Caleb’s update… a day late.
My last few days in Alexandra were pretty crazy, trying to get pictures with everyone. Normally transfers are Thursdays, but I guess they got moved to Wednesday, so we drove to Queenstown at 8 on Tuesday night. I basically had a day and a half to say goodbye, get pictures, and pack, all while trying to still have our lessons and appointments.
I flew from Queenstown to Christchurch on the 8:20 am flight, met my new companion, Elder U, and the other missionaries. From Christchurch to Waimate, it is about two and a half hours driving, and from Alexandra to Waimate it is two hours 50 minutes. I Google mapped it. I saw Elder C again, one of the zone leaders I stayed with my first week when I got fogged in. He left on Thursday to go home. It seems like such a short time since I was eating horse with him.
We drove with the Timaru Elders back to Timaru. Elder P has been out one transfer less than me, and Elder T, the new District Leader, just came in with me, and he has been on his mission for 18 months. We stayed in Timaru for a little bit, and then I drove Elder U and I back to Waimate.
We got back to Waimate and I unpacked enough to find my service clothes. We went and moved some trees for a family the missionaries have only met once before. The mom is from California. The family is a normal family, married, no smokers, only social drinking, and three kids. The mom has had experiences with the church before and really likes the missionaries. We did service for them for a few hours and then played with the two sons. Then we went home and cleaned up, changed, and went back for dinner. We had some good bonding time with the family. I think they will become really good investigators.
Church was good. We are part of the Timaru Branch, so we drive 30 or 40 minutes to church every week. They do three full hours. Elder T and I were asked to speak on General Conference talks, just to fill a little time after the two main speakers. Talks probably shouldn't resemble comedy acts, but I figure if the First Presidency and the Twelve can go for laughs, so can I. I think Elder T and I made good impressions on the branch and the members will like us a lot.
Elder U is Tongan by birth, but has lived in Auckland since his was 7 or 8, so he sounds and acts more like a Kiwi than an Islander. I really like him; I think we will work well together. He is 21 and a gamer. He came out in July of 2012, so my 6 month mark and his 18 month mark will be about a week apart. He's about my height, so I don't tower over my companion anymore, and he is funny too. I think I am going to enjoy my time here.
Yep, got the brownies. They were pretty good. For some reason the lady next door got them, but she brought them over when we first got to the flat from Christchurch, so they got to the new area when I did. Yes, it feels like it’s going pretty fast.
I was able to say goodbye to most people, but I only had like one day, so we didn't go to all the outlying parts of the area. I am kind of mad because while I was in the Queenstown Airport, Elder T and I went into the book shop and found a LOTR site guide. Apparently the Kingdom of Rohan was in my area, and the river with the Pillars of the Kings (the big statues with their hands out that fellowship the boats through) was what we drove past almost every week between Cromwell and Queenstown. Dang it haha. Elder L stayed in Alexandra, which I’m not sure he is too happy about because this will be his fifth transfer there, but that is what happens. Sometimes missionaries are in an area 6 to 8 transfers.
No, we will not be doing family history.
On Halloween this Thursday, we are going to the school play of one of the boys from a family we hope to teach. We helped at the Waimate 50's, a race event held in town, and earned wicked street cred with all the drunks. Waimate is really small, they don't even have a Warehouse, and so instead of shopping on P-day here, we just do all our shopping in Timaru on Wednesdays after District meeting. We do a lot of service here in Waimate. They had some bad storms a month ago, so there were a lot of trees blown over and what not.
There are many more youth in Waimate than there were in Alexandra. There is also another Caleb in the mission. Kaya sent a letter to Elder Caleb and it went to him. So I got this letter in the mail with it.
The new area seems pretty cool and I like my new companion. All is well. I also left a gift in the closet for my replacement. I'm such a nice missionary.
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