No transfer

So this week was the week of transfers. We were talking to our Bishop about how this transfer is going to be complicated because tons of new missionaries are going to show up and how Elder Bie was probably going to be transferred.

So then on Sunday after having lunch with him he asked me to give him my cell phone and put me on the line with President. I was a bit confused but I dialed President's number and gave it to him. He said a bunch of stuff to President but pretty much said that if there was anyway possible to keep both of us here in the area then he would be really happy because we are doing really good work here in the area. I relaxed as I heard this haha and thought it was way cool that he did that.

So then Monday night came and we received the call to see who was going to be transferred. I still thought, despite my Bishop's call, that Elder Bie was going to leave...but it wasn't so. My Bishop got his wish and we both are going to stay here another month and half at least.

Well we didn't have much else to do and my comp had to talk to President about some stuff so we went to the Mission Office for transfers today.

Both us and my entire zone were sure that my comp was going to be transferred and that I was going to train seeing as I am "in that season" of the mission and there are 21 new missionaries showing up, but alas that didn't happen.

I was actually kind of disappointed. I thought that maybe I had lost some of President's respect or something like that but one of my friends who is one of the Assistants called me over during transfers and told me that they literally had put me up on "the board" that President has with all the missionaries in the mission as a trainer with my new noobie companion and everything...but then right before they finalized the transfer my Bishop called saying that he really wanted us to stay.

And so President decided to change everything and now I will wait a bit longer to train I guess. I mean, it's cool what happened and everything but on the other hand I really wanted to train. But whatevs, I am still happy with everything that is going on here in the area so I don't have much to complain about.

Speaking of that we had 2 baptisms last week and 2 more this week. Last week was a girl named Larissa who is 12 whose mom Viviane actually "contacted" us on the street. Viviane is going to be baptized this week.

And the other baptism last week was ANOTHER Viviane who is 19 that we found from an address that my comp had grabbed from her mom on the street.

Then the other baptism this week is a 65 or so year old woman who has been going to church off and on for 10 years and solid for 2 years straight but never felt like she needed to get baptized and she could never stop drinking coffee but she just stopped drinking coffee about a month ago.

The other day I went up to her daughter who actually just got home from a mission and was like "What do we have to do to baptize your mom?" She was like "I think we just need to invite her now because it is now or never!" Haha.

So the following night we were in a meeting with our Bishop and told him about her and he said "Leave it to me...Sunday I will interview her and get her to get baptized." So Sunday I saw him call her into his office and when she came out she started telling everyone "I am going to get baptized on the 12th!" Haha so that was cool. It wasn't much work but hey, I'll take it.

SIDENOTE: I can't believe BYU beat Oklahoma! Sweet! Sounded like a good defensive game. That would be awesome if BYU broke the BCS this year. Could somebody send me BYU's schedule for this year?

Man I am getting all 'trunky' thinking about the lacrosse season starting! It didn't help that a kid named Logan Bird that I know who worked the BYU Lax camps with me just got here today! He played all last year as one of the starting Def. Middies and luckily got sent to here to the interior (actually my last area: Julio de Mesquita) and took the bus ride with me back here which gave him time to give me the breakdown of all last season. It unfortunately just made me even more trunky but it was way cool. It was way cool to see him and to hear about the stuff going on back home.

So my Dad sent me a pedometer to see how far I walk everyday. I have had it for about 2 weeks and the average so far is usually between 18 - 22 kilometers everyday. We have hit 24 km though so far. It's not as much as I thought it would be actually...what's that like 10 - 12 miles? I dunno. All I know is that I rarely get tired anymore. I can walk forever but if you ask me to run I will stop at about 100 meters...

I hope everyone has a good week, loves a stuff!

-Elder Brent Parsons