I'm at the Pizza Hut! I'm at the Taco Bell!

First things first: my eternal gratitude to the Pizza Fairy this week.  Sister Page is now a believer, and we have enjoyed our feasting.  Also, your timing was impeccable because

Second: Saturday night transfer calls came, and I'm out of here!  Doesn't the exclamation point make me sound enthusiastic?  That's weird, because I'm sort of bummed to leave. I know that I have grown in surprising ways here, as I've come to fall in love with the work and increase my own faith, and I've seen incredible growth in others here--Bill, for example.  I will always treasure the time I've had here, but I'm sure that wherever I'm ending up next will be similarly wonderful.  Really, I'm fine going somewhere else--I just wish it didn't mean leaving here.  But it does, and it's going to be great.  Tomorrow I find out where I'm going (almost certainly either New Hampshire or Vermont), which means that I'm in the process of putting all my worldly possessions in my two suitcases and a carry on (no easy feat).

Well, aside from the news that I have to leave Topsham, this week was marvelous.  I suppose that if I have to leave this area, it's good to go out on a high note.  It really was a great week.  We had excellent lessons with Jeff and Joanne, and Sharon suddenly surprised us all by actually keeping her commitment to read and offering to pray and saying she wants her sons to watch the Restoration DVD.  We also had an incredible lesson with Jim and his wife Lois (who is now our new investigator) in which she essentially taught us the Plan of Salvation, saying she knows there's levels to heaven and a pre-earth existence and so forth, despite having never been taught it at any church.  She was floored to discover that's exactly what we believe, and it was all rather wonderful.

I know I've said it before, but missionary work is really great.  This gospel is just so beautiful, and I'm so grateful for the time I've had to share it with the people of Topsham and that I get to go share it with people somewhere else.

Have a great week!

Rococo!

So Tuesday was transfer meeting, and after a great deal of
anticipation and wondering, it was revealed that Sister Walter and I
would be opening the area of Methuen 2.  Methuen, you might know (if
you are from the area), is in Massachusetts.  Oh snap!  So it actually
turns out that I'm living in New Hampshire (approximately a mile from
the Mass border), and our area is about 75% NH and maybe 25% Mass.
Being Methuen Dos, we are sharing the ward with the Methuen 1 elders,
which is a very different experience.  Opening an area is also a new
and stressful (but exciting) experience, as we're trying to build a
teaching pool and get to know the ward without the help of someone
who's been here for a while.  New!  Intense!

But really, it's great down here.  We're smack dab in the middle of
civilization--they have malls here!--so yes, pizza delivery is still
an option.  Everything is very close, we still have a car, and the
ward has been amazingly friendly and welcoming.  It's a whole new
world.

What with learning our way around and me getting sick again, this week
hasn't been the most productive, but we've got a few investigators
that we're really excited about (and we have members willing to go
teaching with us all the time!), so I think we're going to see great
things happen as we get to know the area better and really settle in.

By way of introduction, my new companion is Sister Walter.   She's
been out a little over a year, and she is tall.  Perhaps taller than
me--though these reports are as of yet unconfirmed.

And thus it is!  Have a great week.

This is Very Short and Stupid

Sorry about the silence of the last two weeks--holidays and all that have shut the libraries.  And yes, next week is also a holiday.  Yes, yes this would be a good time to send me real mail to mitigate the pain of an email-less week!  How did you know, you clever person you?

Okay, but really, life has been good.  Sister Holyoak and I had a wonderful Christmas (I got two My Little Ponies--what more could you want?), largely due to Bill's absolutely wonderful baptism and confirmation.  He continues to be solid, and we even got his wife to sit and watch the Restoration DVD with us this weekend. 

And when I say us, I no longer mean Sister Holyoak and I.  Transfers came, and BAM I have a new companion!  Sister Page has decided to join me in Topsham, and we've had a lovely two weeks thus far.  Yes, she's pretty rad (and she likes the Vampire Diaries).  We've been doing the worky thing--tracting, walking everywhere (we didn't use our car at all the first week as we'd run out of miles; I must say, my legs are looking good), hunting people down and preaching the good news.  It's good stuff.

Alas, this is brief, but I hope that you all had wonderful holidays, and that you send me mail, because that is what kind people do.  Later!

(Also, thank you to everyone from the Woodland Park ward for the wicked card and for feeding me!  I don't know where specifically to direct a thank you note, so this is it.  You're all great!  My companions and I love you!)