046

4 June 2012

Dear Homefront,

Well this week has been hectic but good.  The first half of the week was us getting ready for apartment inspections and letting Elder Eagar pack and say his goodbyes.  Thursday was Transfer Meeting and we got the same speeches we usually get about safety including the tape by Elder Holland about automobile safety.  Speaking of cars, Saturday we got to swap out our car.  Elder Tolman, our Car Czar wants to put all of the mission's 4-wheel drive cars up in the northern areas where they're more likely to get snow so we got to drive up to Richmond and give away our lovely Subaru and come home with one of the boats - er - Malibus.  After that, we had the branch activity.  Sloppy Joes on the menu, yum.  And Sunday it was my turn to go to Ft. Lee (figuring how that was going to work was an event (more later)).  The spirit at that fast and testimony meeting nearly knocked me flat.  It was absolutly amazing.

As for my earlier comment, now that we've lost our third companion, covering Ft. Lee is much more difficult.  It used to be that one of us would go with the Stocks in the morning and the others would go to Hopewell like normal.  But now we both have to go with the Stocks and we have to rely on loving members to pick one of us up and go to Hopewell.  After a bit of a scramble Saturday afternoon, we were able to find Elder Huntzinger a ride.  We're going to be meeting with the branch presidency on Thursday so hopefully we'll be able to figure out a more stable plan of action.

This week, I've also been doing a lot of pondering on both the atonement and the tender mercies of the Lord.  These two topics are infinitely different and yet eternally connected.  The atonement is probably the largest and most well known of all the Lord's tender mercies but there are so many we see each and every day, most that we don't even ever realize because we're so used to them.  But when you sit back and take a moment to ponder on them you find that we are truly dependant on the Lord.  Without His hand, none of this life would work ... None of it would matter.  It's His love and His mercy that make this life both possible and worthwhile.  I am so grateful for the Lord and His many tender mercies.  As the hymn goes, "I stand all amazed ... confused at the grace which so fully He proffers me."

I hope you all are well and safe, and that you may find joy in even the smallest of the Lord's tender mercies.

With love, always,

-Elder John Y. Roberts

PS:  Yes Mother, I got the package, sorry for not mentioning it.  The cake was good though being the men that we are we baked it and then ate it all right before bed-time.  We slept pretty well.