Sunday, January 13, 2013

January 7th, 2013


Happy New Year!! It has been an interesting week this week! Lots of new things!

I'll start with how all of this started! Last Monday around 4 or 4:30 we were driving home from dropping off the other missionaries after p-day and we got a phone call from President Killpack. Elder Van Noy answered and spoke with him for a little while and then he asked to speak with me. I took the phone and President told me that I was going to be transferred! Now I had a feeling I would be transferred on the 15th because we had three of us and everything but then he said a few things I did not expect! He then told me he was going to rock my world a little bit and told me that I would be transferred, not on transfer day in two weeks, but the next day! That shocked me! An Elder in another area was going home and his companion needed a companion and we being in a trio made that choice easy! ha-ha But President Killpack told me that would only be temporary and then asked if I would be a Zone Leader on the actual transfer day! So.....ya! I spent my new year’s packing all my stuff (which after a year in the same apartment collecting things....I had so much stuff!) and then on the 1st I moved! I started my second area in the mission about thirteen months in! Ha-ha and I will only be here for one more week before I am moved again! I still do not know where I am going for that but it has been pretty crazy! Also on Friday I went to ZLC (Zone Leader Council) which was awesome! It was like....a gentleman's club! Ha-ha it was pretty fun! The real funny thing is that, as of right now in this area, I am not a District Leader anymore and I am not even sure if I am senior or junior comp so I will be skipping all of that to go ZL! Ha-ha Funny stuff!

 

We are in the Cienaga and Corona Wards which are out there! Even for me, an ASL Elder and used to driving all the time to get to people, these two are far. There are no apartment complexes out there so we live in Tucson (still in the East Stake boundaries) but drive out to the other side of Vail every day. It is about an hour drive just to get to our area! I actually really enjoy the area though. They are a few just small communities clear out in the desert alone. We have a truck and we need it because most of the roads when you finally get out there are dirt roads! We have had fun with that! We also took our bikes out there on Saturday to give it a try and see if we could use our bikes and save miles. We can but I learned just how out of shape I am when I was trying to bike through the desert sand! Ha-ha Also Elder Jones lead us through a "shortcut" he saw that ended up have some thorn bushes with branches crossing the path. I heard him yell OW OW! In front of me and then I went through the first one and was ripped up so I tried to stop......bad idea! As Elder Jones kept going full speed he went right through the other ones but when I stopped I just got stuck in them. So it took me a few minutes to get everything out of me and my clothes and on our way again but my arms still look like I cut myself! Ha-ha and I was still finding thorns in myself a few hours afterwards! Fun Times! :p Oh I am companions with Elder Jones, he is an English elder and the two of us are the same age in the mission, we are actually going to go home at the same time. He is an interesting guy! I like him and the two of us get along very well! He is bipolar and has some ADHD among with lots of other things! We are doing well and are getting some work done and having a good time while doing it! I knew him before because he was in my zone when I first came in the mission.

 

English is fun! It is good to use my voice to communicate with people again but It has become apparent how used to signing I was/am. I still am always using my hands, my natural response to say small things like thank you or whatever is to sign it instead of say it and I am not used to how normal people communicate. Allot of the time I am just thinking.....get to the point please! Ha-ha that is the deaf culture coming out! So yes I actually really miss signing! And I don't miss it at the same time! Also I need to explain church! So I have not been to a family ward in over a year except for once and that were a few months ago and I think I already talked about that! And the only other ward I had been to other then the deaf branch is with the YSA which everyone says is crazy quiet! So going to church yesterday, to both wards and especially the Corona ward, they were so LOUD!!! I'm not exaggerating when I say there were times I half covered my ears! There were so many kids crying and everything and I couldn't believe it! As I was thinking how loud everything was I looked around and NO ONE else seemed to notice! I even said to my companion how loud it was and he was first, confused and said this one wasn't that loud and then realizing why I thought it was so loud just started laughing at me! It was an interesting experience! It was so nice not to have to do anything! I don't think I will ever think of sitting in the congregation and just enjoying church the same! It was SO nice! No responsibility! Ha-ha and it was also weird to have the option which class to go to! It was a really cool experience and the members are really cool! We had dinner with one of our ward mission leaders last night (dinner and having a ward mission leader are weird to me! Having someone called to help in missionary work with us, all other missionaries have it so easy!) This was interesting! Ha-ha He also had two guitars he let me play which made my day! One was a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe edition Electric guitar and the other one was also a Gibson (I didn't know the model) but it was an acoustic and the most beautiful sounding and looking (and probably the most expensive) guitar I have ever played! I was in heaven! Ha-ha

 
There has been lots that happened this week! Lots of changes and new things but that is all the time I have!

 

Till next time!

Elder Banner

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