Transfer Trash

In our mission, we have a term that is well-known but not well-liked because of what it entails... That term is "transfer trash," which is when a missionary going into their last 6 weeks of the mission gets transferred to a completely new area. It's generally looked at as "unfair" because it's nigh unto impossible to really get to know an area or the members of a ward in only 6 weeks.
And I, my friends, and the latest and greatest transfer trash! I've been called to finish a new missionary's training out in the Arroyo area--literally the absolute furthest I can get in the mission from where I am now. But! It's also right next to Pasadena #promisedland, and this means I get to have another kid!! :)

So obviously, I have a lot of mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's going to be really hard to leave my dear child Hna Zohner and all of these amazing members who've been my family these last 6 months. They're all mad I'm leaving because they wanted me to finish out my mission there. Many have even threatened to talk to Presidente Villanueva about it 😂 but they've also all invited themselves to my wedding and expect me to come back here ASAP, which I'm absolutely planning on. I love all these people so much. And it'll be hard leaving my investigators here.... but I'm also very excited :) I'm so happy to be back in East LA, especially because that's where I'll have spent the majority of my mission (a whole year man!) and I'm going to be serving around some really amazing missionaries :) and like I said, I'm excited to have another kiddo too! And as much as I truly love La Puente, it'll be nice to have a change of scenery. It's easy to get burnt out and start to lose ideas of how to help an area when you're there for so long.

Last goodbye with my Los Altos family <3

In other news, the heavens have opened and a torrential downpour has been unleashed upon us. I haven't seen so much rain in a long long time. It freaks me out and makes life hard. But at least our apartment is dry!! ;) and everything is so green too, which is kind odd for it being January. I guess things are different outside of Utah.

But yeah! My new hija is Hermana Green from Colorado :) I'll be serving in the lovely city of Glendale, CA which is, like I said, really close to El Molino (still my favorite area). I'm so excited even though the change will be hard.
The way I see it, I'm needed over here for something and the Lord trusts me enough to do it :) sometimes when missionaries get "transfer trashed" they make it an excuse to not work as hard your last transfer. And that would be really easy... you're already getting trunky for home and it would be pretty easy to just hang out and have fun instead of work as hard. Plus, you can't really get to know anyone or any of the area in such a short time, right? That's a fairly common mentality among missionaries who get trashed... But again, I think the Lord trusts me enough to keep working hard even with the enormous temptation to go easy and give up a little. With this being my last though AND having a cute new missionary to train, there's no way we're taking this easy!

Incidentally, Hna Blanchard (blue shirt next to me) and I are just trading kids!

Here's to a great 6 weeks :)

-Hermanita Johnson