my "plane gang", "whitewashed", and gigantic blessings

 Bonjour mes amis et ma famille!

 

I hope all of you are doing fantastic, that your bad days turn into good ones and your good ones turn into life-changing events! These past two weeks have been quite the adventure. 

 

Where do I begin? The night before I left for the mission, I was able to play basketball with my friends one last time! The games were fun and the memories that followed are forever inscribed into my heart. The next day my mom and I woke up super early to get to the airport. I said goodbye to my brother and sisters, which was super hard, but it was time to go. The ride to the airport felt like I was Indiana Jones: about to embark on my next grand adventure!! My mom and I got to the airport and checked all my bags in. I looked to my left and saw the Polu family. Elder Polu was leaving for his mission that morning too. He was headed to Anchorage Alaska. Me and him both tore our ACLs our senior year and grew close during that experience, which turned out to be a blessing of that trial. We took some pictures, hung out, and then I was off. I saw another Elder who seemed nervous, so I got to talking with him. He mentioned an Elder that had missed his flight. Then came walking in Elder Polu. He was "that Elder"! What probably seemed like a mistake at first was turned into a grand blessing. We were able to talk the whole time on the plane with the flight attendant; some missionary work before we even got into the field, ha-ha.

 

I had a three-hour layover in Phoenix, so I hung out with Elder Polu before he had to leave. We sat across from a woman with the most adorable puppy ever. She also had the greatest job ever. She is a puppy deliverer. Talk about a sweet lifestyle. We learned she was a recent convert. We got to talking with some other people around us too. Those were some good times. Elder Polu and the puppy dog deliverer then left for Seattle and I headed back to my own terminal where I met my "plane gang".  There were about ten of us going to Independence. We talked about everything and we were all super excited. The plane ride was fun because I sat by three other Elders and Sisters. We had a good conversation about what was going to happen and whatnot. 

 

We then arrived and got picked up from the airport. I nearly left one of my suitcases, but I was prompted by the Spirit to go check the baggage claim again. What a blessing. I got all my stuff and I think my mom's heart rested a little easier. 

 

We then went to the Liberty temple, which was beautiful. Each of us got to take a picture with President and sister Ames. After the temple, we ate some food and did some paperwork at the stake center, which surprisingly I was prepared for! We then got assigned to our trainers. My trainer is Elder Hawkins: a great, funny Elder, who is kind of nerdy and athletic like me. The real miracle is that he speaks French so I will be able to keep up my language studies! We then went to Lee's Summit apartment, which was kind of shoddy, but you know, what do you expect. We spent the night and then left the next morning to go drop off Elder Hawkins' previous companion. Little did we know; however, that we would be moving too. On my first full day in the mission, we got "whitewashed" and moved unexpectedly to a new area. So, after Elder Hawkins said his goodbyes we went back to the apartment, packed up, and moved to Liberty Missouri. Thankfully, I had not unpacked too much of my stuff, but I felt bad for Elder Hawkins who did not have any idea we were going to be moving so he was not packed at all!

 

We are sharing the Liberty ward with Elder Wood and Elder Owens! We've had a blast getting to know the ward and some hard times too as we have been striving to be like Christ in our ministering efforts! 

 

Some huge, gigantic blessings have been the Pyne, Campbell, and Newry families! The Pyne's are super funny and down to earth people! They cook up some great food and some great jokes! The Campbell’s are awesome!  Brother Campbell is a super-strong convert who helps us a lot with missionary work! Sister Campbell is like a mama bear and she is fun to talk to! We go boxing with Brother Campbell on P-days and he doesn't go too easy on us, which I love. He is a sayings machine! My favorite is "I won't give up, let up or shut up till I'm taken up. In fact, I'm just getting warmed up!" They are some fantastic people and even better friends.

 

The Newry's are special to me. I met them on my first day in Liberty and I have loved them ever since. They have fallen on hard times. I had the special and sacred opportunity to give Sister Newry a priesthood blessing. I remember distinctly saying "By your faith in Christ you will be made whole. As you strive to gain Jesus Christ's attributes you will be blessed both temporarily but especially spiritually." After that blessing Brother Newry got a job, Sister Newry started to feel better, and they were able to move into a bigger apartment. I think the same applies to everyone. As we have faith in Christ our love for Him is shown by our works. We strive to repent--to become better. We repent becoming like Him, which is perfect. Perfection is becoming as complete as God is. Thus "by thy faith ye are whole" is so much deeper. I know that as we strive to become like Christ because we love God and others with all our hearts, might, minds, souls, and strengths: we will become whole. We will become even as Jesus Christ became like Heavenly Father. Because of Him, we can achieve our ultimate purpose of returning to our loving Heavenly Father and being like Him.

 

Till next time, know that you have all my love.

 

A bientot et Au revoir! 

 

Love, Elder Habel

 

1. Liberty Temple

2. What I woke up to this morning...and then proceeded to wear shorts. lol

3. Elder Hawkins with some of the sweetest dogs I have ever met!

4. Elder Polu...a real friend!

5. The setup...I used my old jacket as my pillow for the first couple nights because I left mine at the Lee's Summit apartment. 

6. The "plane gang"!