Wow. What a crazy week indeed! Thanks for the package. It
was actually here the day I arrived in Abilene on Wednesday. Those bars sure were delicious.
And yes I would welcome another package. Unfortunately, I was forced to leave a
bunch of food over in Artesia, and the elders here in Abilene before left us
literally nothing. We had like a box of macaroni and some leftover beans. That
about sums up our food supply. I think Elder Nowland is doing really great. You should see
how much of a different person he was when I left than when he first got there.
He has changed tremendously.
Here's me
in Artesia saying goodbye to Ryan and Bro Franco. I was supposed to stay in
Artesia all day Tuesday, so I was planning on saying the rest of my goodbyes
then. But then Tuesday morning at 7 I was informed I was supposed to leave at
9, so I didn't have time to say goodbye to all the other friends I had made.
That's sad, but at least I get to say hello to all my old friends here in
Abilene!
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I spent the whole day Tuesday in Carlsbad, so here is my
saying goodbye to my good friends Elders Arave and Thomas and then Elders
Mitchell and King.
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Wow, so
now where do I start with all the updates of Abilene. I guess I will start with
all the people that moved out. Javier and Flo have moved to Odessa. Nita and
Eliseo have moved to Dallas. The old branch president, Pres. Swartz has moved
to Utah and the first counselor, Bro Hedin moved back to the 1st ward. So there
have been lots of changes.
Oh, best part of transfer day: at one of the stops (I was on
the bus from 11 in the morning until 5 at night. Too long) I got to see Elder
Powell, Elder Pahulu, and Elder Banks! What are the odds? And all at the same
stop too! Of course since they were all at the same time I had hardly any time
to talk to any one them, but it was sweet to get to see them again anyway.
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| This morning before we left I figured I had better get a picture of Elder Cruz-Garcia and I. Yes, it is actually Cruz-Garcia to be correct. And if you are only going to use one of his last names, you use Cruz. |
I guess I will fill
you in a little in on him. He is 22. He is from Ojaca (no idea how to spell that)
Mexico. He got baptized into the church when he was 18 and ran into the
missionaries. He has only been to the U.S. one other time in his life before.
He speaks English surprisingly well though. But, we hardly ever speak English
at all. We always speak Spanish to each other. It's pretty sweet. My Spanish
will get a lot better I am sure. I guess that's a tender mercy after
being with an English companion and hardly ever getting to teach any Spanish
lessons. I will tell you what, all of my companions have been suuuuuuuper
different from one another. It's so funny how that works out. But they are not
really alike at all. Elder Cruz is a complete switch from Elder Nowland too.
Elder Cruz is a great teacher. We taught one lesson so far to an investigator
since we've been here. And because of that, he is also a pretty cocky guy.
But, I think a mission is a great time to learn how to be
more humble. Especially when you are in training... I am really looking forward
to our time here in Abilene together. We are gonna rock it.
And now I get to tell you some fun stories of meeting up
with people again! I thought it was going to be a big surprise for me coming
back, but apparently the other elders knew somehow and told everyone, so
surprise ruined. Ah man. But some people didn't know because they weren't at
church last Sunday... My favorites were 1) when I went to visit Kayla and her
family. They were actually having a birthday party for one of her little
brothers, Cruz, when we showed up. So, I got a warm reception with a bunch of
food and confetti and stuff, pretty fun!! Kayla and her cousin, Jackie both ran
up and gave me big hugs. It was really cute. 2) My other favorite reunion was
with Azriel. Apparently he hasn't come to church since like May. And I don't
think he has been seen by the missionaries or anything in a really long time
either. But when I showed up I gave him a hug and he had this big smile on his
face and said he was happy to see me. He said he had gotten my letter, but he
didn't know how to send a letter back in the U.S. or anything. We saw him
Saturday night and invited him to church the next day. He said he would come if
he didn't have work, but he didn't show up. Be praying hard for him. We need to
get him back on track. Because seriously, he is one of the most legit people I
have ever taught. We have one pretty solid family that the other
missionaries left us with: Ana, Sandra and Odalis. They were all at church on
Sunday too. But besides that, we have just been hitting the streets hard to try
and find some new people this week. Oh, and 2 last funny reunions. When I
called our new branch Pres. Means, I said "hello this is one of the new
missionaries... blah blah blah." And he was just like, "Is this Elder
Moffitt?" And this was before I knew that everybody had been told I was
coming back. I was like what?! How did he know? And then when we went over to
see Bro Robles, he opened the door, saw it was me, then slammed the door in our
faces. Then he opened it again and he was cracking up laughing. Oh, boy, it's
good to be home.
I love you mom! I love you dad! I
love you Meagan! I love you Courtney!
