8 Feb 2009

Dear Family,

How are things going? I almost put "2008" again when putting the date down. Things are sure flying by fast. This week is transfers and i have no idea who will be staying and who will be going. I am kind of hoping that they will be dividing this area (we cover two wards: Rototuna and Chartwell wards). They encompass a lot of the northern part of Hamilton and our only effective mode of transportation is our bikes.

I've been a little sick since Friday. I got up Friday morning with a very sour stomach and when back to bed, not feeling good enough to have any studies. I got a blessing from some of the Elders and then was finally able to rest for a couple solid hours. We didn't go out on Friday and on Saturday we left around midday. But every morning I've been waking up with severe headaches. I haven't been sleeping well either. I'll need to call sister Porter and see what else i need to do.

We have been working steadily with Maree who is going to be baptized on this Saturday. If i am still here, i will be the one baptizing her. She is so neat and humble. She had her interview yesterday and all went well with that. She would be one of those golden contacts.

It was good to read a little bit about the experience that Hermana Mortenson had. She is such a stalwart individual and comes from such a solid family. She'll do great.

Just a neat experience we had this week happened with finding an additional investigator. We received a referral last week and we contacted him on Thursday. He's only 10, but has been coming with a member family. We didn't really have lesson, but introduced the Book of Mormon and talked about what he could read. Before we left, he said he would read it. His father is Catholic, but he, Shannon, is not interested in learning about his dad's faith, but about his mum's faith. Very intelligent kid for his age.

Also, we were supposed to have a lesson with a part member family but they weren't home. We were waiting for a couple minutes to just wait to see if they were running late. I noticed the neighbors car was home. i had the thought that we needed to go and talk to the neighbors. We went over and talked to the YSA age lady, Lisa, and we're going to be having a lesson with her this evening. Choice.

Well, i gotta get going, my times almost up. We're doing our emailing at the Chartwell library, because you get 30 minutes for free, instead of having to pay 4 bucks for an hour.

Love you all and keep praying for me, especially that i can be more effective at teaching simply and also have a greater and deeper understanding of the restored gospel.

Love, Elder Cashmore