New area and companion

First of all, this last week was transfer week. That is why my preparation day has been on Tuesday, but now it's back to Monday again. I mentioned last week that I was leaving Miami, and I didn't know where I was going. Well, now I know. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to go to a new area and to be with a new companion. I thought that there was no chance that I would leave Miami this transfer, but I'm glad that I did.

My new companion is Elder Van Wagenen. He is awesome, in every way possible. We get along really well, because we have such a similar personality and such similar interests. For example:

- We both like programming.

- We both like Minecraft.

- We both like reading. (Our favorite author is Brandon Sanderson.)

I also like him because he is funny and he is a great missionary. He is a great example, he wants to help everyone he sees and he is constantly striving to improve.

I left my camera in Miami, unfortunately, so I don't really have any pictures, other than his mission picture, which I'll attach to this email.

My new area is the Boynton Beach North (Creole) area. This area is the only Creole area that is a bike area. The rest all have cars. I have been apprehensive about the new area, because of that. Riding bikes all day long is tiring, even if you are in a flat area like Florida.

This week my companion and I had a real problem with laziness. Part of the problem was that in our area, we have an excuse to wait in a lot of cases, because we are on bikes. So we waited, and we don't get any work done because we didn't use that time wisely. For example, we didn't spend the time thinking about our investigators, or planning lessons, or thinking about how we could make our days more productive. Instead, we used that waiting time to talk about unrelated subjects (such as games that we played before our missions). We became distracted, and we were not focused on our purpose. This contributed to not getting much work done throughout the week, and it is also caused us to not be exactly obedient in getting home on time, and getting out of the apartment on time.

This laziness is something that neither of us wants in our area, and we are looking to do better this week. We have made several resolutions that will help us to keep working, such as not talking about personal matters until after we finish planning each night. If we keep that conversation out of each day, then we can spend more time focused on the work, and we will have more motivation to get to work and to be obedient. The area suffered a lot because of this last week, and we will not let it happen again.

Yesterday, we were privileged to witness the two baptisms from the other Elders' area in our ward. We had the opportunity to teach the people who were there about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was an immensely spiritual experience. One of the people being baptized even started to cry. (Not really a goal, but always a plus.)

Thanks,

Elder Slade