Thursday, June 12, 2014

Dear Family!

Ch ch ch changes! We had transfers this week and surprise surprise I have returned home to the Visitors' Center. I had a feeling I was going back there and I was right. I am so happy to be back and I really like the direction things are moving under the new director. It is different there without the McLachlans and the other senior couples that I knew but things are still good and I forgot just how much I loved it there.

   For the first time since I was being trained I am not training and I am loving life. My companion's name is Sister Clarke and she is from Perth Australia so I have my first aussie companion. Maybe now i will develop an accent :) She's really fun and she is a vegetarian so we eat really healthy and I need that. But it is so nice to be in a new area and not have to figure things out because she already knows everything. I also love that she knows what to do and how to teach without me having to teach her and explain things to her. I have already learned so much from her and I can tell that we are going to have a really successful transfer. If loving my companion wasn't great enough, guess who's in the VC with me... Sister Whiting and Sister Swindler and... SISTER DOOLE!!!! Almost all of my favorite sisters are in the VC with me and to top it off my area touches Sister Gunnell's area and our wards meet in the same building so I get to see her quite often as well. I tell you things really couldn't get much better. I just wish Sister Vasi were here and then things would be perfect. 

 Funny story about Sister Vasi. So we pretty much knew that I was getting transferred because I was sick and so we assumed she would stay. Two weeks before transfers we had to move flats and so we packed up all of our stuff and moved. I pretty much stayed packed for the next two weeks because I knew I was getting transferred. Sister Vasi slowly unpacked some of her stuff but she kept saying "I'm not going to unpack until after e get transfer news." Well we got the call Monday night that I was getting transferred because I had a doctors appointment in Hamilton Tuesday afternoon and so they told me to just pack my stuff and then stay in Hamilton until Thursday. They also said that Sister Vasi would be staying and they told her who her companion would be. That night I completely packed my stuff and she completely unpacked all of her stuff. Tuesday night we were in Hamilton and I got a call from President Rudd asking me all these questions about our area. About an hour later we got a call from the Assistants saying that there had been some changes to the transfer plans and now Sister Vasi was getting transferred too and so we had to drive home Wednesday, she had to re-pack all of her stuff, and then drive back the three hours to Hamilton. It was a bit ridiculous and she was pretty sad that she was moving but we know that the Lord works in mysterious ways so I'm anxious to see what happens with her in her new area. 

  I really love the ward that I am serving in and I am so excited to spend the next six weeks here. The ward is really missionary minded and it's nice to be in a big ward again. The members here seem really sweet. I was thinking the other day that I only have three and a half transfers left so this could very well be my last area and that thought really freaks me out. President told me that I would finish in the VC and so I am now back here to finish my mission. I can't believe just how fast time is moving. Thursday, the day we had transfers and the day I went back to the VC, was the day we landed in New Zealand the year before. I thought it was so poetic that I would go back to the VC that day and that Sister Swindler and Sister Whiting would go back too because the three of us started everything together. On Saturday Sister Rudd walked over the VC to talk to me about somethings and she walked in and the three of us were standing there talking and she smiled and said how excited she was to have all of us back there. She said "My friends are back!" It is just so nice to be in an environment where I know that I am loved and that helps me forget about the other challenges that I am facing. I feel just so renewed and ready to take on this transfer because I know that it is going to be a good one!

  Well that is all I have for this week! I love and miss you all! 

Love, 
Sister Simkins
 
 
 

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