Transferred. And transferred again.

 Hi everyone!
So,  transfers are this week, a week early because otherwise they would be on Christmas day, but president said that no body was really getting transferred because its just right before Christmas. However, everyone in the Garden City zone got switched up. I'm being put in Arkansas City, in the Derby Zone, with Elder Garnett. I leave Wednesday. Haha If I knew anything more about my companion or area I would tell you, but I really don't know much. they are nothing more that names. I need to find a map to find out where Arkansas City is. It may be an English area. But

from what I've heard all Spanish speakers take their turn in an English area for two transfers, because there are not enough Spanish areas to go around. So I will just have to stick it out for a couple of months teaching the gueros this. But my companion is a Spanish speaking missionary, so who knows, it may be a both an English and Spanish area, and since we both speak, I don't think there will be any problem if we teach the Spanish people.

Its too bad me and Elder Gomez have had a lot of fun together, and I will be sad to leave my first area, but I'm really excited to get to know another.  

*******************************1 week  later**********************************
So this week was pretty crazy. I got on a bus on Wednesday and went to Wichita, 4 hour bus ride. Not kidding eastern Kansas is a whole different world. So Arkansas City is exactly one mile from the Oklahoma Border south of Wichita  It is really humid, and it is a really hilly. It is a ton prettier than west Kansas. There are a lot more trees, and natural streams everywhere. And a lot of hills. The town here is super cool too, almost all the building are clear back to the 1800s, and all the roads are red brick. It makes the place look really cool. I feel like im on the east coast. A lot of the houses look like old colonial houses, and old Victorian style houses that are really old.

My Companion Elder Garnett is awesome  He is from South Carolina. We have only been together for a week, but already feel like we are best friends. We get a long super well. On Friday, we got some freezing rain, and then after that sleet, and then it snowed all Saturday  So outside is about an inch of ice, and then two inches of snow on top. Everything has super big icicles on it. It looks really cool.

This map makes it look like Newton is the big city and Witchita is tiny. Au contraire...

So we went into an appointment with a part member family, and had a super awesome lesson, and had the cousin who wasn't a member commit to baptism the 11 of January, and Elder Neeley the AP called and told me that i was going to be transferred again. Me and Elder Garnett were pretty mad, because we get along super well, and I already like the area a ton. But there was some drama going on the mission  and president called us, and so Elder Garnett is getting a "special assignment" meaning he is being put with a companion who is going through a tough time and needs support. And he is staying here in Arkansas City, and I'm getting a transferred to Hutchinson with a "special assignment" as well. So they are opening a new Spanish branch out in Newton Kansas, (Hutchinson is part of that area), and so me and Elder Banderes, are going to be there opening the Spanish branch. All they need is two, tithe-paying, Melchizedek priesthood holders. And so that's what we are going to be doing down there. Good news is that they are not going to move me until Thursday so i will still get to Skype you and everything. We are going to pick up Elder Garnets new companion today in Wichita  and we will be in a threesome until Thursday, and then i will go to hutch. 

Its kinda sad that im getting transferred again, i really don't want to move again, but its all good. I look forward to being able to be there for the opening of the Spanish branch, and it sounds like everything is just exploding there so hopefully we will see success. I don't know where Hutch is, but I think its part of Wichita.

 

Thanksgiving in Kansas

Well your thanksgiving sounds great! I wish I could have been home with all the family, I miss them a lot too.

 This week was really cool. District Leaders have to do 24 hour exchanges with all the other elders in their districts. So in my district there (Other than the zone leaders and the sisters in Garden City) are Lindville and Elder Simmonds. They are in Scott City. So if you think that Garden City is small, think again. Garden City is actually decent size. I think....or maybe I am just desensitized from all the small towns here in the west size of Kansas. Scott City is tiny. I guess its probably a lot like that town that bishop Dahl is from,. On the border of California, and Arizona. If you blinked you would miss it. But its pretty small. So I went out there with Elder Lindville for a day. And elder Lindville is waiting for visa to Brazil. So he speaks some Portuguese. And Elder Simmons is English elder and didn't speak any Spanish. So I went down there, and we had an awesome day. We randomly knocked on the mayors door. and had a lesson with him and he committed to reading the book of Mormon,. So that was cool. But then than night we knocked into a Spanish family of five. And we had a short lesson with them, and they all accepted to be baptized next month. But the problem is that the elders in Scott don't speak Spanish. So they are having an emergency transfer to get a Spanish elder out there in Scott. Then president called me and told me to quit causing him problems. He he was joking.

