Friday, February 19, 2016

February 8, 2016 - Bridgewater, Nova Scotia

Dear Family,

This morning we received the transfer letter and as I was expecting, I am getting transferred. I am getting transferred to Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. Sackville is a part of the Halifax Metro area. I will be serving with Elder Steimle again in a trio training a new missionary that has just been out for one transfer. The new missionary's name is Elder Sturko. He is from Edmonton. I went on a exchange once with him once this transfer. He is only in this mission temporally. He is a visa missionary that is waiting for his visa to go to the Utah St. George Mission. So I'll likely only be with him for a few weeks before his visa arrives. But if it's at all like Elder Evans then I'll do just fine with him :). Plus I get to train for the first time and I think that will be a good experience for me. I think me and Elder Steimle will be good examples to him. 

I don't know what it is lately but for some reason President Pratt seems to like putting me in an old area and putting me with old companions. This transfer I served with Elder Evans again in a trio after being with him for 2 transfers in Woodstock. Next transfer I will be serving with Elder Steimle again. At this rate I won't have a completely new companion again :P. But I wasn't with Elder Steimle that long. So I am excited to be with him again. We were beginning to form a good companionship in Woodstock.

I have learned a lot of lessons from Bridgewater and I have formed a lot of memories here. Not many missionaries can say that they've served in an area twice; I'm fortunate enough to say that I have. I feel very blessed that way. I feel that I have learned the lessons that I've needed to learn here and I will apply what I have learned to Sackville and to the rest of my life. I have grown to love these people. Bridgewater will always have a special place in my heart. Serving here has been one of the highlights of my mission.

I have been to Sackville many times on exchanges during the time I've been in Bridgewater. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about it. I'm not a city person and there's a reason we moved from Calgary to Stirling. But Sackville isn't near as big as Halifax so it won't be nearly as bad. I am already kind of familiar with the area and the ward. There are challenges that lie ahead for me in that area but I will face them with confidence and endurance. This will be my second time serving in the Halifax Metro area. I started my mission in Halifax and I enjoyed being around the metro missionaries. There are a lot of perks of being close to the mission home. It is going to be a fun transfer. I am excited.

Tuesday: We started giving service at the local library. We shelved books for 2 hours. By the end of it my knees were bright red from kneeling. I got about 4 rows done. I had to arrange the books in order of the Dewey decimal system. The whole time I thought of Mom when she had to shelve books from time to time. I also thought of all those work experience students that had to shelve for more than 2 hours. It's safe to say that I now feel for those students and for Mom when they had to shelve. We picked a potential investigator. He is a older man that lives at a nursing home. When we stopped by we weren't sure if he wanted to meet with us because he's just lonely or if he's legitimately interested.

Thursday: We went to Liverpool and got two solid member referrals from Sister Malone. One of them that we contacted seemed very interested. She said the only reason why she wouldn't want to meet would be because of her health. But the Sisters are going to start working with her once her health improves. We had a dinner appointment and they fed us deer meat. It was really chewy and to be honest I didn't like it that much :P.

Friday: We did a day trip out in Lockporte/Shelburne since we're never out there because it is an hour and a half away. Sister Harlow made us sack lunches/dinners. We spent the day stopping by less actives in Shelburne and former investigators. Unfortunately only 1 former investigator answered but he did tell us to come back. None of the less actives were home in Shelburne. Then we went to Lockporte and had a lesson with a less active. The only reason why she doesn't come to Church is become of the distance. She is a very active less active. We taught her a short powerful Restoration Lesson and the spirit was really strong. It was one of the more powerful lessons I've been a part of. We all bore our testimonies about the Restoration and it touched her. After the lesson we headed back to Bridgewater. Even though not many people answered and it was raining all day, our presence was felt in that area.

Sunday: It was fast and testimony meeting. In anticipation that I would get transferred I bore my final testimony to the ward. It was a nice and simple testimony. I also complimented the youth that they have in their ward and thanked them for their willingness to do the right thing and for being good examples.

Have a good week!

Love,
Elder O'Brien (the older)

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