My last day in the office was Tuesday. It was also our preparation day. I spent a lot of it making sure I had all the key items on my todo list “checked off.” I think I got it all settled. Haha. I left some things to the last day… of course. There were a few important things I needed to show Elder Feusner. I was also keeping a Journal on the computer, so I sent that in to be printed and bound into an actual book. I should get that in a few weeks! I couldn’t resist designing a funny cover; a picture of Elder Feusner and I… with some slight modifications. I’ll have to send a photo when I get a copy of it.

Tuesday night we went to the arriving missionary dinner – my last one! We had nine new missionaries in the group. One was from Cardston, Canada. Another one is 6’8″ — Elder Mortensen; now the tallest Elder in our mission! Apparently he does NOT play basketballl; hew grew up on a farm. We also recently had four Visa Waiters come to our mission, unexpectedly, who will remain here until their Visas are cleared and they can go on to the Mexico City East Mission. One of them, Elder Castillo, is from Pocatello Idaho and knows Elder Zimmerman (who, you will remember was my companion last year, but had to go home due to a back injury) — small world. Speaking of Elder Zimmerman, I heard he’s had two surgeries now. I hope and pray things go well for him.

Wednesday morning was the usual transfer chaos at the office, except this time I was leaving too. Elder Feusner was going to take me, but that didn’t work out so Elder Knusdsen drove with some other missionaries and got me himself.

I’m back in Cordova now! It feels great. We cover a YSA Ward and a Family Ward. I already know some members from having met them in this Stake last year. That’s a nice perk. Elder Knudsen is helping me a lot. It’s a lot of work being a Zone Leader. I guess that’s what Leadership is though; work! It’s interesting how much more our conversations our focused on other missionaries and how we can help them. It’s hard to be selfish now, there’s no time for it. It’s a hard job though, that’s why I need to depend on the Lord as much as possible.

We’re blessed to be teaching a lot of people right now, I can’t name them all. This last Sunday was great. We had two girls come to Church unexpectedly. Both are playing basketball for a University here. One of them, Sadie, is a member, and we have an appointment to teach her friend Senyce next Sunday. They’re really busy with conditioning, and homework, but I’m excited for the lesson. The weirdest part is that Sadie is Elder Buhler’s cousin (The Elder Buhler who just went home!) and I remember him talking about her coming out here to play basketball.

This is the “harvest season”! — the stake just did something called a forty day fast. Members of the stake were assigned to fast one day for each of the last forty days. The prayer is that we’ll find more people to teach. They’ve sown the seeds, now we’re going to harvest!

Anyway I need all your prayers. I know that alone I’m nothing. Any tips on good leadership are appreciated, I’ll do my best! :)

Love you all,

Elder Macpherson

I’m excited to go back. Though I would hardly call my time in the mission office a “vacation”, it has been one of the most cherished parts of my mission thus far. Spiritually, I feel I’ve grown a lot. From the experiences I’ve had, and from the wonderful missionaries I have served with. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Though my purpose as a missionary never changed, my responsibilities did. It’s been unique and exciting. Now I’m ready to leave it all behind and lose myself in these last 6 months of my mission. Serving wherever I’m called, in whatever capacity required.

My new assignment is Junior Zone Leader with Elder Knudsen, from Sandy Utah. Together we are responsible for the leadership of the missionaries in the Cordova zone. You’ll remember I spent several months in Cordova (the Brighton Ward) last year! Now I’m going back. I’ll be serving in the American River YSA Branch & River Park Ward. Elder Knudsen is an amazing missionary, and I’m excited to be his companion. He’ll do a good job training me, and teaching me our responsibilities.

More than anything I’ve been humbled by this assignment. “I want to be the BEST I can…” as that Primary song goes. And I know I can’t do that alone. Elder Buhler, our soon departing Assistant to the President, has talked to me a lot, I’m so grateful for his council and advice, which in a nutshell is this: It’s not about you. It’s about others. Be obedient. Seek revelation. Work your hardest.

Well, I’m casting away my fear (as best as I can) and I’m going into this full force. I hope you’ll all keep me in your prayers.

