We have an amazing missionary in our zone, I will call him Elder D. He came out on a mission and realized that he could not serve because he needed to take care of some things. He went home and repented, worked hard and returned to the mission field. He is a wonderful, thoughtful missionary. He shows great maturity and empathy. He was given the choice of whether to leave this transfer or wait until the November transfer, he decided to stay. Tuesday was transfer day. The transfers are communicated on Sunday night. They have Monday to pack, clean and get ready. On Monday, President Chesnut received a call from Salt Lake that there was another missionary coming in with the missionaries from the MTC. He explained that transfers had already gone out, could the missionary wait until November? He was told, ”No”. He talked with the assistants, they had a prayer and he told them he needed a few minutes to decide where to put the missionary. When they got back together they decided that the new missionary would be put with Elder D and his companion. It was an “out of the ordinary” decision. Elder D and his companion were told to come to the Mission Office to pick up the new Elder the next day. The new missionaries are given their companions in a little ceremony. It’s a pretty special moment when they meet their trainer. Elder D stood up and became very emotional. He was crying so hard that he couldn’t speak. The new missionary walked towards him and pulled something out of his pocket and gave it to Elder D. They then embraced, both of them crying. Elder D was this missionary’s trainer 17 months ago, before President Chesnut was here. This Elder had only been out for 2 weeks and was struggling and Elder D realized he needed to go home. He recognized that the Elder needed to repent and work on some things. He gave the young Elder one of his name badges and said, “Go home and work hard, like I did, and bring this back to me”. That Elder had carried the name tag in his pocket for 17 months. He brought it back to him. If Elder D had gone home this transfer they would have never met. Elder D will now continue to be this Elder’s trainer. One of President Chesnut’s past Assistants said, “We move the names around on the board, The Lord provides the miracles”.
The Gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
Picture: Can you tell which cookies I decorated and which Elder Hardman did?
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