"Thou shalt not worship idols"

I feel like I'm breaking that commandment when I pray to the porcelain gods. But we'll get to that in a second.

SO! The exciting days of transfers have come and gone, and I am in my new area, SALIDA!!!! So, a little back history on Salida. The Salida ward used to be part of the Modesto 1st ward. Apparently the members of the Salida ward didn't like this too much, and rejoiced greatly when the Wards where split. However, the Salida area was not considered fruitful enough to have its own pair of missionaries, so the Modesto 1st elders continued to cover the Salida ward. Unfortunately, this proved too much area for just two elders to handle, and after several years of investigators falling through the cracks, they decided to make Salida its own area. That's where I come in, or Elder Sheppard and I. We are Salida's first missionaries dedicated entirely to that ward. I felt slightly like a celebrity when going to church for the first time that Sunday. The members are so excited to have their own missionaries, and hopefully this will translate into better member help, because EVER MEMBER SHOULD BE ASSISTING IN MISSIONARY WORK!

Anyway, so because we're the first Elders to only cover this area, we're a little bit homeless. Since Wednesday, Elder Sheppard and I have been living on the floor of Elder Jensen and Elder Hadley's apartment (our zone leaders), and biking to our area every morning. Hopefully we'll be getting our own apartment soon, as the apartment we're in isn't exactly designed to house four missionaries.

So, on to the porcelain gods. On Saturday I developed a lovely case of the flu. This was incredibly frustrating, not only because it impeded my ability to perform missionary work, but also because I spent $20 on a flu shot in the MTC. However, despite this costly step of prevention, the flu found its way to me regardless, and I spent all day lying on the floor of the apartment, only getting up to expel the contents of my stomach. Lovely.

But despite the trials we've been going through (or because of them) we've been blessed to see a flourish of the work, even since we've gotten here. Since Wednesday, we have managed to commit 5 people to baptism! Elder Sheppard is an absolutely solid missionary. He's Samoan, and learned most of his English here on his mission (he's been out for close to two years) and likes to use phrases such as "I want to keel dat person", but he has a powerhouse testimony, and a store of gospel knowledge, and really knows how to work hard and effectively. I'm really excited to see what I can learn from him during this next transfer.

So, the work continues, and I thank you each for your prayers and support, and ask for it to continue so that the work may!


I love you all,
Elder Keenan Monnett