Transfer Fiasco

September 15, 2014

Hello family,

The week has gone by faster than ever before in my mission. Time has seemed to be set on cruise, straight road, and no stopping. It keeps going faster and faster, the end is coming in sight before I want it too. One thing that always seems to boost your speed on the cruise is chaos. When you are too busy to think, that is when time speeds up.

This happened on transfer day especially. The night before it started to snow, I just thought that it would a little bit since it is still September. This was not so, when they say it is going to snow, it snows. It snowed the whole day before transfers, and when we woke up the next morning, all we saw was a blanket of white. Not winter already! Sadly it has come with authority this year, there is more where that came from. I got to drive the new missionaries to the chapel in a 15-passenger van; the ride was a scary one. The new missionaries could not believe what they signed themselves up for; they were all amazed at the sight of nothing but snow in the beginning of September. The stop lights were out, tree branches everywhere, and 15 Elders in the van trying to drive me. It was nuts. We got to the transfer station slowly but surely. When we got them all unloaded in the building, the power went off in the chapel. Great, that is just what we needed! President told us to gather in the Relief Society room and wait to see if they could get the power back on, no luck. We proceeded with transfers in the dark, no microphone or anything; you could barely see people in the back of the chapel.

If the first part of the day was not enough, we found that some missionaries, who went south, forgot their luggage in Calgary, four to be exact. It was then our job to take the luggage south the next day and deliver it to them. While we were down there, we decided to learn from other missionaries, so we spent the night on exchanges in Lethbridge. I was able to go with Elder Prigmore, one of my all-time favorite missionaries. It was a fun experience to be able to see him again and work in his area. We will continue to go on at least two exchanges a week in order to complete them all by the end of the transfer. It is going to be a busy time for us. Despite all of the chaos at transfers, it all went well.

It is back to work this week. I am ready to get back on the streets of downtown to be able to find those who are also ready to hear the gospel. The weather is a little better lately, but there is more snow in the forecast, or so they say. I am prepared for the worst. Thank you for all of your undying support for me. I love you all!

Elder Browning III