Week of May 16, 2016

Dear family and friends,

I have had another busy week here in the mission field. This last week, as many of you know, I traveled up to Cauayan for transfer day. As my fellow trainers and I waited for our trainees to arrive, we were all pretty nervous to say the least! It still seems like the other day that it was me that was arriving for my first day in the mission.

My new companion is Elder Madronio who is from Manila. He is 20 years old and is a very nice kid. However, I must admit that he speaks Tagalog so fast that I have to have him repeat himself sometimes! Haha...I think I will grow both spiritually and linguistically these next few months.

I must admit that this last week that I have felt particularly humbled as I have gone about the beginning of training this new Elder. I have felt a lot of pressure as I know that everything I do and say is setting an example for my new companion and will ultimately effect the rest of his mission in result. In addition, as I have thought of my stewardship over the Elders in my district, I have had some feelings of inadequacy, as all of the Elders in my district are older and more experienced than me. I have always kind of assumed that those in leadership knew everything they were doing and were called to be leaders because of their exemplary skills. However, it has occurred to me this week that the more responsibility one is given, the more he must turn to the Lord for help. I feel that I now rely more on divine assistance than ever before.

With this realization in mind, I have spent quite a lot of time on my knees this last week asking for strength to become a good trainer and leader. I too know, just as Ammon expressed in the Book of Mormon that "as to my strength I am weak...[but] for in His strength I can do all things" (Alma 26:12) I have felt a great strength enter into my soul as I made the time to have meaningful communication with our Father in heaven. I know that no matter how hard or seemingly daunting our tasks may be in life, that if we turn to Him, we will receive the necessary strength that we need to be successful in His all knowing eyes.

As to my investigators, all is going well! Our only challenge is that our investigators haven't been going to church....I will tell you all more about that next week!

Love,

Elder Pulley

Elder Pulley and Elder Madronio (new companion)