Llamas! ...actually, they're Alpacas‏

Haha so its been a pretty crazy week. We've had a few pretty important meetings with the Stake and Mission Presidents, zone and also our activities committee. It was great to finally be able to sit down with the YSA stake presidency and President Pitt to talk about exactly what we are trying to do. The comforting thing was at least we weren't the only ones who where still struggling to figure that out. There are a lot of special circumstances around this particular stake and no one's really experienced with what's going on so we are all pioneering in our own callings and trying to figure out the "how" of what we are doing. But we're off to a good start. I think the most flustering part for me personally is the paperwork. Not only is the stake new but the wards are constantly changing with the school year. Trying to keep track of where people are is a nightmare. We've been trying to go around and talk to members from the conventional wards as well as the YSA's to see if they know people who we can see. The Records are scattered everywhere! Its going to take a while to clean that up but at least it gives us something productive to do! 

Another great perk of being a YSA missionary is going to activities! We've made appearances at water fights, service projects, A paint Dodgeball fight, and this week coming up our first Stake Social Ice cream in Maury River Park! Its strange being around people my own age again. Especially now that I'm 21 and considered an Adult by the State. Just a weird thought in my mind. 

So I'll share a quick story of how some of our adventures go. We had a name on a list of a YSA who's been inactive for a little while. We Got Thomas, an SVU student, To come along with us to find this guy. We had an address but the GPS couldn't find where he was. So we got some mixed directions from several members and started off on what would be a 2 and a half hour hunt to find our friend. Finally we found what we were looking for. An Alpaca Farm. Yup. Llamas. But Not who we were looking for. His family owned the place but he lived somewhere else. The good news is now we know how to find him! So goes some days. 

Oh! And we got a visit from the Covingtons for lunch this week! It was good to see some familiar faces again from Good ole Gretna. I hope to be able to see that town once more before I leave the mission, God Willing. 


Well I think that's All I have time for this week! 


Love ya!
Elder Sunada


Dana's Note: SORRY for the font/color weirdness on the blog!!!! I have been on a few times to try and get to the bottom of it but somehow it cannot stay fixed! I'll keep trying, stay tuned! 

ZL Conference

This has been quite the ride so far. I don't think my planner has ever been so full. 


Last week was pretty sweet. I was invited to go along to the Zone Leader Council, even though I wasn't a zone leader. I found out the night before too which was cool because the original plan was for me to stay in BV with the other Elders for the day. But Monday night we got together with the other zone leaders and drove to White Sulfur Springs to stay the night so we wouldn't have to get so early to make it to Charleston in time for the meeting. 


White Sulfur Springs is a small town just on the West Virginia side of the Border and is mostly known for its proximity to the PGA Green briar. But we'd have to be driving on past it. More important business was ahead. The Meeting itself was an eye opener as to how the mission really worked. It was especially interesting because most of the participants, including myself, were there for the first time. President had used the craziness of the last transfer to hand pick exactly who he wanted to lead the mission. And I don't think he could have pick a finer group. I knew many of those that sat in the circle. I have served around a lot of them and knew that they were solid in both Testimony and Deed. This ZLC was a special one. It was time for the mission to make some changes and President now had a group of faithful elders to do it. 


We reviewed that the mission had increased in our teaching and finding skills, but we were still not reaching our goals. He taught us how he received the revelation what needed to happen. He brought several things to our attention then turned it over to the council of Elders to determine what we should do about it. Many things were rough on us as we heard that we needed to changes some of the traditions of the mission that we had always been accustomed to. Even those that had always been accepted as okay. But as we sat there each of us received a witness that those were not only things that we could change, but things that we must so that the Lord could bless us more fully. In simple words, we committed to be Exactly obedient to all mission rules, and to be examples to the rest of the mission. We were to define the mission culture and chose that day the direction the rest of our missions would take. It was the most inspired meeting I have ever been in and driving home our attitudes were positive. We talked about things that we were excited to get rid of and habits that we were happy to drop. President Pitt is truly inspired. 


This week we have even more training meetings and 2 meetings with the Stake to determine the role we will play in building the stake. It's way exciting. 


Oh no! I have to Run! Love you all! Can't wait to share more! One of the things I've committed to do is to only email family as is outlined in the guidelines so I if you want to hear from me personally you'll have to write! 


love yal! 
Elder Sunada

Transfer pics

Bro. Pool

Goodbye Parkersburg District: Elder Squires, Penn, Tyler (invetigator), Moreang and I. 

Elder Reidhead, Allred, and Muirbrook. 

Reidhead was in Parkersburg South when I first got there. 

Allred and Muirbrook and I all came out of the MTC together. 

Muirbrook and his companion also share an apartment with us.

Elders who've served in the Cave Spring area: 

Pendleton, Maxwell (Canadian), Dumpke, Myself, Conger. 

Bro Shorter in front of course!

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 

Short email and roadkill

Hey Everyone! 

I've been working on uploading pictures when I realized that I only have 8 mins left to write a letter! So Its going to be Short, But there are pictures!

Its been a much better week after a week of investigatorial Drought. Thank heavens! We stared teaching an 17 year old kid who never grew up with a religious background but believes there is a God. After sharing a little of the Plan of Salvation with him we invited him to pray and he gave a super sincere prayer to know the Truth! Big Win! Then, we had an appointment Cancel on us, but decided to go try a family that had a maybe a sliver of potential. Well, We didn't quite get there because a young family stopped us on their lawn on the way over. He was a self proclaimed Heathen, but with a heart of Gold. She bore a solid testimony of God and told us how she was searching for Wisdom and Guidance on how to follow in Gods path. HELLO! They also have a 3 month old girl whom they both adore. Its so exciting to have some people to teach, and not just anyone, but those who've been prepared by the Lord and are ready to listen with open hearts :)

Looks like my time is up. Love Yall!

Elder Sunada

Mother's Day in Primary

Hey Everybody!

 

Happy Belated Mothers day! We had a pretty interesting Mothers Day at church actually. A few weeks ago the Bishop asked the Relief Society what they wanted for Mothers Day. Flowers? No, they just die after a few weeks. Chocolate? NOO. After this he was stumped. He described their request as such:

"We want the men to take over all the callings in Third hour of Church so we can have a light lunch and talk (or have a gab fest)". And that's what we did. The men Manned the Primary and the Nursery while the Women had a break. I think they had a nice time. The Women that is. This wards Primary consists of about 51 kids. Most of them are pretty good but there are a few rowdy ones. The missionaries were divided up with other priesthood holders to help maintain order in the class, or at least keep crowd control. Thank Heavens I had a Mother who made sure I learned to play piano and I was assigned to singing time with the older kids. And aside from a few unwanted hands messing up my keyboard I did just fine. Elder Squires is now convinced however that he is not ready for kids.

 

Also I got to call home and talk to my family, for the last time...on the mission anyways. It was good to hear all the news first hand. Sounds like Steve's Wedding went off great! Welcome to the Family Kim! I would have talked to those bums too but it sounds like they were still honeymooning in the Caribbean. But I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to catch up in 6 months.

 

The work this week... Was really slow. Every appointment we had fell through. Seriously. Every. Stinking. One. We didn't get to teach a lesson to any investigators. We knocked streets for hours and no one let us it. Hopefully this is just an unlucky stint and things will pick up again this week. So not much to report there.

 

I think I'll have to cut this one short as it seems the rest of my Posse is ready to head out. I love y'all and Wish you the best!

 

Elder Sunada