This last week in the College Oak Ward we were blessed to miraculously find two people, a young man, and a young woman, who I feel will eventually be baptized. Sadly I won’t be here to help them along, but I know I’m needed elsewhere. I’ve loved serving in the College Oak ward. The members and the leadership there are awesome. You know who you are! :)

My brother Derek wrote me an email recently about his vacation. He had the chance to go to EFY in California, visit British Columbia, and see lots of family; it sounds like he had a blast! I was a little jealous at first, I’ll admit. But I did want to comment on something he said in his email (And I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing this), he said “Yo if your mission is ANYTHING like my experience at EFY, then sign me up!”

My response brother;  It’s better! XD

Well, I thank you all again for your prayers, your love, and everything else you do. I’m going to need it more than ever now. I’ve had my fun, I’ve studied up, and now I’m going “back to School” — mission style.

Till next time!

Love,
Elder Macpherson

All is well here in Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Citrus Heights, and Carmichael. (Those are all the various cities in our area, all of them suburbs of Sacramento) The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and life is good.

The Bishop of our ward has taken a job in Utah and will be getting a replacement soon. He will be missed. He’s a wonderful leader. He was also the head architect in charge of designing the beautiful Sacramento Temple. So, he’s now taking a job with the Church’s temple design department. Exciting!

The work is slow here, but we’re not losing faith. I know the Lord is preparing people for us to teach. And I know that the people we are trying to work with will progress towards baptism. It’s just a longer path for some, and we can’t drag them along. It’s a humbling thing to realize that the Lord’s time-line is not the same as yours. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Last night we were in my birth area again; the Hurley Ward in East Sacramento. We had to setup for a Spanish Cottage Meeting. On the way home I felt prompted to stop by a family I had taught over a year ago. The husband was a member, though not active, and we were teaching his wife, Flora. When I was still there she set a baptismal date, but then I got transferred! I heard that she got baptized a little over a month after that, but no one called me back for the service. Well, last night we stopped by! Flora was really happy to see us. Even Elder Feusner knew her from having done some yard service for her last year (while on an exchange in that ward). We visited with each other, and I learned that they are going to the Temple in a few weeks! And they’ll be sealed about a month after! They’re a wonderful family, with two beautiful little girls. One is almost seven, the other is a little over two. I’m so happy for them.

Despite my trials and difficulties, I’m ever grateful for these blessings of the Lord. To see these people plant themselves more deeply in the rich soil of the gospel is truly a gift “more precious than gold.”

Love,
Elder Macpherson

That, my friends, is a riveting excerpt from my journal — so now you’re probably wondering what ET’d means right? Well let’s look at what the Dictionary of Missionary Lingo says… *ahem*

“ET (verb) — Emergency Transfer. To transfer a missionary to a new area unexpectedly, not on a regular transfer date, occasionally necessary due to disobedience, personal problems, or sometimes simply to accommodate other missionaries departing and arriving without advance notice.”

So why did I almost get ET’d you ask? Well, let me assure you it wasn’t due to disobedience or personal problems, at least not on my side. But like dominoes, when one ET takes place, another often happens, to balance things out. And I was almost that balancing piece. Fortunately it was between me and another missionary, and he was chosen instead — Bullet dodged! Haha, actually I’ll admit I wouldn’t have been too angry, sad to leave the office of course, but if that was what needed to happen, I would “go and do” — that’s just what you do, and I know everything works out alright in the end. But for now I’m staying, and I’m happy about that.

So yeah, this week has had me up, down, and all around. We taught a lesson on Tuesday to a girl that came to Church with her best friend. We taught her at a house she’s house-sitting for some friends, and I have to say that it was the biggest house I have ever been inside… ever. It was huge, and just a work of art. It was in a super upper-class neighborhood — man, some of the wealth around here is crazy. The lesson went pretty well. She’s had a lot of exposure to the Church, she’s been with her friend to activities and such for years. She’s a really sweet person, so I hope we can continue to teach, she came to Church again yesterday and I know she enjoyed it.

I’ve been working on a revised and redesigned Welcome Packet for new missionaries coming to our mission lately. We send it to them before they enter the MTC and offer some instructions as they prepare. The one we’ve been using for years is utterly terrible, to be frank. Poorly organized, and poorly designed. It’s the same one I received, and It’s almost 5 years old; long overdue for an upgrade. It’s been a lot of fun so far, and it’s almost ready to send out.

