Bell, Rigdin PT

I've officially finished with training! It's a bit of an unreal feeling to be here, but I've known it was coming for a while now. I'm grateful that I've been able to make it this far. MONDAY was an awesome p-day with the Trapp house and the zone leaders. Early in the morning, while we were deciding what we wanted to do, we got a call from the ZLs. They wanted to see if we wanted to come with them to the top of the Sandia peaks since it was the last p-day of the transfer. We didn't have a ton to do that day, so we said sure, changed into some warmer clothes, and hopped into the truck with the other Elders to meet up with the ZLs. We'd decided to meet them at a gas station not too far from the start of the road to the top of the peaks so that we could follow each other up. They'd said to meet them there at 8:30, and we were there at 8:30, but with no sign of the ZLs. Because they were taking so long, I just took the extra time to work on my emails for the ...

Another week of New Mexico on the board. Mission life can be pretty hard at times, but it's fulfilling to see the progress people are making as they accept the gospel. MONDAY, we started off with going grocery shopping, where we got to see all of the Christmas stuff they're already setting out. They're going for it early this year, not even giving Halloween a chance. Afterward, we headed back to the house to drop stuff off and then went out for zone p-day. As always, we played basketball for a couple of hours and then talked to our families for a bit before getting back to work. Because it's been getting so dark so early, we decided to spend some time just walking through a neighborhood and try to talk to anyone we saw outside. I actually saw a shooting star for the first time while we were walking around. It was pretty cool to watch it go across the sky and then just disappear. At the end of the night when we were about to head home, we happened upon someone who said t...

This week was pretty fun because I got to really see the better side of Albuquerque for once. I also got to see a ton of missionaries this week, so I had to learn a ton of new names. Probably going to forget a lot of them over the next few weeks, but I've got 2 years to learn them all, so I think I've got time. MONDAY started off with all the missionaries in the Trapp house (that's the name of the house out here, I don't know why) getting up at around 5:30 so we could get ready to leave for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. The Balloon Fiesta is probably one of the biggest things happening in Albuquerque throughout the year, and all the northern zones were given special permission from our mission president to attend it this year on our p-day. When we got to the site, the Fiesta had already started, so there were a couple of balloons already in the air, but we were still able to watch a ton of balloons go up and enjoy ourselves. Because all the northern zones were given p...

Double digits! It's felt like a quicker journey than I thought it would be, but that doesn't mean I haven't gained a lot during that time. This week was a bit slower than some of the others, now that I'm getting used to the daily routine, but that happens to everyone sometimes. MONDAY started off with all four of us elders hopping into the truck and driving to a member's house. This time wasn't for service or a lesson but instead was for us all to get some haircuts. This member had apparently been giving haircuts to the missionaries for a while, and since I hadn't had my haircut since before I went to the missionary training center, I definitely needed one. All of us ended up getting our hair cut, so we were able to talk with the member for a while, which was cool. Afterwards, we all went shopping and did zone P-day, where they played a ton of basketball as usual. Later, when we went back to tracting, it was dark enough where we got to see a ton of stars, co...

Another week of new experiences has been added to the list. The general conference weekend has come and gone, and I'm feeling all the more excited because of it. Some fun stuff happened, and some not so fun things happened, but it all helps me to grow. MONDAY wasn't the most interesting day this week, but it was very restful. It had been decided by our zone leaders that we'd be doing District P-day instead of a zone P-day, so it was just the six of us elders in the East Mountain District. But that didn't really happen either because the other Elders in our house still had COVID and were quarantined, as well as the other two not in our house were almost an hour away. Because of all this, we just ended up staying at the house and hanging out all P-day. I spent most of the time just talking with my family and taking care of some odds and ends around the house. Afterwards, my companion and I cut P-day a little short so that we could go have a lesson with someone that we had...