June 10, 2007

• Dear family, friends, and xangans,

  I am still in Chino, actually a surprise. Last week was transfers. Elder Fernandez went to Glendale, and I am now companions with Elder Smith. We cover two wards now, the Chino Heritage (where I was) and the Walnut Park (where he was) wards. He's a bran new missionary from Washington State. We have a lot in common- he went to BYU and lived in 3rd floor of R Hall, 3 doors down from where I lived. I asked him about his door, and he mentioned that the varnish was ruined on it. I laughed, and explained how that had happened. Some friends of mine *cough* were involved in a paintball fight and their door got hit up really bad. They didn't clean it fast enough, and it stripped the varnish. It was really funny to relate the incident he had wondered about- it's a small world.

  Covering two wards is a daunting task. Our two wards had the highest numbers of the zone last transfer (I was leading in number of lessons taught, they were leading in baptisms). Between our two wards last transfer we had 4 out of the 5 baptisms in the zone. I am struggling not to loose any of that momentum. Each ward was able to acheive 15 or 20 lessons, but we discovered last week we couldn't teach 30 lessons, so are not sure how it will work. We are trying to prioritize. I am learning a lot through this new challenge. It is fun. Let me put it this way, we never had a down moment last week. We never said, "what should we do now?".

  I have felt a lot closer to the Holy Spirit as we have depended on the Lord. My new companion is very spiritual. There is so much to do, also, which is a great fulfilling feeling.

  Friday, for example, we stopped by a contact even though we only had 10 mins to spare before the next lesson. It turns out that she had had a hard day and had been praying for something-anything- when she looked up and saw us walking up to her porch. We taught a very powerful lesson on the Restoration and invited her to the ward picnic the next day. She came to the picnic with a friend and 3 grandchildren. There she talked with us and Sister Grow (whose sister is a friend of my family's from Chicago, Sister Leiberman) and we had a very spiritual conversation. She told us that she had really felt the Spirit when we had met the day before and that she missed the feeling when we left. It was touching.

  I love being a missionary and am sad that all this work is making time go so fast. I will blink and it will be August, time to depart for home.

  Take care, I love you all,

  Elder Embree

  • 5:20 pm
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