Elder and Sister Williams NY NY South Mission: The Quiet Week Before Transfers

It’s another one of those weeks where I’ll just start writing and see what comes up. Last week was the typical week before transfers (although our last one). It’s usually a pretty quiet week, and this one was mostly quiet. (Diane may disagree, since she had to prepare a talk, and the lesson and music for primary, plus prepare for the Christmas packages for missionaries without packages from home, and handle all the incoming Christmas packages and mail. Yes, she works harder than me…). The week before last, the church replaced all the GPS/driving units in the cars with a newer model, so I spent most of the week fielding calls about issues with the new units. There were a few serious issues, but a lot of it was calls like, “This crazy thing gets me for aggressive driving WAY more than the last one did!!” or, “This one only lets me go 5 miles over the speed limit, instead of 7 like the last one!” Fun being a dad to 50 drivers…

We did have our first snow storms of the year last week. On Monday and Friday, we got 3 or 4 inches each storm, but they had salted the roads so well ahead of the storms that the roads actually stayed relatively clear. (That’s why you should never buy a car that’s lived in the NE.) In Seattle, 4 inches of snow would pretty much shut things down for a couple of days, but not here. Diane and I walked a few blocks Friday night in the snow to go get dinner at ‘Steve’s Pizza’, and it was fun! (I had a couple of pepperoni rolls instead of pizza, and they were excellent!!)

On Saturday we got together with the senior missionaries to put together the 30 bags for missionaries who for one reason or another are not getting anything from home. It went really well, and we had fun talking and eating (and working, a little) together! It takes some faith to know how many will actually need them, since as of Friday there were still 70 or so that had received nothing. It will all come together this week and work out fine (but we have no idea how!). We’ll be getting together Friday to spread over the mission and deliver last-minute packages and the bags!! (It would be nice if the roads are clear…)

Last night was our branch Christmas party. It was scheduled for 6:00-9:30, and because of the diligent efforts of President Garcia, it actually started on time! (They were still decorating, and only 10% of the food had arrived, but there was still plenty of food…I saw some food coming in as late as 8:00, so there was fresh food whenever you came.) We left after the dinner, program and games, just before the dancing started. We love to dance, by my Latin repertoire is pretty slim, so Jay and I convinced Diane to leave. We just can’t believe how much we love these people and how much they love being together!! They don’t do everything per the traditional church culture, but we can all learn a lot from them! Diane and I were commenting on the fact that we may find the activities dull when we get home! Here, it’s all about being together, not decorations or organization or even skilled entertainment!! We love it!

Diane gave her talk today, and it was EXCELLENT. She has a way of speaking with love with an audience, instead of preaching to them, and I love to hear her talk. She prepared to speak for 15 minutes, and at the last minute the branch presidency found out about an additional speaker from the stake, so she had to cut it short, but you couldn’t tell. (One good thing about not having a written bulletin is that the congregation is clueless with the change and drama behind the scenes…)

Friday we had our normal (and last) transfer meeting, held the Friday before transfers. In attendance is President & Sister Reynolds, the assistants to the president, the Shapiros ($ & transportation), the Carlins (housing), and us (vehicles & food). At the meeting the president goes through all the changes that will occur Tuesday, so we can all get our parts ready for the changes (new trios, ending trios, new apartments needed, apartments to be empty temporarily, vehicles needed, vehicles not needed (temporarily), new drivers needed). Since the number of missionaries constantly ebbs and flows, there’s a ton that goes on behind the scenes to make it all work out!! (Then all the missionaries try to weasel information out of us Saturday, Sunday and Monday!) We love the people we work with, and we love the work!!!