Whoah, but let’s rewind a little, shall we? I turned 21 almost two weeks ago, on July 22nd. Happy Birthday to me! I want to thank everyone for all the kind letters, emails, and packages. That week was fun. Actually, that week was crazy too, because as leaders we were being trained by the Mission President on a new curriculum from the MTC, it was a long four days of training, but it’s a lot of great stuff. Now it’s our job to teach and train the younger missionaries so they can know it too.

I think that’s it folks. It’s definitely summer here now. We’ve been getting triple digits pretty often for a couple weeks. I send my love and good wishes. I hope y’all enjoy your summer. Best wishes to Allison Bill who’s getting married pretty soon from what I hear. Keep me in your prayers! We need to find more people to teach here!

Lots of love,
Elder Macpherson

Transfer calls have come and gone; I’m staying with Elder Feusner for my third transfer in the mission office. It’s hard to believe it’s already been that long. I certainly don’t have the posts to show it, I’ve been slacking! It’s just been so busy here, and sometimes pretty stressful too. They have me as an office elder and a district leader, and really… I think I need to learn some relaxation techniques before it all gets the best of me. *Elder Macpherson takes several deep breaths* — Okay that’s better. *phew*

But don’t you all worry about me now. I know everything will work out. That’s the beautiful thing about the gospel.

Well, have you heard? The Church is changing the way every mission in the world will work… starting right now. They did a study in San Diego for several months, following and filming a real district of missionaries, and they learned a lot of valuable things from it. Part of the changes will be fewer Zone Conferences and Interviews with the Mission President, and more smaller-group and specifically focused training instead. They’ve also released a revised curriculum for training/teaching, focusing on the key doctrines and principles from Preach My Gospel. This is going to help us to be better teachers. But like any big change, it’s going to take some getting used to. In the end I know it’s inspired, and It’s going to be fun! To get all the leaders in the mission up to speed President Jardine starts a four-day intensive training tomorrow, for every District Leader, Zone Leader, and Trainer in the mission — for about 7 hours each day, that’s equal to more than four Zone Conferences in a row! I’m going to be so tired at the end of this week. Oh boy…

On other news, I love the College Oak Ward. I’ve gotten to know a lot more of the people there, and they’re fantastic. My only desire now is to find more people to teach! The only ones we know now are just… not progressing, for various reasons. It’s been cool, because we’ve had several non-members attend these last few weeks, who are good friends of members in our ward, but sadly none of them live in our ward boundaries, so we can’t teach them, they call that “poaching” in missionary work, and it’s seriously frowned upon. They would have to get baptized in their home ward anyway.

One of the sisters who was in my district last transfer was Sister Georges, from Leon France. She was great, and it was fun to be able to practice my french here and there, although I’m really not that good. While she was here she was teaching a man named Tony, whose story is long and complicated, but in a nutshell; she had to teach him because he can speak only French and Arabic, he’s very faithful, but certain government and legal issues are preventing him from being baptized (he’s from a Muslim country), it’s really pretty crazy. Anyway, guess who is supposed to teach him now that Sister George has (just recently) been transferred? Yup, that’s me. And I’ll be honest, I’ve got no idea how I’m going to do this. There are a few French-speaking RMs in the area, the Mission President’s wife can speak it a little, and well… the gift of tongues anyone? I’ll let you all know where this goes beintot.

The last group of missionaries that came in was awesome! That’s one perk of being in the office, seeing them all arrive, newborns in the mission. But it was a very energetic group, the future leaders of this mission without a doubt. Two were from Canada, which was a big plus for our mission, woohoo!

Well, I couldn’t end this without mentioning how HOT it’s been here lately. It’s definitely July folks, and I can’t help but reminisce of last year, when I was burning up in the scalding heat of Laguna Creek. Boy am I glad we have a car for the summer! It’s been upper 90s to 100s this last week, not a cloud in the sky. To think I’ll leave this coming year, and come to the arctic tundra of February in Montreal, brrr! If that’s not a chilling thought…

Haha, till next time!

