Week 47 - Spring Changes

 Hello All!

    It's been quite the week.  I'm not sure how many of you know, but Elder Bensing went home this week.  We had just found out last Monday morning, and I didn't want to tell everyone before we knew more.  It was a medical release, so there was absolutely nothing wrong with his character, he just has something that needs to be taken care of that can't be treated out in the field.  Don't worry, though, it's nothing really bad, it's sleepwalking.  (Yup.)  Just over a week ago, Elder Bensing woke up at about 4 in the morning sitting on a park bench about a 20-25 minute walk from our apartment. (Yes, he was wearing pajamas.) He made his way home, and told me about it after I'd gotten up. (I apparently sleep like a rock.)  It was a bit of a surprise, and all quite sudden, but he was flying home to Germany just a couple of days later.  

    Luckily, I wasn't without a companion for long.  There was a three-leg/tripanionship of missionaries serving in the town of High River, and one of them came up to be my companion the morning after Elder Bensing flew off.  His name is Elder Asay.  He's from West Jordan, Utah, and he's going home in about three and a half weeks.  Yup, this is his last transfer, and he got emergency transferred into a new area for his last few weeks.  He's taken it well, though, and I'm looking forward to the rest of our time together.  I know I have a lot to learn from him, and I hope there are a few things he can learn from me.

    As you can read, it's been a crazy week.  The first couple of days didn't see too much work being done with P-Day, Zone Conference on Tuesday, and Elder Bensing and I scrambling around letting ward members and leaders know of the change.  We had some appointments fall through, and no investigators come to church yesterday, but it's all alright!  Things have settled, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Elder Asay and I can accomplish with the Lord's help in the coming days.  

    We did have one investigator lesson this week with Cindy, which went well.  We taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she expressed her desire to be baptized.  Things are still kind of up in the air with her Word of Wisdom struggles and other things, but I really hope that her desire will manifest itself in some real progress for her soon!

    We weren't able to see Drey or Robert this week, but Drey did let us know that he has a friend who is interested in the church!  He went with him to the youth activity on Wednesday, and it's been so cool to see how excited Drey is about the gospel.

   

Like I said, it was a bit of a crazy week, but I wanted to share with you some things I learned about a man named Howard.  Howard was born in Utah.  He went through high school, and served an honorable LDS mission.  Within weeks of returning from his mission, he was engaged to a girl who he knew was the woman he was meant to marry, and they were sealed in the temple just a couple of months after that.  He attended college, received his pilot's license, and went on to join the Air Force.  Howard and his growing family moved across the country for his Air Force training, and eventually settled in Texas where he had been given the assignment to be a flight instructor there.  Things were looking good for Howard.  He had a promising career in the military.  He had a wonderful, supportive wife, and several children already, then he was called to serve as a bishop.  The stake president who extended the call let him know his confusion at the call, since Howard was very likely to be transferred somewhere else within a couple of years, but the Lord had told him to extend the call.  So, Howard left the Air Force.  You may know, but Howard is President Howard Nicholas of the Canada Calgary Mission.  I got to know President Nicholas much more this week, and it was wonderful.  Our Heavenly Father had a plan for President Nicholas, and if President Nicholas hadn't been willing to change everything for that plan, he wouldn't be here today.  May we all follow his example, even when it doesn't make any sense.

    Thank you all for your love and support.  I am so grateful for the incredible friends and family my Heavenly Father has blessed me with.  I hope you all have a great week.  Be good!  Have fun!

I love you all!

Elder Hafen