Happy 4th of July to everyone! Hopefully you are all having a good time "hamming-it-up" at Bear Lake. I'm anxious to get up there again in the upcoming years. Send me some pictures if you can and tell everyone I say hi. That news about Steve McNair dying was shocking! That's so random. Life can be taken away in an instant and we never know when it will happen. Michael Jackson dying two weeks ago and now this info about Steve McNair is tough to believe that it's real. Apparently a bunch of people will be having a parade near the Staples Center in downtown L.A. tomorrow to honor Michael Jackson and I actually drove up near his house in Beverly Hills this past week and there was caution tape surrounding the entrance with flowers everywhere. I'm now living up behind the L.A. Temple in Westwood. I've been working in the area of Beverly Hills for the past week, but that will end this Wednesday when I will open up a new area in West L.A. with my new companion, Elder Davis, who's from South Jordan, UT. He went to Bingham High School and graduated in 2008. Last Tuesday until now has felt like an informational roller-coaster as I've been trained and taught about some of my new responsibilities in the mission. Pres. Blackburn met with me last Sunday (28 June) and asked me to be his next Assistant to the President (AP). He asked me to be up at the mission home two days later to start the training period that has been happening for seven days now. Elder Gathro, one of the two current AP's, will be leaving for home this Wednesday and he's been "showing me the ropes" and helping me get settled in to all the new responsibilities. Right now we have three AP's in the mission home and that will continue until Elder Gathro leaves. Elder Gentry (my former companion) is the other AP and he's had one transfer of experience up here in the mission home and office, so we'll both be learning a lot from our own experiences next transfer (8 July - 19 Aug). There are so many meetings this week! On Wednesday we'll be dropping off all the departing missionaries at the LAX airport at 6:30am and then picking up all the new, arriving missionaries at 9:30am at LAX. We will be having a trainer's meeting that we will conduct and train at, followed by a "trainee's" meeting that we will be conducting as well. The next four days are packed with meetings, but it will be a good time. I've really enjoyed working closely with Pres. Blackburn since I've been up at the mission home. He lives here too with Sis. Blackburn. The AP's and Pres. participate in 3-4 meetings towards the end of each transfer where they make transfer decisions for all the missionaries in the mission. I had the opportunity to participate in two of those and it was very humbling. Pres. Blackburn is a great man and I look forward to learning from him and Sis. Blackburn as well. Real quick, our 4th of July celebration consisted of eating dinner with Pres. and Sis. Blackburn out on the courtyard area of the mission home. Pres. grilled some steaks and Sis. Blackburn made some dang good salad, jello, potatotes and a cake that was in the shape and design of an American flag. Besides Pres. and Sis. Blackburn, Elder Gentry, Elder Gathro, Elder Jenne (L.A. Mission referral secretary), Elder Davis (L.A. Mission computer specialist), and I were there to eat all the good food. Take care and have a great week! Let me know if there's anything I can do for any of you. Elder Brycen Gold
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