Hey,
Your email this week was just great. I was laughing out loud in the library...thats right a library. Why is that you may ask? Let me tell you, I got transferred. Yep that's right. I moved to a whole new mission this last week. But I will get to that later.
The weather there is so hot!! I can't believe you are already hitting the hundreds! I thought it was just Cali that was having a heat wave, but nope. All the way up to Utah. The weather here has been super hot. And of course we have been tracting a lot. But we have decided to make a game out of tracting in hot weather so that it is a little more fun. There are a lot of great people down here that offer us water. And the water out of the tap tastes like dirt and smells like it too. So I refuse to drink it. So we decided that everytime we get offered water, we had to accept it and we would see how many bottles we could get in a day. We even set a goal to reach. On Saturday we got a grand total of.......18 waterbottles. So now we are set for a few days and I can stay hydrated. It definitely makes us laugh.
Well I am bet you are dying to know what happened in transfer meetings on Tuesday. I had to be there at 7 in the morning because Sister Morgan had to go to a Train the Trainer meeting. So we were up at 445. I then was able to visit with my favorite, Sister Cook, who was my MTC companion, because she was being split from her trainer, so her trainer was also at this meeting.
Then at 1030 tranfer meeting started. The 28 new missionaries arrived (well most of them) and President and Sister Godwin got up and said their little goodbye speeches. They also called a new AP...which you may have heard about from Camille and Adam...if not, just ask them. Then they started in with transfers.
They say the zone, then the zone leaders then got through each
district. They got to the San B zone and started off with my old
district. Everyone was the exact same. Elder Urry as the district
leader with Elder Bell. Elder McNees (also from Logan) still training
Elder Shapcott and in the Hallmark ward, Sister Morgan with her new
companion Sister Wells (maybe??) and then he moved on and my name was
not said. I was in complete and utter shock. Then President said, oh
wait a moment...and I thought oh now he will say my name...but he
didn't. "Sister Morgan your new companion got left at the Salt Lake
airport because the flight was overbooked. She will arrive at about 3
this afternoon." And right there in the middle of transfer meeting, with the entire
mission, I started crying. Mostly out of shock, but I was also sad. I
was leaving my greenie area and my trainer who I absolutely loved.
Now the San B zone was one of the first zones that was annouced. So the next couple of minutes were tourture because I had no idea where I was going or who I was going to be with. Then President got to the Upland zone and he said that Sister Haupt was called as the new Sister Training Leader and her companions will be Sister Recipcia (from the Philippines) and Sister Woodward. So I am still in the three some. I am in Upland. I went from Muscoy in San B to upland. The ghetto of the ghetto to the ritzy of the ritzy. Quite a big difference.
Also, Elders were in this ward right before us. They have always had Elders in this ward. We are the first sisters ever so we are changing things up quite a bit. The ward is now starting to adjust to having sisters instead of elders. That also means that we moved into the apartment that the elders left. And for elders, it was pretty clean. I will give them that, but for sisters, it was and still is absolutely disgusting!!! I am so glad that today is pday so that I can do some serious deep cleaning!! you don't even know how nasty I feel everytime I walk into my apartment. And it smells like aftershave...I guess it could smell worse, but still not my first choice of how I would like my apartment to smell....
Sister Haupt is amazing. She acutally went to SUU!!! Can you believe that? probably not My first companion was from Logan and my second is from SUU. So weird. My third comp will have to be from Logan and from SUU or she just won't be good enough for me haha. And sister Haupt was there the same 2 years that I was there. She is also 21. She is from Richfield Utah. She is a bit taller than me. She has been out for 9 months now, so she is half way down with her mission. She is extremely sarcastic and so we get along just wonderfully. She is so excited to be a missionary is always going and happy and talking to everyone. She is a great missionary and I am so excited to be able to work with her.
Her new calling makes our companionship a little different. Normally, the 2 sister training leaders are companions and go on exchanges with the sisters throughout the mission. But because there are so many sisters that are still being trained, they split the 2 STLs up and put them in trios with sisters that needed training. So twice a week I get to help with exchanges. Sister Haupt will go with one sister, and we get her companion. It is an interesting situation because now I am basically the sister training leader assistant.
