Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 58 - Faith in God Will Make the Most Amazing Things Possible!

WOW, what a week! My birthday turned out to be quite the experience. It was a good day with a lot of good appointments and lot's of good work. I experienced a whole new angle on the concept of trials: Everyone wanted to feed us (not that people here in any way lack hospitality) but, this was all within the limitations of one day. I generally try to please the people around me and this was NOT what you could call a sacrifice! I suppose one could say that I surpassed my nutritional requirements on my birthday! It was great fun and the only way to repent was hard work and lots of crazy bicycling to work it all off! To top it all off I had received two nice packages in time for my birthday, one from Grandma and another from Ximena in Barcelona. My birthday couldn't have been better.

We got our transfer calls today. Elder Noffsinger is going home this week as was the plan, dismissing any element of surprise, or so I thought. Change was inevitable but, what I didn't expect was my president telling me... "Elder, you've done such a fine job with sending Elder Noffsinger home that we're going to have you send one more home! - My first thought was "AAAARGH!" as I seem to have no choice but to develop some form of immunity to getting "trunky" and the only antidote that I know of is hard work.

Now for the really awesome part of my conversation with our President: He said that I might get to train a new missionary after the next transfer if I do a good job in this upcoming transfer. I might get to train a Swedish Elder fresh from the MTC... Scandinavian power!

We've recently met this girl with five siblings that also showed an interest in the church. The whole family attended church last Sunday and they loved it! I hope and pray all goes well for them, learning and building on their relationship with God. They are great people and faith in God will make the most amazing things possible.

Our baptism last week went well. We're all very grateful that she finally was able to enter this new stage in her life and now she seems ready to begin reaching for new levels. I have faith that she will be a great asset to the church here.

The weather here is great and we're enjoying it a lot. We occasionally get some massive thunderstorms that just pour and pour, but that's no reason to abandon the bike. Most bikes over here come without fenders, as did mine. Being without a rear fender is particularly problematic in thunderstorms with heavy rain, as it it makes for an experience similar to what I might imagine to be spending a day seated on a bidet--fully clothed!!! Having pity on my now fully marinated body parts, my good companion bought me a fender as a birthday present, a near life-changing experience! I am going to miss Elder Noffsinger. He is an awesome missionary and it has truly been a pleasure serving with him.

I gotta go, there is more missionary work to be done!

Love y'all!

Elder Jepsen