Word.

This week History has been made. We finally achieved the Missions Standard of Excellence! This is a first not only for this area, but the zone, as well as a new personal record. The Standard of Excellence are the base goals that we strive for as set by President Pitt in the areas of Finding, teaching and setting people with Baptismal dates. Not only did we meet it, but we exceeded it. But it was not so much that we are any good, rather that we were favoured and blessed of the Lord this week. We picked up and taught 4 new people, each with a strong desire to learn more and feel closer to God. At the start of the week we had set up 3 of these people to begin teaching. Then one day while we were filling time during a missed appointment I spotted a student who I knew wasn't a member. It'd been the first time I'd seen her since the beginning of the school year so I struck up a conversation. Assuming that she was a member, Elder Holder straight out asked if we could meet with her. Without missing a beat she agreed! Without knowing it, she'd also attended General Conference and felt really good about going. Somethings you just can't plan out that well, but The Lord is pretty darn good at it. Its so exciting to be serving right now. 

This morning we Got up early to go to the Butler home where newly called "ELDER Wesley Butler" was getting his suitcases together for his flight to Salt Lake City. He reports to the MTC on Wednesday. He gave a stellar talk yesterday. Elder Holder and I talked before him but he straight up blew us out of the Water. I'm excited to hear what great things he'll do as he serves in the Los Angeles Mission, Spanish speaking. It almost makes me wish I was just going out instead of going home. 

I did celebrate a little bit of Canadian Thanksgiving. One of our ward mission leaders is Canadian and after our Coordination on Monday he took us down to Subway where I got a Turkey Sandwich. Even with that I still felt pretty Grateful for everything God's given me. 

It looks like this week shouldn't be too out of the ordinary. We have a zone meeting but we're holding it in Buena Vista and afterwards I'm going on exchanges but staying here. The following week however is pretty messed up. We have President interviews on Monday, which means P-Day and emails will be pushed till Tuesday, then on Wednesday half the mission is meeting in Roanoke to hear Elder Scott D. Whitting of the 70 to speak to us. I'm pretty stoked. He spoke in General conference about Temples. Then in the following weeks will be more exchanges and at the end of the month another trip to Charleston for what will be my last Zone Leaders Council. Its going to be a wild ride to the end and I'm going to love every minute of it!

Love Yall,

Elder Sunada

The Beginning of the End.‏

Howdy!

Here it is. I thought perhaps this day would never come. Tomorrow is the first day of my last Transfer!!!...Gosh darn. But the good news is that I'll be staying here with Holder. Elder Turner and Parker will also be staying. But...ELDER WILDER IS MOVING IN JUST A FEW DOORS DOWN WITH ELDER BUTLER!!! I'm so happy that I'll be serving near him. I'll have 2 of the greatest companions together!! So I'm pretty stoked for that. 

This past week was another fun one. Elder Holder and I managed to pull off a decent zone meeting in Roanoke, then I got to travel up to Blacksburg with Elder Morgan. The VT Campus has a very different feel. For one its a lot larger. And its a technical school so most of the students are engineers. I did my best to keep up with them but I don't know much about nano technologies or biomolecular compounds and things of that nature. It was a fun time but It was good to be back in little old BV where kids just talk about Dante's inferno. I think I can keep up with that. 

The rest of the week went on pretty normal. Lots of appointments. Lots of meetings. Saturday I was getting a bit warn down with everything. Just having one of those days where you do lots but wonder if it meant anything. Thankfully Heavenly Father knows when we're going through rough times and knows who to send to cheer me up. Also Sunday was such a good day! There were some wonderful testimonies born and I felt the spirit pretty strongly throughout the day. We had a lesson right after church with a girl who told us that she felt her faith was growing and she could trust God. She still had bad days, but had a determination to do be happy no matter what. Felt good to know that we had helped her along. 

So Overall it was a pretty crazy week. Oh!! Today we went hiking with Wes Butler. But it was raining and we got pretty soaked. We went to a place called the Devils Marble Yard. Pretty much just a big bolder field along the valley side. It felt great to get some rock under my feet and to know that I could still get around up there. I didn't even feel that out of breath. But Maybe I'll just be feeling it tomorrow. 

Well I think thats all I got for now. I love yall and Can't wait to here from you Before I get home ;)

Elder Sunada

Four Strong Winds‏

Hey Folks!

Good Gracious I love being a missionary. It always seems to be getting better. Or maybe its because I'm getting so old in the field that these days just seem to be golden. 

I'm starting to feel a little bit like a traveling missionary as well. Lynchburg one week. Then Charleston. Roanoke this past week. And Blacksburg tomorrow! Yup. Found out that 2 new areas have been unofficially added to the YSA Zone. The Blacksburg YSA Elders and the Morgantown University Elders now fall into our jurisdiction for spiritual guidance and direction in the work of Young Single Adults. The best part? They still report their numbers to their local zone leaders. More connections without the added responsibility of tedious administrative work! :) I'm a happy camper about that. 

