Transfers

Monday, January 8, 2018

Alexandria, Virginia

Okay, so this week was exciting.  And scary. 

First things first.  TRANSFER DOCTRINE CAME OUT.  And, surprise!  I'm leaving Alexandria.  *sheds a tear* When President told me that I was being transferred, he told me that I was going to a wonderful place with an amazing ward that will love me. And guess what happened when I saw where I was going?  I just about died.  Because I'm going to Burke.  That's President's ward.  I will be the missionary in the Huntsmans' ward.  People keep telling me that President won't be there on Sundays anyway, but that doesn't help me.  At our fireside last night, he came up to me and said (much too cheerfully, mind you): "Welcome to the Burke ward!"  Anyway, so I will be leaving tomorrow morning.  And I will not be the designated driver.  *sheds more tears*

I'm just sad to be leaving the people.  We had a lovely week with N* (we found out that she spells it with an "h"), and we were able to put her on date to be baptized! She committed to be baptized on February 17th, and we think (hope) that she'll stick to it!  We fasted for her on Sunday.  Also, on Saturday, we went over and she had brought us Cafe Rio from Manassas because we don't have one close by.  She's so cute, and she takes care of us.  Also, we keep talking about how we need to make cookies when we go over there, so she bought us a cookie mix that we made last night.  She also came to church with us, and it was awesome.  There were so many people who fellowshipped her and her cute daughter, M*.  When we said goodbye, she started to cry, so then I started to cry, and it was the saddest thing I think I've ever had to do.  But it is all good.  I'm going to keep in touch, and I will see her at her baptism!  

 

Saying goodbye to N* and her darling children.

 

We've also gone exploring this past week.  We had a dinner appointment on Friday night.  I was pretty confidant that I knew how to get there, so we skedaddled on our way to dinner, and when we pulled up to the apartment, we wanted to make sure so we plugged the address into the GPS.  It said we were a few buildings away, so we started to drive over there because A) it was freezing, and B) it was freezing.  So, we pull onto the road that the GPS said we had to, and we were immediately on an on-ramp for the freeway.  I didn't start to panic because I was just going to turn around at the next exit, but after looking for an exit to get off on, we realized that the nearest one that we could turn around on was over the Potomac.  Out of our mission boundaries.  Out of Virginia.  Needless to say, I was slightly stressed about the situation.  We had to call our mission car coordinator and tell him we were leaving the mission because our TiWi tracks where we are and will send out a notice to him if we leave.  He said that he wouldn't tell President and that it was just between us.  We're buddies now.  Anyway, we tried to turn around when we got to Maryland, but our stupid GPS took on the wrong exit and we were going North into Baltimore.  Again, I was a tad bit nervous. ...I screamed a lot.  We finally made it to our dinner appointment 45 minutes late, and during the prayer, the husband asked for the Lord to forgive us.  Afterward, his wife looked at us and said, "I asked him to pray for your repentance."  It was cute.  But it was kind of incredible the cam feeling that I got when we pulled back over the Potomac and into our area.  Whew!  I'm exhausted just thinking about it. 

 

Saying goodbye to the E* Family.

 

In other news, we went on exchanges this week.  But it was so cold that the APs [Assistants to the President] told us that we couldn't go outside before noon and after 7pm Thursday - Sunday.  And even then, we aren't supposed to leave our apartments in the afternoon unless we have a specific appointment that we have to be at.  We got that news the day of our exchanges.  So, Sister Hodgson and I sat on the floor and made brownies and called all of the people that they had talked to.  One lady was like, "I'll have to call you back later.  I'm busy taking care of a colony of feral cats." and then hung up.  It was hilarious.  There were people outside on sleds, though and I just wanted to join them.  Then we got ice cream that night and all was better.   

Sister Hodgson & Sister Kleven

 

So, all in all, we had a good week.  I'm being transferred.  Next time I write, I will be in a different place. 

This is Sister Missionary, signing off.

 

With A* - the coolest member ever!

The sisters in my district.