Monday, January 11, 2016

Uh Oh Transfers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For about the past 6 months I have been serving in the beautiful little town of Wairoa.  Wairoa is home to about 5,000 people and I think 4,000 of the people here are less active members haha.  No it's not that bad, but most people have connections to the church.  I love the people here and I can't believe I have almost spent a quarter of my mission in the same area.  The time has flown by and I really love serving here in Wairoa.  I still am not sure of whether or not I will be staying for another transfer so I am anxiously anticipating a call.  Some of you probably think that I am ready to go, but I actually really love it here.  I have really grown close to the members of the ward, but I especially have grown close to our investigators.  I love the people here so much.  I will especially miss Tinika and Ricky.  They are doing so good!  Tinika comes to church every Sunday and loves participating in class.  Elder Barbosa and I teach the gospel principles class and Tinika gets so into class.  She listens really well and even takes notes!  How many of you can say you have taken notes during Church?  I'm not even sure some of us can say we have stayed awake for all 3 hours of Church haha.  It is crazy to see how far our relationship with Tinika has grown since we first met.  Our first few lessons with her were the toughest lessons ever.  We would try and get her to participate in the lesson, but she wouldn't say anything.  Now she is a Chatty Cathy haha.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity that I have had to share the gospel with their family.  I feel like I know just about everyone in this little town haha.  If we walk down the street I can recognize just about anyone.  The cool thing is that people that rejected us when I first got here will now stop and talk to us on the street.  If the mission President let me, I think I could serve my entire two years here.  I have gotten so used to the people and to the way of life it just feels like home.  I can't imagine going anywhere else.  

News about Transfers.  So usually the way transfers work is everyone who is being transferred meets at a central location and we have a transfer meeting then disperse to our new areas.  Instead, this is our new protocol:  

Attention!!! Effective this week we are implementing a new policy regarding Transfers. This is at the direction of the Missionary Executive Council, chaired by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, and the Missionary Department. We will no longer be having "Transfer Meetings" where all those transferring come to a central location. Instead each transferring missionary will transfer by use of public transportation (Bus). During this process missionaries will be allowed to be without their companion. The cost and coordination of the transfer will be taken care of by the mission. Zone Leaders will be given instructions regarding the transfer logistics. It is very important that you adhere to the following guidelines and instructions. Each transferring missionary is allowed 2 bags (25 kilos each) and 1 carry on (5 kilos). Take your bike helmet with you (wear it if necessary). You should include your sheets and pillow case in your bags. You will not be able to take your blankets or your bikes with you. They should be left in your old area and use what is in your new area. We realize this is going to cause some discomfort and concerns with many of you. It is important for us to follow the direction from our leaders. Please direct any questions or concerns to your Zone Leaders, Assistants or Mission Office. Happy travels!  President Rudd.   

It is a little sad that we won't get to have transfer meetings, but if it is coming from an Apostle of the Lord I'm sure there is good reason for it.  The only concern I have is getting lost haha, or losing another suitcase! haha.  Also I think I have 3 suitcases so I'm not really sure how that is going to all go down.  I will probably figure it out somehow haha.  I will try to remember how many suitcases I have this time.  Also I'm getting robbed of a brand new bike, plus everyone else won't have to buy bikes anymore and we all know how cheap I am.  At least I will leave my mark on Wairoa because my bike has a sticker with my name on it.  Everything will all work out though, but I will just have to hope I don't get lost.  

This last week was way good!  We had some good highlights of the week that I will briefly share.  One of the best highlights was an exchange we went on with the Nuhaka Elders.  I went with Elder Bowman to Nuhaka and Elder Barbosa stayed with Elder Hawkins in Wairoa.  It was a way good exchange, Elder Bowman and I smashed it!  At the beginning of the exchange I told Elder Bowman that my goal for the exchange was to be bold.  He told me that was a mean goal because they had an investigator who is pretty stubborn who needs someone to be bold with him.  So I decided I was just going to follow the spirit and be as bold as I possibly could.  Well long story short, we probably had the best lesson I have been in on my mission.  When we came out of the lesson Elder Bowman was like, “Man that had to be the most spiritual lesson ever!” haha.  It was a way cool experience and I definitely felt the spirit so strong. 

Another good experience this week came from a lady named Lisa.  Guess how we found Lisa....you got it haha, knocking doors!  I love knocking doors so much!  Lisa was sitting outside reading a book in the sun.  She is probably in her 30's and has two kids and she is a school teacher.  Well because she was reading a book our job became a lot easier.  We asked her if she enjoyed reading and she obviously did haha.  That lead perfectly into us introducing The Book Of Mormon to her.  We gave the background of The Book of Mormon and shared some of the stories that are found in The Book of Mormon and talked about the restoration.  She was really interested in The Book of Mormon and was ready to start reading right away.  It was cool to see the excitement that she had to read the book.  I'm so thankful for my testimony of The Book of Mormon.  I hope that each of us can learn from Lisa's example and really have an enthusiasm for reading The Book of Mormon.  I hope you all have a tremendous week!

Love,

Elder Brunson