Farkle Anyone?

Okay, okay. Transfer calls were on Saturday. It was around 9 PM when President called. I answered the phone and he said "Sister Nelson, I have a new assignment for you. I want to call you to be a Sister Training Leader!" 

He was driving so it was hard for me to hear so my reply was "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" He laughed and said "I'm calling you to be a Sister Training Leader in Corona. You'll be great!" 

I replied and said "Okay President, I can do that."

Really, my heart sank. I honestly didn't see it coming. He continued to tell me about meetings and things and not only was it hard to hear, but my mind was going a million miles a minute so I couldn't tell you anything he said after that except that my companion was going to be Sister Boden! 

I was in the same zone as her in Jurupa and I have been on exchanges with her before. She is a VERY GOOD missionary. Extremely hard working and exactly obedient. I can't lie, I'm a little intimidated, but I think it will be good. We are moving to an apartment with two other sisters which will be really nice. 

There are a few sad things about this transfer… 

The zone split and all my sistas are leaving me. Sister Oswald is being transfered to Riverside and she will be training which also means she will be doubled in (when both missionarys are new to the area). 

Sister Jin is going to La Sierra, also being doubled in with Sister Allen. 

Sister Bateman is also an STL, but will be serving in Norco with Sister Busk (SUPER jealous, I adore Sister Busk) and Sister Niihau is staying, but in the other zone. 

Just about EVERY companionship got switched around in some way. A few missionaries were endzoned (they are staying in the zone but moving wards) which I am really grateful I am not doing because that would be hard. 

I have the same District Leaders, but new Zone Leaders...Elder Wilkinson and Elder Johns (I don't know Elder Johns, but here good things) so I'm excited. 

Corona is STACKED with missionaries right now. I think this transfer will be a good one. Lots of miracles are comin'. :)

This week was a little weird. Thanksgiving was right in the middle which is practically a "day off" for missionaries. I say it in quotations because we still had to get all of our OYMs in.  

Thanksgiving wasn't as hard as I thought that it would be. We ate at Sister Charlot's house (she is Samoan and her husband is black, non member) and they had a TON of people over. 

The food was good…a little cold, but people were sitting around everywhere so it felt more like a party than a holiday. There was a member family (the Coy's) who we ended up sitting next to and talking to the whole time. 

After we were done eating Sister Coy says "Sister Nelson, have you ever played Farkle?" 

I can't  tell you how happy I was to hear that dumb word. 

I said "YES! My grandma loves that game. I've played it A LOT!" 

She was quite excited and said that her family has been playing it and so she brought it in case anyone was interested. We played for 2 hours. It was really fun. That's probably when I missed the family the most. It was just like when we play Monopoly or Scrabble or Presidents. Okay maybe not as intense because nothing was wagered, but you get the point. 

I do miss playing the same game 100 times with everyone. Goodness, new topic. Getting a little trunkie.

Another exciting thing that happened this week , which I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet... I WENT ON EXCHANGES WITH PACKIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

"This is what exchanges look like with Packie!"

It was seriously a blast and a half. I was able to go to Hemet with her and we seriously laughed our whole way through. The night I arrived, we may or may not have stayed up until 12:30 AM catching up (there was no getting around it…no matter what, there was going to be a little disobedience).  

We were together on Wednesday so EVERYONE canceled on us. We still taught a couple lessons, but mostly we just tried to visit people in the ward, which really just lead to lots of talking and singing and jokes and memories…a fun time was had by all let me tell ya. :)

I love and miss you all so very much! 

Happy Holidays!!

Sister Nelson

Ps. I told Sister Jin that we are only listening to Christmas music from now until New Years (hopefully Sister Boden will be okay with that). So we've been listening to all of the favorites...N'sync, Jackson 5, Kenny G and Glee….don't judge me, it's actually a good one! They sing just about every Christmas song. I'm loving it. 

(email received December 2, 2013)

"Hermana Oswald and I at the temple…I LOVE her!"

"Look who I ran into at the temple! She took me and 5 other sisters out to lunch at Cafe Rio.
It was SO fun seeing her."
(Kathy is the mom of Kaitlin and Paige, Natalie's friends who are both serving missions in Italy.)

"We babysat Max while the Boyes were out of town.
He just wanted to cuddle while I read Katlin and Paige's blog posts."

"I sort of love him which is weird because he's a skeleton yappy chiwawa,
but he was like my child for a weekend... I can't believe i just said that."

"OH CHRISTMAS TREE! OH CHRISTMAS TREE!!
We were able to help Sister Clemmer with her Christmas tree.
It was VERY tricky, but we figured it out.
 It's the most wonderful time of the year :)"