Transfer calls are in..........

.....and I'm being transferred to Huntsville, Arkansas, MARSHALLESE SPEAKING!

That's right, I get to learn a new language. I'm PUMPED. So far I don't know anything about the town I'm going to except that it's small, cold, and hilly. And I believe they only have a branch right now.

Sister Huskey is going to Miama, Oklahoma, which is where Sister Breaux served before this. We're both so sad to say goodbye to our ward, who we've grown to love so much, but excited to go on to new people and new places.

This week I am grateful for....

The Ward Members

After they announced in church that we are both leaving, the bishop had us get up at the end of sacrament to bear our testimonies. After church we were bombarded with hugs, Christmas presents, and offers to be taken out to lunch or dinner for our last few days here. We are SO blessed.

Zone Conference

Which was awesome. On the way there we managed to squeeze 14 people into a van that seats 11 because the drivers miscounted. And we were given permission to listen to any Christmas music we wanted to, so we bumped Michael Buble, Taylor Swift, and Death Cab for Cutie Christmas the whole way there and back. I've never seen so many adult males belting out Taylor Swift at once.

The conference was all about different ways to find new investigators, and of course, Christmas. I didn't get chosen to give my talk, which was both a relief and a disappointment because I spent so much time preparing. But my preparation has helped in teaching still, so it's all good. President Shumway gave a presentation about the Book of Mormon which I thought was really interesting, so I'm going to share some of it.

The Bible has been translated into over 5,000 languages. The original text had no punctuation, so scholars of language (in contrast to Joseph Smith, whose own wife said "he couldn't write a sentence coherently") had to use their best judgment to place commas, periods, etc. For example, in John, Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I am." Or did he say, "Before Abraham, was I am?" And was it, "God is nowhere"? Or "God is now here?"

On top of the punctuation thing, a lof of the words were just plain unreadable. If you flip through the New Testament, you'll see many instances where the words are italicized. This signifies that the translator just had to make a best guess on what the words were.

Then, some people (who were not prophets, I would add) had to decide what writings should even go in the Bible. And after all that, we still have multiple prominent and commonly accepted versions of the Bible that either have or don't have different writings. There's the Jewish, the Catholic, and the Protestant versions.

In contrast to the Book of Mormon, it's a miracle that the Bible is even still considered holy scripture. And yet we feel the need to prove that the Book of Mormon is true using scriptures from the Bible like Isaiah 29 (the coming forth of a sealed book), Ezekiel 37 (two sticks), John 10:16 (other sheep I have), and Revelation 14:6-7 (I saw another angel fly). In reality, none of those scriptures could truly help "prove" the Book of Mormon because they could be interpreted any number of ways, and if someone doesn't want to believe in the Book of Mormon those scriptures will mean nothing to them.

The point of all this is that the Book of Mormon is sacred ground on which we can take refuge from the battlefield that the Bible can be. While the Bible is still the word of God, the Book of Mormon presents the plain and precious truths of the gospel that will help us feel Heavenly Father's love every time we open it.

Liam Canova

Brother Kevin and Shaun Canova showed up to the ward christmas party on Saturday! Too be honest, we didn't have a ton of faith that they would come because they had ditched out on so many invitations before. But they came, and Shaun brought his adorable little boy, Liam. Little Liam had an ear infection and wouldn't stop crying for the first half hour and I was afraid it was going to ruin the experience for Shaun, who I don't believe has been to any ward function in at least a few years. But they ended up having a good time. Shaun has softened SO much since we first met him. When we told him we were leaving he said "what?! But I haven't even come back to church yet!" Saying goodbye to him and Kevin has so far been the saddest goodbye I've had here.

Airborne gummy vitamins

There were a lot of nasty germs going around this week. I think there must have been something passed around at zone conference through all those handshakes, but Sister Huskey and I were basically dead on Wednesday. Clearly I forgot the first of the ten commandments, because I was praying to the porcelain gods all day. Hahaha get it? Anyways, we got a bunch of those airborne vitamins (which are really expensive by the way, so if y'all feel inclined to donate to the sick missionary fund go on ahead...just kidding.) and I was doing fine by the next day. So far I'm the only person I know who hasn't had a really nasty cold so I guess those vitamins really work.

I feel like I'm forgetting some more big things that happened this week, but I'm not sure. Regardless, it was a great week!

Isaiah 51:3
3 For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.