January 8, 2024
Hey Everyone!
I've finally made it to the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission! They call it the 1M mission, one in purpose, one in mission. So far it's been a blast. I've met my trainer, Elder Parkin, and we've been sent all the way up to Ashland, Wisconsin. Driving here literally felt like I was driving from Salt Lake to Pinedale. We even passed a little town in the middle that looked almost exactly like Kemmerer. But let's take a step back.
Our last few days in the MTC were quite interesting. We started having to say goodbye on Wednesday, with Elder Gossman being sent off to Manchester, England. Dude didn't even pop into class before he was taken to the airport! Rude, but we love him anyways and I know he'll do great things. Then almost all but 3 of us were scheduled to leave on Thursday. We had a couple of touching classes with Sister Brinkerhoff and Sister Bitton, and we had a little testimony Wednesday night before we all said goodbye. Needless to say, there were some tears shed, but we're all definitely getting together again after the mission.
Friday was the day. Got up at 3:30 in the morning just to make sure we were ready to move our stuff. Elder Butterfield was the last one Elder Timothy and I got to say bye to. Such an awesome guy! I was expecting to have to do the obstacle course that was the UTA route to the airport, which was a bus, to the frontrunner, to trax. But we got lucky and bussed to the airport instead. I was so thankful for that. My bags were gonna be a pain!
When we landed here, we finally met President and Sister Gochnour. They're pretty cool people. I can tell they are here for a reason. President is great at giving advice to be able to start out this journey and Sister Gochnour just radiates the love she has for all of us here. Minnesota is pretty cool, but I will say the lack of mountains around is a little sad. I will be so happy to see those mountains again when I come home, but that's not what's important. We got a little tour of Minneapolis from the APs and then got our trainers and areas the next day. I even somehow ran into another Pinedale person! Apparently I was put in the same mission as Sister Criddle. When I told some of the Senior Missionaries that I was from Pinedale, they asked if I know the Criddles, and I was like, "I know that name!" I haven't seen her since she was in high school, so that was so cool!!!
We have a little branch under us here in Ashland. Literally less than 30 people in attendance, but you can tell those people are committed. We had a lesson with a prospective baptism pretty much right after church, and it took 45 minutes to drive out her place. Angeliqe is such a cool person, she even got up and bore her testimony twice. The last missionaries had her on date for next, but had forgotten to teach a few things. The only problem was that those things kinda caused her baptism to be pushed back. We thought we had broken the news pretty well, but about 30 minutes after we had left, she called us and called off her baptism. Even though I hadn't had a connection with her before yesterday, it really stung to see someone that seemed so committed give it up. We are holding out hope for her to come around, so keep her in your prayers if you could.
Ok, that's enough from me. I just wanna testify to y'all that the Lord knows and loves you. He know what you need, and even if the trial you're going through might feel like it's too much, it's never too much for Christ and His matchless love for each and everyone of us. He will never leave us comfortless. Just like He says in John 14:18. I love you guys, have a fantastic week!!!
Sincerely,
Elder Buchanan
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