Simeon Has a New Companion, a New Ward and a New (Clean) Apartment

Me with Elder Keller

Well, here I am again, and phew, it has been an interesting last few days! I got transferred to the Atlanta Ward which means out of the 6 English speaking wards here in Atlanta I will have served in 4 of them.  It seems  someone besides the Lord must need me here and I will find out who.  I am in the exact same building where they filmed "Meet The Mormons" with then-Bishop Sullivan who is now the Stake President.  Good times and I already know quite a few members there already so that is a plus. 

My new companion is Elder Keller from Preston, Idaho.  Yep, the Lord sure picks my companions well but he is an awesome young man and a state champ at wrestling (in his weight class). I also said see you later to Elder Stewart from G-town and he was super excited to be going home.  We have adjusted well since we got into our apartment last Wednesday because it was a disaster in there.  Cleaning it out was tough.  There was more garbage in that apartment than in Davy Jones locker and it was sad to see but hey it looks wonderful now!  

We found this week a super awesome gentleman by the name of Ricky who had a true concern about what makes us as members of the church different from everyone else. I proceeded to explain and did so with smoke in the air as his wife forgot the burger patties in the oven, but no smoke could have stopped the Holy Spirit from being there and that made it even more awesome. We also met a part-member family who speaks Spanish and English.  They have two teenagers who really want to do what is right. As they were giving us food (and if you do not know our wonderful Spanish members just love to feed us) the daughter said, to this question we asked, "what do you want for Christmas?"  She replied, "I already got my Christmas present ... You Two!"  Now that was special and awesome and we all felt the warmth of the Spirit when she said that.  We look forward to seeing them move forward toward being sealed in the Temple of he Lord forever in a year. 

This week as I was studying I came across Alma 17:9-11 that made me realize how blessed we are as missionaries and members to have the Restored Gospel.  It says:

Me outside of the Army reservation.  Phew, talk about protection.

 9 And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness, and they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of thetraditions of their fathers, which were not correct.

 10 And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted.

 11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

Tho the Journey was tough for these men, they trusted in the Lord and he did comfort them and promise them that despite the trials they may go through or persecutions they may face as they keep doing all that the Lord has and will ask of them, he will make them examples to the unbelievers.  It made me think of all of us as we try our best to do what we have been asked by God through his Prophet to do that as we do so we are being examples to others and will bless and change their lives and even bring many souls unto Salvation. I pray that we may never forget that the little things we do to always follow our Savior and Heavenly Father does not go unnoticed even if we never see immediate results.