Dad,

I will tell you the same... that September was a short month. It went very fast for me at least. Ha ha, and I just have to make this comment about you not painting the house because I know it was planned so that when I got home that I would do it for you, and I would be happy to.

Transfers have come in and I'm staying here. I will be receiving a new companion. Elder Peterson is going somewhere and will be there for 6 weeks until he goes home. I have no clue who it will be because there is such a big pool of elders to decide from. So we will see on Thursday.

The senior couple that the sister passed away... I didn't know. They were kind of secluded from the mission. They were in our mission but they stayed in that area which was Yorktown and I never had the chance to meet or see them, but it was a tragic accident.

We had another real good week here in Randolph. We have been teaching like crazy and the Ward has been real great. It is probably the best support that I have received in any other Ward that I've been in. We have a huge teaching pool as well.

Jody and Garry are still being taught. They are doing great. The Ward loves them and they love the Ward. We are just waiting pretty much. We had a lesson with them this last week with our Bishop and pretty much our Bishop just told his conversion story. He joined the church when he was in his 20's and he shared an experience that really touched him from the biography of President Spencer W. Kimball. He related of how back in the day to pay fast offerings they would give supplies whether it be shirts, socks, pants, food, etc. Well two Deacons knocked on President Kimball's door and asked for his fast offerings and he brought them a couple of brand new white shirts and gave them to the deacons. One of the deacons said, "Sir, you can give us the old ones and keep the new ones." President Kimball asked, "Do you think that they would like some new shirts?" And the boy replied, "Yes." President Kimball said, "Well take them then." And the deacons went on their way with the brand new, still packaged shirts. It really touched our Bishop and how humble the prophet was. I tell you this because it also touched me. The great thing about being a missionary is that you learn things each and every day from people whether it be investigators, members, companions or anyone else. I learned that I need to be humble and give generously. Because of that story and the conversion of our Bishop, the Spirit was very strong in the lesson and it was a great lesson. Jody came to church yesterday but Garry didn't because he had to work. They are doing great!

We had an interesting experience this last week. The Ward had Ward Council and we obviously go because it is necessary so that the work continues. Well it got pretty fired up in there because of me. We discussed one of our investigators, Mason Le Var. We had decided a couple weeks ago that we weren't going to teach him any more and that we didn't want to baptize him because he would just go inactive because his whole family is inactive. Well the Ward Council, or should I say some of them, didn't like that very much. And so it got into a little heated discussion of us trying to get across our reasoning and them getting across their reasoning. It came down to the fact of let's pray and ask. So the next day I decided to study to see if I could find some answers and examples from the scriptures. To put it simple, I was humbled and received an answer that we should teach him and baptize him regardless of the family's situation. Of course we apologized to whoever we got into the discussion with in Ward Council and told them that we were going to teach him regardless. Because of that, me studying it out and praying about it, Mason came to church with his grandparents. He is a different kid, not like a different as in weird, but a different as in a very special, humble, great, changed kid. He is going to make a great convert to the church. We are going to try to meet with him every week so that we can help him prepare for baptism but it will be tough because his parents say that they are "too busy". We will get it done!

Robert is doing great. He wasn't able to make it to church yesterday because he has a rough day with his soon to be ex-wife and with her kids. He is reading from The Book of Mormon everyday and he is really enjoying it. He has already shared the gospel with his parents and his dad said that he would check it out but his mom said no way. He is loving it. He started to try to quit smoking cold-turkey on Saturday and is doing very well at it. We are trying to meet with him everyday so that we can give him the support that he needs to overcome this addiction.

Yesterday we had a real powerful lesson with the Messina family. It is a part-member family that the husband is investigating. He has now been to church about 5 times or so and is enjoying it. He is doing everything necessary to get an answer and so it is just a matter of time that he does and then gets baptized. The lesson was so great yesterday because we simply taught "Our Earth Life" and talked about temples and the ordinances that we need to receive in order to gain exaltation and then we watched the Mormon message "Lifting Burdens". As we watched it the Spirit filled the room, we all felt it, and he did as well. I think this time he actually recognized it. He will be baptized this upcoming transfer and so that is exciting.

We also had Dana at church again. She is the one that lives with the members. She is great. It's real easy to teach her because she accepts it all and the family talks to her a lot about The Book of Mormon and everything else and so we just go in there to pretty much refresh her mind. She is going to be baptized on the 22nd of October.

We are excited for General Conference this upcoming week. Don't enjoy the breakfast feast without me too much. Next year I'll be there!

That is about it that happened this last week. Thanks for all the support, love and prayers. Love you!

Elder Harvey