Week 67: Close to Home‏

I didn't sleep very well on Monday Night. We had just overloaded on a birthday cake made for Elder Linford...and the sugar rush and my nerves were buzzing so hard that they gave me a type of insomnia. Where was I going to go, who was I going to go with?

Questions like these could only be answered by time.

Tuesday morning, a taxi appeared in front of our house in Santa Barbara, ready to take us back to Montufar for the change meeting. The ride was short, and my two companions maintained themselves relatively quiet, each of us occupied ourselves by staring out the window and thinking about the future. All I could do was pretend to feel ready enough for the future.

We arrived and I greeted all of my friends, once again the chapel was full of Elders and Hermanas alike, and the hallways were filled with reunions and speculations.

It was also Elder Gil's last day of his mission.

As tradition, he passed forward to the pulpit at the beginning of the meeting to bear his testimony to the congregation. I was really sad to see my good Mexican buddy go home...but I am proud to say that he fought a good fight and I know that the Lord will bless him throughout his whole life for it.

After that....the changes started. One by one each new companionship was united and sent out of the room with their new zones.

Surprisingly...my new zone, isn't so new after all.

"In Zona San Cristobal," Elder Webb said from the pulpit, "in Panorama 1, Elder Simoni receives a new District Leader, Elder Monson." 

I was a little bit stunned... like, my mind was saying, "What?!?!" I just got sent to the other side of the street from San Cristobal! I am in the same zone, same district and everything! I even go to the same church building on Sundays! We drove by my new area on the way to the meeting!

It was rather dramatic.

But that's not to say that it's a bad change at all. My new companion is awesome, he's from El Salvador and has been in the mission for 9 months. I had already gone on divisions with him the previous week anyways. He's a really fun companion to have, and he makes Missionary work much more enjoyable.

We spent the week knocking on all the doors that we could. It was refreshing to feel like I can truly make a difference here in this area! Panorama is just a few kilometers away from my old area and yet it's totally different. It's still urban and there's still a lot of closed colonies and closed off people but...nothing is the same.

And being district leader I feel immensely blessed to have such an incredible district to help the work of the Lord advance! We are 4 companionships, two in San Cristobal and two in Panorama, four elders and four sisters, four north Americans and four Latin Americans. It's a fun group. I am so excited to start off a brand new change and a new area....we'll see what we can do!

I also finished the Book of Mormon this week, and guess what?  ...it's true! I was able to testify of the divinity of this book and how it has helped my family to be united!

Stay Classy,

Elder Monson

temple trip from last February 2014