I've forgotten how much I don't like leaving an area. Saying goodbye to people is hard. I've felt this transfer coming for a couple weeks now, but now that it's official and I've had my last Sunday at church and had to say goodbye to some of my favorite members, it's hard. After Sister McNeece finished talking to her family, she asked Brother Kunzler for a blessing. I felt like I needed to ask for one too. It was a very comforting blessing. In it I was told that I'd accomplished everything I was sent here to do in this area. It was an incredible thing to hear, because it's so hard to know when I've done enough. There are so many things that as a missionary I'm supposed to do, sometimes it can be overwhelming and I feel like I'm not getting all the important things done. So to hear from our Heavenly Father that I've done the work He needed me to do was very comforting. It's allowing me to let go, to accept that this isn't my area anymore.
I was also promised that the relationships I've made here will continue into the eternities. I love that we have that promise. It was a promise that I clung to a lot when Sister Rowley was leaving, because things were so good but I knew that once she left things weren't going to be the same, that we were never going to have quite the same relationship as we had at that point, that because of time and other things that would come up in our lives, we would still be sisters and still be close, but it wasn't going to be the same. I feel that way now about our investigators and the members of this wonderful ward, that things are going to change. Which is why I am so grateful to know that there will be a day with no more goodbyes, and when we will be able to continue to develop and enjoy the relationships that we have with everyone that we love. Little things may get in the way while we're on this earth, but it won't be that way in the eternities.
Brother Kunzler also said some interesting things about my next area, that I'm going to have a companion who is very different from my last companions, personality and interests wise, and that we will be able to unite early on in our companionship so that we can make every day count. So, I'm very curious to see where I'm going and who I'll be with.
There have been lots of good things that have happened this week. We were able to find a lot of very prepared people to teach, and I'm very excited for Sister McNeece and her new companion to help them to progress in the gospel.
We also had something very sad happen this week. A recent convert/less active member called us on Wednesday and told us that the man that we'd been teaching the Word of Wisdom to last week had passed away. It was very unexpected and sad. And it's been really hard on her, but she has such a good perspective on it. She's turning to God for support and she knows that this was part of His plan for her and her friend.
We had a really fun ward picnic this Friday out at our ward mission leader's house. We'd been talking about it at church for a month, and a lot of people were going to be coming. And then at 4:00, two hours before the picnic was supposed to start, it started to rain. The rain stopped at about 5:30, but it was still really cloudy. We weren't sure how many people were going to end up coming, but we actually ended up having a really good turnout, about 30 people, and most of them were recent converts or less active. Everyone ate and had a good time talking; the mission leader did a hay ride for the kids (we tagged along too). At about 8:00 the storm clouds started to get closer, you could literally see them rolling in, so everyone packed up and headed for their cars. Just as we were carrying the last of the stuff into the house, it started to rain. It was a great tender mercy from Heavenly Father, that we had that perfect window of time for the picnic.
I loved talking to you, thanks for all your encouragement and support, it means a lot. I hope y'all have a great week, and I'll let you know where I end up!
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