Casey's Mission Adventure: The Last Transfer

"It's a trap!"

Howdy, y'all! Hope your day is GLORIOUS!

So transfer news are in; I'm getting transferred to Paper Mill (bike...), and my companion will be...(drum roll please)... ELDER BOWERS! He was my comp in Kennesaw with Elder Youd, and he is one of my favorite missionaries EVER! It'll be so great to have him as a companion again! Also, I'll be district leader up there, so it'll be an interesting last 6 weeks...

My companion here Elder Moore is staying and he is getting Elder Meyers, and he is district leader as well, so we'll see each other at leadership meeting; Elder Schmidt is district leader as well, so it'll be good to see the old crowd again. Paper Mill is in the same zone as John's Creek, so maybe I'll see some people from there...

This certainly wasn't what I was expecting lol; I was pretty convinced I was going to end my mission here... I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm excited, of course; Elder Bowers is a boss! He'll help me stay focused and have fun at the same time!

It's scary to think this is my last transfer... and it'll be in a new ward for 6 weeks lol... there is a reason for everything, and their is someone in Paper Mill I'm supposed to teach before I leave; Charles was the reason I was sent here, and now I'm moving on...

So this week:

Last Monday we drove around with Sister Wallace (who is awesome!) and tried to see some less-actives... Sister Wallace is such a funny lady! We called her and asked, "Hey, is this Sister Wallace?" She sarcastically replied, "No, this is Brother Wallace's girlfriend! Who do you think it is?" We felt silly after that lol...

Tuesday we had district meeting, then I had an exchange with Elder Kallon, my old comp.; we saw a lot of people that he and I taught when he was here that are his friends but aren't really progressing, like Tony and Tasha and Sam and Shajuanda; we had good visits, but that's all those guys want out of us coming by...

Had an awesome dinner with the Pynes and their hysterical children; they usually feed us 5 or 6 times a month! Sister Pyne wants her kids fed on their missions, so she has made it her mission that we never starve; what a sweet lady! Her cooking is always amazing as well!

Wednesday we saw Elder Kallon's friend Chris and played No Dice with him, then we taught a recent move-in's son about the 10 commandments with Sister Nolden; I always have a hard time trying to explain gospel stuff to children, and to make it exciting...

We saw Henry and Ashley, who are the same (not truly progressing...), then swapped companions back and had Dinner with the Noldens; the Noldens are the super stars in the ward; they do everything for everyone, especially us! We couldn't function without them lol! Sister Nolden is so sweet, and she has a bunch of rowdy children who give her a hard time; she needs more praise and appreciation then she gets...

That night we saw Sister Nti-ababio (don't even try to pronounce that lol), with Liz Joyner, and it was a great visit; she is a sweet lady whose husband decided to leave the church; now that they are divorced, she wants to make a come back! She is trying to get Sundays off, but she has great faith and reads and prays every day, and she has always known that this church is true, despite everything; I was looking forward to working with her, but she is in good hands with Elder Moore...

Thursday was very rainy, so we didn't get much done... we saw a new gator we picked up last week; she and her kids are pretty dang funny! We taught the first lesson, and it went fine; her only hang up was the three hours of church, no dancing or shouting during the service, and the fact that most people don't wear shorts or sandals to church there (not that we would turn her away if she did lol); still, she promised us that she would come not this week, but next to see for herself...

Friday we had weekly planning, and also an opportunity to participate in something called Quest; it's where the youth in the stake act out scenes from the Book of Mormon. They camped out on a member of Covington Ward's property and spent a few days there; the leaders were hoping they would have a spiritual experience that would help them understand better the worth of the Book of Mormon...

So no one told the youth that all the missionaries in the zone were coming; we showed up during the Army of Helaman part, and we came down the hill singing

"We have been born as Nephi of old, to goodly parents who love the Lord. We have been taught, and we understand, That we must do as the Lord commands. We are as the army of Helaman. We have been taught in our youth. And we will be the Lord’s missionaries to bring the world his truth."

It was very cool; all the moms with missionaries serving and kids with siblings on missions were in tears; I almost cried as well, the spirit was so strong. The youth loved it! I even heard that there was a kid who wasn't sure if he was going on a mission who, after that event, is now determined to serve the Lord; how cool is that? It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad we got to be there...

Saturday we biked plenty lol... We saw Kenny, a gator who is hard to get a hold of, and we promised to help him clean his yard up this next week; hopefully he'll scratch our back by coming to church...

We also talked to Charles on the phone; he is still looking for a job in North Dakota, and we asked if he would talk to the bishop and missionaries about getting the priesthood and the new member lessons. He did as we asked, and we also talked to the missionaries on the phone to make sure they take good care of him; we have friends in high places that will be watching lol ;)

We had dinner with the younger Mitchell's (the son and daughter-in-law of our ward mission leader); they are super cool! Their kids get star wars figures when they are good, and the kids were awesome enough to let us have one; NICE! We didn't want to take the ones they had more than one of, so I got a boss-looking wookiee, and Elder Moore got Admiral Ackbar (for the past two weeks, for some reason, Ackbar's famous quote, "It's a trap!" has become our anthem lol); a picture is enclosed of the great fish and my name tag lol...

Sunday was pretty cool; we didn't have any gators come, but we had a good meeting; it's what happened that night that was cool...

So we had a good authentic Japanese meal at the Townsend's (which wasn't that bad, actually...), then we got picked up by Brother Buck to go see the grandma (who is a non-member) of a missionary serving from here, Revante Moore, at his request; it was very sweet and spiritual. See wasn't looking to convert, but we comforted her (she is in bad shape...) and gave her a blessing; she was very grateful. Brother Buck is a spiritual powerhouse; he was very tender and charitable with that little old woman. Before he dropped us off, he bore a powerful but soft-spoken testimony on the effect elders have on the people they teach, as well as the sacredness of the the Apostle's call to be special witnesses... it was just what I needed to hear. I haven't had too many baptisms, and it's not about the numbers, but I was struggling here with if I was making a difference, and if my mission was a success; he told us that he was the only convert the elders who taught him baptized; yet from Brother Buck gave a wonderful marriage in the temple and several children who have and will serve missions, who have kids of their own, and all the people Brother Buck has been able to help as bishop and Ward Mission Leader and as a friend and neighbor to a lot of people. That's potentially several thousand who have been affected by those elders teaching and baptizing Brother Buck; we see a similar story in the Book of Mormon, with Abinadi and Alma: Abinadi only convinced Alma, but Alma was then able to baptize 204 souls (Mosiah 18:16), not to mention potentially thousands more, through him and his son Alma. Was Alma a better missionary than Abinadi? Of course not; they both served faithfully; just cause Alma was there to reap doesn't mean Abinadi's planting was any less serviceable. I have had opportunity to be both a planter and a harvester (though I have planted A LOT more than I have reaped lol), and while one is more exciting, both are missionary work, and the Lord is pleased with those efforts. I love this church, and my Savior, Jesus Christ; I love my mission so much, and I want to go out like a champion! I'll see y'all in 6 glorious weeks!

Love,

Elder Casey Guy Dickson