I’m doing great! I’m enjoying all things right now and the missionary
work is going awesome.

We did get the meeting groups started in Shashemene and in Wendo
Genet. We had the one in Shashemene at 9 in the morning and had 28
people show up for that one. It is hard to explain where that church
is but it was a good start for the first meeting held here.

The meeting group in Wendo Genet was at 12:30 and was good as well.
It’s easy to tell people where that church is. We just simply say
“it’s at Morke’s house” and everyone there knows where that is. We had
32 people come there, but word is that next week it will be much
fuller because the time wasn’t very convenient for many. Elder
Macmillan and I both led a meeting and next week we will be going on
splits so that both meetings can start at 9 and we really hope to
break 100 with the two groups combined. Starting those groups was very
stressful though because virtualy every position in the church is
being done by my companion and I at this time.

So this week was another good one but it ended before I realized it
began. We basically taught, and had interviews. We had another 5
people baptized from Shashamene this week and the other guys in Awasa
had 3 baptisms as well. So far our District has had 28 baptisms for
this transfer with a couple weeks left in it.

I have forgotten to mention a few things. One is that we have bikes,
except mine kind of sucks, but it still gets my legs quite the work
out going up and down the slight hills of Shashamene. We also just got
a new fridge at our place which was way too nice and too much money if
you ask me. I got stuck riding bikes in the rain which sucks. I really
hope I never ride a bike again after my mission.

We now have the local missionary working with us and it really helps
with contacting and teaching people .

We also started the meeting groups on Sunday like I said. I don’t know
what else happened. Oh Brother M agreed to rent to us his church
building in Wendo Genet after asking for 4 times the amount we settled
on. After he asked for a certain amount and we said we’d think about
it, we came back to teach the next day and had a few lessons he was at
about sacrifice, and forsaking all for Christ’s sake. As we were about
to leave Wendo Genet he called us to his house and we sat there as the
Branch President of Awasa talked with him and his wife for a while.
What he basically said was that he would rent the church to us for the
littlest price possible. He had tears in his eyes and it was honestly
like he was repenting so that the work could move more quickly in the
Wendo Genet area. That one instance of sacrifice is going to bring
huge blessings in the near future to that little vally of Wendo Genet.
The part I liked most was that he was consulting with his wife about
the situation, that is a very unique thing to the church of consulting
wives before action is taken. The whole thing really makes me want to
make more sacrifices and to be more repentent.

I also finished The Miracle of Forgiveness. A very great book. It
seemed to center on sexual sins and as a missionary, I didn’t have to
feel bad like I’m sure most people who read that book feel as they
read it.

Well that was the highlights of the week. I will be going to Adis
Ababa again tomorrow with President Parrish to get my work permit or
something and this next week we will hopefully teach more people. I
just want you all to know the church is true, and I love you all so
much and I’m so blessed to have parent’s who have persuaded me to
believe, but never denied me of my free agency.