Missionary Wednesday

In the latest, via electronic carrier pigeon from my brother serving in Chicago:

Hello Viewers,

This week I received some good news. I talked to the Orland Park elders and they said that President R. told them that their area was one of the next areas to close down. While this may not be very good news for them, it is awesome news for me, because if this is true I could be staying in South Shore a lot longer than I originally thought. Which is fine by me.

I also received Elder P.'s wedding invitation. For a while I thought he had completely forgotten about me. Turns out that the invitation just arrived very late; so late that I received it on the day of the wedding. But at least I got it. It felt really good to receive his good news. Elder P. was one of the best companions and best friends I could ever have.

This Thursday was zone conference; the theme this time was centered on the restoration, and putting more emphasis on Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Most of the other elders thought this was dumb, as they were training us to do something that we already do, but I've been trying to have a better attitude towards things like this. So even though this may be true I still found some good points to be made in their training.

Friday we also received a surprising call from President R. telling all the missionaries one announcement that he forgot to mention at Zone Conference. With the mission shrinking, as of July 1st when President Roach leaves, the Chicago North and South missions will be combining into one mission! This news wasn't so shocking, considering what's been going on in the mission recently. At first when I heard the news, I felt a little displaced because my mission is South Chicago and for my last three months it will be the Chicago Illinois mission. But then I remembered that I'm still in the exact same place that I was before. There was an Elder C. who served in four different missions, ending in Chicago and thinking about him got rid of all my displaced feelings and I began to feel very exited.

When i was serving in Cicero the area bordered the north side and worked in that part of the area I was always tempted to cross the mission line and have a little fun, nobody but me and my comp would ever know. But I never did. Now, for my last three months the North side is my new playground. I can go to navy pier, the art museum, catch a bulls game, make some new north side friends and have some other experiences that I could not otherwise have. I really look forward to that part.

The part I don't look forward to is the chaos that is likely to happen when the missions first combine. How exactly are things going to work? I was a little worried that after President R. left, I'd get stuck with someone very new who wouldn't know how to do his job until long after I left. But the north side president in July will have been out for a whole year when he takes over, so he will have some experience. The only question now is what is he actually going to be like. Iv'e gotten to know President R. pretty well and now I have to figure out what the north side president is like. Oh well, if he's horrible I'll only have three months to deal with him. On the other hand, what if he's awesome?

None of this happens till July so ,back to the present. Three members of our district have birthdays this month, so an awesome member in our ward threw a party for them on Saturday. That was fun.

Tuesday we had district meeting and President's Interviews. Mine was mostly the same type of deal with the usual self improvement advice, but this time it was a bit different, more intimate, like he honestly cared. Like it wasn't just a mission president talking to an elder, but Richard talking to Andrew. (Editor's note: Their first names) It had a very different feel to it. I think it's because were both approaching the last leg of our mission and both go home this summer. That may have had something to do with it, but there was honestly something different about him on Tuesday.

That's all folks, stay tuned for next week.

love,

Elder Fields.