Zone leader and a new area!!

Well I didn't really move very far at all, in fact my area borders my old ward. My first Sunday here there were three members that were there visiting from Rowlett 3rd, so I am still very close. I am currently serving in the Skyline ward, and the Rio Trinidad ward. It is a bilingual area, and it should be great. On top of that, I was called to be a zone leader. It has been overwhelming at times, and I am still getting the hang of it, but I am happy to be serving the biggest zone in the mission. This transfer they did something a little bit differently however. The zone leaders are not companions in most of the zones. My companion is serving in Garland in the Casa Linda ward, meaning that whenever we have to plan zone meetings or do anything, we have to meet somewhere, which is hard, but that is what the mission is all about. There is saying that goes, if you are comfortable with missionary work you are doing something wrong, because there are always trials or problems to solve. I am excited though.

My companion is Elder Giles from Sandy, Utah. He has been out the same time as I have, and he is a great Elder. It took us awhile to warm up to each other, but we are doing good now. He played Lacrosse before the mission, and he loves music.

The members of the ward that I have met so far are good. The atmosphere in these wards is a little weird, but maybe that is just because I am new. I have met some great people though, and the leaderships of these wards are working hard to help the missionaries in the work. My very first Sunday here we were asked to teach the lesson in Gospel Principles, and because we have two wards, my companion was in the Spanish Ward Council, so I taught it all myself. It went very well!

As far as the work goes, we have a baptismal date coming up at the beginning of next month for a 23 year old named Carlos Martinez from Honduras. That name may sound familiar, because I taught a man named Carlos Martinez for a long time in Grand Prairie. Carlos is doing really well, and has come to church three times. He is a great man. We are also teaching a lot of Less-actives in the ward, but we haven't seen any success from that yet.

This past Tuesday I had my first Zone meeting as a zone leader. As a mission for this transfer we are pulling out a new initiative called the Turning the Hearts Initiative. It is centered around families and family history work. That is why we asked for those stories about our family. It was a good meeting, and I am starting to feel the desire to learn more about my family and to do family history work, but for now we are trying to help others get involved.

Pleasant Grove is in my area by the way.

Preparation days in this area should be a lot of fun, especially since we don't have to worry about doing laundry. Some Elders have a ping-pong table in their apartment, and we usually play basketball at the Stake Center. Those sports are my favorite sports to play, so it should be great!

As far as after the mission goes, I am not sure what we should do. I don't know how the whole Spanish barrier is going to work out. I would love to come visit the mission after, but maybe just for a few days. I don't know. What do y'all think? I haven't heard about my release date for sure yet, and it honestly doesn't matter to me when my homecoming talk is. It can be whenever. I would like to go on vacation after.

I hope y'all have a great week! Hopefully you can get more work this week, and I hope you know that I am happy and doing great! Thank you for the stories.

Love, Kyle