January 24, 2011
Bob Dylan once said, "The Times They Are A'Changing". He may or may not have been talking about tomorrow. Tomorrow is Transfers. Crazy how fast that went by. I'm staying here in the Mack area. But my bud Elder Berger is leaving. Deuses (sp?). We got the call that he's getting transferred to become a zone leader somewhere else. I was pretty surprised, things are really starting to heat up here and to me it just made sense that he should stay and help keep the momentum going. The field in Mack is white already to harvest. He was hoping to leave at first because of the cold and he's been here a while, but this place is on fire now and lately he had been really hoping to stay. We didn't see any baptisms this transfer, but things are looking pretty good for the next month or so here. I'm not counting the chickens before they hatch. Just sayin, stay tuned. But ya he's gone which means I'm going to have to pick up my game and sort of lead rather than follow in the new companionship, since the new Elder won't know the area or the people. I'm trying to become a better missionary, someone who knows what the heck is going on, so this will be a chance to push myself. I was a little nervous at first when I heard he was bailing, but Pres Holmes said that one of the "very best missionaries" will be replacing Elder B. That's reassuring. Pres also said that my new comp is going to be the district leader like Elder Berger was, which is real nice - still have the car to use for the really cold days.

Speaking of cold. Detroit's getting pretty chilly. Yesterday it was 4 degrees. That's not including wind chill, so it really felt like negatives. Oh man ha. February is supposed to be the worst part of the winters, ha and it's not even February yet.

I gave a talk yesterday in the branch. The topic was temples so I was pretty pumped. I did alright, I was a little nervous about it though because I was asked to give the talk on Friday night, went on exchanges all day Saturday, and didn't get a chance to start writing down some ideas until Sunday morning. I skated by. I also taught primary again yesterday. Two weeks in a row now, last week was all of primary (don't be too impressed, it was like 6 kids) and yesterday I just taught the Valiant's (ages 9-12 or something like that?). That's been fun. The teachers haven't been at church I guess. Yesterday we had a small conversation about Dragonball Z halfway through the lesson, i guess one of the characters from the show has died a few times now and the three of us were trying to get down to the bottom of it...? Ha but we got back on track. Really smart kids. Potential in this place is mind-boggling. One of the kids in the class is 9 and he's one of our investigators. Can't wait to get baptized in a few weeks, and now he wants to go to the temple. He's been handing out pass along cards at school to his friends.

So things are pretty good here. A lot of big things coming up for the branch and the mission. Oh and some big things have been happening in the church lately too. Have you got a chance to check out mormon.org yet? They've redone the site within the last year and it's a pretty cool set up. I can't remember the talk, I think it was Elder Oaks, he talked about how a survey shows that most people in the world don't know what the mormon religion is all about and that a lot of people think we're crazy and secretive and cult-ish. The reason people don't embrace what we know to be true and real is that they don't know or understand the message. Well mormon.org is trying to show the world that we're not a bunch of crazies. We're normal, but we've been taught something unique, real, and divine. That's really what separates us all when you break it down. Literally every single person needs this, but a lot of people don't know that they need it. So our job is to share the truth we have, not force it on anyone, but take advantage of the opportunities we know we are given. The Lord will help, he's here working with each and every one of us to make things happen. It's His work. So anyways, I'd really suggest you guys take a few minutes to check out some of the videos on mormon.org and see what it's all about. Pray for opportunities to share it with someone. Pray that the Lord will help you and make you strong enough to do it. I realize I could have done a lot more to be a member-missionary before the mission. I realize now that I always had opportunities - and that a few people I can think of really needed it and would have embraced it if I gave them the chance. And I guess what the difference is now, is that I know how fun it is to do missionary work (as lame as that may sound) - and I know that if we're willing to help, the Lord will work miracles through us. If this seems like more than you're ready for or you don't have anyone to talk to (that's how I felt back home), pray for that to change. It starts with a simple desire and us acting off of that desire. and then I promise that awesome things will happen.

I've gotta go. Almost out time here. Enjoy the warmth. Love you guys.
Elder Lamb