Surprise transfer (August 1, 2007)

Hello again everyone, something interesting happened this week. Well, actually, the story starts about a month ago. I had my monthly interview with President, and he told me that this coming transfer I would either be a senior companion, or I'd be co-senior with Elder Kauffman from my MTC group. Several weeks go by, and we get our Pack to Leave information, which says who in our district is staying, and who needs to pack their bags. This information comes about a week before transfers in order to give everyone time to pack. Basically, it said this: Elder Miles (my old companion): Pack to Leave. Elder Kauffman: Pack to Leave, but only to the apartment where I was living. Elder Hurst: Stay put.

After hearing that, and also talking to our Zone Leaders and getting it confirmed, Elder Kauffman and I were really excited to be getting to serve together. We were in the same MTC district, and we'd been in the same district in Kharkivsky for two transfers, and we were getting to be good friends and were excited to serve together. So, the day of transfers comes. The Pack to Leave info had just said for Elder Kauffman to come to my apartment, so he did that and started unpacking. Elder Kauffman's old companion and my old companion would go to the office together to get their new companions, so Elder Kauffman and I were setting up the aparment and planning out our day. Suddenly, we get a phone call from the mission office asking where I was. After a very confusing series of phone calls over the next 10 minutes, we pieced together that sometime a day or two before transfer day, the transfers got changed again, but NO ONE TOLD ME. So, I had to pack my bags in about 20 minutes, race to the office, and go to an entirely new area with just about no forewarning. So, I'm still in Kyiv, but I'm on Right Bank now (the left side of the Dniper river), in an area called Nyvky (NEEV-kee) and Shevchenkevsky (Shev-CHENK-uv-skee) (we're working both). I'm with Elder Lewis, my old MTC companion, who's...just about like he was in the MTC. We'll see how this one goes...The good news is, the work is going really well here, there's already a few investigators with baptismal dates and several more that could have them soon. Plus, people are a lot more receptive here than in any of my other areas. It'll be a good transfer. I just I had some warning about it.

All right, have a good week, and wish me luck in Nyvky!
--Elder Brett

PS- So Renee and Quinn--you're moving to Arizona? That's cool...well...not temperature-wise, but you know what I mean. I'm excited to find out about my second mission-born nephew/niece. This feels like the beginning of the book of Exodus; only instead of a pharoah who knew not Joseph, it's nieces and nephews who know not Uncle Brett. And...that's a good sign of how long I've been on a mission.