Love,

Elder Macpherson

Since it’s been so long, I thought I’d do something different this time. And so, as a summary of the last month, I present to you some excerpts from my very own journal (obviously with personal details removed). This might me a long one, hope you can follow it all, enjoy!

Thursday, May 27th
Today was fantastic. I mean aside from the torrential downpour all over Sacramento, we really did have some good times. The day started with District Meeting at the Deseret building (aka. Mission Office) Elder Collett asked me to train on teaching to our investigator’s needs – once we’ve discovered them by asking good questions. It was fun. It’s Sister Pack, Sister George (from France!), and the APs (Elder Webber & Elder Thompson), in our District; so the meetings are small but usually pretty fun. Sister Pack and Sister George helped with the training too. The APs had to leave early for a transfer meeting with President; at least they were there for a part of the training!

[...]

Before we knew it, 6 o’clock was on our heels and so we hopped in the van and sped off to our appointment with Stephanie. She lives in a cozy neighborhood not too far from the office. Alyssa was there, as well as Jeff, both from the College Oak Ward, and then another kid named Lorenzo, all of them member friends of Stephanie. Score! We started with a prayer, and then just started talking. Once we got to know her more, Stephanie opened up pretty quick. She started asking all sorts of questions, and we definitely jumped around a lot, but we had a great time. We brought up baptism and she expressed a strong desire to be baptized, despite not fully understanding the doctrine. We taught her about baptism, and even set a date of June 19th for her to be baptized!

Friday, May 28th
We went to the office before home and finalized and printed out the program for Ashley’s baptism tomorrow. It’s going to be great! I can’t wait. She’s so ready and excited too.

We texted Stephanie, but she doesn’t respond for some reason. And when I called the signal faded… very strange. Well, hopefully it’ll work out. We’d love to setup an appointment for tomorrow.

Saturday, May 29th
Well, today was awesome! Ashley’s baptism was a great success. We spent a bit of time in the office before heading off to fill up the font and get the room ready at the San Juan building. Ashley texted us before we even got there, “So are you inside?” … she got there earlier than us… and we were an hour early! But hey, I guess that’s better than really late! We arrived soon enough and shortly discovered that we did not have the keys for the font; uh oh, and the only missionaries that had them were Elder Smith and Elder Byrum, who just wouldn’t answer their phone. After some prayers and patience they finally called back, and we met them at their house and brought them, along with the keys, back to the San Juan building. I guess they were planning on coming to the baptism anyway.

It all worked out perfectly in the end. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Daniel her BF did the actual baptizing, two of Ashley’s friends sang a pretty song by Sally DeFord, and to top it all off, Ashley bore her testimony at the end. That’s always my favorite part of any baptism.

Sunday, May 30th
Another Sunday in the College Oak ward has come and gone. Ashley was confirmed by Elder Collett and he did a great job. Daniel was there assisting along with his dad. The spirit was really strong.

[...]

Stephanie wasn’t at church. I texted Alyssa about it in the morning and she said that she thinks Stephanie “might be feeling pressured” – but more from her boyfriend that she’s supposedly not with right now. It’s complicated. So yeah, even though she didn’t have work until 3, she passed on church. Well, we will just have to work this from the friend angle; she’ll come around in time. I hope.

[...]

After church we went to President and Sister Jardine’s house for dinner with them & the Assistants. The food was great; beef steak, garden salad, popovers, corn, and for dessert we had fresh strawberries on angel-food cake with whipped cream; yum. President asked Elder Collett if he wanted to know his transfer call, right there. (Yup transfers are tomorrow!) But Elder Collett said no. President will just tell him tomorrow I guess. Before we left President called the new Assistant who will replace Elder Webber; Elder Buhler. But he didn’t answer. By now I’m sure he’s called back and knows all about it!

[...]

Well, Elder Webber is packing now, he goes home in a few days and Elder Buhler will take his spot with Elder Thompson. I’ll find out who my new companion will be tomorrow. Lembi house, the office, heck the whole mission is going to be very different this next transfer. It will all be revealed soon…

Monday, May 31st (Transfer Week Begins)
Elder Collett and I went to President’s house in the morning so we could take pictures of his transfer board (and thus update our own at the office.) He gave us both our transfer “calls” there. Elder Collett is going to Elk Grove to be a DL with Elder Dalton in the Elk Grove Park & Waterman Wards. I’m staying in the office, and Elder Feusner will be the new office elder with me.

