Tue, 20 Jan 2009

Fam and Friends,

Once again, it is time to update you on my life as a missionary. I know you all appreciate this opportunity to catch a glimpse of this exciting undertaking in the great area of Avondale and west Phoenix. I hope you are all intrigued.

So last week, I got transferred. And, as always in this mission, none of us had any idea where we were going, though my good friend Elder Soto went home (finally, that kids has been out forever!) and his companion got transferred too, which means that their area (the north half of the Spanish ward that I worked in the south half of) was then open for "flushing" aka putting in a completely new pair of missionaries. That's always a fun game.

So I packed everything up, put my food in bags, and loaded it all up in Katy John's car (a member who helps us) and we headed off to the transfer building half an hour away. We all go in, go through the meeting, then they announce our new companions. I was assigned to work with Hna. Martinez, an Hna. from New York (but she was born in El Salvador. She's a native. She rocks.) And then they assigned our area. See, we were the two sisters who got to flush a new area--turns out to be the north half of the ward I was already working in, and they gave us an English ward to work with as well. Which also meant that we would be living in the same apartment that I had just packed all my things in. So I went back and put all my food back in the refrigerator that I had just pulled them from. It was awesome.

I did move rooms though.

So now we're all put back together, we got the extra desk and bed that we needed, and Hna. Martinez and I spent most of last week organizing the Area Books (big binders where missionaries keep records of all the people they're teaching, have taught, might possibly teach, and information about the ward that we serve in.) The Elders who had been working in the areas before us had done a lot of work, and left us with a lot of people to follow up on and meet, which was awesome, so we had a lot of meeting to do. We still haven't met everyone that they were teaching yet.

Anyway, that was mostly my week. Biggest event probably for the rest of my mission was that I, with Hna. Martinez, was able to have lunch with my dad. He's down here for some training before he heads out to Iraq, so the President gave us special permission to have some time together. It was great. I mean, the food and all, but mostly the company.

I better get going, I've got a few other emails to write. Espero que Dios les cuide y que tengan todo necesario para perseverar en este mundo con mucho tribulacion. De hecho, solo va a empeorar. Pero, esto es exactamente porque no vivimos en el mundo. Tratamos siempre acercarnos a Dios--entonces, arriba del mundo. Eso es lo que trato mi mismo cada dia, y creo que estoy progresando. ?Quien sabe?

Anyway, gotta go. I'm going to go call a lady back because she just left a message to give us a referral of one of her friends. I'm pretty stoked.

Sister Rosser, no worries--the letter I'm sending you will make up for its tardiness. :D

Paz fuera, gente.

Love,
Hna. Crowley.