Sister Brown

Dear Brother and Sister Boyd,
Elder Boyd....Dallan....asked me to write to you so you would know about the transfer.
Elder Boyd was transferred to Fontana. He will be riding a bike. He said he really wanted to stay here in the mountains for awhile, but transfers come for a reason. I hope he will feel better there. He said the pain is gone now that he is taking Naproxen, but there is still some pressure in his chest. Mike and I have not observed any problems, stress or anything else. It was certainly a surprise that he had all of the problems. Overall, he seemed to be feeling better this past week. I do not know if the altitude was a factor in how he felt. He was fine for over a month. We are at 6500 feet and definitely experience all 4 seasons. This has been a very "wintery" winter. Because of also being in the middle of the southern California, some winters are very mild. Fontana is in the valley, and will be very hot, and often windy.
Elder Thompson was transferred to Apple Valley, the Silver Lakes Single Adult Ward. He is now the Zone Leader in Apple Valley. He will have a car. It is very unusual to transfer both Elders at the same time, and we were sad about that.
Elder Boyd may have mentioned that Mike and I are service missionaries at the Bishops' Storehouse in Colton. The Elders' bikes were in our truck, and after getting things started at the Storehouse, I drove to the transfer meeting. I love sitting in those meetings and hearing all of the Priesthood voices singing, then later hearing them talk and laugh with the other missionaries. I also love to see the other missionaries we have known. They swapped out the bikes, and I took things for our new missionaries, Elder Syphus from St. George, and Elder Bell from Sandy. They seem like really great young men. I would like to just keep collecting all of them!
It was really hard to say good-bye to both of them. I tried really hard to NOT get emotional around them. I did great until I got home after the transfer meeting and found a note they had left thanking us for "taking care of us." Then the tears came. The house did not have the same feeling without missionaries in it. Thankfully, the two new missionaries came a couple of hours later.
Elder Boyd is truly a wonderful man! We admire his obedience, his patience, his desire to serve a mission, and his happy disposition. We are going to miss him and his smile a lot. I have said several times, that when we volunteered to house missionaries we were not told how hard it would be to see them go. It is like sending our own kids off to college.
He will undoubtably have stories to tell when he writes to you on Monday. I am going to miss hearing them.
Thank you for raising an awesome young man. It is easy to see what good parents you are because of who his is. He talks of his family with great love and pride.
We will be happy to do anything we can for him. We are not too far from any area of the mission. Please call anytime. We have every confidence that he will be a successful missionary.
Sincerely,
Sue Brown