TO NORTH BUFFALO!
We got the call last night and I seriously could not sleep. This is a MASSIVE change. My new companion will be Sister Thomas who I love so much- North Buffalo has been closed for a while so Sister Thomas and I will be the first missionaries there for quite some time. It's a Spanish speaking area, too! Also, Buffalo zone is full proselyting, so I won't be at the Visitors' Centers for at least a few months. I will definitely miss working there and seeing everyone every week...everyone kind of jokes that Buffalo is it's own mission because we don't see people as often as the other 3 zones. Today I'm going to need to get all my stuff together and then tomorrow I'll be in a new area, with a new companion, and I probably won't be driver anymore- Sister Thomas has been out longer than me. Weird weird weird and so GOOD!
Story of the call:
Elder Hallam (district leader) called me and told me I would be moving to North Buffalo and I didn't believe him because I'm not done training so that's not common and North Buffalo wasn't open...clearly a joke right? So after some reassurance I said ok and hung up, but I was staying at a house since we're in Palmyra today so the 5 other Sisters in the house screamed immediately because I didn't ask who my companion was. I called Elder Hallam back and asked who, and he said Sister Thomas, who was sitting in the room with me! I just looked at her and pointed and shouted, "YOU!" and Elder Hallam hung up because he couldn't hear anything over the ridiculous screams of the 6 of us. Way too much for one night, I tell you. Oh and when I realized I will be leaving Sister Fetuli I tackled her and clung for a little while. She's not one for that kind of thing but I didn't much care at the moment. I think she secretly appreciated it :) Haha.
Ok back to this past week! Rita and Paul are progressing, and we hope they will be out of the hospital this week sometime. Sister Fetuli will probably keep me updated on their progress.
We had mission conference on Wednesday and Elder Cook (of the Seventy) came and I really liked what he talked about, but one thing in particular stood out to me. He talked about lawns. How we kill weeds, mow everything to be exactly the same height, add whatever we need to do to make the lawn look perfectly combed and uniform. However! What does God plant? He plants meadows. Full of countless varieties of flowers and plants- different heights, colors, widths, you name it. And it's the same with people. Why is it that we are so bent on making people the same? That if someone doesn't fit into our perception of beautiful that they don't make the cut. Heavenly Father made each of us different and so beautiful! We have different talents and experiences to offer and He expects us to use them the most we can. Enough lawns, eh?
I've also been taught a lot about the Lord's schedule this week haha. There have been so many times where I got frustrated because the plans we made fell through- people cancelled, something would come up...and so often it would yield a greater result. A member cancelled a dinner appointment and I would up at my apartment eating mac & cheese and drinking Dr. Pepper. It was a really nice chance to have a quiet moment. I needed it more than I had realized I think. On Thursday we had 15 appointments to teach people and ALL of them bailed. All. Really? Then at the end of the day someone called and asked us to come- we hadn't met them before- and it was one of the best lessons I've seen since I've been out! Had we been busy with all the other appointments we had, we would not have been able to go over to that unplanned appointment. I'm also reminded of the first day I had in the field when we got lost right out of transfer meeting for like 40 minutes. I was frustrated, but in our pathetic plight someone came up and offered to help (anyone who carries around a map these days is in serious trouble) and now he is actually learning more about the church. You just can never know how things work out. As soon as I start to think I'm in control He nudges everything off just to help me to understand the true status quo ha. Perfect.
Is it strange that I don't consider myself a religious person? And I'm dedicating my life to it? I realized this week that I've never thought of myself as that "type." Ok stay with me here. I tried to figure out why I feel that way, and I think it's because I don't see it as a classification. A while back I talked about how frustrating it is when people say "it's not my thing." I don't think of myself as religious- I don't think about how I'm a homo sapien all the time, either. It's just part of being alive. I don't see that as separating me from anyone else. Maybe it's because I've come to a state of knowledge rather than belief. Do you consider yourself to be a scientist because you know what an atom is?
One of our zone leaders, Elder Peck, is leaving this transfer! I'm not happy about it. I'm really going to miss him! I used to get upset in the MTC all the time because people left so often. Now I just get bugged every 6 weeks :) WHY do I like people so much?! I swear it would be so much easier if I just refused to make any more friends.
Ok that's all for this week, folks! Next week I'll be emailing you from NORTH BUFFALO! WOO!
Love love,
Hermana Ray
PS Buffalo is the coldest place in the mission...if you gotta go might as well go in the Spring, right? Perrrfect.
The second is just kind of a quintessential picture of the Shortsville/Manchester area. Farmington is more ghetto and Palmyra and Canandaigua are nicer. After a storm the sky is always so nice.
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