The Legend of the First English-Speaking Elder to Serve in the Lowell Ward

Elder Butters, my new companion

The "greenie" cake

Okay, the title is a little more "epic sounding" than this email actually is, BUT things are going really well with my "greenie" here in Lowell. His name is Elder Dallin Butters, from Bountiful, UT - he's 6'5" (a whole half a foot taller than me!) and he's a really great guy. Easy-going, chill, hard working, and happy. We're getting along really well, and I'm excited to have him as my "son!" Aside from my deeply personal prayers, I don't think I've ever prayed so earnestly in my life as I have preparing for my new missionary to get here. I want to give my all and be the best companion and trainer I can be for him, while learning all that he has to offer and teach me as well. I so badly want him to be successful, almost as if he really is my own son. Training is a really special experience, and I'm grateful for the call to do so.

I baked a cake for Elder Butters the night before he got here, and dyed the batter green! I frosted it with choclate frosting, and surprised him after we had lunch on his first day. When he cut into it and got his piece out (the first piece, of course), he freaked out that it was green. Get it? He's a "greenie"...haha! I thought I was being terribly clever. It's crazy how I've only been with him for a few days and I already love the guy as a brother. I guess that sort of thing happens when you're serving the Lord and laboring with someone to serve other people. Powerful friendships are forged in the mission field, and I've made many friends with other missionaries here so far.

It's been a bit of an odd start to Elder Butters' mission, since we had to take the car down to the auto body shop that the mission uses in Natick (about an hour's drive or so from here). There's a dent from an unknown source in the front right side of the car (remember the story from about 3 weeks ago?), which is now getting fixed. It didn't impair the functioning of the car, but I guess the Church likes to keep its vehicles in good condition since they're constantly selling the "old" ones (I think the oldest car in the mission is either a 2009 or a 2010 model) and purchasing new ones. Despite not having a car, we've been working hard and having a good time. I took Elder Butters out tracting on Saturday afternoon - he did a pretty great job! We got a couple of potential investigators, including someone who let us in to start teaching him right then and there, so that was cool.

The work is always progressing, even if it's at a slower rate than other areas. One of our investigators' father passed away about a month ago, and she had the funeral and post-service luncheon this weekend. She had the funeral at her current church, and the luncheon at our church building, so we helped set up and clean up for that. Another one of our investigators committed to baptism - Elder Butters extended the invitation, of course, and did a much better job in the lesson than he gives himself credit for. In reality, we as the missionaries are merely the conduits for the teaching of the doctrine, but the real learning and testifying comes through the Spirit. It's such a privilege to be serving the Lord as instruments in His hands to bring to pass His will for this area.

All of that being said, I'm now the only Cambodian Elder here - translation of sacrament meeting each week falls to me, and only me. It's been a great opportunity for my language skills to grow, though, and it's actually getting to be kind of fun!

I had this feeling yesterday that we should be focusing more on the Heritage Park Ward (the singles' ward that we cover in addition to the Lowell Ward). I'm not sure how exactly we'd go about finding investigators specifically for the HP ward, but we're going to give it our best shot. The only thing that immediately occurs to my mind is to go and visit each member of the ward, but they live all over the stake, some as far as 2 hours from here, and we simply don't have the miles to accomplish that. Despite potential difficulties in this work, we're going to press forward, because I feel the Spirit urging us to do so. We have a fantastic ward mission leader who was just called a couple weeks ago, and he's been doing a fantastic job in his calling already. We're working closely with him to come up with ways to help build and strengthen the ward.

Soon, I'll be hitting the mark of one full year of missionary service. It's hard to believe that I've been a missionary for that long already; it seems like it's gone by so quickly. Knowing that, I'm sure my second year will pass all too quickly as well, which breaks my heart to think about. It also makes me want to get off of this computer and get out there and work even harder. I pray that the Lord will bless us as we seek those whom He has prepared to receive His gospel, and that we may be able to fulfill our purpose here in this area.

With much love,
Elder Justin DeLong