"There is Danger in Some Day When That's Not This Day"

Elders Vernon and Gudnason

Hey hey hey family! Wow, what a week. I can't wait to tell you all about it.
First of all, let's get some logistical things out of the way.
My phone number is as follows xxxxxxxxxx
You guys, once again, are supposed to call me. This call will be taking place at 8:30 PM Poland time, which should be 12:30 your time. I can't wait to talk to all of you! It's crazy. It feels like yesterday we talked at Christmas. Where did all the time go?
Secondly, I am feeling better. I think all the stress of everything got to me, but I'm doing well now.
Thirdly, Elder Wilson is awesome! He's a stellar missionary, and we are having a blast together. It's been super fun working with him, and we're (hopefully) going to do some great things together. We joke often that we have no idea what we're doing, since neither of us has ever been a zone leader before, but we're having fun and doing our best along the way.
So, I bet you all want to hear about the week.
Saying goodbye to Elder Gudnason was so strange. It wasn't like he was just going to a new city, he went home. Like home home. Weird. It got me freaked out a bit, because I'm realizing how quickly time is moving for me. I'm not going to be ready to go home when that time comes for me. I think it was a wake up call for me. I mean, I already recognized that my mission would be ending before I wanted it to, but this helped me realize just how quickly it will end.

Mission Leadership Conference

It was super fun to go to Warsaw for Mission Leadership Conference and to pick up Elder Wilson. Wow. It was so cool to be in such a small meeting with so many powerful missionaries and to learn so much from President. he talked all about picking up the pace, talking to more people, and just being ready to go all the time. We watched a clip from a talk by President Eyring which talks all about "Choose ye this day." President Eyring has a quote in that talk which has stuck with me a lot of my life. I heard it in seminary years ago. He says "there in danger in some day when that's not this day." Pretty soon, every one of us runs out of 'some days.' There's only a limited number of tomorrows. What President was stressing to us was focusing on today. Doing everything we can today where there is still time. Christ understood this principle perfectly (John 9:4). Anyway, this week, we are passing on all this information to the Elders in our zone. It's been fun doing so. We call that Zone Training, and it's why we weren't able to email yesterday. We're actually going tomorrow to Poznan to teach the other Elders in our zone all about it as well, so that will be exciting, and fun. We do a lot of traveling as Zone Leaders, but we're enjoying it. Oh, before I digress too much, can you send me the audio of that talk by President Eyring? I would also love the audio of Pres. Monson's Sunday Morning talk from this most recent conference as well. Thanks!
A big lesson I learned this week was that goals stem from having a vision. Elder Wilson and I took some time during weekly planning to try to set some transfer goals. It was interesting, because the more we talked, the more we tried to set some specific goals, the more our thoughts kept turning to vision. In the end, we never ended up setting actual goals. Not yet at least, we will be doing that shortly. Our big focus became who we wanted to become as missionaries, or rather our vision for the missionaries and the zone leaders we need to become. From that, everything else seems to fall into place. Now that we've decided we will be masters of PMG ch.10, we want to be master planners, and master finders, we can set the goals we need to develop the skills needed and become those types of missionaries. We then took a step back and thought about this in relation to our Father in Heaven, and what His vision was, and how His goals and plans were shaped by that vision. Moses 1:39--To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. That's Heavenly Father's whole purpose for everything He does for us. It was incredible to see everything fall into place. We truly felt inspired by the Spirit and lucky to be learning together as we strive to be the best we can be.
As for some other cool experiences this week, Bro. Kagele had to conduct on Sunday. He doesn't speak much polish, and they wanted him to do it in Polish, so Elder Wilson and I helped him prepare what he wanted to say and how to say it. He was super nice, and brought us root beer for helping him. News flash. Root beer doesn't exist in Poland, so we were super stoked about this. Bro. Kagele did a great job conducting. It was cool to see him use the polish he does know and rise up to fulfill the call of the Lord, even in a seemingly small thing like that.

Elders Allen, Wilson, Harris and Vernon

In Zone Training, we stressed giving people we contact and want to meet with two options for a meeting, instead of just giving them a yes or no question. Well, we've been doing so, Elder Wilson and I, and we've seen the blessings pay off. Right after Zone Training, we were on the street, contacting, and we taught a street lesson to a lady named M. She was busy, and needed to get going, but we used our either/or 2 option method, and were able to set up a concrete meeting with her, instead of just exchanging phone numbers, which is the usual occurrence.  As we move forward and are obedient, blessings come, often immediately.
The biggest thing about being a zone leader, in terms of difference, is how little time Elder Wilson and I seem to have. Every night, after we plan, we have to take call ins from other District Leaders in our zone, so we can then call into the APs, who call to President, informing him that the mission is all in safe, and updating him on baptismal dates, info, and other things. Anyway, we don't finish this tree of phone calls until 10, and with having to update the Area Book, write in our Journals, brush our teeth, maybe get a snack, there's just not enough time to do it all! It makes us have to rush and be fast with everything we do. We're working on getting better and doing all we can to fulfill our calling. As always, it's the Lord's work first, and our wants second. It's been fun though, and we are really enjoying our time together as zone leaders, even if we don't know what we're doing half the time.
Mom and Dad, happy anniversary! What a crazy thing to think, that you've been married 23 years. Wow. I want you both to know I love you and that I'm so grateful for the example of a stellar marriage you have given me on which to build my (hopeful) future one. I'm just the luckiest kid in the world. That's what I think at least. Elder Wilson says hi! He's super happy he got to meet you at BYU.
Emms, keep rocking the world and being busy. Sounds like you guys did fanstastic at the competition. Keep up being a great dancer. Thanks for sharing your spiritual experiences with me. I love hearing them.
Trev, great to hear about some football! Keep on working hard. I'd love to hear from you often. Keep up the good work and being awesome. Miss you lots too.
Justin, things are going great. The mission isn't always what I thought it would be, but in a lot of ways, it is. It's the best two years for sure though!
Andrew, Poland is awesome! Keep on playing baseball and being awesome! Unfortunately, we don't celebrate cinco de mayo here :(.
Crash, thanks for the football updates! I'll get you my mailing address for sure. I appreciate the heads up. Good luck with all the coaching!
Grandma and Grandpa, I love you and miss you too. I hope grandpa Ted's back is ok. I'll keep trying to give you some good things to brag about!
Jeana, good luck with all the business! Thanks for all the prayers sent my way. Yes, I do remember the angry eyebrows you drew on my face while I was sleeping ;).
Grandma Fernie, it's always great to hear from you and I hope you're doing well!
Mom, I'll try not to cry this time too! We'll see though. I did get a good portion of genes from you, so I might be in trouble. 
Heath, tell Parker hi. Enjoy the moment. They all fly by way too fast. You're awesome! Keep up being great and remember, the gospel is true.
Well, I love you all! I must go, but the church is true!
Elder Vernon