Email 07/09/12

Family, So we had transfers. I'm back in the Wichita area. I'm in a city called Newton. I remember the area from when I was in Rolling Hills. Newton was a way lame area and always had a tough time but recently has been getting better. Some other crazy news is that I am in a tripod.....pretty weird. I am with Elder Jensen and Elder Haws. Elder Jensen is deaf, which is pretty interesting. But he has cochlear implants so he can talk and it's all good. He is a great missionary and maybe I can even learn a little sign language along the way. We are in a tripod because Elder Jensen goes home in 2 weeks so he is teaching us the area so that when he leaves, Elder Haws and I can take over the area. Elder Haws has been out for 6 months now and is from Utah, as is Elder Jensen. President Keyes told me that I am here in Newton to create a spanish branch in this area. Elder Haws doesn't speak spanish so I am on my own in that regards. There are a few really active spanish families and they have been waiting to have spanish missionaries in this area for about a year. So I am going to work to get all the spanish active then work on getting more spanish to come and be baptized so we can have a spanish branch in Newton as well as an english ward. The area is pretty good and I love the zone. I know a lot of missionaries in this area. Elder Miller, who I served with in Rolling Hills, is still there; Elder Haws' last companion was Elder Peterson who I knew in the MTC; Elder Haines, my MTC companion is in the zone; Elder Blake, my old district leader in Marshall is here; Elder Lusk, friend from the MTC, is the zone leader. Crazy connections in the zone. Then there is also Elder T Jensen in the zone is from FT Lauderdale, so crazy! Neither one of us have met another elder from Florida or even SE United States. Pretty sweet. Well some really sweet news, A.M. was baptized. Even better, we baptized her the day before I left Marshall instead of doing it this weekend like we were planning. So she was baptized July 4th, because spanish people don't celebrate Independence Day. They don't even know what it is lol. It went really good and she felt great. I was really happy. She recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday and all went well with that. I talked to her yesterday and she is doing well and is now applying to go to BYU or UVU. I told her to call if she needs help so it would be awesome if our recent convert could go to BYU and I see her there. I have also been calling some old members in Wichita to say what's up and hopefully I can meet with some of the old members I worked with in Rolling Hills. So, this has been a pretty busy week and really good week. We met the ward and I have talked to most of the spanish members and I think that there is a lot of spanish potential in this area so I am excited to work in this area. I think that I will be here for awhile. Found out that Saturday hit a comfortable temperature of 114 degrees. Pretty hot. We had the car thankfully. This area is normally part time car but President Keyes told me that we will have fulltime car so I can work with the spanish and help the Valley Center spanish elders cover all of Wichita speaking spanish and assisting the spanish-speaking investigators. So a very eventful week. I did get the packages and the shoes so thanks a lot for that! Thanks for everything. Love Elder Roe