Week #23

Dear Family,

So I have quite an update for you.  I told you last week that I was going to be transferred back to Tallahassee, and I thought that I would be having a pretty traditional 6 weeks of missionary magic, but not at all.  I was informed by Elder Buchanan that I would be an office elder, which sounded kind of lame at first.  I've never really been one to answer phones and fill out forms; not really my cup of tea.  But, all my negative speculation was wasted, because I found out that President Smith had a boss of a project in mind for us.

We are making a mission video!  President Smith was reading through bios and talking with the assistants and found out that I had had some experience in filming and editing, so that's why they assigned me hear in Tallahassee as an office elder.  The work that we are going to be doing this transfer is going to be a bit more nontraditional missionary work.  We will be travelling all over the panhandle of Florida, filming different landscapes and interviewing missionaries, and then will spend the rest of the time compiling all of the media that we have collected into one super legit video to represent what it is like serving as a missionary in the Florida Tallahassee mission.  It's going to be gnarly, and I'm so stoked. 

I am a little bit sad that we won't be doing a lot of teaching, simply because our time will be absorbed into this project.  The video is meant to inspire new missionaries coming into this mission and will be sent off with those going home.  Some segments might also be used in local wards, events, Facebook and such to show what it is like to be a missionary and a Mormon in Florida.  So even though we are not directly teaching the people, we're hoping to connect with a lot of different groups and get them interested. 

Crazy, huh?  I never thought that I would be doing this on my mission, but it's going to be super fun.

I'm still learning a lot about the gospel, which is the best.  It's kind of funny how the more you study, the more you know, but you feel like you know less in comparison to how much information is out there in the world.  There's a lot to learn, especially in Preach My Gospel, which is super simple, but is completely applicable beyond the boundaries of missionary work, at least I would say.  Look at the last half of the manual and you'll see how.  Mom, PMG is probably way applicable to any teaching job that you might get, and Dad, PMG talks a ton about planning and dealing with people and such.  It's probably stuff that the two of you have already figured out, but it's definitely something to look at.  I'm seeing more and more how much what I am learning in the field extends beyond to what I want to do in the future, and I'm loving it. 

I can't believe that Addie is going to have her baby soon!  Please send me a ton of pictures of little baby Penny so I can see Addie's posterity.

You all are the best!  Thanks for the letters, and I hope you are doing well!

Sincerely,

Elder Jon Hendrik Vawdrey