Transfer 3, semana 1

June 21, 2023

Woohoo! I made it out of training! Now that my first two transfers are over, I guess I know everything (I absolutely do NOT). This week again was filled with a lot of lows for me, transfers brought a whole lot of anxiety into my life and it made me not feel good at all. But I suppose that just means that the highs are coming!

Wednesday was the day! The day we found out what would happen for the next six weeks, where we would go, who we would be our companions. Normally this happens on Tuesday but it got pushed back this time. Wednesday was also Sister Jacobs' birthday! We went to the store and bought her a few snacks (all we could really afford with our meager missionary budgets) and a poster board that we made a card out of. We decorated the card towards the end of the night and ran over to their hotel to give it to her and look at what Transfers would bring. It was so fun and such a good memory and I am not doing it any justice by writing it in this email.

Transfer news was this: I would be going to Aberdeen with Hermana Greenwood, and Hermana Messick would stay in Twin Falls with Hermana Stewart. Hermanas Greenwood and Stewart were companions in Aberdeen, so Hermana Stewart and I just traded spots!

Thursday was filled with many goodbyes. I said goodbye to Tim and Nani, poor Nani was very sad to see me leave and Tim gave me a hug! As missionaries, we don't typically hug people of the opposite gender unless they're family, so it was strange to get a hug from a man. Many other goodbyes and it was a long day. I didn't get to say in person goodbyes to a lot of people, but I wrote like 20 cards to lots of families. At the end of the night, the Jacobs took us to Culver's for ice cream.

I don't remember if I mentioned this in an earlier email, but the Jacobs are living in a hotel because their basement flooded and after six weeks of the insurance company not getting the ball rolling on fixing the basement and seven kids sharing two rooms and one bathroom, they had enough and had the insurance company put them in a hotel.

Friday was transfers! We met with the Jacobs in the morning and they bought us donuts and then their twin teenage boys ambushed me with hugs. Then off the the transfer site. We met at the Twin Falls Temple and loaded up my luggage into the trailer and I packed into the truck to drive to Burley. When we got to Burley, we waited around for the other half of the "transfer train" to get there from Pocatello. We waited for about an hour, standing around enjoying the sun and also storming the church building to use the bathroom. Once the other trailer and van came, we swapped our stuff from one trailer to the other and headed off the Pocatello. Once we got to Pocatello, I met Hermana Greenwood (again)! I had been hoping that I would get to be her companion, she came in at the same time as me so I thought it would be farther down the line but here we are. We're "greenie-breaking" each other since we're both fresh out of training. The Spanish has been a struggle because neither of us knows very much, but it's been fun to get to know her.

I don't really know what happened on Saturday, but it was full of anxiety. We went out and did our normal missionary stuff. Maybe it was the fact that now I'm working in a small town and it is such a different area than Twin Falls was. I'm very grateful for Hermana Greenwood and my past companions (Hna Messick and Hma Beard) who helped me when I was struggling, it was very needed. We were way out in the boonies this day and drove a LOT.

Sunday was a little different because we had to juggle five different wards! In Twin Falls we only covered one, but here we do Spanish and English work and have five wards to cover. Three English family wards, one Spanish ward, and a Young Single Adult ward (YSA). We went to three wards today and then were able to call home for Father's Day. We didn't have a dinner appointment, which is the second time that no one has signed up to feed us on a holiday. And a Sunday so we couldn't even stop anywhere to get food (we're not allowed to shop on Sundays).

Monday we went on exchanges with the Hermanas in American Falls. It's funny, we live in American Falls right now because the apartment we have in Aberdeen is being renovated (we would normally live in a church member's basement apartment) so I finally got to see the town I live in. We also had housing inspections which was weird to experience when it's not my house!

A thought for this week: Jesus Christ's sacrifice (the Atonement) covers our sins AND our sicknesses. Every pain in any form that we have felt is covered by his sacrifice. Shouldn't we use it?

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the run down of my week. Talk to you again next week!

Hermana Soh