 We had a big conference for our zones Garden City and Dodge City on Friday, and it was really good and uplifting. Sister Peat, I guess the equivalent to Sister Bambas here in Garden City. Her dog had six puppies 2 girls, 4 boys, and two of the boys are brown. So every one of the missionaries gets one named after them. And it worked out perfectly because elder Maki is Samoan and Gomez is from Guatemala, there are two white sisters, and us two white elders all here in Garden.

Hopefully we can get a dinner with some white people, so we have a traditional thanksgiving dinner.

There is a saying in Kansas " if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes". And it is right on. The weather here is always changing. You saw those pictures I sent you were exactly a week ago. Well I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt again. Its like a high of 60. Really nice weather. But tomorrow's high is apparently 31 and snow.  You can't trust the weather reports here on the west side of Kansas, because they are all too small to have their own weather system, so all of the reports come out of Wichita which is 4 hours away.

Thanksgiving started out all right. I really would have rather been home with all the family. But it couldn't have been better. We went to the wards turkey bowl in the morning, with elders Stopper and Maki. It was freezing, and windy, but it ended up super fun, and we played for 2 hours. Elder Maki played professional rugby for Barcelona and England, and I never realized how much of an athlete he was until we went. He is a huge guy, but faster than anyone else, and everyone just got out of his way when he began to run. But the turkey bowl was fun. 

Then we went to an investigators house to eat. His name is Ambrossio Valderez. He and his wife don't have a super big house, but they are super involved in an adoption program, where they take in kids that are under 18 and have committed a felony. The kids just stay at their house until their parole is up. So over they last few years they have taken in 53 kids. It's pretty cool, they are great people, and the kids that lived with them always come back to visit, so they're were just tons of people in and out of the house the whole time! It was tons of fun.

Me and Daniel in the Tiendita

Then we went to Daniel Gonzalez's "tiendita" to visit with him. He is a great guy. He has only been a member for just over a year, but he is easily one of the strongest members that exist.

Daniel and Elder Gomez

 But we just visited with him for a little bit, and then we went to the Familia Carrera. Also some great people. We walked just and they were about to begin dinner. And they invited us in and we ate a thanksgiving dinner with all of them. I honestly thought that none of the Latinos would celebrate thanksgiving, but some of them do, so we ended up getting a few really good meals.

Then after that we went to one last house to eat, a less active family the Romeros. They invited all 6 of us missionaries to eat with them. They are an awesome family. I guess I didn't share they story with you of how we found them...We were in the IBP trailer park one day, just visiting people, and looking through the ward roster of less active members we could visit, and there was a lady in there, but it said that she had moved, and i knew she had, because I know here, and know she lives in Scott city. But i have a feeling that we should try the house anyway, although i knew she had moved. So we went to the house and The same lady, sister Augilar opened the door. Apparently the family that lives there hadn't been to church in a year and never opend the door to missionaries because they had been offended by something at church. And the active Sister Augilar, was just visiting them from Scott City for a day. But since she opened the door she let us in and we got to talk with the family! we got to be really good friends with them, and they are coming back to church, and even invited all the missionaries over for dinner, although just 5 days before they never wanted anything to do with the church.Cool.

But anyway they had us over for our third and final full thanksgiving dinner, and we were all soooo full. It ended up being a great day.!

November post

English class continues to grow, and especially the soccer game afterward. We used to just barely have 8 people to play 4 on 4, but now we have 6 or 7 teams of 4. IT is awesome, it is a really good finding activity.

My spanish is getting alot better. A few members have commented that I can speak alot better, so that is good. Im excited hopefully I continue to speak better. At church, one of the less actives we have been working with was walking out of the chapel and I was smiling at her because this week, she has been to church enough time to be considered an active member, and she asked me something like "estas sonreindo a mi?", and I thought that she said are you smiling at me? so I said yes!. But I guess when they say "a mi" they really mean, are you mocking me? and I said yes.

I have been studying a lot out of Jacob chapter 5 this week. Its really interesting that throughout the chapter, the lord of the vineyard says to burn the bad trees and bad fruit, but the the Servant of the vineyard (the prophet) asks the Lord of the vineyard (God) for more time to continue pruning the olive trees so that they produce good fruit. And the very last time that they discuss working more on the olive trees, the servant rather than asking for more time, asks for more servants.

 I guess this week I really have grown in my testimony that these are the last days. I feel that the Lord's work is progressing super fast, and super effectively, but Satan's work is just the same.