Changes

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, I am writing early this week because transfers are tomorrow and I will be... Staying in Alamo with Elder Dunn :) (Sorry for the lack of notice, things were crazy last week.)

I have been thinking a lot this week about general conference. I have thought a time or two, why can't we have general conference once a month? That would be great. But I'm glad it's only semi-annually. I don't know about all of you, but it takes me a little time to adjust and change my nature, so I can only take so many things to work on at a time. Things are going well here in Alamo. We have a Baptism scheduled for this Friday so that should be a great time!

Fall is in full swing, and we are gearing up for a cold winter it seems. When someone asks me what my favorite season is I usually have to say all of them, because I like them each for what they are, but I think the changing from one to the next is my favorite. Maybe the best answer for that question to me would be The Next One. So for right now, I can't wait to see some snow again! Last year the Alamo elders got snowed in, so hopefully we won't get too bad but what happens happens. Last night we had an awesome view of the Lunar eclipse, Elder Dunn let me take a panorama with his camera at sunset. Enjoy!

Changes are a great part of life. I have been feeling a lot of anticipation this week, and I wasn't sure why. But now I know! There have been some changes in my life in many ways and I am glad that we have the ability to adapt to changes. Our mission is expanding, opening up 8 new areas this transfer, and I still have the best area in the mission! (I know it might be biased but I'm totally liable to my own opinion.) Changes give us an opportunity to refresh our view and to make new decisions based off an entirely new set of criteria. Some changes in life are good, and some may not be very pleasing in our limited foresight, but they are, believe it or not, also good. God has a plan for each one of his children and though we may not even comprehend or know what it is right now, we do have a set of criteria and a perfect opportunity to choose to be the best we can. Often we have to make changes in our lives to be alignment with God's plan. Praying is really a chance for us to humble ourselves and ask for help to better understand His plan for us. We too often bring up

our desires and make pleas and bargains and favors, when he already knows what we need before we even ask him. The Plan of Salvation was the topic of our priesthood class this week, and it was said that it is simply this easy. The Plan of Salvation is families. We work so hard to seal families together for time and all eternity. That is what God wants. A change is simply and invitation from the natural course of life to trust in God. Trust that He is, Trust that He cares, Trust that He knows what is best for You. I hope that you all have a great week! I haven't heard from some of you in a while! Let me know how you're doing :) I love you and wish you the best!

Ayoo' Aniinishni

Elder McGarry