Double Missionary Wednesday

Well last week Elder Fields wrote a letter and it arrived today, and he sent an e-mail as well, so we have two letters in one post.

Dear Family and Friends,

Again the powers that be did not allow me to use email this week. So it is snail mail gain and I am getting tired of it.

This week was the last week of the transfer and everyone in the district has been ramped up the max, it's almost unbearable. Fortunately, I knew it was just because it is the last week of transfers and they love to give me a hard time especially Elder V, because he is going home, even with the district, we still had loads of good times, especially with Sister Ca,and Sister B.

This last week has not been very eventful between last Wednesday and Sunday. Nothing worth mentioning really happened, especially in regards to mission work. There are no stories this week. Everything good/worth mentioning happened between Monday and now. So brace yourselves for the rest of this letter.

Monday night was very weird. My companion was leading me on to believe that I have gone on my first date ever. I'm not sure though, so please read on. At 5 pm Monday nigh, E. C and I walked in to take a rest as We are not allowed to proselyte after dark unless we have a set appointment. We did have a dinner appointment at 6:30 pm but nothing else that night. It was getting dark so I decide to take a nap until we had to leave for our dinner appointment. While I was napping, Elder C was doing his own thing. He got a call from our dinner appointment and it was changed to 7:30 PM. Then he got another call from the sisters and they told him their appointment had canceled. Apparently that is unheard of for sister missionaries, but they get no sympathy from me because Elders' appointments get canceled all the time. Each of the sister missionaries said it was the others' idea and asked Elder C if they would like to get ice cream at McDonalds. Elder C agreed and told them he would see them there at 6 pm. When the time rolled around Elder C woke me up for what I assumed was our dinner appointment. We ended up going to McDonalds and eating Mcflurries with the sister missionaries. Then other elders in the district came by and after the sisters left, they congratulated me for my first date and tried to convince me it was actually a date. Their logic is weird, but I don't think it was a date, nor think it's worth something to think about much.

Moving on to Tuesday. Tuesday was a very long day because we knew the transfer call was coming. Somehow we managed to get through the day and went to a member’s home. Sister M is a recent convert, her mom died recently and she has had to move into her old home and take care of some business. We gave her a blessing and for the first time on my mission I was the one who gave it. I had forgotten how amazing it is to do that but I hope to never forget again.

Tuesday night we got the transfer call. To my sweet relief I am staying in Beverly for one last transfer. I don’t have to worry going to Naperville for 6 more weeks. I am not worried, whatever happens happens. This transfer is the will of God, so I am okay with it. I started in Beverly in a companionship of 3 and that is how I’m finishing up. My new companions are Elder H and Elder B. They seem nice so far but let’s see what happens.

Elder C is leaving, after one difficult year of hard work and no fruits for the labor, he is getting rewarded by going to Berbinai. This is supposedly the promised land where baptisms fall into your lap. I think he has earned it. Then sister missionaries are staying, Elder V went home, so Elder K gets a new comp. Elber Kb got punished by being transferred to the stock yards in a companionship of three as well. We all had to laugh at that because we think he deserves it. This next 6 weeks should be interesting.

Wednesday, the entire District spent almost the whole day just hanging out together one last time. That last District was way tight even though they gave me a heck of time sometimes.

Thursday morning Elder C couldn't get up and out any faster. I was almost eager for him to leave as he was. He is a great guy but after 3 transfers together we were about ready to kill each other. The transfer meeting was short as usual but they needlessly spent hours socializing. It was too much time for me. Though it is good to be able to talk to people like that, they spend too many hours talking. That is time we could have spent getting a head start on the transfer. After everyone finally left we had lunch and then went home. We spent the rest of the day unpacking and getting to know each other better. Today we are deep cleaning the apartment. Something we could have been done yesterday. If we had more time today we could have done some missionary work.

I hope to bring this area to its knees and maybe even get a baptism this transfer. I will continue to fill you on mission life. Stay true to the gospel

Elder Fields.

And for the second letter...

Dear family and friends,

This week I am blessed to be able to use the university email again, so no snail mail this week. hopefully this will continue for the rest of the transfer.
after checking my email i see you got my massive 7 page epistle. Though it is in my handwritten letter, the short of the transfers is that I will be staying in Beverly for at least one transfer, then I think I will be leaving because it's virtually unheard of to stay in your first area for more than the time I'll be there, so if I go to Naperville at the end of this transfer, then so be it, I got my wish for this transfer.
Elder C went to the promised land of Berbinai and after a bad year of dead areas and no baptisms, he deserves it. This transfer I'm in another companionship of three. It's fitting because that's how I started in Beverly and that's how I may finish. after I leave the other two will take over so I wont have to worry about what is happening over here after I leave.

That about brings you up to speed on the more important details of my last letter, now on to other events. Elder H and Elder B both seem to have an odd obsession with cleaning. They spent the first five days of this transfer just in fixing up the apartment, making it more livable and settling in. Elder C worked very hard at cleaning the place up multiple times and continued to deep clean it a lot when he was there. These two make Elder C seem like a complete slob by comparison. They both say it was in terrible shape because of too many years of missionary neglect. They moved in and only think they will only be living there for a short time so really there is no point for them to clean up so much.

I was beginning to think that after doing nothing but the above for five days that was how we were going to be spending the entire transfer, but finally we got to the mission work on Tuesday. Even though it was pretty much the same thing Elder C and I have been doing for four months, I was exited to be getting back to the purpose of why we are out hear. If these two are as dedicated to mission work as they are to cleaning, then we should have a baptism in no time.

About my new companions; Elder H has been out for 15 months, he has 7 baptisms, loves the work and just got Dear John'd a few weeks ago. Bird has been out for 9 months, has 1 baptism(still one more then me)and his girlfriend is too young to be thinking about marriage. It's a safe bet that she will wait the full 2 years but there is still a small chance that she won't. Elder B also loves the work and that makes three of us. It's been said that those who get put in companionships of three will have that experience more then once, so I doubt that this will be my last time I am with two other elders.

Wow, this email was comparatively short than my last letter. I'm out of stuff to say already. I guess nothing has really happened since transfers. My lengthy epistles and the long email I sent to Sam should more than make up for any lack of detail in this one.

until next week
love Elder Fields