Commute To Camrose

Another crazy, eventful week! Take a summary:

1-Final P-Day with the Bonnie Doon Zone. :')

2- Packing! 

3- Last day at the Mustard Seed

4- Goodbyes... :'(

5- Transfer Day! :l

6- Sister Curry and Camrose! :D

7- Eventful evening

8- Meeting new peeps!

9- Weekly planning and a walk

10- Lost on a drive :l

11- Dinner with the Hampsons!

12- Lots of Facebook and contacts (:

13- First Sunday meeting in a Branch

14- Lunch with the Wolseys

15- Hectic afternoon

1- P-Day was surreal for me... I've been in Londonderry so long that transfer news knocked the breath out of me. I had a feeling that I would get transferred, but I sure as the stars didn't want to. Luckily, Londonderry will be left in good hands, though. Sisters Porter and Soutas are excited to work with the members there. :) 

1- Saying goodbye to everyone in the District and Zone was hard. :(  The Elders mostly wanted to play basketball. I got out very quickly in the first game we tried, so I sat on the sidelines. Sister Miller joined me, and we ended up talking the whole time. XD Neither of us are very sporty, and she asked me lots of book questions, so it was a long conversation, haha.

2- Sister Marsmaker and I started packing some stuff on P-Day. I got most of my clothes packed Monday morning and evening, then I packed the rest on Tuesday morning, I believe. It's all kind of a blur... I got a lot of my stuff arranged to go into my suitcases Tuesday evening and I finished Wednesday morning. I've accumulated a lot in my time in Londonderry. XD  My suitcases were bulging.

3- We went to the Mustard Seed on Tuesday, as usual. It was bittersweet... I'm going to miss the people there so much! The conversations we've had, the memories we've shared, the things I've learned... This Tuesday, we were portioning out teriyaki chicken, carrots, and rice. I mostly did carrots and Sister Marsmaker scooped the chicken. When I tried doing the chicken, I dropped the tongs in the sauce. XD When we said our goodbyes, it was rough, but I had to remind myself that goodbyes are not forever. And I'm friends with some people on Facebook. :)

4- Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were full of goodbyes. We were able to stop by some members and call others to let them know that Sister Marsmaker is heading home and that I got transferred. We had dinner with the Hansens one last time on Monday, and the Fortins showed up too! I was hoping we'd be able to say goodbye to them, but our schedule was already packed and we weren't sure if we'd be able to. So that was an answered prayer for me. :) It was super nice to be able to share a message with two of my favorite families.

4- I was able to get a picture with both the Fortins and the Hansens. When we left, I tried to get one last fistbump from Xavier. He grabbed my wrist, which initially confused me. Then, I realized that he was fascinated by my watch. XD  He got even more excited when I showed him that the face glows when I hit the dial on the side. I tried a fistbump with my other hand and he ended up trying to take my ring off. XD  Brother Hansen called him a magpie child. 

4- Tuesday was so busy... We did a lot of contacting in the morning, then we had the Mustard Seed. We also went to the Richardsons for dinner and Brother Richardson bore an amazing testimony for us! But... dinner ran a little long, so we had to scramble to a service for a sweet lady. She stuffed us with pineapple, which was amazing because I loved pineapple. But we'd just come from dinner, so both of us were kind of forcing the pineapple down. She'd cut up at least three pineapples and heaped our bowls full, and we didn't want to be rude and not eat them. XD  When she left the room, Sister Marsmaker scooped some of her pineapple into my bowl because I was still resolutely eating it. My tongue was raw and stinging and my stomach hurt so bad... but it was worth it! I love sour food. XD

4- After the service, we bolted to the church for one last Ward Coordination. We set things in order for the new Sisters to take over. :)  After that, a few more calls and contacts. We got back to the apartment a bit late. We weren't able to say goodbye to everyone, but I'm glad I got to at least see a few people before I left.

5- Wednesday was so hectic! We got up and scrambled to pack the rest of our things before the missionary day technically started. Then, we worked on 'whitewash sheets'. Basically, writing down all the important stuff for the area that we could think of. 

5- We had to make a quick stop at the church to grab something I'd left. Then, we drove to the Sherwood Park Stake Center for transfers. We got to see our snowshoe hare buddy Chinook one last time! The drive was about half an hour, but it felt like five minutes. I felt like I had so much to tell Sister Marsmaker but also no idea of what to say. When there's a time limit on how long you get to spend with someone, it changes the way you think about what you're going to say. 

5- There were so many missionaries at transfers! I swear it was at least a hundred missionaries! I don't know how many missionaries there are in the mission total, but quite a few! There were helpful Elders everywhere that were helping to move stuff into different cars. I had to wait for some luggage to get moved out of the Camrose car before my things could go in. I also ran inside at one point because I was told I had a package! Thanks mom! :D

6- So my new companion is Sister Curry! We have been out exactly the same amount of time because we started the MTC on the same day! :0  She and I have a bunch of similarities already! Also, I'm infinitely grateful that she's the designated driver. :)  The drive back to Camrose was about an hour. We drove through lots of cold, marshy areas. It was a bit warmer than normal, so snow and ice have finally been melting!

