Monday, March 9, 2009

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

Hello, Hello!

After a beautiful week with highs in the 40s and 50s, we had a nice snow & ice storm last night that left a good 3 or 4 inches on the ground and half an inch of ice on our car. We had some good fun scraping it off this morning before heading over to the library to email. I sure do love March. (That's only a little sarcastic. I actually do like it. At least it's not February.)

I'm being transferred! That's not the exciting news, since I already knew it was going to happen, but now I know where to - Hart.
View Larger Map I don't know much about it, but when President Jones called on Friday he said it's a lot like the Oscoda area - a small town in a rural farming community. It's on the other side of the state, so I'll get to see Lake Michigan again, which will be nice. And I'm a little farther downstate, so maybe I'll earn a couple extra degrees. I can definitely feel the difference between 32 and 28 (which I believe is the current difference in temperature - we call into a toll-free weather number).

My new companion will be Elder Arroyo. I don't know much about him - he came out with Elder Sodenkamp, so he's been a missionary for 4 1/2 months, and he knows capoiera, which I'm sure I spelled incorrectly, but it's a Brazilian martial art. I was hoping President Jones would put me with a more experienced missionary than myself, since I've been with a young companion for 3 out of 4 transfers (Elder Valentine was more experienced than me but not by much). Oh well. I guess I'll just have to keep learning by trial and error. What am I saying? Who says I can't learn from someone with less experience? I'm rambling at this point. So, anyway ...

I'm really going to miss Oscoda. A lot more than I thought I would. (That's no slight on Oscoda; I merely mean that I did not expect to become so attached to any place or people). I keep thinking, somewhat over-sentimentally, of a scripture in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 18:30 - "yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer". Substitue 'Oscoda' for 'Mormon' and that's about how I feel about it. :) I've learned and grown so much here and there are so many good people I have come to love. I'll miss them terribly.

Well, that's about the long of it. I hope things are well with you and I love you all bunches!

Elder Cloward

1 comment:

Shauna said...

How exciting you have a blog! May the Lord bless you and your sweet family! ♥ Hugs!