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

Time is flying

Hey Everybody!

Time really does fly down here in Buena Vista. Next Week is transfers again and everything is going to be turned upside down. Although I'm pretty sure I'll be staying here, it sounds like Elder Gurney will be leaving to train, which means there will be 3 new YSA Missionaries in the area who don't have a clue of whats going on. I'm still pretty clueless as to how its all going to work. Next Sunday the Summer ward splits into 6 wards and We'll have to manage that somehow. Not to mention the number of students coming back. I'm doing my best to meet people and memorize names but there are so many I normally just embarrass myself by calling a Melissa Melanie or a Tami Tina. But Hopefully I'll get that figured out... It is exciting though to see the school get geared up to go again. Our work load should increase and hopefully we'll be busy every day with appointments. 

I've really enjoyed working with the Less Actives especially. Sadly there are a lot. But For most they still welcome missionary visits and are willing to try some of the things we suggest. 

We Picked up a former investigator this past week. She asks a lot of really good questions which make us think hard, but that's ok because it shows that she's also thinking pretty hard about what we teach. It also makes be break habits of just saying what I've always said and force me to tailor a unique message. So we'll pray that we can keep teaching her!

Well, I know there's lots more that's been going on, but my mind just can't get it all out . So I'll have to share it with ya'll later.

Sure Love ya!

Elder Sunada

Youth Conference

Good Grief what a week! Its been a busy one! Lots of meetings. Lots of
events! This will have to be a short email however.

We had our Photo night on campus Saturday! It was turned out well! Except
for the turnout that is... We didn't get as many families out as we were
hoping to, but what we did have worked out well and we were able to have
some small miracles work out of it. For instance, we found a  less active
YSA girl by chance. She wasn't even there for a photo! But we were able to
get to know her and she welcomed us to come by and visit sometime.
Also did our gig for the Buena Vista Stake Youth Conference. Had 4 classes
of youth come through and we taught for 45 mins. I feel like it went pretty
well and a few of the Youth had some really good responses.

Found out in President interviews that Elder Gurney and I will be split at
the end of this Transfer (22nd), but both staying in the area. That way we
will both get one incoming Elder and know the area well enough to get work
done. We'll still be living in the same apartment so its all good.

Sorry this has to be short. I'm loving these days more and more. I want you
all to know that I love the Lord and all that He's done for me. He Truly
answers prayers and is Mindful of us all.

Till Next time!
Elder Sunada

EFY

Another Busy week is on the horizon. Lots to do and hoping to be able to get it all done. This weeks line up, President interviews, Stake Correlation, youth Conference, Moving people and our Family Photo night. Next week will be another ZLC and Exchanges with the Assistants. Sometimes I feel like there's so much going on that my mind is swelling just trying to keep it all in. But Its been a fun learning experience, stress and all.

 

Our Family Photo Event is really coming along. Just a few more smallish things that we need to take care of. We were able to get it advertised in the paper, radio, and the public service station on TV! All for free too! So far we haven't had to cut into any of our budget we received from our sponsor. But the Event still looms over me as no one will know if it will be a success until it happens. I'm a little nervous but so far things are going well and we have lots of support. Just praying for a smooth Execution. 

 

Earlier this week we also went down to Lynchburg for an exchange, but we ended up both staying in the area (blitzing). I went out with Elder Price, who informed us that we'd also be doing splits with the members. Kinda funny being alone with a member of another area. But it worked out well. We visited a less active Family who lived out in Appomattox who happened to have 2 YSA's who were not active. I was grateful that though the circumstances seemed askew, the Lord was mindful of our objectives and we were able to help the Lynchburg Elders in their YSA Goals. 

 

We Were invited to help out at EFY this past week as well. It was pretty sweet. They gave us about 20-30 mins to talk to about 100 youth on how they could do missionary work and the effect that they could have on others. I love to work with the youth. My youth meant so much to me and I know that I was blessed with wonderful leaders and experiences that shaped my life. I really hope that at least some part of my future church service will be working with the Youth and helping them have the same kind of opportunities that were provided to me. 

 

Lately we've been struggling to get anyone on date for Baptism. That is the 1 or 2 people we've been teaching over the summer who are Non Members. I know Elder Gurneys discouraged by this and we've been working hard to have the faith that we can find and baptize even against the difficult circumstances of summertime in a Student Area. I'm hopeful that something will come through. But I'm also very pleased with the other work that is less visible in the statistics that we've done. We've been able to help several struggling YSA's to strengthen their testimonies and renew their commitments to live the Gospel. While it might not seem as exciting as seeing someone get dunked, to me this is just as valuable as there is nothing sadder than seeing one who once knew the truth of the Gospel and then fell away. 

