April 19, 2010

Dear Home,

 

 I'm SO glad I'm outlying again! Outlying means serving somewhere other than in a big city. Here, the closest city is probably Prince Albert, which only has 4 missionaries, whereas Saskatoon has 18. Prince Albert is considered Outlying.

 

I'm running short on time. I was so excited to be sitting next to a printer that I spent 10-15 minutes trying to get it to work. Mistake made; Lesson learned. (That's my new unofficial motto.)

 

So, now that I'm finally leaving Saskatoon (It's a great town, really, but as a missionary, 6 months is a long time to spend in any one area), I've found that I have WAY too much stuff. Packing it all into two suitcases and a backpack was even more of a nightmare than usual, because we recently celebrated Christmas, like five and a half months ago, so I had more stuff to pack than I had before. I might have to leave some of the stuff that I don't need/never use in this apartment. Appologies to everyone whose gifts I don't have room for. I tried fitting everything in this time, and succeeded, but it just didn't work, for reasons that I'll explain in a minute. I need to lighten the load. =/

 

On the way up to Flin Flon, it was raining and the roads were bad, so we had to spend the night in Prince Albert with Elder Woodward (our District Leader), and Elder Hardison (his companion). It went very well. ^^ I got to see some of the people I had taught while serving here 6 months ago, and in the evening, after doing everything we needed to and getting ready for bed, we spent some of the evening throwing foam balls, including my new basketball, at each other. It's a great way to have fun and build unity. Sort of.

 

On Thursday Morning, we left Prince Albert and finished the trip up to Flin Flon, but just as we were leaving, on of my suitcases' handle ripped, no longer being able to handle the amount of weight it was carrying. Hence, I'm leaving a few things here next time I'm transferred.

 

Flin Flon Manitoba is a beautiful place. It has lakes, and trees, and rocks, and hills, and still a good amount of sky. Breathtaking. And surprising! I was getting used to the flatlands of Saskatchewan, and now I'm living in an untamed, unplowable mountain wilderness. I just love it. =D But what I don't love is not having a Superstore anywhere within a 3 hour driving radius. There are just some things that I like having that I won't be able to get more of until I get back into the city. But I should be driving through the city again next week. Zone Conference is coming up again, which means we'll be facing the long, long drive to Saskatoon and back.

 

On Friday mornings in Flin Flon, we spend some time at a care center, visiting people who are a bit more mature than I'll ever learn to be. This time, we read short stories to them. The lady who tells us what the tennants have planned for the day handed us some stories that she had printed and stapled together, and we spent the first half-hour reading those. I enjoyed it. Some of the stories were funny. But most of the stories were incomplete, which was a bit annoying. Once we were finished with the stories, we went to ask the lady if she had any more for us to read, but we couldn't find her, so we just sat and talked with our new friends about what they liked to do growing up. One of them used to be able to play the guitar and the saxaphone, 'but not at the same time'.

 

Ack! My time is up already! Actually, it should've been 'up' about 20 minutes ago, but I took a break to eat something. Things are MUCH more relaxed and slow-paced here than they are in Saskatoon. That's a change that I think I could get used to. It's calming. But life's not all about being calm. I need to get back to work! I must be diligent and industrious. Anxiously engaged. And I need to take better notes so I have a better idea what to write to you about next time. Until then!

 

This has been your Many-Miles-Away-No-Matter-Where-On-Earth-You-Live Missionary,

Elder Andrew Robarts