We decided to hold our next district/zone meeting in Roanoke tomorrow, so that afterwards I could do an exchange to Blacksburg. I've only ever been there in passing so this will be my first experience with the city. For those of you who don't know, Blacksburg is the home of Virginia Tech. Go Hokkies! Sadly Morgantown (West Virginia University--Go Couch Burning?) is nearly 7 hours away so no exchanges planned there anytime soon. However we are looking into meeting with them Via Skype. Pretty sweet stuff. But with all of this going on it will also mean Elder Holder and I will have to sacrifice part of our P-day to prepare. 

As for the work in our area, we picked up a new investigator. Greg is a 6"8 african american who plays ball at the school and beat boxes for the schools featured singing group "Fading Point". You betcha bottom Dollar I'm loving it! He could seriously facepalm my entire head with his hands. 

The rest of the Elders have been picking up new investigators as well. During my Exchange with Elder Raffenspargar, who's still in his first transfer of the mission, we saw huge success in Roanoke. I was able to to teach with him to a Recent Convert, a golden Self Referral, a member who's going to hook them up with some more referrals, and setting up another appointment to pick up a former. Its happened time and time again. The Lord Uses exchanges to get missionaries excited for the work to keep em going strong. He was almost bouncing in his seat by the end of our exchange yelling "I love being a missionary"!! I do too. Its hard to count how many ways being here has blessed my life. I hope that others will be able to see the changes that I feel. Don't worry, there's still plenty enough of the old me that I wont be hard to recognize. Just less of the junk in the mind and a little more in the trunk. JUST KIDDING.

Anyways, one more week left in the transfer. One more Transfer left in the mission. And every day I still think to myself,

ITS A GREAT DAY IN THE KINGDOM!

Elder Sunada

Back to School!‏

Hey Everybody! 

Its been a pretty action packed week. Every first week of the month is usually pretty busy anyways and there's always something that makes it crazy. This week was no exception. Monday's Family Home Evening in YSA wards was a Marshmallow battle using cut up lengths of PVC pipes. Needless to say the Elders Dominated though I had several sticky spots which I had to clean off afterwards (The only way to get the marshmallows to fly well is to give them a slight lubricant...). Then It was early to bed, and much earlier to rise. We got up at 4:30 am to make the 400 mile round trip to Charleston for our Monthly Zone Leader Council. This time I was actually a Zone leader instead of a guest.  I also meant that Both Elder Holder and I had to do a heck of a lot more. 

Wednesday we had booked up almost full from appointments set on Sunday and we ended up teaching 7-8 lessons throughout the day. By this point many of the students, especially the freshmans, had signed into their dorms. Thursday was a painfully long day of planning. There is even more to plan for now. We had to prepare for our area, as well as for our Zone/District meeting the following day. Three hours directed between the two of us. There was a lot to cover and I was pretty nervous about going into it. But Friday morning we got up early again and made the trip to Lynchburg to meet with the other Elders. Surprisingly I think it went pretty well. I was much relieved when it was over. It was also helpful to get to know the new Elders in the Zone. We have pretty solid bunch and I'm excited to know I can trust them to work well in the area's they've been assigned too. That evening was SVU's freshman welcome party. This included many booths, an mechanical bull, Roof repelling, karaoke, blow up Sumo Suits, and many other stations. It was great to finally see the campus bustling again with students. 

Saturday we packed up early again to make our way over to the Washington & Lee campus in Lexington. It was their freshman check-in and the school had set up a local religious area where we were invited to set up a booth and make the students aware of our presence. The booth was kinda slow, Maybe we should have parked farther away from the Jehovah's Witnesses. But Elder Holder and I Reverted to the Ammon Approach by helping students carry baggage up to their dorms. We were able to talk to many more people this way. That night we had a great lesson with Navi. We'll get him one of these days!

Sunday was just as busy as all the other days combined. I think it will be a common occurrence for us to be at church from 8AM to 4:30 PM. Our evenings have been equally as busy with many appointments and firesides. 

Monday was Labour day. Apparently that has been a historically significant day for Buena Vista, particularly in an election year. Back in the Day, BV used to be a bustling little town where politicians started their political campaigns. Now years later, The glory of the town has passed, but the people still seem to make a big day of it and have a parade and fireworks. We used to opportunity to get some cards passed out seeing as the local politicians were passing out so many of their own tracts. It was crazy to see how many thousands of signs (and thousands is no exaggeration) were posted along the parade route and around the town. American Politics... Thank heavens I don't have to pick sides or vote here. It was pretty wild. But we got through it and spent the rest of the day visiting students and bishops. 

One Crazy Week. I need a nap. But I'm grateful to be so busy and to be so useful to the Lord here. I couldn't think of a better cause to wear myself out in. 

I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Sunada

Amish Cupboard...yum!

GAHHHH MIND MELTING.