 

If I were to do nothing here but to help the struggling members then I would feel a great measure of success. 

 

Elder Sunada

Yee Haw!

Hey Everybody!

Man its been hot!! And Humid. Ugggh. I know I shouldn't complain seeing as there are thousands of Elders in warmer places than I am, but still. its been in the high 90's and 100's (+32-38C) for the past 2 weeks. When your outside working you get used to it but the moment you step in or out of an air conditioned building the reality hits you in the face. Literally! Thankfully its cooled off a little this week. In fact, the Library's AC is currently down and its cooler outside than in. I'm sweating a storm just sitting here! The forecast is calling for lots of thunderstorms which is nice because the rain cools it off even more, about 70F (21C). Can't wait for some good ole Prairie weather!

Otherwise the work has been going well this past week. Not so much in terms of big events. EFY (Especially For Youth; a youth church summer camp) is in town at SVU and a lot of our students are working it for the next three weeks. We've been able to teach a few good lessons even though our Non member teaching pool is pretty small (normally 1 or two people). Oh! We had a great Sunday! There were some recent converts who spoke in Sacrament meeting that did a phenomenal job and really brought the spirit. We finally got some Ward missionaries and a Ward Mission Leader assigned to help us, which should make finding and teaching a lot easier we hope. 

This week is also transfer week. Elder Gurney and I will be staying together, though that's no surprise. I'm hoping to Die here, But so is he. Its inevitable before the end that one of us will have to leave to train who ever is coming into the area after us. However Elder Gurney's been in the BV area for 9 months at the end of this transfer and I doubt that he'll make it to the end. But Then again President Pitt has been unpredictable in his Transfer assignments. He threw several more Curve balls and moved people around that we didn't expect. Sadly Elder Kieren, One of the Younger Elders who lives with us will be going to Roanoke North, with an Even Younger Elder Confer, also from the BV/Lexington area. We're going to miss them but They'll both love each other and Roanoke North where they'll be stationed. 

Well I think that's all the News I have for now. Have a Great Stampede for everyone back in Calgary! Go Ride a Horse for me or something!

Elder Sunada

Microburst

Good gosh, where do I start? Ah, Monday.

With our new determination to Use P-days explicitly for what is outlined in the Missionary Handbook (laundry, shopping, writing, cleaning etc), its become one of the busiest days. No more naps, Its all I can do to find time to write out a short letter or two. But I'm going to try and squeeze out a few extra minutes to write to those that I really need too. Monday night we stayed the night in White Sulfur Springs again as we would be traveling to Charleston again in the Morning. From BV to Charleston its almost exactly 200 miles and 3 hours one way. It was my turn to drive as well. I did pretty well considering I slept on the floor and probably for only a few short hours. We had another Great Zone Leader Council and left uplifted. 

One of the things that has kept me busy almost since the first week that I got here was a project that Elder Gurney and I have been working on. We are planning an event to be held at SVU entitled "Preserving the Family". Its a free family photo shoot where members of the Community will be able to come as a family and have a professional Photographer take their picture and later receive a high quality 8x10 photo. At the same time we will be having other booths sharing our beliefs on Family Values and strengthening the family in today's world. I've never really taken on a project of this size before and I've been doing the majority of the planning on it, though we have formed a committee to help us delegate some of the responsibilities. This week we got permission from both the school and the Church to go ahead with the event so we've been scrambling to get everything in place and get advertisements out. 

Thursday was our Exchange with the Assistants to the President. Elder Gurney made the trip to Charleston for the day and Elder Brady and I were able to stay in BV and continue working. It was the first time I had to plan things out in this area on my own, which was stressful because I'm still learning lots but we were still able to have a Very Productive day. The Lord certainly blessed me on that one because I was fretting we wouldn't have very effective plans that day. We exchanged back Friday morning and we're able to plan for the rest of our week. That night we had another surprise though.