6- The new apartment is a bit smaller than the one in Londonderry, but it's nice and cozy. Only one bathroom, so that'll be an adjustment, haha. I got spoiled in Londonderry. The wind has been screaming nonstop since I've come, but at least it's a few degrees above freezing! XD  Camrose reminds me a bit of Fort Sask. More suburbs and cow pastures, no skyscrapers. The biggest building anywhere nearby is Walmart. XD

7- After we got back to Camrose, we had a bit of a busy evening driving around to different places. We also went to the church for a bit to use the clerk's office computer. The chapel here is a lot smaller than most of the ones I've been in. There's no baptismal font, and the chapel room itself could fit in the gym of most other churches. XD   A couple meeting fell through, so we did a lot of Facebook and stuff. Sister Curry used to be on the social media team, so she's great at starting Facebook conversations! :D

8- We met a few members on Thursday before weekly planning. We went to the Lyon's house and I loved it! They have a lot of African-themed paintings and furniture. Lots of lions, of course, but a fair amount of elephants, giraffes, hippos, and different gazelles patterned on the couches and stuff. They had three adorable grandkids that were literally climbing all over me! XD  They kept using plastic sticks from a building set as 'wands' and tried to get me to cast Harry Potter spells with them. XD  They also tried to search through our bags and were sadly disappointed that we only had scriptures and other books. 

8- We also visited a lady named Sister Isaacson. She's moving, which is sad, because she's super sweet. But we're going back to help her next week. She has a gorgeous gray abyssinian cat that I fell in love with! Her name is Velvet and she literally jumped on Sister Curry! She was walking around on Sister Curry's shoulders while we were trying to share a message. XD

9- Weekly planning was a big info-dump for me. I know no one here yet, so I was just absorbing everything that Sister Curry told me about the people. We also went for a bit of a walk so we weren't cooped up in the tiny chapel all day. The wind was shrieking and I almost lost my scarf! We had to yell to hear each other! I think it's a chinook though, (a warm winter wind) because lots of snow and ice was melting. We had to step lightly through slush, and the roads were muddy rivers. The rest of Thursday wasn't too eventful, but it was definitely the warmest, windiest day this week!

10- We got invited to dinner with a sweet couple called the Hampsons! They live out in the middle of nowhere and we had the wrong address. :l  We met up with a friend we're teaching who was also coming to dinner with us. He said he had a good memory and offered to take the lead. We drove around and followed him for a while and he was able to find the Hampsons' place! It was in the middle of miles and miles of empty fields and the occasional copse of trees. We wouldn't have made it in time for dinner if our friend didn't have such a wonderful sense of direction! :D

11- The Hampsons are such a friendly couple! They have a couple yappy dogs and an amazingly friendly cat! She came running up to me and reared up on her hind legs to nose my hand. I pet her for a few minutes and she ended up rolling around on the ground. She was purring like crazy and rolled all over my feet. XD  

11- Dinner was tasty, but super spicy for me! My spice tolerance is still incredibly low, but I've gotten better at hiding my discomfort when I eat spicy food. XD  The Hampsons commented on my meager portion (I'd filled up my bowl with the spicy stew/rice stuff, but apparently I hadn't filled it enough!) so I got a second helping. It took a good half hour for the burn in my mouth to die down. XD  Dessert helped, though! It was a tasty homemade cake with lots of craisins and walnuts. :)

11- Brother Hampson told us all sorts of awesome, hilarious stories. He used to work at a factory that made a lot of metal products and he loved working night shifts, so other people would pay him to take their night shifts! XD  I don't know if I can go into detail about the funny stories because some of them were slightly illegal, haha. At one point, he paused, looked up, and started talking to someone that I assumed was his old boss. He was like, "If you're listening Mr. (I forgot the name of his boss), then it was me who did it!" XD  

12- This weekend we did a crazy amount of Facebook work. Apparently member lessons here are no problem because people line up to feed us and meet with us, so Sister Curry and I spent a lot of time finding instead of working to set up member lessons. I'm still not the fondest of Facebook work, but... *sigh* I guess I have to get used to it. We also worked on contacting a lot of people that were formerly taught. No one is currently interested, though. 

13- Okay, so Camrose is a Branch, not a Ward. Branches are a lot smaller, which explains the tiny chapel. When we got to church on Sunday, I was worried there wouldn't be enough chairs for everyone. However, only about 50-60 people showed up, and half of them were kiddos. XD I was able to learn a few names, so hopefully I can get to know people here quickly! The kids were so cute; I loved watching all the family antics during the service. At the end, a little girl whose name I forgot came up to give Sister Curry and I little Valentine cards with chicken nuggets on them. Mine says "You're my chicken nugget." I found it adorable and sweet! :D

14- After church, we went to the Wolsey family (Wool-zee) for lunch. They have three boys and a girl. They were super funny! We had tasty spaghetti with chicken meatballs and lots of cheese. I loved it! :D  Afterward, Brother Wolsey got us some ice cream and cake. Then, we did one of my favorite lessons: The Ten Commandments hand gestures! A couple of the kids got a little crazy, but it was still fun.

15- The rest of Sunday was busy! We drove around trying to find the address of a lady who'd requested a Bible. We were super late because Google Maps was giving us four different addresses and we had to guess which one was hers by context clues. We were also late to a member lesson, so I was a bit frazzled. We took a walk to let off some steam and went around a pretty little lake called Mirror Lake. It was frozen, of course. There were lots of cute little birds flitting around in the trees and bushes--mostly sparrows, but a couple jays, chickadees, and nuthatches. Oh, we also saw a couple of deer trotting around the lake the other night. Not when we were walking; it was on a drive home. I would have taken a picture, but they were way too far away and it was dark.

Anyway, crazy busy week for me! I hope everyone is doing well! :)  Love you all!

Sister Howard

A beautiful cat, some pictures of Sister Curry and I at Mirror Lake, and some cool, frosty grass!