Bell, Rigdin PT

Merry CHRISTmas, everyone! I hope y’all all had a great week and that it was a happy time for everyone. Because last week's email was a bit weird, this one is too. It'll just go from Tuesday to Sunday, but I've managed to find some stuff to talk about. TUESDAY: President Willis' kids were in town for the holidays and wanted to play pickleball, so we went to the church and played with them and some other missionaries. And as you'd expect of a very recent return missionary and a guy who lives in Utah, they were pretty good. After all that fun, we went up to Las Cruces for a combined Christmas party with all the missionaries on the west side of El Paso, all the missionaries in Las Cruces, and all the missionaries from Silver City. It was a ton of fun, with us going caroling at rest homes, having a talent show, dinner, some party games, and even a devotional reading of the Christmas story. It was a ton of fun, and I really enjoyed meeting a lot of the missionaries who I...

Don't worry, I didn't miss a week; we just had our p-day moved to Christmas Eve! This email will be slightly longer, but next week's will be a bit shorter. MONDAY we made cookies with our district before everyone got together for p-day. We didn't have a mixer, so they just made me use my hand to mix the dough. TUESDAY we had a couple of really good lessons with some of the people we met. I also had a meeting with all the other social media trainers in the mission to help get them prepared for the new transfer. WEDNESDAY nothing went as we planned. We had everything set up a certain way that morning during daily planning, and by the end of the day, our schedule was completely different! THURSDAY I took a bit of time getting some presents and letters ready for my last and current mission presidents. FRIDAY we woke up with no hot water in the apartment, which really sucked when we had to get showered! This last transfer had mixed up the zone a bunch, so I had a good time g...

My first full transfer back in El Paso is done! And the new transfer is exactly the same because Elder Fetuao and I are both staying in Redd Ward. MONDAY was a bit of a boring P-day, but we managed to have some fun playing wiffle ball with the zone. The best part was when Sister Willis showed up, and we convinced her to take a swing. That night, we went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner because some of our members had given us a gift card for it. TUESDAY was a really fast day, but nothing really happened other than tracting going by quickly. WEDNESDAY, we went and helped out at the farm in the morning. We had a ton of work to do rolling up and putting away these farming tarps and pulling stakes out of the ground. THURSDAY was just cold and boring, so it was a rough day. FRIDAY, Elder Fetuao had a pretty good plan for District Council, where he had us go out finding and call a member to help us teach whoever we found. The elder I was paired with and I didn't find anyone, but it was ...

Something that was notable for the whole week was that we had a pickup or drop-off dinner every single day. Not something I've had before, so it was a bit weird not interacting with a bunch of members during the week. MONDAY the mission office set up an activity painting Christmas ornaments for the tree in the office. It was fun, and I can confidently say that my artistic abilities have not improved at all since coming on the mission. TUESDAY Elder Fetuao got sick, so I decided to just sleep and read the Bible all day. WEDNESDAY we had zone conference! I really enjoyed it because it was the first time in about 3 months that I was able to get together with so many missionaries. I got to see a couple of my past companions and even President Riley for Monahans! THURSDAY we had interviews with President Willis. Mine was really quick like normal, but apparently, they ended up getting super behind on schedule. FRIDAY we went out finding with a service missionary in our ward in the mornin...

Welcome to December, everyone! Are y'all ready to listen to Christmas music 24/7 for 30 days? Not the most interesting week, but we had Thanksgiving, so now it's fine to have Christmas decorations up. MONDAY we spent our proselytizing time in a trio because the Fort Stockton zone leaders were in town for a meeting and needed something to do until the next day. The one we were with had served in the area before, so we went around and let him say hi to some of the people he taught when he was here. That night was crazy because almost all the missionaries in our zone showed up at our apartment and started wrestling for some reason. TUESDAY I was still feeling sick, so we stayed home and rested again. WEDNESDAY we got a new car because the one we were driving was apparently old enough for them to cycle it out. After that, I got put into a trio for the day with two other missionaries who were sick so Elder Fetuao could go out and work. Make sure to wash your hands, y'all. THURSD...

It wasn't quite the best week because I spent a lot of it feeling under the weather, but we still managed to have some fun and get some work done. MONDAY we had all the normal p-day activities like sports and games. It's pretty cool having p-day at the same building as the mission office because you're able to just go and talk with the senior missionaries if you want or just randomly see President and Sister Willis. It's also been starting to get pretty cold around here when it gets dark, which I personally don't like too much. TUESDAY I finished reading the Book of Mormon for the second time on my mission. It's really satisfying to be able to read through it and see what you learned on the first go-through and compare it with what you learned on the second. Also, a pretty high point for my week is that on this day, everyone in the apartment but me got buzz cuts. It's pretty fun because none of them are happy with it after the fact. WEDNESDAY we did a Book o...

First full week in the new area! I've met some pretty cool members and taught some pretty cool people the gospel, so I've really enjoyed this week. MONDAY we spent a good chunk of time hanging out at Goodwill because the zone leaders wanted to do some thrift shopping. It was a little funny being there because something like half the zone showed up without anyone saying anything to each other. I didn't need anything, so that was when I wrote most of last week's email. TUESDAY wasn't anything really special. We just did weekly planning and tracted a bunch. WEDNESDAY we had planned an exchange, but before we started it, we went to an all-you-can-eat taco place with a bunch of other missionaries. I asked Elder Fetuao later, and he said that he ate 26 tacos. The exchange was really fun because the elder I was with had also served in Taos, and we just spent a lot of time when we were walking or driving, just talking about Taos. THURSDAY was a weird day because we had lunc...