We got into our apartment and had just finished praying for our daily planning session when we heard a tumultuous noise outside. We opened the door and were hit with massive winds. We'd received a text from the Assistants earlier asking Elders to report damages from a storm, but we'd figured that it was somewhere else in the mission. Apparently it was a freak storm system called a mirco burst. But there was nothing Mirco about this storm. 80mph winds blew down tree's and wreaked havoc from Ohio through West Virginia and Virginia to New Jersey. From what we've heard over 6 million people are without power and water, including the greater part of Lexington and Rockbridge county. We are all safe. All the Missionaries are safe, however mission damages so far report 46 missionaries without utilities and 1 car totaled. The death Toll in Virginia alone was 14 people. 


During the storm the 8 elders in this area gathered in our apartment parking lot and examined the storm. Probably not the smartest Idea. We we're all blinded by sand and rocks as one particular gust hit us and almost knocked me off my feet. The sky was the strangest blue I'd ever seen. Apparently the same colour it turns when a tornado is afoot. I think I heard reports that some touched down near by but I'm uncertain. After the storm quieted down in our area we retired to bed. A phone call came in at 11pm asking us to meet at the school to help with clean up in the morning. At 7 am we were there and finally saw the damages. Lots of trees down on the hills especially. Tree shrapnel littered everywhere. on our walk up to the school we came across a members house where their carport had been totaled by a large oak, but fortunately the cars were saved with a few scratches. Others were not so lucky. We spent from 7 that morning till nearly 5 that evening helping remove trees from the roads and sidewalks. Most of the town was alright, but I think the outlying areas had more damage and power outages. They say there are chances that more might come up but we don't think they'll be as strong. Fun times though! Great Services opportunities! 

Well I think thats enough excitement this week so I'll Leave you till next. 


Love Yall!
Elder Sunada

Buena Vista!‏

I love it Here!! Oh my gosh Its going to take several weekly emails to explain how cool this area is. But I guess I should go back to leaving Parkersburg first.

We got to visit a few more of the families which we'd come to love, Never getting enough time to spend with them as we'd like. It was pretty rushed in the last few days. Not only we're we being doubled out, But Sisters were being doubled in. President told me to make sure the apartment was fit for their arrival. And I'll be darned if that apartment has looked better in years! We tried to clean everything we could down to the baseboards. I spent about 4 hours shampooing the carpets, which is pretty crazy considering the apartments not really all that big. I did get a confirming report from the Sisters a few days ago that it was satisfactory and they approved of the many sticky notes we left to fill them in on everything. Sister Scannel, whom I've met a few times before is training a new Sister, who is very nice and I think will do well to take care of my old area. So Its all in good hands :)

Transfers. This was probably one of the most exciting transfers I've ever been too. Perhaps one of the most exciting transfers to happen since President Pitts been here. 20 missionaries going home! That means at least those twenty areas plus that need to be moved around. We filled up the whole chapel with Missionaries! It was Crazy. I'm going to miss them a lot. On the Drive down to Buena Vista (Pronounced BYU-NA Vista) I got to meet some of the Elders I'd be serving with in the Rockbridge district. Its Stacked! There are 4 of us that came out together, Gurney, Allred, Muirbrook, and Myself, And the other elders are Way solid Preach My Gospel Missionaries! We room with Elder Muirbrook and Elder Kieren, who was just trained by Elder Leah, so he's clearly a stud. Its been so much fun living with them! And the zone leaders live in the apartment building next to us! WILD!

So some clarification on our assignment. Elder Gurney is THE Zone leader for the Buena Vista Young Single Adult Zone. President may add another later on but for now he's it! We are covering one family ward and the consolidated YSA ward in the area during the summer, then when Classes get back in we will be covering 3 of the 6 YSA wards! Our priority even now is focus on the YSA and so far it has blow my mind! I've never seen anything like it in the mission. Part of what makes it so great are all the Return missionaries in the area who are stoked to go out with us and continue sharing the Gospel. Everyone who I've met has been so great so far! And With most people being students they are way more flexible to see us or schedule appointments with us. Its definitely a big change, but its been made easy by the willingness of the YSA's. 

We also have unheard of resources at our hands thanks to the high concentration of members and the Faculties of SVU. For instance, UNLIMITED FREE LIBRARY COMPUTER USAGE!! No more time clocks or restricted access. SVU holds its students to an Honour code system which grants them many liberties so long as they're living the rules. Its Kinda like BYU, but with its own flair. This past weekend they had a education week conference where many lds Scholars and well known members spoke. These included Brad Wilcox, Elder Ridges who's published over 20 books, President Hinckley's daughter and the Author of President Monson's Biography "to the Rescue" were speakers. I'll have to fill in more about the university itself as I become more acquainted with it. But They are very supportive of everything we do and help supply us with anything we need. 
I told President this week that I believe This area is the best Kept secret in the mission. 

