April 12, 2010

Dear Home,

Guess what. I JUST got on. That means I have almost a full hour to write home. ^^ It took me a minute or two to log in, but other than that, the hour is yours. =)

First, the transfer news. I am NOT staying in Saskatoon. President Paulson has decided to move me to Flin Flon, Manitoba, the northernmost area in our mission.My new companion will be Elder Jons, my MTC District Leader, and my new District Leader, who's serving in Prince Albert, was also in my MTC District. This is going to be fun. ^^

On the other hand, I'm a little sad that I'm leaving this area. I don't like transferring. Now I have to pack, making sure that I have Everything I need, while making sure I don't use more space than two suitcases and a backpack. =S That's not going to be very much fun. =/

But hey, let's not dwell on that. I'll tell you more about it when I get to Flin Flon. In the meantime, last Monday went very well. I got everything done that I needed to do, and still had time to write my mom a three and a half page letter. I was very happy about that. =)

On Tuesday, they day we usually feed the Reid Road elders lunch, we also invited the District Leader, the DLs companion, and the 2 Zone Leaders, so there was a total of EIGHT missionaries over at our apartment for lunch! That was pretty crazy. I can see why missionaries don't get permission to do that very often.

On Wednesday, the seventh day of April, I got a letter from my Mom, and a package from my sister, and I was delighted to recieve them both. ^^ Thank you so much. =) I'll try to write to you both more often, but with all the missionary things I have to do... I'll just do my best. Unfortunately, that's all I can promise. =/

On Thursday, I gave myself a haircut. Now my hair is nice and short again, so it doesn't take hardly any time at all to make it look good. =P I also broke a jar. Appearantly, when you heat a glass jar up by washing it, then quickly cool it off by pouring juice into it, bad things happen, including making the floor kinda sticky. There were some good things that happened that day, though. We also got to help a guy shovel rocks out from in front of his house. He saw him working, offered to help him, and, miraculously, he agreed. By the way, just a note to all of you, when someone offers to help you, let them. They'll recieve blessings for it, so by letting them give you a hand, you're really doing them a favor. At the same time, there are some instances where someone will want to do something themselves, so they can feel like they've accomplished something by the end. For example, is someone was climbing up Mount Everest, and a helicopter dropped in and offered them a ride to the top, they'd probably decline, and years after that, they'll be able to say that they've accomplished something great, all on their own. That's important to some people. But still, it wouldn't hurt to offer to lend them a hand. So, whenever there's an oppertunity for someone to help someone else, remember this counsel: Give generously, Recieve graciously. I can't remember who said that, but it's good.

On Friday, a storm blew in. The weather had been unseasonally wonderful up to that point, but that afternoon, the wind was so strong and the snow was so thick that a person could hardly see where he or she was going, and Elder Brown found ourselves stuck in it. Once again, like at the beginning of our time serving together, we trekked through a snowstorm together, and we both had a lot of fun. I also found out something that I think will be important for me to know later; my leather gloves are GREAT for making snowballs. While we were traveling, Elder Brown and I had a snowball-throwing contest, each of us taking turns throwing snowballs at a street sign, trying to see which of us could hit it first. Neither of us ever succeeded, though, and eventually we gave up and moved on, but we didn't get far before we saw someone crash their truck into the side of the road. Fortunately, he didn't get hurt, his truck was off the road, not blocking traffic, and he got help before we got to him. Some nice person pulled over and gave him a ride somewhere. I hope he's doing alright now.

Saturday was pretty good. We met with Megan again. At first, she had us worried, saying that she felt she was already baptised and that she didn't need to be baptised again, but then, the member that we had brought with us explained that, while she was already converted to Jesus Christ (which is what she thought we meant), she had not recieved baptism, which is a sacred ordinance, an outter expression of our inner commitment to keep God's commandments, and has to be done by priesthood authority. Now she understands what our purpose is, and she's definitely willing to learn more.

And on Sunday, we got our transfer calls. I'd write more about Sunday, but there's something else that I have to bring up.

Having bought an amazingly good and versatile winter coat at the beginning of the season, I now have two jackets when I only need one, and I won't need a jacket at all during the summer. Okay, I'll need a raincoat, but that's all, so what should I do with my extra coat? And what should I do with my coat during the summer? I don't want to have to pack around more stuff than I need. Maybe I'll mail some stuff home and have you mail it back to me when it gets cold again. Would you be okay with that? Another option is that since the store I bought my new jack at has an amazing return policy, I can give them my jacket back and get a gift card that I can use to buy another coat next year. That's probably my best option, but it almost seems dishonest. =S I'll pray about it. I'd ask for advice, but since correspondence is so limited, I'll already have had to make a decision (if even a short term decision, like keeping both of the jackets for now) by the time any advice arrives. But if you DO have any advice for me, please Email me or post a comment. I can use all the help I can get in the decision-making department of my brain.

Time's up. I love you.

Your soon-moving missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts