Transfer 9

Well my friends. I am here to tell you that the Lord answers prayers.

Just not always in the way you expect it.

Or want Him to.

Dear goodness.

Transfer calls were this Saturday! Sister L and I were studying, when President Wirthlin called! We both looked at each other, then I answered the phone.

"Hello, Sister Stimpson. What's new with you?" he asked casually.

"Oh you know. Just reading in Luke. How are you?" I responded.

"Good! So you're just hanging out, then?"

"And reading the scriptures, President!"

"Good..............................well. Let me just pull up my information."

"Wait I thought you were just calling to see how we were!"

"Oh, I was. And to tell you that I'm calling you and Sister L to be Sister Training Leaders again this transfer. You'll be over four sets of sisters."

"Okay!" I said. Last transfer we were over only two sets of sisters. Four should be fun.

"Sounds good?" asked President.

"Yes!"

"All Right. Love you! Have a good day."

"LOVE YOU, PRESIDENT!"

And I hung up. Sister L and I looked at each other, then I said, "I just told President I loved him. That was weird."

"It wasn't too weird."

"It was a little weird."

I am SO excited to be able to work with more sisters this transfer! I have LOVED serving as a Sister Training Leader, and am looking forward to another transfer of it!

But that's not how the Lord answered my prayer.

See, every transfer I've had some sort of idea of what was going to happen, except for my fourth transfer when Sister R and I stayed together again. But I've always had some sort of clue. One night, I was sitting there thinking, "Man. I love surprises. One of these times I just want something super crazy to happen at a transfer. Maybe I'll pray for a surprise to happen."

So I did.

Oops.

We had just gotten out of a teaching appointment with a less-active member, when the zone leaders called us to tell us what's happening with everyone else in the zone.

"So what about the sisters we're over?" we asked.

"They're all staying the same."

"Really? Wow. I expected some of them to change," we said.

But that wasn't the surprise either.

"Okay!" we said,  "How about the elders in our area?"

"The area is closing for elders. You two will now be working in both their area as well as yours." said Elder G.

My heart skipped a beat. Sister L and I looked at each other.

"That's hilarious, Elder G," said Sister L, "What's REALLY happening to the Elders?"

".....I'm not joking. Elder R is going to Cortland, and Elder T is going to Hudson."

"..........Wait.........you're being serious right now?"

"Yes."

"No, no, no. What's REALLY happening to the Elders?"

"The area's closing! You'll be working there as well as your area!"

"WHAT."

"Yes."
"WHY?"

"We've had too many missionaries go home for medical reasons. There's a large shortage of missionaries in the mission. President Wirthlin is trying to keep at least one set of missionaries in each area, so he's had to take out some missionaries where there is already another set, and put them in an area that might close." said Elder G.

Silence.

A long silence.

"You're being serious right now?" I said.

"Yes."

"WELL SHOOT. DANG, OUR AREA JUST GOT HUGE."

This is a mission-wide problem, apparently. We've had at least 11 missionaries go home this last transfer because of medical problems, and more are expected to go home. The Owego Elders' area is now closed and Sister S and Sister A are covering that whole area, too. We have no idea how long we'll be covering the whole area for, but our area is now HUGE.

.....but on the bright side we now have investigators to teach!

It won't be bad.

It will just be an adventure.

Thank goodness Sister L is good at organizing.

Man, not to get totally worldly here, but if I were a journalist, I would SO write an article on this.

Well. Other than this whole surprise, we've had a couple other fun adventures this week!

Our elderly investigator from a few weeks ago came to church! Yes - the dear old, heard-of-hearing man. For Easter, Sister L and I dropped off an Easter present : Finding Faith in Christ. He wanted to watch it with us, so we set up an appointment and came back with a member.

We watched the DVD with him, and the volume was turned up quite loud.

Needless to say, for part of it, I had to sit there with my ear plugged.

The next day, we retaught him the restoration. And it was one of the best lessons I've had with him. And the first thing he said to us when we walked in was, "I'm coming to your church this Sunday!" And....HE DID! Hopefully we will see more progression this time around!

We also visited the woman who we stopped by who had bronchitis. Now, her house has always had a lot of clutter. Like, a lot of clutter.

This time when Sister L and I walked in, we gasped out loud.

It was SO. CLEAN. Everything was organized, swept, scrubbed, and beautiful. She stood proudly in her living room and said how hard she had been working to make it a better and more happy environment. We read part of the Book of Mormon with her. After reading it, she sighed and said, "You know, now that my house is clean, I can feel the spirit so much better. I mean, I guess I could feel it before, but now I can just REALLY feel it as I read! Man, I want this. I really want this. I think God was helping me get motivated to clean so I can feel the spirit better."

It was AMAZING to see the difference in her! She has truly grown even in the few months I have been here!

Anyway. I should be off. But I'll end with one more story:

The perks of street contacting/talking with everyone is that you might talk to a limo driver who tells you you can sit in his limo, and says that if "you and ten other missionaries ever want to take a trip somewhere, just give the company a call and we'll give you a ride in a limo!"

Yes, I'm sure President Wirthlin will approve of that.

 

 

I love you all!

Hurrah For Israel!

Sista' Stimpson