When we got to the office around 4:30pm we updated our transfer board with the APs. President Jardine arrived shortly after and helped finish to job. When we were done President sat down in that room, around 5pm, and transfer calls began. Just before he started, the new AP, Elder Buhler, arrived at the office, and helped Elder Thompson with some of the calls they needed to make. He seems happy to be the new AP, I think he’ll be great.

Five hours later President finally made his last transfer call. It was just past 10:30pm, and he was exhausted. The mission has changed a ton; almost every companionship. There are some very young new Zone Leaders too. Elder Black (Elder Webber’s boy) is probably the youngest of all. He skipped District Leader and is going to be junior ZL in North Stockton with Elder Reidhead. Elder Knudsen is also a Zone Leader. They’re great missionaries, and I know they’ll be great leaders.

Wednesday, June 1st
[...] the new missionaries. They stayed over at Lembi house last night, and it was hilarious. They are SO green… it’s a beautiful sight, especially since I remember being in their shoes… though I did come in a little differently.. After some preparation, breakfast, and the parting of the hair ceremonies, they all hopped into the big Ford 14 passenger van, “Moby”, and were off to the Deseret building. While they were oriented by President and both Senior Couples over Cars and Health, the new trainers arrived and were also given instruction by President Jardine. There was so much chaos at the Deseret building today, with departing, arriving, and transferring missionaries running all over the place! Luggage was scattered everywhere, and every other missionary coming through the office was searching the pile of mail, to see if anything was for them.

Thursday, June 3rd
The departing missionaries were up early this morning, showering and getting ready to leave. At one point they all gathered downstairs, sitting around on the couches. They read the 8th chapter of 1st Nephi as a group. When they finished reading the chapter many spoke of their feelings on how it could be understood and applied, especially to a returning missionary staying strong in the gospel. Once they finished, I said a few goodbyes, and then before I knew it, they were off to the airport in our big white van “Moby.” Lembi house was quiet again. The mission just lost some great leaders, now it’s up to us to rise to the challenge.

[...]

The rest of the day was busy. We had a lot of calls with questions on cell phones and general transfer troubles… I have also been keeping a “to do” list recently that seems to grow every hour. Elder Feusner did some work on the transfer board cards while I was in a leadership meeting (Yup, I’m the District Leader here in Carmichael now). That went well; Elder McConkie (the other DL) and I will be training tomorrow in a Zone Meeting. We’ll be talking about being cheerful in the work, and I specifically will discuss ways we can do that; the how. So that should be fun. Elder McConkie is a solid missionary, very faithful. He’s currently training one of our newest missionaries, Elder Buttars.

Sunday, June 6th

[...] I got a letter that same day from Sister Catudal, who was my seminary teacher growing up. Contained in it was my contribution to a time-capsule our class had made five years ago! There were three items inside. One was a picture of me at the time, which was hilarious because I looked hilarious, with my giant fro-like hair. Second was a list of questions and answers that I had filled out, though that wasn’t very funny because my answers were short and not very funny (“Who will be the prophet when this is opened?” – “Only God knows…” and that was the longest answer!) Third was a list of where they are now statements which was neat because it updated me on some friends I haven’t heard from in a while.

[...]

The quote of the day is “Justification is the #1 attribute of a terrestrial missionary.” – Elder Cummings.

Thursday, June 10th (Best day ever…)

Tonight night was the night that Manuel, Renae, and Sophia—three of my converts from Hurley Ward—went through the Sacramento temple and received their own endowments. It was perhaps the sweetest experience a missionary can ever have.

