Transfers

Saying goodbye to my 'mission Dad', Elder Simmons.
He went home yesterday which felt really weird.

Hey everyone!!!

Man this past week and a half has been so crazy!!! We have been working on transfers and that has been filling every wakeful and sleepful moment. This was the first transfer as a merged mission, and it was super, crazy and hectic. There were A LOT of changes. Over 86...which is not very easy when you only have 3 days to make plans, but tickets, and organize the movement of over 260 missionaries. Yeah I'm a little tired. It's all finished though. 

Due to transfers, we didn't have much time to meet with the people that we have been teaching. But most of them are doing pretty well. Vilma has been getting fellowshipped so much by the ward right now, and it's awesome! They love her so much. Her family is starting to open up so much to us, which us awesome. 

Update on the companionship: with the change, we went from 3 To 5. Our new companions are Elder Eyre and Gergov. Elder Gergov will be replacing Elder Liza, and Elder Eyre will be having the new job of the fulltime technology elder. 

The office can take some getting used to. The late nights are exhausting.

It's super nice, because he will be taking a lot of my responsibilities off my plate. It's going to help a lot, because to be honest, I've been a little overwhelmed this past transfer with all of the changes.

One unique thing that we learned recently is that with the merge our mission is the 3rd largest geographically in the world. Definitely could feel that sometimes buying tickets and scheduling interviews for all of them. But a change has been announced that will change that.

It is so exciting, because in Galicia (where I served before in the northern Spain) a new stake was created. It's a special time, and it's so amazing to see the joy of the members there. Many of them have waited over 40 years to have a stake. I'm so happy for the members and to see the way that the church is growing is wonderful. 

With that creation, it was announced that the new stake will be part of the Barcelona mission. It's not official yet, but when it's approved, we will be losing the north part of our mission. I'm happy to see the growth, but sad to say goodbye to the members and missionaries there. I have a lot of good friends serving there, and it's sad to know that for some we won't be seeing them again. It's the way of things sometimes. This church is a church of change and growth! And that's great. It's a part of progression.

Also a pic of the hermanas going home while they played volleyball at the final dinner at the Busseys'. It's super crazy, because those are the hermanas that started the mission with me and were in the MTC at the same time. It feels really wierd to know there gone....I'm feeling old. 

I love you all and I hope that you have a great weekend! See you next time!

- Elder Bassett  

Matching bags

Vilma and her family-blurry, but all I have