The stake I am currently serving in will become a part of that new mission. As to whether or not I will be reassigned to that mission I am unsure. Our mission will go from 89 stakes to about 59. And from about 180 missionaries to 130. Quite a change from the 265 we had last year. In order to make sure every stake has a set of missionaries though, on this June transfer, 18 missionaries from the west mission will come into the stakes that will eventually be reassigned (West Jordan, Kearns area) and the 18 missionaries they replace will be transferred to somewhere else in the south mission. Then come July 1st the 18 west missionaries will go back to the west mission when the boundaries are realigned. Along with the missionaries from our mission that will be reassigned. Not sure if that makes any sense at all. That is why I'm not sure if I will stay or go. My companion and I figure that there are about 18 stakes from our mission going to the west mission. So the 18 west missionaries will come and one will go to each stake. So of Elder Aquino and I, one of us will go to the west mission and one of us will stay in the south mission. Or in the extreme we get transferred to the Herriman area and get moved to the Orem mission.
I'm pretty sure I'm confusing myself with everything I just wrote. Basically there will be two times things change. One on June 17th when we have transfers. But once that is done, wherever you are serving is where you will be on July 1st when the boundary changes take place. So after June 17th whoever is in Kearns or the like will be in a different mission on July 1st. We had a quick meeting with our mission president on Saturday morning after he got news that all of this was official. It was a rather emotional meeting for all. Realizing we may not see some of each other again and maybe not even see president chambers again. He did a great job though of helping everyone understand that wherever we go, it's what the Lord wants. Those missionaries who will be reassigned have already been determined by President Chambers (though he chose not to divulge that until June 17th) and their names go back before the Quorum of the twelve to be officially reassigned. So I presume it almost goes exactly the same way as when we are first called. We are all a little antsy now to see what happens on June 17th since that will determine where we go. I want to stay in the south mission with President Chambers, but I also love this area and the idea of having a new mission excites me a little bit. So I'm not sure what I really want. The south mission will be tiny now. One of the smallest missions in the world for sure. The west mission will grow a lot in size. It will cover parts of West Jordan, all of Kearns, all of West Valley, all of Magna, all of Tooele, all of Midvale, and it seems like parts of Murray and downtown. I'm not sure exactly. There will be over 200 missionaries in that mission, and will have missionaries from four missions in the valley. Our mission, the west mission, the central mission, and even some east missionaries are being reassigned. Why the east mission has some missionaries going to the west mission, I have no idea. I have a map of the new south mission boundaries, but not one for the west. That's why I'm not exactly sure what it's boundaries are. It's crazy though. If I stay in the south mission (and if the way we think it will happen, happens) I will have had six different areas and six different companions the past six transfers. Counting next transfer. That's if I get replaced by a west missionary. If it happens the other way I will have had five areas and six companions. We are fairly sure we won't be staying together however. And we feel because Elder Aquino speaks Spanish he will likely go to the west mission where there is more opportunity for Spanish assignments. We don't know though. Anything can happen. I've felt at peace about it the whole time, so I'll be fine wherever I go. It will be hard for many though. It's not easy to say goodbye. Everything will be different now.
In other news. We had stake conference this weekend. It was great! I learned a lot. Elder Gavarret of the first quorum of the seventy came and presided. President Bishop (first counselor in our mission presidency) and his wife came and spoke in the Saturday adult session. He had us get up and help him. We recited out purpose and bore our testimonies. Then on Sunday we got to bear our testimonies again. It was a great weekend and really edifying. They talked mostly about families, Sabbath day worship, and Ward councils. They changed the wards so now sacrament is first instead of last in every Ward. I'm glad, having it last wasn't the best in my opinion. It was cool to meet Elder Gavarret. He didn't say much to us, but at least now I can say I've met someone personally in the seventy. No one from the twelve yet. Not sure if I'll get that chance before I go home. You'd think serving here in Utah that I'd have a pretty good chance. Not so far apparently. The sad part is, almost no one came to church! Only one of our investigators comes to church on a regular basis, the others are seeming to fall off a bit. We met with the girl who wants to get baptized this week. Her name is Sophia and she is 11. She was so cute and innocent when we taught her. She literally can't remember anything a second after she hears it. It's going to be a longer teaching process I think. We had to go over prophets about five times with visual aids and object lessons before she could remember. She wants to get baptized though, so she'll work for it. No one wants to come to church though, Sophia normally does, but couldn't make it this Sunday. So that continues to be our struggle. But all else is going well. The zone is doing great. We had three baptisms again this weekend as a zone. And about 10 more for the month are scheduled. Summer will help things pick up I think. Anyways, hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all!
First picture is from the lady who cut their hair...the second picture is from a member of the stake presidency...we (Mom and Dad) always love receiving these texts with pictures!!
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