So lots of exciting things have been happening here in Oklahoma! Transfers, new area, new companion, new district, new missionaries. How many new things are there going to be each transfer? It is ok though because I really needed to have some things change.
It really sounds like things have been going well since the wedding got over. I am still waiting for that tie that Kelsey said she was going to send to me to wear so I could at least somewhat feel like she thought about me during all the wedding excitement. I did get the pictures that you sent through email. They all looked very nice. Braeden could have used a haircut before the wedding though. It is really exciting to have another sister married. Luckily at this point I won't have to worry about missing and nephews or neices being born without me.
Things sound like they are going well with soccer. I didn't know that Darcy and Emmie were going to be playing on two teams. That is really exciting though. They are definitely good enough to be playing at that level though. I will just let you know right now that you won't have to update me on the France Honduras match that happened yesterday. We went to visit a family we have been working with and we got there just before the end of the game. TV can be such a big distraction as a missionary. I don't know if I have ever said that before, but it really can be a distraction.
Ok now to answer all of your questions about everything. So my new companion's name is Elder David Tanner. He came out to the mission the same time that Elder Birch did so he has been out for a little over 10 months now. He lives in Centerville and went to Viewmont with Elder Birch. I was just showing him pictures of Kelsey's wedding and he knows Uncle Gary. So that was pretty cool. He has only been here in Anadarko for one transfer so he is still pretty new to the area. Elder Tanner is a great missionary! I have really enjoyed getting to work with him so far. We are going to have a really good transfer.
Anadarko is a really great area! It is definitely different then the other areas I have served in. There are a lot of Native Americans that live in this area. One of the members here said that there are seven different distinct Native American tribes living here in the Anadarko area. It has been really cool. There are a lot of other reasons that this is a special area to be in. Satan is really working hard in Anadarko to stop the work from progressing and a good amount of it comes from the perspective that is spread around the mission about Anadarko. At transfers I heard so many negative things about Anadarko from other missionaries, but I have yet to see any of those things. Anadarko is a great area though! There are so many good things that are going on here. There are so many things I want to tell you about the area, but they are all so special that it would be hard to do over and email. I can tell you though that the Lord has an amazing plan for this area and that is why Satan is working so hard here to stop that work from progressing. I really can tell that there are great things that are going to happen.
So last night I had a pretty cool experience at the end of the evening that I thought you might like to hear about. So since I am District Leader every Sunday evening I call the other companionships in the District and get their numbers for the key indicators from the past week. In our case here there is only one other companionship that is in our district so I called the Sisters and got their numbers. So after I had all of the district's numbers I called to Zone Leaders to report numbers to them. I started out by telling them the goals that our district had set for the upcoming transfer and when I gave them the Sister's transfer goals they asked me what I thought about their goal for how many members presents the Sisters had thought the could get. I told them I thought the Sisters goal could have been higher so on and so forth with the conversation until the Zone Leaders suggested that I should think about calling the Sisters and tell them that as their District Leader I thought that they could do better then the goal they had set and to maybe rethink their goal and possibly set a new one, or I could do what I had thought of doing and just encourage them throughout the transfer and try to help them exceed their goal. It seemed kinda like the Zone Leaders wanted me to go with the first option to try and get them to reset their goal, but I didn't really feel good about that and it wasn't what I wanted to do, so I told the ZL's that I was just going to engourage the Sister to exceed that. I really felt like that was the best solution and that is what would get the best results. After I told the Zone Leaders this Elder White spoke up and told me that they both had felt the Spirit testify to them that that was the right desision to make. I thought it was quite amazing how it all worked out and to have been able to see that the Spirit was there to help me decide what to do. I am so grateful that I had the Spirit to help guide me to make the right choice.
Things went well for Elder Tanner and I this week. We were able to see quite a few of our invesitgators and some of the other people we have been working with. We had several experiences where we saw that being in the right place at the right time was an answer to prayer. We had a lot of good lessons and good visits. I am really enjoying this area! Like I have already said there are a lot of good things happening!
Thank you for all that you guys do for me! I hope you all have a great week with soccer, work and everything else you are going to do! Be safe.
Love Elder Cameron Woodward
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