Sunday, February 1, 2015

My Mother is a Ninja- January 19,2015

Seriously, she found out where I was and who it was I was serving with possibly even before my old companions found out about it! I'm pretty sure she's just (illegally) using her psychic motherly mind powers to her own advantage. Anyway, I am now serving in Morrilton, AR in a tripanionship with Elders Petty (the District leader) and Ford (the new guy). Both are super chill, but it is super weird being in a Tripanionship, Trio for short. They are rare, and very unstable in that they usually don't last longer than a transfer. Most missionary housing is only designed with two missionaries in mind, so throw a third one into the mix and things get, well, you get very close to each other very quickly. It's rather mandatory.

If you would like my new address, please email me and let me know. Otherwise, please continue to use the Mission Office address. All mail will still reach me if sent to that address:

905 Kierre Dr.
North Little Rock, AR
72116

The really crazy part about this whole thing was that I was told I was going to go to the Memphis side of the mission, not the Arkansas side. (The mission is split basically in half by the Mississippi river.) Originally the plan was for Elder Holden and myself to just go to the Memphis transfer meeting where we would pick up the new guy there around 2-ish. Well, it takes about the same amount of time to drive to Memphis from Pocahontas as it does to drive to Little Rock, maybe a 10 minute difference in favor of Memphis, but that's it. So, in an effort to save as much proselyting time as possible for Elder Holden and the new guy (Elder Hooker), I came up with the truly brilliant idea to go to the LR transfer meeting and then just ride the Transfer Van over to Memphis where I would attend the second transfer meeting and meet my new companion. I called the AP's and told them the diea, and they thought it was great, so we went ahead with it. Imagine my surprise when I was sitting up behind the piano on the stage when President Wakolo calls out my name in the LR meeting. I was shocked. Still more so when not one but two guys stand up for the ritualistic man-hug/double slap on the back greeting required of all male missionaries meeting their new companions for the first time. I find it also interesting that there are three tripanionships here on the LR side of the river. Maybe a few new areas will be opening up in the near future? We had a massive amount of new missionaries come in this past transfer. Alas, I am under prepared so no pictures of anything yet because of a lack of a camera cable.

After I hurried and grabbed my gear from off of the trailer headed to Memphis, we were on our way to Morrilton. It wasn't that far from Little Rock, but I honestly don't remember exactly how long it took because the entire time I was either sleeping or grilling my two new companions about the area.

Elder Petty has been out for about 12 transfers now, about 5-ish months longer than me. Elder Ford was trained by Elder Petty. In our District there are the Sister Training Leaders (STL's) and one other set of Sisters over in Danville. Funny story, Sister Sommers, one of the sisters over there, used to serve for the longest time in Pocahontas with me. I guess I just get to play the part of a stalker!

At first most of our work in the new area comprised of seeing some of the old investigators and getting organized. We've recently went from one very small and dinky whiteboard to two massive ones (3' x 4') tacked side-by-side to the wall so we can keep track of everything we are doing and the people we are seeing. It is really nice now.

In our spare time Elder Petty is making stuff out of road-killed raccoons. No worries, I've not eaten any yet and the ones they have already eaten before I got there were freshly killed with limited splattering. Pictures of the event will most likely not follow. ;D  He has made a very nice hat out of one of them though.

The reason for the really late email is we had a dinner/teaching appointment with some inactive members who live super far away. The lesson went longer than normal, and resulted in our getting back late. Prior to leaving the one (and only) computer at the church was undergoing some sort of maintencne so we couldn't use it very long. Tomorrow is a meeting in LR, followed by an companion exchange with the ZL's, so no waiting to tomorrow either. I would write more, but I am out of time. 

Remember who you are, a spirit begotten by God. -Ecclesiastes 12:7

~Elder Jayden Barker

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