Clinton, MO

Sister Boswell & I ready to take off for the boonies

Ok. Ok. Ok.  Where do I even begin? This week has been NUTS. I honestly feel like it has been 5 weeks. So I guess my prayers for my mission to slow down a little bit have been answered because it feels like it is crawling, but that's always true with big changes and this has been a BIG change.

So lets start with Tuesday. Tuesday night was training calls. I found out I was going to Clinton,  MO to open up the area to sisters and train a new missionary. Whoohoo. Adventure time. Clinton is one of the most southern areas in the mission. We are talking in the middle of nowhere. So that was exciting. Also. I had recently given presentations at the jail to TWO families from Clinton. One of them had said they were supposed to get sisters soon and jokingly I said, "well transfers are coming up so maybe you'll see me in a few weeks." We had a good laugh about that at church this past Sunday when I saw them in Clinton!

Wednesday was my last day at the HLJ. The brand new missionaries always come through the Jail after coming from the airport. I had requested days in advance to take them on the tour because A) I love taking the new missionaries through and B) I wanted to see if I could pick out who my trainee would be. So I give the tour, it was actually my very last tour at the jail. SUPER SAD. I wanted to cry/did cry a  little at the end (which was kind of embarrassing.) Then President at the end of my testimony was like Sister Call I need to talk to you. Bah! So we went into the exit room and he told me that my companion wasn't in that group of new missionaries because she is sick in the MTC. So... I would be getting a temporary companion from the Warrensburg Stake. His exact words were, "Instead of looking for a 19 or 20 year old, you will be looking for a 17 or 18 year old." WHAT?! So I will be training her and then retraining my new companion when she gets here. So talk about stressful. She hadn't even been through the MTC! But I suppose Clinton and training two times will be the capstone project of my mission and I am excited.

The JR and Sherry family

To add to all of the excitement of the week JR and Sherry are getting married! AHHH. I can't wait! They will get married and then baptized on the same day, December 7th!  Talk about a miracle family. They are the best.  I will miss them SO much. That is probably one of the hardest things about leaving. I just have faith that I'll meet more JRs, and Sherrys, and Melbas, and Tracy's out here and be able to help them with my testimony. I cannot believe how blessed I was in Shoal Creek Valley. There are SO many people that I love there. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I've had to do on my mission.

Thursday was TRANSFER DAY. I was able to meet Sister Boswell, my new/temporary companion. She is awesome and so prepped. I can't believe she was able to come out on a mission in literally 2 days and was not freaking out. She has been really helpful to make the adjustment out here in rural Clinton. She is homeschooled so she was able to take 2-3 weeks off of school to come out and do this. We still aren't quite sure how long it will be before my new companion comes out. In the mean time I am having a great time teaching her how to be a missionary.  Our apartment is really cute. We live above a member and it's been all nicely redone and it is clean and I love it. The ward here is small but strong. There are some really awesome members and LOTS of work to do with reactivation and part member families. It is a full pros dream. Plus, the area covers not only Clinton, which has a population of about 9,000 but also about 10 other really, really small towns in the surrounding areas. So we do a lot of driving and a lot of careful planning.

This place is COUNTRY. They at least have a Walmart, which is good. I've learned more about hunting in the past 2 days than I have in my entire life. I ate deer on Saturday and a bunch of other canned foods and sulpherized water. Not bad actually. It is a major culture shock... but it always gets conversations going when I say I am from Southern California. People are like, what are you doing out here in Clinton!? The ward is the best and they treat us like a shiny new toy because they haven't had sister out here, maybe ever. 

So there is the low down on transfers. I'm really boosting my faith right now. I'm not going to lie it is a huge adjustment to be out here in the middle of nowhere without all of my best missionary friends surrounding me. I had no idea how spoiled I was at the VC. It's been great though to really rely and put all my faith and trust in the Lord right now to accomplish this huge task that I have in front of me. I AM the MTC. Bah. It's really neat to look back and see how the Lord has prepared me to be here in this ward at this time. I am so grateful for his hand in my life. My mission is perfect! I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store here. 

 

Here's one more miracle. We were out on Saturday and had a really great day, but poor Sister Boswell was getting a little discouraged. So I said a silent prayer in my heart/I may or may not have been begging the Lord to help us find some new investigators. Within 25 minutes we taught 4 lessons and found 3 new investigators. It was amazing. I couldn't believe what a miracle that was! The Lord really does answer prayers. All we have to do is ask.