Before the session began Elder Groshong and I met for an exchange, and then the two of us drove up to the Sacramento Temple. It was a beautiful day, the sun shining in the sky, but a steady breeze cooling the air. We arrived on the grounds and watched as people came in and out of what I’ve been told is the “busiest small temple in the world.” Eventually we approached the entrance and went inside. We had only one issue that concerned us at that point; there were two sessions that we wanted to attend, but couldn’t because one was right after the other, and we would not be able to make it in time. The first at 6:30pm was for Renae & her husband Rob. Manuel and Sophia were going through at 8:00pm. Fortunately after talking to the temple workers, we decided on the perfect compromise. We went through the 6:30pm session with Renae & Rob, visited with them, and then waited in the Celestial room until the 8:00pm group came in. It was beautiful. To see the light and happiness in the eyes of Rob & Renae was a priceless experience. The spirit throughout the entire evening was so strong.

We spent the next two hours in the Celestial Room, just the two of us, talking quietly, praying, and reading from the scriptures. There was a temple attendant present, but otherwise we were completely alone. Though it was a long time, it seemed to us to be but a small moment, for soon we recognized that the next group would, in a matter of minutes, come in. I was so excited to see members of the Hurley Ward come in, and we greeted them warmly as they did.

Manuel came through shortly after; we embraced him, and congratulated him. Sophia followed, President and Sister Jardine, Bishop Ibey and his wife, Brother and Sister Hew Len, the Calvins, the Henshaws, and many more faithful members of the Hurley Ward. Elder Alfaro, who first found Manuel with Elder Stout over a year ago, was also there, along with Elder Pugmire, who had come to know Manuel very well after he took my place in Hurley ward last year.

I’m so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the experience I had in the temple, on that beautiful night in Sacramento California.

 — 

Well, I think that ends it all nicely. I recently saw Renae & Rob sealed, just a few days ago, along with their two children. It was amazing.

Things are going really well. I love my mission. I love the people. Till I write again, take care!

Love,
Elder Macpherson

Transfers have come and gone, I have a new and hardworking companion, Elder Feusner, and the really really busy weeks in the office are soon coming to the end, though as always, the work never finishes.

I will write more – soon. I’ve had some great experiences these last few weeks. But until then I just wanted to cry “as a voice from the dust” so y’all know I’m okay. Till next time!

With love,
Elder Hamish Macpherson

After sports were finished we setup chairs in the gym, facing the stage (a very quick process with about 200 people), and the talent show began. The talents were all awesome, and hilarious. I wish you could see the video of Elder Brimhall (aka Jack from Titanic) singing along to My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion when suddenly at a crescendo Elder Loar (aka Rose) bursts onto the stage wearing a dress and a wig… and well, you just had to be there. Or perhaps when Elder Roy ran onto the stage dressed as none other than Mario (y’know from the Nintendo games…) he’s short and stocky and it was a perfect match. The crowd went wild.

When the talents were finished we presented President and Sister Jardine with the wonderful picture collage of all the zones that I slaved away at these last few days, and they loved it. Then we had a delicious lunch provided by members in the Sacramento stake, including Sis. Montgomery, who I was so happy to see! She was the Bishop’s wife when I was in Laguna Creek 2nd Ward last year, and I just love their family. When we were finished, we all got together on the stage for a giant group picture. The whole mission, all at once! I’ll have to send that picture to my parents, it’s definitely a sight to see. As you may remember from last year’s day of unity, we all wore P-day clothes, so no suits and ties here.

The Day of Unity ended with a meeting in the chapel. The mission theme song, “Like a Disciple”, was played by Elder Logan. Then there was some time opened for testimonies, after which we heard from the mission presidency, including President Dalton and President Martinez. They spoke of unity in love and hope, and also of how much they loved being in this mission. They are great men, as is President Jardine, and with his concluding remarks we all got up and began the slow process of heading home… putting all the supplies back in the van, and finally making it back here to the office. *Phew!*

Now, I can’t finish without talking about a few more things. First, Cyanne’s baptism and confirmation was this last weekend! It was fantastic. We had the baptism at the Mormon Center, right next to the Sacramento temple. There were a ton of her friends and family there, and also members of the ward she lives in; it’s called the Sylvan ward, and it’s in the Citrus Heights stake, which, as previously mentioned, is out of our mission. The full-time Elders in that area, Elders Hadley and Boody were there, as well as Bishop Shields and one of his counselors, and were very happy to meet and welcome Cy into the Sylvan ward. The next day me and Elder Collett drove, with permission, out of the mission so I could confirm Cyanne a member of the church, and give the Gift of the Holy Ghost. That also went great! We stayed for their Sacrament meeting, and then went back to our own church building so Ashley could have her baptismal interview. She’s doing great, and is still really excited for her baptism. Oh, and for what it’s worth, Cy came to the Day of Unity and was taking pictures for us, since she has a rather nice camera. We’re really grateful for that.

