A LOT to catch up! Bike Wreck! Hit By Truck! Branch President

I know I'm slow when I keep getting scolded for not keeping you up to date. Sorry. Life has a way of draining our time ... and Josh is complaining that he's getting slowed down.

Here is the thumbnail sketch of the goings-on.

Josh got a new companion: Elder Singleton from Mesa, Az. Josh loved him. They got along great and worked REALLY hard. After about a month Josh got warned that he may be up for a transfer ... even though he had been in Lebanon for only 4 months. His new mission president was considering opening a new "Spanglish" area (one spanish, one english elder) ... and the zone leaders (both spanish and english) were saying Josh was the man to send to the new area. Josh was not looking forward to leaving Lebanon. He developed a real love for the people and area and said that if he found out he was going to move, he "would probably cry." But, true to form for Josh, he bounced back with a vengance. In 3 days they picked up 9 new investigators and triple the referrals that Lebanon had ever had! Oh yea ... he had a bike wreck in that time too. Josh asked that we keep praying for him ... and for his companion. You see, Josh had been setting the pace of the work and Elder Singleton was physically getting too tired to keep up. Josh decided that if he was going to leave Lebanon he was going to "rip this place apart and leave the stacks for the newbie"! And he did.
Prior to the move he got a call from his mission president ... they decided not to open the new area ... but Josh was getting moved. In the week prior to the move, Josh had 2 - 3 bike wrecks (one was a "gnarly flipping twisting thing" on a freshly tarred road "so I just had to peel tar out of my skin") and he was hit by a truck.
Now, knowing Josh, I'm sure you can understand that he gave lots of information on that, right? Well, he said he walked away from it because "1) I'm an ornery cuss and refuse to get hurt; 2) the Lord protects us when we're obedient; and 3) I think bruises are cool." That's all he said. Needless to say, lots of questions were still unanswered ... is he REALLY OK? Is his BIKE Ok? What really happened? A phone call to the mission office revealed that they didn't know about the Josh v. Truck incident either ... but they found out and President called us back. Turns out that Josh, his companion and the truck came to the intersection at the same time. Truck driver waved them across ... and so they proceeded in the cross-walk. Just as Josh was in front of the truck, he pulled forward and hit Josh. It wasn't hard and Josh caught himself on the way down ... the bike is OK too. So, as Josh says, he knows he's doing good because Satan is working hard and he's (Josh) getting in bike wrecks ("either that or I'm just a big fatty who can't ride a bike.")
So, why all the opposition for Josh? Not JUST because of the great work in Lebanon ...
Josh was transferred to Clarksville (a city of 100,000+ northwest of Nashville) where is has a companion from Chile, and Josh was just set apart as the Branch President of the only Spanish branch in that stake!

Josh's Branch covers parts of Tennessee and Kentucky and he's finding that there's a LOT to do. Although he complains that it is strange going from running 100 mph to having to learn a new area and go slow for a while ... he needs the extra time as he now needs to study and learn how to be a Branch President in addition to studying to learn Spanish (which he says is improving LOTS with his new companion ... that's all they speak). He's trying to plan a Branch activity and put together the ward mission plan ... can you picture Josh planning all this? He certainly has grown up!