside all day hahaha. I’ve decided to call this sickness the BBAV. The Banjor Brewerville Apartment Virus. Ya it’s deadly. 

– but even from the bad days there’s always good things. I’ve been able to have a lot of extra personal studies. I’ve been reading a lot from Jesus the Christ, the BOM, and my other books about the temple and stuff. One thing that was awesome this week was that I officially decided to restart my study of the New Testament. Sure I’ve been reading it, but I wanna start from the beginning and really study it. So I’m excited to get deeper into my Bible studies. It’s gonna be fire! I’ve been able to get caught up with my journal and organize all my stuff so that’s been nice. And we’ve all had some insane and deep doctrine discussions while all sitting on the coach sick. Overall, ya it’s been a bit of a bummer to be sick, but theres been some awesome things that came from it too.

– on the days that we were able to go out… Boy oh boy we were cooking. We were covering both of our areas so we had a looooot of people to teach. We were going crazy. On just Thursday and Friday, we taught 18 lessons 😳😳😳. Yuh we like that. So ya it was super spiritual and awesome days.

– today marks my 5 months 😳😳😳. Insane. I’ve been a missionary for 5 months?! It doesn’t feel real at all. It’s kinda gross that it’s going this fast. 

Other than all this fun stuff, it was a pretty good but also a slow week. I can’t believe it’s 2024 now. Like one year ago I was getting ready for my senior year volleyball season. Crazy crazy stuff.

Alright invitation time!!! Go make some new years resolutions. Make some for all four areas. Physical, spiritual, social, intellectual. All the fun stuff. But don’t just make goals, make a plan for them. Make SMARTER goals. My mission president has really been having us focus on these. It stands for: 

S – specific 

M – measurable 

A – achievable / assignable 

R – relevant 

T – time bound 

E – evaluate 

R – review 

If you want some extra help go look at a few things… 

– Chapter 8 of PMG. I know it’s specifically for missionaries, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look at it too haha.

– “One Percent Better” by Elder Dunn

– Read your scriptures 👀

Go make the world a better place! Spread the light of the gospel! Be a true disciple of Christ! Do good, be good! 

Love ya all! Send me emails pics or anything! Someone please please send me an update on the Suns. Honestly just send the standings for the league haha.

Hope everyone has the best New Years ever and is so ready to get going with 2024!

Jesus loves you baway! 

Elder Good Man