One year in, the halfway point

First day. . .

to the present.

Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me.

For I, the Lord, will cause them to bring forth as a very fruitful tree which is planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream, that yieldeth much precious fruit.

(Doctrine and Covenants 97:8–9‎)‎

District Leader

Last Tuesday, we had our last District Meeting of this transfer. It's such an incredible thing how quickly the days, weeks, months, and transfers pass by. My theory is that by the time all of the prayers "Greenies" offer about allowing the time of homesickness and problems with transitioning early in the mission to pass by quicker are finally answered, the missionary would much rather the time slow down. Ha ha.

We got the opportunity to fly our District Leader home to Las Vegas. It was very fun and thankfully we did it in the cultural hall as opposed to the Primary Room, because he would've flown through the roof with how high we tossed him. lol. Don't mind my priceless face in one of the pictures. I don't know what was going on in my face there.

The district getting ready to fly our super District Leader home.  His replacement as DL is the 2nd person from the right. . .Elder Irvine!

Good thing they did this in the cultural hall.  They would have launched him through the ceiling otherwise.

Monday was no cake walk. Since we weren't getting transferred and it was a holiday and the library was closed, we hit the pavement hard, making efforts to start this transfer out great. And it turned out fantastic! I can't even get to the half of what we did, but in short we visited and taught many people - all with a brilliant attitude. Funny story though - I had been having inclinations and promptings earlier during studies: "What would you do if you were district leader? How would you help the Elders in your district" etc. I pondered it briefly but thought it was absurd that I'd be a district leader, especially not now. So it came to my surprise, that in a text while we were tracting (during the time that Transfer Meeting was going on): "Irvine is District Leader." Wah!

SO while I'm not moving this transfer physically, I'm definitely moving toward greater humility in being able to serve the Elders in the district as their leader. Mark 10: 43 - "And whosoever of you will be the [leader], shall be servant of all." I have been praying constantly since I got the call and I would appreciate any additional prayers on our behalf - that I may be able to lead and serve and train well, though, I feel like I will be the one being taught the most. I am humbled and excited to serve the Elders around me.

I know that callings are from the Lord, and that leadership callings are opportunities to learn and grow and develop as one puts his whole "heart, might, mind, and strength" into serving others (thereby serving the Lord). I'm grateful and happily frazzled to be given said opportunity. It has already helped me turn my focus to higher ground of what I can be doing. I'm definitely going to be studying up on Christ's leadership example.

I love all of you. I appreciate your prayers - and like President Monson asks every Conference, please continue to pray for me.

Love, Elder Irvine