Time slows down again

Hey everyone,

Well another week has gone by. Honestly, this past week, from Thursday to Monday was probably the slowest time has gone by for me for a long time. For some reason, time just stopped and for a few days it seemed like we were in some sort of craziness. We have been struggling for investigators, which is probably why the time slowed down for a while. We have gotten 50 something contacts in the last month, none of which turned into investigators until last night, one of them finally met with us and we had a good meeting. We have just been stood up so many times in the past little while, it's what happens with new contacts, but still, it is not fun. Last night we finally had a meeting with a guy named Ruslan. He is a pretty awesome guy. He was really interested in what we had to say, took a Book of Mormon and said he would read it. I am really looking forward to meeting with him again. A lot of our contacts said they could meet this weekend, so tomorrow night we will be calling a ton of people and trying to fill Saturday and Sunday with lessons with new people. I am feeling completely better, so that's good. Being zone leader here isn't too tough. All the missionaries are really experienced, and we have a senior couple so a lot of questions and problems pretty much just solve themselves.

I can't believe all the changes that are going on back home. I probably don't even realize how different everything will be. Things would have been different no matter what, but it seems like just about everything is going to be completely different at home. Good thing I have a few more months still to let you guys all get settled and figure out all the changes yourselves before I get there. Dad will have to fill me in on what his new responsibilities are. Is he just going to be sitting in an office now? How did monsanto handle it? Is that a pretty quick process? Was Delvin sad? I bet that was strange to walk out of that place. Hopefully someday we have some land somewhere near Soda Springs so we can visit from time to time and keep it in the family. I'll be fine with wherever I fly to or wherever I first go, but that would be really cool to be in Soda for the 4th of July.

I have a feeling that once January is over, time will really start flying. February is a short month and after that I will have just a little time left. In a few weeks we will find out who is going to Astana, the new city in Kazakhstan. Once we find that out, my future will be a lot more stable. I will either find out that I am going there or staying here. If I go there, obviously I would be there until the end of my mission. If I stay here, I should be here until the end of my mission as well. One kink in the system, that could add to my chances to go to Astana, my Kazakh visa ends at the end of February. I will have to somehow get another few month visa, I think the only option is a 6 month visa. I have a Russian visa in Moscow on my other passport, but my Russian Visa that is on my passport right now expires in a few days. That means in a few days, I won't be able to get back to Russia if I wanted to. Somehow they need to get me my other passport, or something. President is really good about that kind of thing so I'm not worried. I could always go to Kurgestan or someplace like that, ha.

Some elders had a baptism here on Saturday. I was one of the witnesses and she had to be baptized 5 times. She was wearing this way big loose dress and it would just get a big air bubble and not go down. Elder Moore tried to say that just the person had to go down but the white handbook says that clothing has to go down as well. He said there is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. When it comes to baptism, I would rather go with the letter of the law. Finally, one of the elders took off his belt, she put it on, and she was baptized one last time. She was a champ about it. She joked about it and laughed, she wasn't offended or anything. I say that women should just go for the jumpsuit. It might not look as classy but I think the dress just causes problems. After the baptism, there was a branch activity. A girl in the branch just got home from her mission, she was actually in the mtc with me. We had songs and dances. The missionaries sang a song, we did a couple of skits, and had a good time. We had a few investigators show up to church on Sunday which was really good. One of them was a man that a member invited a few weeks ago. We haven't been able to meet with him yet but he is one of the ones we need to meet with this weekend, so it should be pretty cool.

I see that my letters have been getting shorter and shorter it seems like. Not that less and less is happening, probably the complete opposite of that. Also, there are more missionaries here, more things to do, more things to get distracted with on pday, so I'm sorry if my letters are getting worse! Actually, last pday, we wrote home, bought groceries, ate, and then started working at around 3. My companion has really started working harder since we have started serving together. He decided it might be a good idea to sacrifice 3 pdays to show the Lord that we really want to make a goal and get some baptisms. I agreed, partly because I felt like it would be a good sacrifice, but mostly because I wouldn't argue with him for trying to work too hard, when at the beginning of the transfer he didn't even hardly wake up in the mornings. He has a desire to finish strong and I'll let him do that. Today the other elders want to go up into the mountains, we aren't going with them. I feel a little bad but I just need to remember that sometimes you have to do things for your companions, serve them and help them. Next pday will be the last one we will sacrifice and then after that I will be living it up every pday for the rest of my mission. My companion has less than a month left, I think that might be another reason time slowed down for a while. A change will be coming my way no matter what at the end of this transfer. It always makes me wonder, who will by my companion? Will I be here? What will it be like? I feel probably like you and dad, not exactly certain what will happen in the future. It's all for the best though, and I am having a blast. I will try to keep track this week of all the miracles that happen this week so I can let you know next week. Thanks for all the letters and support. Good luck with everything, especially to you, Dad, with your new job. You'll get used to it pretty quick probably. Anyway, I love you guys, talk to you next week.

Elder Geddes