August 8, 2016

Dear Family,

It's been a crazy week to say the least. Monday was pretty normal but then Tuesday! Oh my... Tuesday! So, Elder Parkinson had his exit interview that day and I thought, "Well, if President Whitney has anything to say to me about leadership he'll tell me then." Literally, I looked him straight in the eyes, shook his hand, and he didn't say anything... Then he called at 10:00pm to tell me I'm training again. I then asked him if the district leader area would be changing since this has been it for the last few transfers. Basically I was asking if I'd be district leader too. He replied, "Ya know Elder. I don't know. It's not on my list and I only know what's on my list!"

On Thursday we drove down to Hurst to the new trainer meeting. Texas traffic in the morning is always an adventure so that was fun. I asked the assistants if they were changing the district leader area at the meeting and they said yes so that was a relief. I also discovered that Elder Brinkerhoff and Elder Andreason from my MTC district are training for the second time as well. President Whitney must've felt like we needed a mid-mission boost to purge the trunky out of us. Probably true.

After the meeting we drove back to Denton and had to almost immediately leave to Decatur for a baptismal interview. I hadn't eaten much up to that point because 1. I didn't have the appetite in the morning and 2. I didn't have time in the afternoon. The sisters were kind enough to provide me with a brownie and a granola bar out of pity. We then went to dinner and taught some recent converts afterward. Then, ya know, crashed in bed.

Friday of course was the day y'all were excited for and that I didn't know what to think about. The thought might've crossed your mind, "hey, wonder what that one other guy in the family is doing right now." Well, in the morning we were planning. About the time that Eric walked off the plane I was sitting in McDonalds with Elder Parkinson and one of his recent convert friends while they tried to dump all of Elder Parkinson's iPad photos onto a hard drive. That night when I saw the photos of everyone at the airport I'll admit I was probably the most trunky and homesick I've been my whole mission. Seriously it felt like having to leave my family all over again and start a whole new mission except the decision was ten times harder because I actually know what a mission is like. I kind of started to think why am I here? Why am I here doing things that are so difficult when I could be back home with my family? It's a good question really. I decided that night that I'm here because I love God and I trust Him. Plus, from what I've heard this week, coming home seems pretty anti-climatic.

Saturday was pretty good. We taught Amy about the temple and she's super excited to go when she can. At first she said it seemed pretty ominous that you can only go if you're worthy and stuff. The last few weeks though she's realized how sacred the temple really is and now has made it her goal to prepare for the temple. She's exactly where she needs to be spiritually right now. It's awesome!

Have a good week!

Love,
Elder O'Brien (the younger)