WEEK 47: Good-bye Sheffield

I got the call on Saturday that I am actually leaving Sheffield 4 branch. After 9 complete months in this branch, I am going to Leeds. I will be with Elder Rex who is great. He doesn't know Slovak, so we will be doing part English work and part Slovak work. Anything in Slovak will be translated by me. And I am going to be a district leader (a missionary in charge of helping and instructing a small group of missionaries called a district). There are 8 missionaries in my district. I will meet them tomorrow. I am kind of nervous to be honest. I feel like I am leaving my home again. I have not been out of Sheffield for a whole day ever.

But, this last week was good. Elder Campbell lost his second badge at
the Chapel when we played basketball one morning with the Assistants so he was borrowing one of mine all week. He funny thing was that only one person noticed. Miroslav couldn't come to church because he was going to a doctor appointment about a potential hernia and he was hurting pretty bad. But I hope that while I am gone he will keep moving forward and keep giving this new lifestyle a try. It is so
worth it. Every thing that we give up as members of this church doesn't come close to the blessings we feel from it. I'm so glad that I will have the chance to try stepping out of my comfort zone a bit more to be a district leader in Leeds.

And the most exciting news is that today, Katka is going through the
temple. Elder Poggemann and Elder Armstrong are doing with her to translate and to answer any questions she has. I'm so excited for her.

This week I gave a talk in church. It really helped me to see how much
the Book of Mormon has blessed me. If any person will spend 20 minutes
studying it each day and pray with a sincere question, they will find
an answer to the question. They will be happier and they will understand more how much God loves them. That has been true for me.

Love you,
Elder Pace

(Thanks to Facebook, I have a picture of Katka with Elders Poggeman and Armstrong and other ward leadership!)

A sister from the branch (the lady in white on the back row)  told me on Facebook that he did a great job with his talk and talked about paint balling and got everyone's attention and some laughs as well.  She said they will miss him!