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.

Surprise, Surprise!

Day 162 on the island...things are getting more and more desperate....the food is running low and the piso hasn't been cleaned in a while.....we are in desperate need of help, but I can't say it's ever going to come.....if anyone finds this note, please remember me....remember Elder Bassett.....

Ok, so ever since I got on the island, I've wanted to start an email like that, but I always forgot...but not today!!!! Ha! So with that as the intro, it's been a pretty good week. We had some trouble meeting with our investigators this week, so we spent a lot of time in the street talking to people and doing some passby’s. We had some pretty cool miracles and experiences though; that's just because it's awesome to be in the service of the Lord!

I did an intercambio in Puerto this week, which was fun. I was with Elder Tiebing who I served in a trio with for 2 weeks. It was fun to go back to an area and a piso I hadn't been to in such a long time...."like 4 weeks". Ha, it was a pretty good day. We had a cita, did some service on a local farm, and talked with the people for a bit.

So transfers went down, and we got the news and… surprise, surprise, but I am out! It really caught me off guard, because I was only halfway through the training of Elder Johnson, but it happened anyway. That doesn't happen to often, but obviously it does happen every once and a while. So I'm off to the north of Spain, a providence called Galicia. I will be serving in the town of El Ferrol. It’s supposed to be super cold and rainy over there but super beautiful. They have a branch that's pretty big and is working hard with the missionaries to become a ward. I'm super excited to get to a new area and have a fresh start, but at the same time, I'm definitely going to miss the island. 4+ transfers....a little over 5 months. It will be good to see a new area, but at the same time, I'm really going to miss the people and the district. 

 

We have such a great zone. I'm gonna miss them.

Big Changes!

Hey everyone!

Ok, so this has been a super crazy week!

It all started with this last preparation day. I was in piso folding some laundry when our phone started going off. I go to check it, and it’s President Pack. I answer; he asks me how I’m doing. I tell him I’m fine. Then he goes on to tell me that I need to start packing, because I´m getting emergency transferred. That caught me by surprise. I mean I’d only been with Elder Freire for one week.

My new area is......the city La Laguna of the island Tennerife. Yeah, I’m in the Canary Islands. It turns out that I´m actually swapping with Elder Brasher; he is now serving in the office, and I’m companions with his previous companion, Elder Johnson.

So, when we received the news, there wasn’t a lot of time for anything. Because it was an emergency transfer, it was super last minute, and I had to leave the next morning.  I had time to meet with one family and say goodbye to Alvaro. Then the next morning, I was out of Móstoles. It was a little hard not being able to say goodbye to all of the investigators and members I have come to know over the past 5 months, but I bet one day I’ll be able to visit again and say high.

Goodbyes

Monday, March 20, 2017

 

Goodbye to the Moroni District

Hey Mom and Dad, 

I'm already back emailing. Man these past couple of days have gone by so quickly. As you can imagine, there isn't a lot to email, because it's only been a couple of days. This is really more of a transition email, but there are a lot of cool things that I want to include.

Saturday was our last park day. I was able to have my actual companion as my park companion this last time, which was really cool. We were able to get 2 referrals; I really felt guided by the Spirit as I was working.