Hard to Say Goodbye

Well. I got transferred. I'm going to back to Yakima to be a Zone Leader. I am terribly excited. Not necessarily about the Zone Leader part. But I get to go back to Yakima!!! Two Halloweens, Thanksgivings and Christmases in Yakima. I am so so so excited. I will be serving with Elder Lylles. Im pretty sure that's how you spell it. He goes home in either December or January so I may "kill" him. Elder Crowther trained Elder Lylles. I have met him before and he seems great. I'm sure any Zone Leader is a good companion though. It should be a great transfer. I leave for Yakima on Wednesday. Hopefully I can go back and visit Betty :)

Ironically, Elder Packham will be taking my place here in Pasco. For the first 3 months of my mission President Greer had the hardest time remembering my name because of Elder Packham. He would always call me Elder Packham. And one time in our monthly newsletter my name was mistakenly put down instead of Elder Packham's for a baptism that he had in Vancouver. I'm sure Elder Burgess will have a lot of success with him. Elder Packham is a hard worker and he is walking into a very successful area. He and Elder Burgess might have a hard time getting along though... Elder Burgess and I didn't usually see eye to eye on most topics but we made it work. I just have a feeling that Elder Burgess is going to struggle with some companions in his future... But he really is a great guy and a great missionary. I'm excited for the future of the Pasco 2nd and 4th area.

Speaking of the future of this area, when President Greer called me last night, I asked him about splitting our area so that each ward is it's own area. I have always thought that this area would do just fine if it were split. President then asked if they should find housing in 4th ward. I said yes. The area  will probably be split in a few transfers.

Another thing he told us is that we will be going from 190 missionaries in our mission up to 250 missionaries in the next 6 months. Every time I think about that I think about mason coming to this mission and me training him hahaha. How cool would that be! Oh my goodness that would be splendid. Pray for that hahaha. Just kidding. But seriously. Maybe Conner will punch one of his AP's in the face and get megatransferred to Yakima. Don't pray for that.

As for the work this week it was superb. Michael Votaw is back on date and this time to stay. Sister Votaw cried and called us the best missionaries in the world. She has been married to him for years and he has never been ready to be baptized but we happened to be here for it. She also was telling us that Sister Mathews is her visiting teacher and they were comparing notes because we have been teaching Sister Mathew's Brother, Sister and Nephew and they are all getting baptized soon too. Sister Mathew's sister is Marilynn and she is getting baptized on November 10th. So, Sister Votaw and Sister Mathews really like Elder Burgess and I. I'm kinda a fan of them too. It's going to be hard to say goodbye.

As for Brother Votaw's date we went over there on Thursday and discussed it a little bit. We came to the conclusion that November 17th would be the day for baptism. Then Sister Votaw said "neither of you get transferred now"... I told them I would probably be leaving on the 31st and to make a long story short, Brother Votaw was considering getting baptized tomorrow night so that I could be there. We told them not to get baptized for me but to do it for himself. They decided they would pray about it and give us a call the next day. We got the call and after thinking about it they decided upon the 17th. I think that was the right choice. I thought I might be able to come back for the baptism but Yakima is too far to travel just for a baptism.

Sandra will be baptized this Saturday if all goes well
Roni will be baptized on the 13th (we had to push it back a week)
Anthony is scheduled for the 17th
Shirley (73 years old) is scheduled for the 24th
Zack and Olivia are super super close to baptism. We could have put them on date last night but I wanted to leave the lesson up to Elder Burgess and he didn't want to do it. That's totally fine though. They can set a date next time!
I think the toughest one to say goodbye to will be the Nelson family. I really love them all a lot... It makes me sad to think about.

So that is what I will be leaving... It's hard to say goodbye. But kinda a relief to be done training hahaha. I do love Elder Burgess, I hope you all know that. I am kinda stressing about being a Zone Leader though. It will be hard. I hope I can do a good job. Elder Lylles will be a huge help I'm sure.

Ummmm. That's all I got.
I love you Kristen. Sorry you receive no letter recently...
You too mom! I'm sorry...

Love,
Elder Paxman