I am now serving in Jonesboro, Arkansas, which is one
hour north of West Memphis. It has a population of 70,000, as opposed to
West Memphis's 11,000. I'm in a new District, and even in a new Zone.
We have a ward here in Jonesboro, which I'm still freaking out about it
because it's quite a change from being in a branch for 7 months. I have a
ton of new members to meet, and I have to change my approach to the
work drastically from what it's been in terms of member involvement.
The
cool thing is there are 3 sets of missionaries working in this area:
us, Spanish Elders, and English Sisters. The Sisters that are here are
Sisters Gladden and Russel. Both both came out of the MTC with me, if
you remember. :3 This is going to be a weird transfer. Normally, a
transfer lasts 6 weeks, but that would make the next transfer day fall
on Christmas. This transfer is only going to last 5 weeks long, and then
the next will go for 7 weeks. We'll see how much of the mission shifts.
Let's see, more mission news. Here is a map of the mission's areas as of June 2012, so you can see the areas I have served in:
Collierville 1st and 2nd both combine to make the Collierville area.
This map, though, is probably going to change in the next couple of
months. Our mission president recently received his "compliment", which
is a fancy word that means numbers for missionaries that will be here in
the mission. The compliment is for February. If you're standing while
you're reading this, you might want to sit down.
We currently have 110 missionaries in our mission, and about 30 of them are Sisters.
Our compliment for February is 102 Elders and 112 Sisters.
President
Petersen is freaking out. He has to find out how to facilitate over 100
new missionaries by February. The Sisters are going to outnumber the
Elders. This probably isn't just for our mission; I'm thinking this will
be a worldwide trend. In my mission lifetime, I will see the change
envelop our mission and change the way missionary work is done. The
Second Coming is fast approaching.
My new companion is Elder Carter. He's from
Pocatello, Idaho. He's been on his mission for nearly 18 months now.
He's a great teacher, but has a very goofy nature as well. He reminds me
of Elder Warren in many ways as we're the apartment. He's been
in the area only 3 months, but the people love him.
Like I said, it's
been overwhelming to try and meet everyone at once, but I'll get the
hang of it soon enough. The ward mission leader and the first counselor
of the bishopric are related to some folks in West Memphis, so it's nice
to have that connection there.
This afternoon, we're going to go see Sis. Maples.
She's a tie-maker. A famous story goes on around here about her. She has
made a tie for our stake president, who wore it to the most recent ward
conference, and she also made a tie for President Monson. Mailed it to
him herself. In reply, President Monson wrote a thank you card and sent a
picture of him wearing the tie. We're going to her home this afternoon
with the Spanish Elders to get ties ourselves. We're ecstatic.
This area has many positive influences that drive me
to be a better missionary. Being in an area with two other sets of
missionaries is certainly a strength. I can't wait to see what God has
in store for me here!
-Elder Staib
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