April 26, 2010

Hello Everyone,
Thanks so much for the birthday wishes all you that sent them! I wish I could email all you back, but alas...there are rules. But it was so wonderful to hear from you, it really made my day!
So we had transfer calls on Saturday and the area is staying open, Elder Jones is getting shipped out to Sheridan, WY -- cowpoke country, and I'm getting an Elder Johnson, from Fresno, CA. He's only been out for 3 months and he's still got that greenie fire a burnin' so I'm way excited to start working with him. His trainer is also one of the hardest working missionaries in the mission so he's been taught well. I'm really optimistic for this transfer and so is President Layton.
Yesterday as well as earlier last week we met some more with James and he's coming around a little again. He seemed to have some barries put up, possibly from things his church told them, but we successfully knocked them down and built him up in correct doctrines. And he actually read from the Book of Mormon, which was awesome. We assigned him to read Moroni 10 but instead he read all of Moroni, haha. But we had a great lesson with him on the last 3 verses of Moroni 10 (read them if you aren't familiar with them, they're some of the most powerful verses in scripture, in my opinion) and he's still praying and waiting for answer. So things are looking up for him.
We had stake conference yesteday and that was good stuff. The focus was on the family and how to guard it against the troubles of the day. The Dakotas are really beautiful right now with all the moisture from the melted snow and some rain we had this weekend, so everything is nice and green green green! Its great. So I'm doing well out here and am enjoying the blessings of the Lord.
I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord and what a powerful impact it has had in my life. I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is His work and He is directing it. What a blessing it is to serve the people out here and find those who are lost. I love this opportunity the Lord has given me and cherish it with my whole soul.
I hope this email finds you all well! Share the gospel with your friends and family -- they need it! We are selfish when we don't share. Sometimes its tough, sometimes its scary, but like my last mission president always said, "There's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone." It takes effort...but the joy and blessings that come far outweigh the possible discomfort of the moment. I love you all, have a great week!
Love,
Elder Fitt