Joshua TX and the Currant Bush

Dear family and friends,
This past week has been so amazing -one of the craziest and best weeks.
We had transfers and I moved to the wonderful country area of Joshua,
TX. Here I get to live with members out behind their house in a
converted barn. At first I was shocked but now it is my favorite
apartment. It is called "the cube". It has everything that we need and
nothing more. Lets just say it is pretty small. Ha ha. The ward here is
so great. It is small but very welcoming and so friendly - I love it. My
new companion is Elder Dunn, he is from California, and my favorite
thing about him is he is very friendly and has a major love for the
scriptures. He is also a convert to the church and I truly have a
major respect for converts.
Ever since I have been here things have been hopping so
quickly. We have tought a lot and have helped so many people in so
little time. Also, Sunday was absolutely amazing. It seemed like
everything there was all directed towards me. There were also 9
investigators at church - the most I have ever seen in any of my areas.
They were all excited to be there but not as excited as me. This area
is booming and we have been blessed in so many ways. There are 5
people that will be baptized on the 10th of this month and we just met
one of them just this past Friday. His name is Mike he was being
taught by other missionaries but came down here and we had dinner with
him and his member girlfriend and committed him to being baptized.
They already have plans to be married in the temple and Mike is super
ready.
It was so exciting to here about all the stuff at home. I feel like I
was just in Webelos with Alan yesterday. Wow! There is going
to be a new Stake. I am also super excited to really see the efforts
the ward is putting into the youth. It was that part of my life where
I really made the decisions that have affected where I am now and I am
so grateful for my leaders. This week I was thinking about Austin
Stephens. Is he doing okay? Also, could you send me his address as I would
like to write him. I was also wondering if there would be any way I
could borrow the GPS? This area is super big and it would really help
to keep us in our mileage limitations and also allow us to work this
amazing area even better.
I just want to let y'all know that my last area was very hard. There is
a talk by Hugh B. Brown I may have mentioned it before, and it is called
"The Lord is the Gardener", and I feel like I am the currant bush. I was
cut back and now I am here in this area to grow how the Lord wants me
to. I am doing very good and building up my defenses so I can continue
through my mission super strong.
I will send pictures next week. I love yall so much! thank you for the
scriptures Dad. I have been writing them down and actually two weeks
ago I used one as a main scripture for district meeting.
Love
Elder Shoemaker