September 27, 2010

Dear Home,

This week has been a... not-wonderful week for me and my companion. We knew for sure that our transfer calls were coming pretty soon, and we had a strong suspicion that they were closing down the area, but we didn't know for sure. So we spent almost the whole week trying to get a hold of people (most of whom are surprisingly hard to contact) and saying just-in-case goodbyes. Luckily, someone from the Mission Office let the cat out of the bag before it was time. On Tuesday, someone from the office and asked us to make sure we did something before we left the area. (I can't tell you who said to do what because that'll give you hints. As if it really matters anyway, but whatever.) Funny thin is, we got that call almost a week ago, and we still haven't done that thing. =S I'll make a note to do it tonight or tomorrow morning.

So, with that little 'hint' fresh in our minds, we worked our hardest to prepare Flin Flon for not having missionaries anymore. We did the best we could, but really, people have to make their own decisions and work for what they want. We do all we can for our investigators, but there are some things that they have to do themselves. And now they'll have to do just about everything themselves, since we are, indeed getting pulled out.

Friday afternoon, we get a call from the Office. We answer. President Paulson (the man who tells us whether we're staying or wither we're going) asks us how we're doing. He asks us how the area is. Are you ready to get transferred out?

I love Flin Flon. It's a beautiful place. I love the people here. I've made lots of friends in this area. But I'll go where God wants me to go.

I'm headed back to Saskatoon. Prendygrass Area, to be exact. This'll be my third time serving in Saskatoon, and it occurs to me that all of the odd-numbered areas of my mission have been places in Saskatoon. I started in the Prince Charles area of Saskatoon, then moved to Prince Albert, my third area was Oakwood Saskatoon (the downtown region), fourth, Flin Flon, and now Pendygrass (wherever in Saskatoon that is).

My new companion will be Elder Hall. I believe I've met him before, but I've never served close enough to him to get to know him. I look forward to meeting him. As for Elder Sheffield, he's getting transfered to Pendygrass Saskatoon. His new companion will be Elder Hall. His old, and still current companion is and will be Elder Robarts.

Bad news, Elder Sheffield and I are being taken out of Flin Flon; Good news, we're still serving together, and we'll be meeting up with one more. We're both really happy that we're still serving together. Elder Sheffield is now officially my longest companion. The next month and a half will bring us to 4 1/2 months of serving together while all of my other companionships had been for 3 months or less. If Elder Sheffield and I stay together for another transfer after this one, we'll have been together for half a year. O_O That's one quarter of my mission. THAT would be something!

But anyhow, that's all the news I have for this week, and I'm about out of time. Enjoy General Conference! =D ((The Ice Cream tradition still lives. Though, I don't know how big it'll be this time since we won't have enough time to organize things like we did this past April. I'll talk to my new District Leader about it as soon as I can. It'll probably be only a few missionaries big this time, but that's how it was in Prince Albert, and that was still WAY good. ^^))

Much love, your Sask-Traveling missionary, Elder Andrew Robarts.

PS. I've never left the Saksatoon Zone my entire mission, and probably never will. =P