E-Mail #33

E-Mail #33

January 23rd, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

Hello all.....well i had to say GOODBYE to JUNCTION CITY.....and HELLO TO CHILLICOTHE MISSOURI!!!!

 

I am officially in my second area of my mission....yep 8 months into it, and i finally moved. And man oh man was it a SHOCKER when i found out i was leaving and they were white washing the area. We for sure figured i would stay since sister fie'eiki went home, but that just didn't happen. They put Elders in our area.....stinky! hee hee. But Tuesday night the call came in, i actually got a personal call from the AP's telling me i was leaving, i started crying, OF COURSE!!! It was a for sure bittersweet feeling, excitement to OPEN and new area, but total HEARTACHE to leave those i have grown to LOVE SO MUCH!!! So Wednesday was a CRAZY day, we had so much to do, because i didn't expect to move, i had so much stuff and NO WAY to move it. Let me tell you what, moving is no fun, especially when you are not prepared for it, so i know what my big purchase will be this transfer, a BIG suitcase.....because the mission president himself....may or may not have said 'sister Barnum, pack lighter' :( hahaha, totally embarrassed! Wednesday was so crazy though, we had so many people to say goodbye to, that i didn't want to say goodbye too. So many people to love and miss. And appointments on top of trying to pack, and trying to tell everyone what was happening, and trying to prep the area for new elders who have never been here. I have no idea how we did it, actually i do.....we stayed up way late and got up WAY early to make sure i was all done. On top of that we had to drive to independence from junction city and be there by 830 in the morning, so we left at 5 in the morning to do that, and we were up at 3 to finish packing and cleaning and yep, all that GREAT STUFF. Wednesday night was probably the hardest, we went to the church since that was where most of the members were, to tell them what was happening, to coordinate the hand off to new missionaries in the area. There were LOTS of tears, and LOTS of sad goodbyes. But now i have a LOT of people to write and to hear from, so that's nice, since i don't really get mail from Utah these days. ;-) So Thursday was possibly the longest day of my life. We left at 5 in the morning to get to independence, then i had to say goodbye to the wonderful sister Fie'eiki, who went home last week. :( Then of course came the part that led to the comment from my wonderful mission president about the packing. :( Well see, i thought we were going to be getting a truck, so when stuff BARELY fit into the car to get to independence, i thought, well that's okay, cause then i can throw it all in the back of the truck and all will be well.....man was i WRONG, we don't have the truck yet, we had to fit my stuff, which took up the entire car, and sister Larson's stuff in our tiny car.....President Keyes was trying to help us make it fit, but it wasn't happening. I felt so embarrassed. Well thanks to a blessing from heaven, there was a senior couple, Elder and Sister Wells who came to the rescue. They so wonderfully put some of my stuff in their truck and drove out to Chillicothe with us, which was a hour and a half drive, just to get our stuff out here. So i learned my lesson on packing, i will be sending LOTS of boxes home next week and will be getting rid of lots.......and then will buy a big suitcase before this transfer is over. So after the hour and a half drive out here to chillicothe, we finally made it out here. To the members home that we live in. The members name is the Sperry's They are great! so sweet, they had the room all prepared for us, they even had bedding on the beds for us, and pillows and all that good stuff. They are super great, So we attempted to unpack, didn't get very far, then we took a nap, because we were EXHAUSTED....then we continued to unpack, went to walmartall sorts of excited to get to know them more and continue to help this area grow. Me and my new companion have gotten along so well from day one, its been great, all she has said since day one is i remind her so much of her sister, and then she tells me about her sister and it feels like she is talking about me, so that's fun, we get along great! We have made some really great memories already. So thats been fun. We went out to eat at applebee's on Saturday.....haha, and when we came in EVERYONE was staring at us, and the WHOLE time we were there people were staring, it was funny. I give it 2 weeks max before people know who we are in this town. So its been great, we have really enjoyed it. We love this area and are so excited for the people we are going to be teaching and helping, we love them all so much already. Oh and yesterday on our way to church we saw 6 deep hoping across the road we drive on to get into town, and the day before that we saw like 2 coyote's running across the road.....we are for sure in the wilderness out here. Thankfully it hasn't really snowed out here yet, yesterday there was some ice, on our way to church we slide across a turn pretty nicely. And today there was some snow on the ground, but mainly just flurry's that stayed because it is so cold. Oh, and COLD.....yep it is FREEZING OUT HERE!!!! FREEZING!!! i am so cold ALL THE TIME!!! let the winter begin. haha. Well i love you all, and i hope you all enjoy the pictures!!!

 

Don't Forget to Mail me!!!

you can always write to the mission office

517 W Walnut

Independence MO 64050

 

or now my address is

6360 LIV 531

Chillicothe MO

64601

 

 

LOVE YOU ALL LOTS!!!

 

 

Sister Barnum!