Scottie and the Missionaries from his previous District

 What's up family?!? So this new area is way cool, I really like it. It's always hard to leave an area when you've been there for almost 5 months, you really come to love the people, but this new area is definitely a blessing. I'm serving in the Hunter West Stake in the Hunter 19th Spanish Ward (not a branch this time) (wards and branches are both local congregations, wards are larger than branches). The people are way nice, and Elder Chavez (his new companion) is a stud! I'm super excited to work with him.

Monday 3/10/14:

Best P-Day (preparation day) to date. A few of us were getting transferred so we finished with a bang. For shopping, all I bought was a kickball :) Buying food would have been a waste since I was getting transferred. We got to do email from the iPads, then we biked on over to the pday building. While we finished emailing, Elders Johnson and Jung showed up and we made some Cap'N Crunch fried chicken, Oreo truffles, cookies, and it was all soooo good. We just laughed and had tons of fun. Then, we went and played kickball as a zone and it was so fun. This zone has become like a family to me, we were all so close. I'm going to miss these missionaries. After kickball, we came inside for some basketball. We played a 3 point shooting competition and some of the elders thought it would be funny to put me on a team with one of the sisters, Sister
Sydall. But she's a baller and has a scholarship to play when she gets back, we took 1st place haha :) We went home, changed, visited people to say goodbye, then we went on back to the apartment.


Tuesday 3/11/14:

Transfer day!! I spent all morning packing and then we went over to the Peachwood building. After the meeting I found Elder Chavez and we loaded my stuff into Hermano Baquerizo's car. He's from Peru, our ward mission leader, and an amazing cook and nice guy, so I was excited to meet him. We then unpacked my stuff, went over to a dinner that had this amazing breaded chicken and Habanero sauce, so good. I met some of the people in the area, then we went home. We live in this super nice member’s house with a pool table, I have a queen sized bed (most missionary apartments have twin beds!), and we’re super spoiled. We even have a dog named Dude haha. It's awesome, and we live with Elders Stimpson and Brooks.

The house dog - Dude!

His new house

A little nicer than his last place!

He is excited about the bigger bed!

Wednesday 3/12/14:

Today was cool. We got up, studied, and then we went and had lunch with our ZL's (Zone Leaders) at this place called Atlantis Burger. Elder Ulu'ave is from Hawaii (6'8", monster of a guy, has a scholarship to play football for University of Utah after the mission) and Elder Driscoll is from Panama City, Florida. They're two of the best, so I'm glad I'm in their zone. After lunch we did some teaching, I conducted a baptismal interview for Elder Jacobson in the other district,(he conducts interviews with individuals wishing to be baptized as part of his District Leader responsibilities) then we taught some more. I'm definitely staying busy!

Thursday 3/13/14:

Weekly planning day! It was good because I got to meet the entire district for the first time (much bigger than my last district): Elders Brooks, Stimpson, Concidine, Stancliffe, Chavez and I plus Sisters Unga, Ashcroft, Alusa, Maxwell, Knudson, and Yepez. Everyone seems awesome, then we did a baptismal interview for Unga and Ashcroft. Afterwards we had an amazing dinner with the Valencia family (super nice recent converts). We did some more teaching, and then the night was done.

Friday 3/14/14:

Happy Pi-Day! Today for district meeting, there were a ton of people. The AP's (Assistants to the Mission President) showed up and that made 18 in total, I'm used to like 7 haha. And we have a new AP now, Mauinatu was released because he goes home next transfer and they called Elder Isabell as assistant, he seems really cool. After district meeting we had District Leader training with the ZL's, then dinner. Then we had correlation meeting with Hermano Baquerizo (his ward mission leader), and went and taught the Chiriboga family. It was awesome.

Saturday 3/15/14:

Today was another busy day. We got up, studied, went to choir practice (which was good because Elder Baliño brought me all the stuff I'd forgotten at the last apartment haha). We grabbed some lunch, did some visits, and then had a good dinner with the Lopez family. We then went to visit with the Garcias and they are way cool. We walk a ton right now. We can't bike because Elder Chavez (his companion) is in a sling. He broke his clavicle really bad in a bike accident before the mission, and since he's only been out 3 months he hasn't healed up fully. He's got a plate and 9 screws in it, so that's intense. He's healing up well though!

Sunday 3/16/14:

Awesome day. We got up, studied, went to church and it was great. I was asked to say the closing prayer and then something funny happened. Several people came up to me and asked how I learned Spanish so well and where I was from, which lead me to 2 conclusions: 1) serving with Elder Baliño definitely improved my Spanish a lot and 2) I now have a super Mexican accent haha. I actually told a member I was from Guadalajara the other day and they believed me! That was kinda cool :)  After church we went over to Hermano Baquerizo's and helped him cook, then we all ate (Hermanas Knudson and Yepez were there too because the 4 of us serve in the ward). Then we had the mission president devotional and it was super special. We ended with I Believe in Christ and it's such a powerful song, always gets me. I also got to see Hermano Carrasco and a ton of the missionaries I miss serving around, like Elers Ghramm and Moleli and Burgin. Then I gathered and called in numbers from the district, and it's been a crazy day and I'm ready for some sleep!

Love Always,

Scottie

Ooh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is Hermano Baquerizo (bah-keh-ree-zo). He is our new ward mission leader, and after he fed us yesterday he just passed out on the couch. This is us taking a siesta on the couch haha. (I wasn't really sleeping, just posing for the picture). Love this guy!