So, this week has been pretty crazy with transfers and all. So, transfer day was pretty crazy, all I knew is that I was leaving so that morning we went to the Gulfport building for transfers and I was excited to find out where I was going. While there I was given orange colored pipe cleaners to put on my luggage which meant I was going to the Hattiesburg Zone. From that info I was able to figure that I was going to the Purvis Spanish area which is the only Spanish area in the Zone and it just had Sister Missionaries there. So, I was able to figure out that they would be leaving and so I would be "white washing"! (means two new missionaries being put into an area at the same time) I still didn't know who my companion would be. so we loaded up and left for Hattiesburg and I got off there and so did Elder Lecates and everyone else continued to Jackson. I did not have companions yet so I went with two other guys who didn't have a companion but had already served in the Zone the transfer before and they ended up being the other two District Leaders, so three of the four in the Zone were together which was kinda cool. We all drove to I-Hop and got breakfast together, Zone leaders, two sisters and us three and 2 other Elders. Then us three got a car's tires changed and then we went and studied with the Zone leaders at their apartment. Then we ate pizza for lunch and went back to the church. The luggage had already arrived so we unloaded the luggage for our Zone and then the transfer van and two cars arrived with Elders and Sisters. I still didn't know who my comp was and the ZL's kept me in suspense. I found the only other Spanish Elder and we figured we must be comps, haha. His name is Elder Christensen and he is from Moses Lake, WA!! Originally from Royal City, WA! We had to leave our bikes at the church cuz we didn't have our bike rack in the car we were given. I am the designated driver and it is a '16 or '17 Chevy Malibu, which is really nice. The ZL's guided us to our apartment and we unpacked and realized that there was a small bowl of eggs and some dressing and that was about it in the fridge. There was a few pieces of frozen salmon and chicken in the freezer and then not much of anything in the pantry. So we had basically no food. Luckily I had brought with me the food I had been sent or that I bought so we had a bit of canned food and pantry items. That night we went to Walmart to get toilet paper cuz the sister missionaries didn't leave any of that either and while out, none of the bathrooms we stopped at had toilet paper either (or someone had messed them up real bad) so after we ate at Wendy's, we were finally able to get back to our apartment and use a bathroom, lol!
Friday we exercised in our apartment cuz there is no gym and we also only have one bathroom, but besides that it is a pretty nice apartment still. We read a bunch of records about investigators and notes left from the sisters so that we could get an idea of what to do. We got library cards and tracted a trailer park in our small English area. We were given an "English area" because our area is the whole Zone since we are Spanish for it all, but everything is super far away so the Sister Missionaries were given an area to work near the apartment for when we have nothing else to do or our miles are used up. So, we tracted a bunch of trailers and didn't get much but it was cool. That night we also had our first all-zone District Leader call with the ZL's.
Saturday was good, we had an appointment early in the morning that fell through and then we drove out to Laurel which was a 30 mile, 1/2 hour drive or so and had lunch with a Hispanic family in the branch. -Side note- This is the only Spanish Branch in the Mission and it is really cool! -End Side Note- Our GPS is off by about a mile sometimes because the map is 55 months old so we had to search for this place and miraculously found it as we turned into a few trailers and saw some Hispanics outside and decided to ask them if they knew where this address was, but we came up to them and it seemed as if that was them so we ended up not even asking and just went over and sat down where they told us to and they fed us Chanclas (technically means sandals but they were just a type of quesadilla) and empanadas. Later we tracted some more and taught a cool black guy our age and then went to the Branch FHE which was cool and was a lot of Spanish. They had food afterward too.
Sunday we met with the Branch President and his counselors before church and then we started Sunday School at 12:20. We had Priesthood Meeting after that and then had Sacrament Meeting. In Sacrament Meeting we were asked to bear our testimonies and introduce ourselves and I went first and it was a bit nerve racking, haha, but it was good. We also met one of our investigators who we texted about coming to church the day before and he came. His 5th time, I believe. We met our branch mission leader as well.There are about 45-55 int he branch I think, which is pretty good! Later we drove to Sumrall which is about 20 miles away and had dinner with a member family which was cool. -Side note- Oak Grove is a very rich community. Bret Farv lives here, there is a famous baseball player building a mansion here and there are many members who are really rich. One of them, the Duffs, are billionaires. We live (in Hattiesburg) right next to Oak Grove, even though we are Purvis Elders. -End Side Note-
Monday we did more tracting, in fact we tracted for 2 hours straight-which is a long time for tracting. We didn't end up talking to one English person all 2 hours, except for maybe a few words and them telling us they aren't interested. We taught the Restoration or set a return appointment with 10 people and it was crazy. We found two different people who were former investigators of the church, which was awesome! Also, there was a guy that we taught the Restoration to and then afterward he basically said he didn't understand us, so that was cool. . . .It was a pretty crazy day.
Today, we picked up the Oak Grove Elders and we met the ZL's and another companionship at the Hattiesburg building and played basketball for like 2 hours which was fun. It was a crazy workout!! It was a crazy past several days and will probably continue to be crazy.
Love you tons mom!! I hope you have a great week!!
Love,
Elder Acton
A few more pictures of investigators from Biloxi
Transfer Day
The food I packed and brought with me
aka "Food Storage" ;-)
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