We've also got a decent teaching Pool. There are a few people in the family ward who we have started to work with as well as at least 3 solid investigators who fall into the YSA Category. One of them we just picked up yesterday. A member invited a kid he worked with to dinner with us then we shared a lesson. We've got feedback that he really enjoyed it and had a great time! We also stared working with one less active who hadn't been to church in 4 years...He was there yesterday and said that it felt really good. Also he made a commitment to a friend (who may have been a cute girl) that he would come every week. At first that was a little concerning, but he's also shown desires that he truly does want to change and have the peace of the Gospel back in his life. Already so much has been happening and we've been greatly blessed. This is the busiest I've been with appointments every hour of our day. I can't wait to see what else will happen here in Buena Vista! 


Its Truly a Great Day in the Kingdom!
Elder Sunada

Going Back to Dixie‏

Hey Yall!

Oh my heck there's so much to say I don't even know where to begin! Well if you've been counting the weeks you may notice this is Transfer week again. Leading up to it I really felt like I wanted to stay in Parkersburg, even though I've been here now for 6 months. Starting off I didn't really think much of the city. But I think my time here has been the most instructive part of my mission so far. It was almost never easy. It seemed like challenges seemed to follow each other. I had to exercise greater faith with each experience and with that grew my testimony. I've also yet again fallen in love with the people here who've treated me as though I was their own. Leaving will not be easy.

Sunday night we received a call from President Pitt. He asked to speak to me and began to explain about the new stake in our mission. I'll briefly paraphrase his explanation. Recently the Church in the Salt Lake Valley has set up several Young Single Adult (YSA) stakes replacing what were once student wards. The boundaries of these stakes overlap those of existing stakes but only include the 18-30 year old population who are single. One of the main reasons for this is now a Stake President can focus 100% of his attention to that demographic and create programs specifically for this vital age group. Out West this has proven very successful with an average of 1000 YSA being picked up per a stake where before they had fallen by the Wayside.

BUENA VISTA VIRGINIA YSA STAKE was created on April 15, 2012, the First YSA stake outside of the Salt Lake Valley. I have been assigned to the Buena Vista Area to Cover the North end of this Stake. There will also be a set in Lynchburg, and another Set in Roanoke. My companion will be Elder Gurney!! It may have been a while since you've heard that name. He was my District leader/roommate in the MTC. We came out together!! He will be a Zone Leader. The other Zone leader will be in Roanoke. At least for now. Seeing as this is a new thing to our mission part of this will be experimenting to see exactly how the area is going to work. They're still working out details with the Stake President and President Pitt. So no one really knows much of what its going to be like in terms of work yet. Luckily its summer and school will be out, giving us time to figure things out before we are overloaded with Students. Within the area are Southern Virginia University (SVU), a Liberal arts school owned by members and 95%+ Lds population. Also Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a private officer school for the Military and one other school which I can't recall. The draw back of serving specifically YSA is that we will not get to work much with Children, youth, Young families, more experienced families and so forth. So a big change up for me.

So aside from all of that I've been working frantically to pack (almost done!) and clean the apartment for the new missionaries...Elder Penn will also be transferred out and sent to Floyd, VA. In our Place will be Sister Scannel, and a new sister missionary to the Field. So We've also been cleaning the apartment pretty well. To our Credit it was not that dirty to begin with and far better than the average Elder Apartment in my opinion. We've spent the last 2 days visiting families and saying our goodbyes. Even more to go to today. I'm glad for the sisters though, We've got a good pool built up for them to teach and I feel good leaving the area with them. I've also left probably 50+ sticky notes in the area book and around the apartment to help them get up to speed.

This transfer I will also say goodbye to some of my best friends on the mission. 18 Missionaries will be going home, including my first two companions, Elder Pendleton and Elder Conger, My dear Brother Elder Moreang who I've spent these last 6 months serving around, Elder Leah, Elder Taylor and many others. I'm glad I'll get one last chance to wish them all well as they return to the Dark and dreary world. 

Well, I'd better stop now before everyone gets tired of reading. 

Love you all. Thank you for your Prayers. Each one is felt. :)

Elder Sunada