Missionary Saturday

In a late update in the missionary travails of my brother, Elder Fields, we find him in a new area with new companions.

Dear Viewers,

Wednesday was a very hard day. It started with a district breakfast at the Gr. family who house the Naperville elders, then normal p-day activities. That was the good part of the day, after that it got hard. Due to our area dissolving we found we no longer had to do the mileage report for our car, so for one day we had infinite miles to spend. We spent those new miles on a farewell tour saying goodbye to all of our favorite members. We then returned home to pack up our things and clean out our apartment. This took us forever; we had a mountain of trash, we had to move out all the furniture, and we had to get the area book up to date and get the apartment ready for its final closing inspection. (Editors note: The Area Book is a notebook that one records what missionary discussions have been taught to whom, simplifying the missionary process. We were up until 1am doing all of this, by the end of all this our beds, which we happily collapsed into, were about the only thing left in the apartment to get rid of. I feel sorry for the AP's, (Editor's note: AP's are two missionaries that the mission president assigns to assist him.) they have to help out with every area that closes and then make sure everyone who has moved has everything they need.

Thursday we managed to drag our tired bodies out of bed and got all our stuff out to the car that the Ap's hadn't already collected from us. It's a good thing they did because if they hadn't it would have been impossible for all of our stuff to fit into that tiny car. I recalled back in Beverly when Elder H. and I moved out, we were lucky because we had the mission van that day. Unfortunately double transfers are a huge pain when you have a tiny car to work with. Also just as my luck always is, when I get transferred the weather was not permitting, in fact it was very unforgiving. When I moved out of Beverly it was raining so hard it was practically a monsoon, moving out of Cicero was dark, cold, and windy, this time it was a huge blizzard. It took us two hours to drive to the transfers meeting after getting all our stuff in the car, and the weather made it very difficult. Due to the storm we arrived for transfers an hour late but luckily so did everyone else, so we actually got there on time.

At transfers, President R. made a few announcements. these included that at least ten more areas would be closing within the next six months, on top of all the others that have already done so. We've got several large groups going home soon and very few coming in to take their place. This transfer 8 missionaries left and only 2 came in. Unfortunately South Shore is on the list of areas possible closing, so I may not be here for very long. But after only one transfer in Woodridge 2, I'm ready for anything they can throw at me. President R. also announced several regime changes in the mission; Elder B., from my mtc district, just replaced Alder Ar. as the new AP, Elder S., my last companion, just went zone leader in Valpo, and Elder Br., my mtc companion, just went district leader for the first time. Other changes happened as well but these are with people I know. Also, at transfers, I said goodbye to two previous companions that were going home. Elder C., my mission brother/father, and Elder R., one of my favorite comps.

As transfer meeting ended, I tried not to think about how much time I had left since one of my trainers was going home and instead I tried to focus on my new area and new comps. Elder Th. has been out for 23 months and will be giving me my fith kill; he's from Arizona, second last in his family, has 8 baptisms and his girlfriend dear-john'd him but has since come to her senses and they are both waiting to see what will happen when he gets home.

Elder M. has been out for 18 months, is from Idaho, second born, has 4 baptisms and no girlfriend. Elder M.'s name sounds like he should be from Hawaii, but alas, I am stuck with two more white American companions. I would really like someone who is ether non-white or foreign. Elder Br. is the most foreign comp I've had, and he's from Tennessee. It looks like that's what I'm stuck with, so I should be happy with what the Lord has given me, since it appears that it wont be any other way.
It's only been a week since being with these two companions, but they seem very nice and I'm sure they will be better then my last trip with Elder J. and Elder S. They are my least favorite companions ever. Elder Th. is trying to avoid getting trunky and Elder M. is way nicer then those other two were. They also treat me with the respect I deserve. As far as my new area goes; it's good to be back in the city. South Shore covers, um well, the south shore area, but sadly I got here in mid-winter which makes the area harder to enjoy. As far as the work goes, it's the typical city area, mostly stop-bys and media referrals.

I got to know this new ward on Sunday we meet at 9am yet again and most of the ward is young married college students. I've also had the pleasure of getting to know my new district; this is my smallest district yet, with only five people in it and I am the second youngest. With Elders Tz. and Th. going home this transfer it makes it even more likely that the areas will combine, because President R. does have a history of doing that to areas when the people in them go home. That's actually a very smart move for him, then he doesn't have to move as many people.
That's it for both my personal news and mission news this week.


love,

Elder Fields