First off, sorry for not writing yesterday. I don't think I told any of you but transfer weeks are always "ProssMondays," which is just a Monday where we work and have P-day on Tuesday instead...so that's why I am writing on the wrong day.
[Here his answering the questions in my letter] J is "meh" right now. Still in the hospital, his internal bleeding turned into lung failure and kidney failure. He was really close to dying for a little bit, but now they say he has stabilized and will begin to heal back up. They aren't entirely sure how long that is going to take him though. I got my package! Thanks so much. I'm definitely still a greenie, but it was so awesome :) I have been praying a lot this week for better decision making skills and having the ability to use the Spirit more in that process. I have seen that slowly becoming something I am more comfortable with, which is awesome. I love Florida, it is still gorgeous and the people are still Jamaican :P (except for the occasional old white person who just slams the door in our face or calls the cops or something, ha!) I loved my district this transfer. They were all sooo amazing and a lot are transferring out this week. We got the call last night and I am staying in Tamarac South for this one, but my companion is becoming District Leader so it will be a bit different this time around, which will be fun :) [Ian will be keeping the same companion, but Elder Adams will have more responsibilities in the administrative arena with missionaries serving in their district]. This week was really slow for us as well. Conference made it weird, but really cool. I loved conference and all the talks were so awesome. There were A LOT of talks on families this conference which was super cool. Stewart you gotta go study all that out for you and Allison ;) Finally, I have plenty of recharge time (mostly at night and while I am riding my bike). Sometimes it's a bit much and I start to shut down, but I usually say a prayer when that happens and it always helps me refocus on the work instead of myself. I should have used that strategy more before my mission hah. Yeah, he [Elder Adams] has been good to me. I haven't seen much growth in myself, but the other day when I kinda got mad at myself for still sucking, he told me he has seen me grow...which was reassuring. Sometimes its hard to see the growth in yourself, so it's nice to have that confirmation that I am changing.
We did have a "Pross Monday" miracle, which I thought was super cool. A while back we were flagged down while biking by a car on our way to visit a referral (a guy who was baptized when he was 8 but fell away shortly after). He [the motorist] asked us to say a prayer for him and we did and exchanged information. We finally got to see him yesterday. When we talked with him we found out some really amazing things. First his girlfriend (pretty much wife) is super awesome and had never been baptized and wants to be. Second is that right when he saw us he was reading in his bible about the two angels who stood at Jesus' side in his tomb when he was resurrected and realized we were the angels sent for him. And third, we found out that the referral we were sent to that day didn't even exist. Like the house number wasn't even a real house! It's so crazy how the Lord works sometimes. He sent us on a faulty referral (which we thought was really lame) but really we were sent there to meet R and his girlfriend. What an amazing experience. They are both super humble and have really been seeking to change their lives around this last little bit and that's so awesome. He has a son that is 8 and fun too :) It's so amazing how even after a week where we didn't feel like we had accomplished too much, after working so hard, we were able to see such amazing miracles happen.
I love this work, its a hard work but its the best work. It even says twice in the D&C, in successive chapters, that preaching the word of God is the most important thing we can be doing in this life.
I love you all so much
Elder Foster
[Here his answering the questions in my letter] J is "meh" right now. Still in the hospital, his internal bleeding turned into lung failure and kidney failure. He was really close to dying for a little bit, but now they say he has stabilized and will begin to heal back up. They aren't entirely sure how long that is going to take him though. I got my package! Thanks so much. I'm definitely still a greenie, but it was so awesome :) I have been praying a lot this week for better decision making skills and having the ability to use the Spirit more in that process. I have seen that slowly becoming something I am more comfortable with, which is awesome. I love Florida, it is still gorgeous and the people are still Jamaican :P (except for the occasional old white person who just slams the door in our face or calls the cops or something, ha!) I loved my district this transfer. They were all sooo amazing and a lot are transferring out this week. We got the call last night and I am staying in Tamarac South for this one, but my companion is becoming District Leader so it will be a bit different this time around, which will be fun :) [Ian will be keeping the same companion, but Elder Adams will have more responsibilities in the administrative arena with missionaries serving in their district]. This week was really slow for us as well. Conference made it weird, but really cool. I loved conference and all the talks were so awesome. There were A LOT of talks on families this conference which was super cool. Stewart you gotta go study all that out for you and Allison ;) Finally, I have plenty of recharge time (mostly at night and while I am riding my bike). Sometimes it's a bit much and I start to shut down, but I usually say a prayer when that happens and it always helps me refocus on the work instead of myself. I should have used that strategy more before my mission hah. Yeah, he [Elder Adams] has been good to me. I haven't seen much growth in myself, but the other day when I kinda got mad at myself for still sucking, he told me he has seen me grow...which was reassuring. Sometimes its hard to see the growth in yourself, so it's nice to have that confirmation that I am changing.
We did have a "Pross Monday" miracle, which I thought was super cool. A while back we were flagged down while biking by a car on our way to visit a referral (a guy who was baptized when he was 8 but fell away shortly after). He [the motorist] asked us to say a prayer for him and we did and exchanged information. We finally got to see him yesterday. When we talked with him we found out some really amazing things. First his girlfriend (pretty much wife) is super awesome and had never been baptized and wants to be. Second is that right when he saw us he was reading in his bible about the two angels who stood at Jesus' side in his tomb when he was resurrected and realized we were the angels sent for him. And third, we found out that the referral we were sent to that day didn't even exist. Like the house number wasn't even a real house! It's so crazy how the Lord works sometimes. He sent us on a faulty referral (which we thought was really lame) but really we were sent there to meet R and his girlfriend. What an amazing experience. They are both super humble and have really been seeking to change their lives around this last little bit and that's so awesome. He has a son that is 8 and fun too :) It's so amazing how even after a week where we didn't feel like we had accomplished too much, after working so hard, we were able to see such amazing miracles happen.
I love this work, its a hard work but its the best work. It even says twice in the D&C, in successive chapters, that preaching the word of God is the most important thing we can be doing in this life.
I love you all so much
Elder Foster