So Its been a pretty stressful week. But In a good way. Elder Gurney made his rounds and we visited a lot of people (He'd been in the area 9 months) then Got up early Wednesday morning and headed out. Elder Weitz was assigned to me until my future companion showed up. We spent most of the day declutering our apartment. At about 5pm the transfer train arrived and 4 elders got off. Elder Vogl, the new Lexington Zone leader, Elders Turner and Parker, the BV YSA 2 Elders, and finally Elder Holder, My new companion. The first time I saw him he was holding a guitar case and I knew...it was going to be great. Thus far its been amazing!

He's from Southern New Mexico (2 hours south of Silver City) and about 16 months out in the mission. We are going to rock this area. But it was a rough week trying to plan for 2 sets of elders. Thankfully it started working out on Sunday and now the other Elders have a good enough grip on their area to plan on their own so we can focus on ours. It was kinda sad because a lot of my favourite YSA's fell into the other Elders area, but we still have some good ones to work with and we actually Set a baptismal date!!! Its kind of a funny story because she's not living in our area currently but we taught her and she's coming back here to get baptized so we get to count it. Made my week!

We also had a lot of good meetings with the bishops, who are still struggling to staff their auxiliaries with Elders Quorum presidents, relief society presidents, sunday school presidents and ward mission leaders. So its still kinda crazy but theres some exciting news coming up. Orientation for school starts on Friday. We have a booth set up and Washington and Lee University on Saturday, and I might not email till next tuesday due to Labour day weekend and there's a big parade in town we are hoping to be at. 

OH and ZLC tomorrow. They said it might run later than regular so we might be gone from 4:30am-8 or 9 PM. Lots of driving. And Its my turn. Fun. Anyways, I think we want to go shopping now. Mostly they. I'm broke this month. To many going away outtings for Gurney. And trips to the Amish Cupboard for fancy cheese, dips, candy and smoothies mix. 

Well, Hope all is going well back on the Ranch!

Love, 

Elder Sunada

BV YSA ZONE‏

Holy Heck.

What a Week it has been. Probably our best and craziest week yet. We've been able to keep pretty darn busy meeting with people and sharing the gospel. Found 3 new investigators, a first for our area, and had some really great meetings with YSA's returning to activity/looking for a testimony boost. Its been such a blessing to try and help someone, then have them come back in a week and tell you how life's been better. Not only does it feel like I'm doing what I came here to do but for some of those we meet with the choices and changes they're making will effect the rest of their lives on into the eternities! In the process I feel like I am also making some life long friends, even if I never get to see them again. I will always remember the times that I spent with them and the effect they've had on me in return. After a long summer of working our butts off to keep busy, we've finally had things just fall into our laps. 

But now the fun part really begins. This past Sunday I attended 4 sacrament meetings in 7 hours of church. For the first time ever I even played piano in sacrament meeting, actually for 2 of them. The wards have split and our summer ward has become 6. Everything I knew just went out the window haha. Every day I see more new faces that I haven't learned the names of. All the people that I did know are now scattered. The good news is I think everyone is a little bit lost and will be till the semester starts. Even the Bishops are struggling to figure out who's in their wards because everyone is still moving around and their records haven't landed in the right place yet.

But it gets even better. This week, Is TRANSFERS. No worries, I'll be staying here, probably till the end. But Elder Gurney got called to train in Clarksburg. The YSA elders in Roanoke are being doubled out and their area changed (the good news is that Elder Muirbrook whom I've been living with is going there and training a new Missionary so I can trust him). The Lynchburg YSA are getting 2 new elders to serve in a Tri-panionship, but only for 3 weeks as the existing Elder will go home for school then. 2 new Elders will be sent here to BV to become BV YSA 2 and help us out with the wards. I'll be the only one pretty much left in our zone. 

Oh yeah, my new Companion, Elder Holder and I, will have the pleasure of trying to make sense of all this mess as the new Zone Leaders. Yup, they made me a ZL. Don't know what Pres is thinking, but he's got some faith! I'm scratching my head over how we're going to split the wards and share a car here in BV, let alone what the rest of the zone is going to do. I think I'll be spending a lot of time on my knees. I am excited in a way for all this to happen. Its going to be full throttle to the end for me it looks like. And that's a good thing. Some Elders tend to lose their mind in the end thinking about home. I don't think I'll have any time for that. 

YSA's keep us pretty busy. For instance, where else can I rip a hole in new pants (sorry, Mom) while playing volleyball and still consider it to be productive to the work? You've got to go where they go and do what they do to build those relations. I know it may seem like we just have fun but that was also a big step in helping a returning less active feel comfortable at an activity. I love being a missionary ;).

Lets see, what else. Too much. My mind is already on overload. Got accepted to BYU-I. Might get accepted to another. Those things are still kinda off in the distance though folks here make it a point to bring it to the forefront. I finally have my camera and a cord so I can upload some pictures! But I think I'll save some news for next week. 

Hope all is going well back home. Ya'll better go check out the temple for me and tell me about the Open House!  http://youtu.be/5MIfPuvzZeM

Love ya Lots!

Elder Sunada