Transfers and Changes

  Well, today was transfers and I have a new companion. His name is Elder Waltman. I will be with him for at least six weeks, although depending, I could be with him for twelve. Every time I am going to be getting a new companion, (this will be my 9th companion in about as many months) I wonder what they are going to be like, and if I am going to have a more difficult, or an easier time of it. Although I have had some difficult companions, most of the time they have been pretty easy to get along with. Generally at the beginning of every transfer, I strive to go into the new six-week period with an excitement and optimism that it is going to go well, and I am going to have an easy time of getting along with my new companion.

    I think all of life is like this. Throughout life, there will always be changes ahead of us that we might be unsure about. Will these changes be easy to live with, or will this new challenge be one of the most difficult things we have ever had to deal with? If I were to go into a new companionship dreading it, knowing that it could never work out, and that it is going to be the worst time of my life, chances are pretty good that that's what will happen. Same with life. Some changes are just plain awful and can be very difficult to find anything good in them. Guess what, there are companions like that, too. But, I have a firm belief that there is a silver lining to EVERY gray cloud. Whether it's easy to spot, or it takes some very deep digging to find, it's there. A lot of it depends on the way we look at it - our perspective. In order for me to find the silver lining, it becomes imperative that I go into a new situation with optimism and a hope that things are going to work out for the better. When this happens, my chances of finding the positive are going to drastically and exponentially increase.

        I am super excited for this transfer and for this opportunity to work with Elder Waltman. I know that if I do my part in looking for the good in this change, I am bound to find it, and to learn and grow from it as well. I have no doubt that if we apply this perspective throughout my life in any situtation that we may come up against, we will be able to find much joy and postivity in life.