Hey Family!
So... I've been transferred to a place in Jacksonville called Normandy. It's on the West Side of St. John's River in the JAX West Zone. I'll leave tomorrow. Three days before Mrs. S's baptism. Dang. My new companions name is Sister Martinez. I've never met her. Jacksonville is about a two hour drive away so I don't think I'll be able to get permission to go to the baptism. Maybe I'll get permission to call. I now have a huge testimony to grow where you're planted. When I first came out, all I wanted to do was get transferred from area to area, and see a lot of the mission. Now all I want to do is stay in Gainesville. If the Lord puts you in a situation, hit the ground running!
Funny thing though, Mrs. S told us that next summer for their family vacation, they're going to Salt Lake City! Y'all should meet up and have lunch or something! Show her around the conference center :) Her daughter arranged the trip and she's not even a member!
Sunday Mrs. S was able to have a 'get to know you' interview with the Bishop, have her baptismal interview by Elder Wilde, and watch the baptism of an eight year old in the Ward. After the baptism, the young man's grandma asked Mrs. S how she felt. S said, "I just want to jump in there after him!"
Can y'all write Mrs. S some letters of encouragement? She is super bummed that I'm leaving.
Anyway. We have another baptismal date! We've been teaching a less-active lady's son named C and he's preparing to be baptized December 28th. Which I will also not be there for. He's a super nice kid!
This last week we blitz 2nd and 3rd Wards. (A blitz is where all the missionaries in the zone come together to tract in just one area to help the area get new Gators). It was really fun to tract in areas that I had been in six months ago! Friday we did 2nd Ward and I went with Sister Whetstone. We found a new gator named J. Saturday we did 3rd Ward and I went with Sister Chambers (who was trained by Sister Atkinson, who was trained by me :)) and we found a new gator named K. It was super fun! But the Friday blitz almost made us late for our Missionary Movie night (we watched 17 Miracles).
Sister Shelley's new companion is going to be a Sister Wood. I've met her a couple of other times before. She's awesome! There are so many missionaries out now that our mission has hit the cap for how many cars we can have. They're doing this thing called 'car share areas' where two sets of missionaries share a car. GV 1st Ward will become that tomorrow! There's a new set of Sisters (not Elders like we thought it would be) who will be sharing the car. I wonder what Normandy will be like?
The picture I'm sending is of most of the Sisters in the Gainesville Zone. These are the people I would have spent Thanksgiving with ;)
Anyway. That's all I can think of right now. We have a lot I need to do today.
Love ya all lots,
From Sista Jen
P.S. I'm sending a package with presents and also stuff I don't want to try and stuff in my bags. When you get it, only mom or dad can open it and look inside!! They will then wrap all the things that are presents, and stick 'em under the Christmas tree. I keep thinking that there was something else that I was supposed to say... maybe that I've run out of stamps? That I'm freezing? I don't know. I'm super stressed about not forgetting anything, that I'm pretty sure I'm going to forget something. I forget things when I'm stressed out.
