A walk down Memory Lane...

Making last minute visits in White Salmon with Hermana Knight before I left.

So this week has been quite the ride!

I said goodbye to a few people before Wednesday when I got transferred. That was a bit sad, but it was also not as bad as I expected it to be. 

On Wednesday, we got to the transfer site and received all the missionaries coming to our zone, and also we received Hermana Knight's greenie!  Hermana Hull is from Texas as well (coincidence, right?) and had some flight problems, so she didn't show up in the Yakima airport until just past midnight with her MTC companion, and then woke up bright and early before all the other missionaries to get ready to drive down to us. That poor Hermana... Hopefully she slept well!  

Then I jumped into the Assistants' Nissan Truck and drove up to Yakima. It's about a 2 hour drive, and I was the only Hermana getting transferred, let a lone, in either car.. so it was me, Elder Shugart, who was my second district leader during my mission, and another spontaneous elder we love to serve with. We three had a blast talking about the work happening in our areas, and telling stories of investigators. 

We arrived in Yakima and then, during another 4 hours, drove up to Wenatchee and arrived around 3:30. I was so exhausted from driving so much and moving luggage around and helping everyone get situated!  As we arrived in Wenatchee, I received the cute Hermanita Baird! She's adorable and so ready to work! She is from Missouri, and has been out on her mission just since March; she's still fresh in the field. :)  

As we gathered our stuff together, I slowly came to the realization as she and I talked about what would happen that day, that we are in a WALKING AREA!  Woo, I looove walking, yes I do!  We cover the boundaries of 2 wards on the west side of Wenatchee, and we have no car.  Which is definitely tough!  We do partially share a car with a set of sisters, but we only have it twice a week. But hey, a car is still a car even though we barely have it!  So we got situated in someone's car, dropped everything off, went to a Hispanic member's house for dinner, and then went out and worked!  We really can make it work without a car. I can probably say I'm bound to have blisters REAL soon, but I love walking! 

My ol' crib

 We have a small, tiny, little apartment, and our Sister Leaders live in my old house with the Bishop of another ward across the river. That was reminiscent on Sunday as we stopped by after correlation for lunch at their house before returning to go to Sunday school. The ward is pretty small, but during the winter, like most Spanish areas in our mission, it will get more busy since most members are working in the field. Being in a walking area is really fun. It's really easy to talk to people, use time more wisely and plan everything out to almost a "T".  

We have service opportunities pretty often during the week at a local Museum where we help prepare projects for the youth camps and activities they have during the summer. We have a sweet ward of members who remind me so much of my Hispanic families in Yakima; ALWAYS willing to feed us, give us rides, go out with us to lessons, and all that good stuff. 

I was able to see a lot of old faces in the Spanish ward, especially Wendy and her older sisters. We had some good time to catch up during our ward dinner together after Sacrament.  

Can I just say, I LOVE change? 

I was able to really feel the spirit yesterday during sacrament meeting. And I've been thinking hard lately about why Heavenly Father wants me in the Spanish ward again... and I had a warm fuzzy feeling come over me, almost in all the classes that this is where I need to be, and to be companions with Hermana Baird. I feel so at home here... Just like in Yakima in the Spanish Branch, It's literally the best feeling ever to be just working in  Spanish area again. I have really missed speaking this much Spanish, and just being a part of the Hispanic member culture. I truly missed it here, and I love the people we are working with right now!  We are currently teaching a few couples who are holding each other back from certain things, and particularly one named Lucy. Hermana Baird and her trainer met her right before transfers last week, and Lucy has literally lost everything.. her family, money, and nearly everything she owns. Her face lit up as we taught her the restoration, and said she wanted to come to church, and to find friends. I was a little skeptical at first to hear that she wanted friends, but she literally needs them... She has nobody close by; family, friends, relatives of some sort, None! She came to church once we found her a ride, and she LOVED church yesterday. The ward has already embraced her like family. The work is somewhat slow, but we are excited to get to work this week with our current investigators. I wish you all the best for this week!

Espero que tengan buen semana, y hasta luego!

In front of my old house with our Sister Leaders :) The short blonde one is Hermana Baird!