Being Transferred, Popping Sparkling Cider, and FBI Clearance Needed!

Well, I'm just gonna cut to the chase. I'm being transferred! All last week, I was super stubborn about transfers. All I knew was I didn't want to leave. I wanted to believe that Warner Robins still needed me. But deep down I kind of knew my work here was done. So Friday night when I was writing in my journal, I had this moment where I just gave my will to the Lord. I know that He knows what's best for me, and I ultimately couldn't control whether or not I was transferred. So the only way to be happy was to accept God's will. And His will is for me to move on! And I'm okay with that!

We had the conference call Saturday at noon, my heart dropped a little when the assistants called my name, but I was okay. No tears. Until... They called me to be a trainer. My first emotion was shock, then fear, then inadequacy. But Sister Madsen helped me realize that it will help me a lot to be able to train a new missionary. That means one of two things: a) I get someone straight from the MTC and we white-wash or open a new area, or b) I finish the second half of someone's 12-week training period. "A" is the scary one! But also exciting, cuz then we can start fresh. It'll be an adventure, and I am excited now! Packing has been crazy. It's kind of surreal, actually. My things are all over the place, like something exploded haha. So until you get my new address, you can send stuff to the mission office: 400 Northside Crossing, Macon, GA 31210.


In case the pictures can't be found on my card, Sister Madsen let me borrow her camera to get the baptism pictures to you!

Ana's baptism!!

In other news, Amy got her mission call! She wanted us to be there, which was such an honor. I'm really grateful it came before transfers!!! She's going to the Argentina Bahia Blanca mission!! And she's going to the Provo MTC. So it was cool being able to tell her a little bit about learning a language there. She's gonna be awesome, I'm super stoked for her! Oh, Happy New Year!! We were on lock-down at 6 New Year's Eve, so Sister Madsen and I ordered a pizza, popped some sparkling cider, and went to bed early haha. It wasn't too exciting, but we got some much needed catch-up time with journal writing, cleaning, sleeping. It was good!

I'm not sure if y'all know this already, but I just got some paperwork to fill out for my visa. Apparently I need an FBI clearance now? So we've already gone to three police departments today trying to get me finger-printed, and no luck yet! But the last one referred us to the sheriff's office. So we'll go there next. The instructions say it should take 6-8 weeks to process this report, so looks like I'll probably have two more transfers here. Who knows! The Portuguese is rough. I need to study better. I do know that there's a visa-waiter in training whose trainer just got transferred, so maybe I'll finish her training and we can study together? That would be cool! How are y'all doing? I hope everything is going well! I love y'all and hope to hear from you soon. Have a great week, loves!

Muito amor,

Sister Ramsden