Transfers / New Mission President Arrives

President and Sister Harding

The Hardings have arrived with their family.  They have a nine year old son and 24 year old daughter with them.  A son just left this week for his mission, and a daughter was married in June.

They have a married son who just finished law school in California who will live in their home in Bountiful.  He has only been married a month, but he and the new bride were here for the "meet the missionary" meetings Friday.

It will be interesting to see how this all comes together.  We have come to really respect what our young Elders do in their leadership roles as Assistants to the President and Zone leaders.  They are really amazing, and I'm sure the President is so grateful they are there.

Wednesday was transfer day.  Our District lost only one young Elder.  We were glad that everyone else was staying.  We all have people we are teaching, and wanted to have a little more time.  It is fun to be with the young missionaries.  They can be silly, but they know when to attend to business.

Today they brought cake, balloons and gifts for my birthday - like a small picture album to keep pictures of all the Elders, and a small framed picture of the temple, and a small smelly candle from the dollar store.  I thought they were cute and thoughtful.  The cake was a delicious homemade lemon cake that one of the members gave them and they shared it with us - perfect!

Elder Darrow is transferring to a small town north west of Atlanta,  He has practically memorized the Preach My Gospel manual.  He is a lot of fun, but his contributions in meetings are always meaningful.  He has a way of cutting away all the fluff and stating the heart of the discussion in a simple way.  He always went out of his way to help us and make us feel welcome.  We will miss him!

See how much fun we have together!

Elders Darrow, Bodkin, Brownlow and Williams

Sister Tateanna is brand new from the MTC.   She is from one of the islands in Micronesia, and is still learning to speak English.  She says they don't really have last names there, so she uses her father's first name.  Sister Lanier is a patient, wonderful trainer.  She is really steady, and the two sisters provide a good fun- loving balance for the young Elders in our District.