in Bremerton!

Hey!!

Everyone, guess what?? I am writing you this email from Bremerton.  Haha that's right...the wonderful world of transfers came and went.  I have been called to serve in the Manette ward here in the Bremerton Zone.  So this is a really unique circumstance.  Manette has been in the history of forever an Elders area.  No missionaries that anyone that I have met so far has ever heard of sisters serving in the area.  So when I got my transfer call on Saturday I was floored when they told me that not only would I be opening a Sister area but that I would be training AGAIN.  In other words, doubling in.  In other words, wow that is a lot of pressue.  In other words, I don't know anything or anyone in that area.  But as fate would have it, I DO know people in this area.  The Galeai girls that I baptized my second transfer, well, there family lives here in my ward.  Oh, and the Graves family, my go-to saving graces, their grandpa lives in my ward, so of couse, I have already eaten dinner over there last night.  So it really is as an ideal of a doubling in as you could get.  Plus, I do have some help.  They originally had a set of elders and a set of Spanish speaking elders in the Manette ward.  They closed spanish down and brought in us.  So the elders that stayed are kind of taking this first week to train us on the area.  Which helps A LOT.  Sis Graves came to dinner with her car FULL of groceries for us to have.  Which was a saving grace because we didn't have the time or the funds to stock the apartment.  Plus we were dead dog tired that night when we came in and there would have been no way we could have gone out to get stuff.

So here is my new address:

2511 Magnuson #333
Bremerton, WA 98310

So.. B-town is totally BROWN-TOWN.  Well, at least my district.   Hahah my district leader, Elder Hamilton is the craziest guy in the mission.  He is a Samoan/Tongan/Filipino from Long Beach and is the loudest, friendliest, high-energy person you would ever meet.  His comp is also Samoan from Samoa named Elder Polaveo and he is way cool.  Are you ready for where my comp is from??  Oh, yeah my comp is from TONGA.  So we got a Brown DL, a Brown elder, a Brown greenie, and me.  Haha it's probably the most diverse zone in the mission.  We definitely get noticed when we walk around together.  All these intimidating poly missionaries and a lil asian one on the side.  Quite the site.  So it's awesome. My comp is pretty cool.  Different.  Not like my insta-pal, Holman, who I miss a lot.  But I know we'll go through a lot together out here and so we'll probably be a pretty tight companionship.

Sis Holman's new comp is this little short basketball phenom from Utah.  Holman is not a super bubbly girl, so when she told me that she made a really big effort to come up and say hi to her new comp at transfer meeting and sound super excited about it (which inside she wasn't) I was bummed to hear that the excitement wasn't really reciprocated from the new comp.  Hm.  I really am hoping and praying

Plus it helps that these are the people that I am serving with cause my area is the GHETTO.  Hahah missionaries dream of the ghetto and I am the first sister that gets to go there.  Since they only assign the elders to go to dangerous areas of the mission, it would make sense that the first sisters they send in to one are of a persuasion other than caucasion.  We are taking over all of the Spanish elder's stuff including their apt.  Um...definitely not like my cute little apartment in Silverdale.  I probably won't ever be walking around the place without socks or shoes on, I'll say that much.  But don't worry, I'm fine!! This will all be part of my ever-changing, increasingly more amazing stockpile of mission stories.  Tonight we are tracting in the one of the more "hood areas" in Manette.  Should be interesting.  Who knows...maybe by the time I get transferred out of here I'll know how to knife fight, boost a car, or throw a pair of sneakers on a telephone wire.  Sweeet.

Yesterday, transfer day, was a day of a lot of firsts for me.  First time getting transferred out of an area.  First time getting a foreign comp, first time getting doubled in to an area.  First time training in an area I don't know.  First time I oddly didn't feel too nervous for the transfer.  Even though of all the transfers I have previously have had minor heart attacks right before.  I guess because this is all completely new everything for me, I will 100% need to rely on the Lord for this one.  No matter how much talent, skill, experience I have/do not have, I need Him to be with me this transfer as I take on all of these "firsts."  But I am ready to!

Haha last night we went to see the Samoan family that is related to the girls I baptized in Silverdale.  They are the quietest Samoans you would ever meet.  Must run in their blood.  We went over there right after dinner with the Graves.  So I probably jinxed myself when we parked the car and said that if they try to feed me one bite of food I would barf.  Luckily, I didn't actually barf, but when they sit us down to a whole tabled chocked with food, I was s-t-r-u-g-g-l-i-n-g.  The Samoan elders looked at me like "Sorry, but you got to eat that otherwise it's rude."  I looked back at them like "Pleasssseeeeee, help me eat this.  So when the family congregated in the living room, leaving us in the kitchen, I gave them my food and even my glass of juice and they ate it for me.  Phewwww.  I don't know how many times I will be able to get away with doing that o my mission.  But last night worked, so I can't complain.  Ew, the elders were chowing down on what looked like a hot glue gun glue stick.  It was crunching as they ate it.   I asked them what that was and they said a "chewy bone."  A what?  Oh a chewy bone is cartilege. um, yuck.

So, my birthday was the besssssttttt!  Wow, talk about all the love I got.  Haha sis Holman was like, "Man, today feels like a holiday."  The whole zone took me out to lunch for Red Robin, I went to a favorite family of mine, The Bisons, for dinner and she made me a special bday cake on a cakestand and got me a gift, and then I went on base with the Graves family and had more cake and ice cream at the firestation.  It was the neatest thing ever!!!  I got to sit in the truck and put on the uniform and everything and they took my picture.  After that I got to teach the coolest investigator, Franz, the guy from Laos.  I re-committed him to baptism so he is getting baptized this Sunday, so sadly I won't be able to be there for it.  That is the nature of missionary work, we are always changing and sometimes that means missing baptisms.  That night I opened all of my gifts and ate a bunch of candy.  It was the perfect day.

Then the next day happened.  I got my first ticket.  I KNOWWWW , what the heck????  Don't worry, I'm fighting it.  I'm sending Dad a copy of the ticket in the mail.  Sis Grave's dad was a cop so he is gonna help me fight it.  Hopefully the cop won't show up to court and I get off without having to testify.  But if he does, I am ready to tell teh judge that I was not going 50 in a 40 and I definitely was not driving a Toyota CORONA.  Hmm..not sure how you could speed in a bottle of Mexican beer.  But whatever you say, officer.  LAME.

Well, I know that this transfer will be a crazy/interesting/stretching/possibly scary one with lots of stories to come.  I am excited to tell you of the things that I'll experience here.  I feel humbled to know that President trusted me enough to place me here and that Heavenly Father has a lot of work He needs me to do in Manette.  A lot of expectation is put on me to lead and perform, but ultimately the only person I think about pleasing is God.  Because this is His mission, not mine.  I'm just lucky enough He has let me be a apart of it.  Have any of you seen the Lamb of God DVD? I'm sure most of you have.  If you haven't, request a free copy of it from Mormon.org.  I was asked way last minute on Sunday to teach Relief Society in the YSA ward and I felt prompted to share that DVD and bare my testimony of the Savior to the girls.  It is a really powerful film and I would invite all of you to watch it.

Love and prayers from Btown.  So long to Silverdale.  The wards really were sad when they found out on Sunday that I leaving, but the ward here is so excited to hear that they are finally getting some sisters.  The WA-TAC is greatest place in the world.  Someone told me when I got here, "Welcome to the Celestial Kingdom."  At the time i thought that was a little corny and a smidge sac religious, but I have come to agree.  We are doing the work of angels and joy our reward.  I love the Lord Jesus Christ.  He loves you guys, too.

Stay warm,
Sis Baylon