Another AWESOME Week! (Kyle has been serving two months today!)

July 15th, 2013

Hello Everyone,

This week has been great! On Tuesday, I bid adieu to my first companion who finished serving his two year mission. For the rest of the day, and for part of Wednesday I was on exchange with our zone leaders. In the mission there is something called the "rule of three". You must have either three women, or three men to teach someone of the opposite gender. So for teaching someone of the opposite gender this often creates a problem! We are encouraged to involve members in the ward, but coordinating with their schedules can often be a challenge. While I was on exchange though, we were already a group of three! It was awesome, we could teach whoever, whenever :)

On Wednesday afternoon, I picked up my new companion. He is from a city near Tokyo, Japan and has got quite an accent. He is very quiet, but very kind. He is also very little, which is quite the contrast for my height. Because my companion is foreign, and speaks Japanese as his first language, we now have added language study to our schedule. We wake up at 6:30 AM, have personal study at 8:00 AM, companionship study at 9:00 AM, new missionary training at 10:00 AM, lunch at 11:00 AM, and language study at 12:00 PM. We don't get out of our apartment until about 1:00 PM. I have not had to sit for that long since high school! I know I only graduated a little over a year ago, but it is quite the adjustment for me. I get a little bit antsy, and probably a little annoying as well, but hopefully I will adjust to it soon!

My companion is no longer the district leader, which will also be a HUGE adjustment for me. As a district leader, you have to go on exchange with each elder in your district. I absolutely loved being able to visit every companionships area, and getting to know the elders on a really personal basis! It is going to be a very stark contrast now that I will pretty much always be serving in our area in North La Crosse with my companion, except for our exchange with our new district leader, and the zone leaders.

This week we had an amazing lesson with an investigator. We taught her about the law of chastity, and had three members from the ward present. The spirit was SO strong during the lesson, and she completely understood and agreed with everything we shared with her. She understands why this commandment is so important. She is moving right now, so we have had many opportunities to help her move and to give our service, but unfortunately she is moving out of our area. Luckily she is only moving to South La Crosse though, so the south side missionaries will be able to teach her. Sadly, that means we will no longer be teaching her. We have one last lesson with her though, on July 17th, my birthday!

This week we also had a really great lesson with another investigator. We taught her about the plan of salvation. At the beginning of the lesson, she shared a lot of her frustrations, and about the anger that she had towards God. She has had a very difficult life. As we taught her more and more about this great plan of happiness, her face lit up. Her countenance changed, and you could see on her face and through her actions that she felt and recognized the spirit during the lesson. Afterwards, she said "I wish I would have known this sooner!" She is truly being prepared by the Lord.

On my birthday at 6:00 PM we will be going on exchange with the zone leaders! I know it is going to be a super weird birthday, but with our zone leaders here to celebrate, it is going to be awesome :) I will just have to find a way to make it an extra special day for myself haha, I can be fairly creative that way!

Glad to hear that everything is going well, and that Aimee has not been in any car accidents her first week driving! My new companion does not have driving privileges, so I am the designated driver. AWESOME! Don't think that I didn't notice your "sarcastic" comment about me not being home to use your Nordstrom Visa though. Haha!

Thank you all for your support and love! I know that God answers prayers, because he has slowly but surely been answering mine :)

Love,

Elder Kyle William Andrews