I get to meet and work with all the sisters throughout the mission
now. I will stay in my area to work with Sister Recipcia and whoever is
on exchanges with us. I will have things that I will need to do with
the sister I am working with to best help her companionship out. I will
have to ask questions and dig a little because the sisters we are
exchanging with will usually be having problems so I get to figure out
what those problems are and then try to help fix them...and I have only
been out 6 weeks!!!
Sister Haupt says that the pres and aps chose 4 sisters (Me, sister Recipcia, sister Cook and Sister Morones (Sister Cook and Sister Morones are with the other STL and all 4 of us came out 6 weeks ago)) who they thought they could trust to not really have trainers for the next six weeks. Ones they knew would be able to handle the missionary work in their areas while their trainers/senior companions would be out of the area and doing other stuff all the time. We are missionaries who will be able to mainly get along with any sister we are partnered with. So being out 6 weeks and I am basically the sister training leader assistant. Kinda a big responsibility in my part. Kinda overwhelming actually. And after this transfer, I will have to start training.
But since I am in the Rancho mission, I get to be with 4 of the 5
sisters I came out with in the MTC. The other sister, we already did
exchanges with before the mission split and I got to spend all day
Saturday with her. It was great. I am excited to get to know the other
sisters in the mission.
Well Aunt Lila guessed right. I am going to be in the Rancho Cucamonga mission. You will have to let her know and get her a prize for winning. haha
This week has been a little crazy. Sister Respicia was with her last companion for this week because there were a few mix ups. Sister Haas (Sister R's trainer) was going to get a new sister. But that new sister was not 19 yet so they wouldn't let her leave the MTC yet. So she had to stay another week so sister R had to stay with sister Haas til the new sister comes. So sister R has not been with us this week. We will get her tomorrow.
Sister Haupt has been gone a lot to trainings and to the temple and doing other important things to figure this whole new calling out since our mission has never had any before. So since I don't have my other companion, I have been going with Sister Cook and Sister Moronoes quite a few times this week. I have really enjoyed it because Sister Cook is my favorite still.
Also, the things we are doing as new missionaries is crazy. We are having to work with STLs and training after 3 months. This work is crazy. In just a few months, the new missionaries coming out will have leveled off and things will have settled down. Those missionaries coming out at the end of this year, will have no idea what the missionaries before them (the ones out now) had to do so that the foundation for all these new missionaries could be lain. It is taking a lot of effort of everyone out here to deal and adjust and figure out how everything is going to work. Once everything settles down and things start flowing, the new missionaries will be coming out and they will have no idea what we have gone through so their missions could run smoothly and so the foundation of this new work could be lain.
So even though I was extremely shocked and sad that I got transferred, It was totally an answer to my prayers, said and unsaid. I was really sad that I would never get to be with a sister that had been out for very long. I knew right when I finished training, I would have to start training.
I was also kinda praying that I would be sent to a new area. I kinda wanted to, but kinda not. I just wanted to be sent to a new area where I could start over. Where I could become a better missionary and where nobody new who I was and I could have a fresh start. From my first transfer, I found out quickly that the missonary I was being, was not the missionary I wanted to be. I wanted to be better and different and I knew that I needed to become better. I know that with Sister Haupt and my new responsibilities, I will hopefully become more like the missionary I want to become.
Most of what has happened to me this week is exactly what I wanted to happen, but I didn't think it would so I didn't pray for it. But I know that Heavenly Father knew what I wanted and what I needed and he helped me out a lot. He answered my said and unsaid prayers and I know he is constantly watching over me and helping me become a better person and missionary. I love this work and am so glad to be out here.
Well I think that is pretty much it. Tell Kelsey she needs to have fun in Guatamala and also that she needs to tell me about Kendall...I am dying to know!!
Have a good week. I will talk to you next week.
Love you all
Sister Woodward
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