Transfers

Hey,
Wow another week gone by.  Time flies.  So as previously stated, I am
going to be transferred.  Transfers are on Thursday.  I am not sure
where I am going.  But next Monday I will give you my new address.  I
have really loved this area.  The members are great and there have been
a lot of great missionaries here in the past so the members love us. 
It’s sad to leave some of the people but it’s all good.  All the
converts that were baptized while I’ve been here are still going strong. 
They all have goals to go to the temple with their spouses.  It’s really
awesome to watch them grow; and it’s not just the recent converts that
are growing.  All their spouses are really progressing too.  The Meiers
continue to be awesome and funny.  They are both really smart.  The
Williams are doing really well too.  I believe Sister Williams is about
half way through her pregnancy.  They have a fun little daughter named
Aniya.  She is four.  Her and their little Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix
are always teasing each other.  The Noll family is also doing great. 
They have grown by leaps and bounds and continue to do so.  Brother Noll
gave a really great testimony in sacrament meeting last Sunday.  Roger
is also doing very well.  Since he lives in a different ward we don’t
talk to him much anymore but Brother Hack gives us occasional updates. 
We have been going through a lot of people.  There are some with some
great potential right now.  As I get updates from Elder Finlayson in the
future I will update you.

One thing that I love about going to a new area and getting a new
companion is that you get to start over.  You can basically be the
person that you want to be and they won’t know the difference.  Fun
stuff.

Elder Finlayson is receiving a brand new missionary this next transfer. 
This will be his second trainee.  He is a very structured missionary so
the missionaries he trains will have great habits enforced to start
their missions.  I’ m excited for him.  He is excited and nervous.

I’m glad that the missionary work in the ward is going strong.  Keep it
up.  Keep the members involved as much as possible.  I’m glad that you
have been able to take part in missionary work.  It truly is awesome to
help build up the Kingdom of God here on the earth.  Tell Ashley good
luck at region and state and tell Erik and Justin to keep working hard
and good luck in all that they do.  Tell Tim good job and to keep
working hard.  Same with Dad.  I am proud of you all no matter what. 
Keep working hard in what you love to do and what we need to do.

So my apartment……. I’ll record a little walk through on my camera and
then you can see it the next time I send a card home.  I’m not sure if
it does sound or not so let me know.  Basically it is on the second
floor; it has a bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, walk in closet and living
room.  We have a couple of couches and chairs and a table.  Our
neighbors are all very interesting.  We have a recent convert to the
church that just moved in next door a couple of weeks ago.  We have a
dysfunctional family that is always yelling at each other close by (it’s
very sad).  Sadly a lot of our neighbors struggle to make a living or
they don’t even try to make a living.  We do ride our bikes still
Thursday through Saturday.  Lately we have been biking to an area that
is about three or four miles away.  The members love to feed us for
dinner.  Last night we had tamales and this really good drink made out
of some flower.  We usually get about half and half as far as English
and Spanish members.  They always feed us so much so I usually don’t eat
a whole lot during the day.  We started that exercise program last week. 
Thanks for sending it.  It is a lot easier to work out when I know what
I am going to do.  It has been a real good workout for my legs.

Well my time is spent.  I hope I answered all your questions.  Love you
all.

Con Amor,
Elder Gray

P.S.  A little bit of missionary slang:
Boy or Hijo: Trainee or greenie
Pops or dad: Trainer
Grandpa: your trainer’s trainer
Transfer: the six week period between transfer meetings or the transfer
meeting itself.  We as missionaries usually measure time in transfers
instead of months.