Transfers in the morning make me happy, transfers in the morning make me cry.....

TRANSFER DAY, oh boy oh boy!

I'm gettin' transferred again!

I'm also white washing again, and training again! So crazy crazy weekend...again.

I'm going to Brantford, about a half hour east of here i think, which means I'll stay in my district and zone. Brantford was actually the district leader area this transfer (so I'm replacing Elders again...good new is this time I've heard stories of how my district leader believes in having an apartment the spirit can be in so he spent his first few days in the area doing nothing but cleaning lol).

Other major upside, I already know my address: 38 Wadsworth Brantford, On N3T 3V6

Sister Wester is going to stay in Woodstock and train her first baby. It's odd though, because that means that our district now has sisters in 2/3 of the areas, and the other area with Elders in it wasn't given a district leader assignment.....So I think they're rearranging the district. I guess that makes sense because they're opening 40 new areas this transfer haha it's just nuts because no one told us who our district leader is. Guess we'll find out tomorrow?

This week was SO GOOD, I'm so sad to leave! We found 2 amazing new investigators, Charles and Jessica. Charles' wife is a less active we've been working with for about 2 months now and who has come out a few times now. She made her husband promise to come with this Sunday so that he could help with the 5 boys, so we went by on Saturday and talked to him about why he didn't already come with her and where he stood on religion. He's Anglican but was really curious about the idea of eternal marriages, so we taught him the plan of salvation and about temples and committed him and their niece Jessica, who sat in on the lesson, to be baptized. It was awesome! He sadly ended up not coming to church, but Jessica came. It was such a great boost because we've dropped about 8 investigators over the last week or so, some of which we were really sad to let go. But the Lord always blesses us when we're following the Spirit and when we're willing to drop people so we have time to find those who are prepared he leads us to them!

Daniel continues to be the world's most perfect investigator. He talks to us every day about how his reading is going and is really developing a testimony. His parents told him he can't be baptized until he's 18 and living on his own, and he's being really respectful of that but is already planning to be baptized once he goes off to school. And he's going to priest/laurel conference next month and is really excited for it. It's funny though because we keep seeing him everywhere. He came by when we were at a member's home for dinner to pick up their daughter for a date and ended up sitting in on the message, and then the next night we ran into him on the elevator in our apartment- turns out his grandma lives 2 floors beneath us! Unfortunately we had to cancel our next appointment with the transfer, but they're going to keep seeing him every week during his spare hour of school. (AH SAD, I typed we there at first on accident...:( transfer blues.)

Hmm other than that I don't think I have anything. I'm just super excited for this next transfer, the Elders were NOT happy to be leaving, I guess they have some super solid investigators and the ward mission leader is the model mission leader for the whole mission so it's gonna be good!   I'll just end with some fun fact about what's happening this transfer that President sent out last week. Love you all bunches! Talk to you in a week!!

P.S. Sister Wester asked about the Christmas letter comment about the "glowing reports" you get about me. I told her that was a lie because I'm 95% sure yall don't talk to President Scott and that probably referenced like one comment he made when they called about my surgery. True or false?


"In anticipation of the remarkable growth and historic changes that our mission will experience over the next few months I want to share some details with you and ask that you look for ways to help each other, especially the new missionaries that will be joining us in the coming months. We will all need to adjust our expectations and be flexible as these changes occur.

Over the next few weeks and months our mission will grow from about 205 missionaries to 285 missionaries. That growth is unprecedented and exciting but it will require the help and cooperation from everyone in the mission.
For example, the church has not had enough lead time to order the new cars needed to accommodate the additional missionaries so for the next 5-6 months, and probably longer, many areas that have had cars in the past will now be walking, biking, busing, or sharing a car. I would ask that as these changes occur we stay focused on our purpose to “invite others to come unto Christ” rather than worrying about changing modes of transportation. Worrying won’t bring any more cars to the mission and the adversary could use it as a tool to distract us if we let him. We will find new investigators in new ways and in new places as we approach these changes with a positive attitude. This is the Lords work. He will continue to place people in our paths. I promise you that we will find people we would not have found otherwise.

We will be opening up about 40 new areas. That will be exciting and create wonderful opportunities but it will also create unique challenges that will require flexibility, self reliance, and cooperation from each of us. If you get to an area and find that you don’t have everything you need please be creative and improvise until additional arrangements can be made. There will also be more white wash areas so keep good records and make sure that you leave each area better than you found it so the next missionaries can get off to a fast start.

 Due to language, gender, or other issues, we will have some missionaries training after being in the field only 5 weeks. We will also have some trainers training more than one missionary at a time. They will need our help. Do everything you can to encourage and lift those that will have extra responsibilities.

This recent change in the age for missionary service is another testimony that the Lord is hastening his work. As we enthusiastically embrace these changes the mission will see growth and blessings that we could not have anticipated when we first received our calls even a few months ago. What a blessing to be serving during this historic time. The Lord must have known we were capable of handling these changes because he chose our time to lower the age of missionary service. You are literally making history. What an opportunity! The Lord will bless us. This is His work. He knows what needs to be done. We just need to be humble and willing to do His will."