The last thing I want to mention is something very special. You see, this last week I was contacted by two people. Both were taught and got baptized when me and Elder Groshong, many moons ago, were in the Hurley Ward, my first area. Remember the good times we had there? Well, they just got better, because both Manuel and Renae are taking their endowments out in the temple next month, Renae is also being sealed to her husband and family, and they would love for us to attend with them. I’m SO happy for them both. Manuel is well known, and loved, by the missionaries (and Mission President) in this mission, as I know I’ve mentioned before. And Renae and her family are just wonderful… I can’t wait to see them again. One benefit of being here in the office is that I’m a lot closer to the temple The 10th and 15th of June will be very special days indeed.

I’m so grateful for the blessings of being a missionary, I know this church is true, with every fiber of my being. Miracles still happen. I’ve been blessed to see many myself. Till next time brothers and sisters!

Love,
Elder Macpherson

So, these last few weeks have been crazy. So many things are going on, and I don’t think I’ve been driven around this much in a long time. I say this for many reasons, one of which is the fact that I’m writing this post in the passenger seat of a little ’09 Corolla we’re driving down to Lodi, California (that’s another story in itself). Almost never a dull moment I tell ya!

So yeah, even though this is the middle of the transfer period, and thus a generally more relaxed time in the office, we are still busy as bees trying to get things done. Probably the biggest thing on the horizon is the upcoming Day of Unity 2010 that I mentioned in a previous post. We’re running all over the mission taking photos of each zone, for what will eventually be a beautiful framed creation, and a gift to our awesome Mission President and his wife. We borrowed a really nice camera from Cyanne (A Canon Digital Rebel), you know, the one with the big fancy lense and all that jazz. In total we have 12 zones, plus we’ll have a picture of the office (including me and Elder Collett) as well as President and Sister Jardine smack-dab in the middle. I think it’ll look great.

Ahhh… We decided to avoid highways on the trip down, so there’s been lots of fields, animals, and country houses. Quite nice! Now we’re in Lodi. It smells like Lucky Charms here, no joke, there’s a huge General Mills factory on the outskirts! We’re definitely feeling lucky today.

In other news, Cyanne and Ashley are doing great! We’ve worked out Cy’s baptism with the Roseville Mission. She’ll get baptized in our mission, but then will be confirmed (and have her records) in Roseville. We’ll be able to go to that, so I’m very excited! I think the ward in Roseville will be kind of confused though, especially if she keeps coming to our YSA ward. But we’ll see what happens in the end. Ashley is still set for her date as well, we’re seeing her again tomorrow and we’ll probably teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So a soon-to-be Sacramento missionary called the office today with some questions before he comes out. The office sister couldn’t answer all his questions, so I got on the phone and helped out a little. (“Are hair parts really required?”, and “What sort of bag do I bring?”, etc.) — he’s from Ontario Canada and he’ll be out here in July, along with two other Canadians in his group. Yay for Canadian missionaries.

Now we’re in Stockton, California, (According to some poll it’s one of the worst places to live in the United States – for a lot of reasons) about to drop off the car we’re driving and bring the exchanged one back up to the office. We’re meeting the missionaries at there apartment, in what I hope is a reasonably safe neighborhood.

Well, we just made it out of Stockton, alive and well. Although my GPS was spazzing out and I think we took the longer way home. Oh well, whatever works! (* A few days pass *) Now, here I am, back in the office, finishing this post. Things are still going well. In our weekly office meeting this morning we talked about all the craziness coming in the next few weeks, with Day of Unity and Transfers. President asked Elder Collett if he could think of anyone for his replacement. We’re not really sure at this point. This is weird! I get to nominate my future companion. That’s a first.

Well, till next time. I hope everyone has a great week. The church is true, and this has been the best 15 months of my life!

I’ll catch y’all next week!
 Love,

Elder Macpherson