TRANSFER!!

So the long and awaited day finally arrived. Sunday after church, I got a phone call from the mission staff saying that Sis. Chipman and I need to pack our bags because we would be leaving Rio Verde bright and early the next morning. Well....we were transferred to...(drum roll) Patos de Minas. If you look on the mission map, it is the border city between our mission and the mission Belo Horizante. It´s a city that isn´t even in the state of Goiâs but is part of the state of Minas Gerais. It´s one of the farthest cities from the mission home and before us only had elders. Yup...we are opening an area to sisters!

Sunday night we had a goodbye get together with some of the members in the ward. Because it was so last minute we didn´t get to invite everyone I wanted, but I´ll be sending letters next week. Needless to say I cried and the members cried. After 8 months of seeing them almost everyday, they´ve become my family and Rio Verde has become my home away from home. I don´t think it´s sunk in yet that this could be goodby forever. I´m so greatful for the people I met in Rio Verde. Really one of the hardest but most rewarding 8 months of my life.

So yesterday we spent our time on the bus and because I get car sick writing or reading anything I spent over 12 hours sleeping. We spent the night in the Sisters´ house in Ubêrlandia and then caught a bus bright and early today. Another 3 hours of sleeping and we arrived in our new city and new home. From what I´ve seen and heard about the city, the people are super friendly and while it´s a smaller city, it has everything we need...including baptisms :) The food is supposedly great...but fattening. The city is pretty much a bowl which means lots of climbing up and down hills. This should help balance out the food problem :)

It´s going to be rough starting all over again and being lost in an area that I don´t know. But the members seem great and I´m excited to get to meet everyone this Sunday.

. . .the city is so far away from everyone and everything, . . . I don´t know our new address yet because the plaque with the street name isn´t in front of our house. We don´t get to participate in the weekly district meetings, because it´s a 3 hour bus ride to the meeting. So...we´ll just settle for calling in our numbers every night and eagerly wait for zone conference when we´ll be invited into the city.

(NOTE: Since it takes so long for items to get to Erika and I won't know her residential address for a while, I have mailed all of her Christmas packages to the mission home.)