Week 38: Transferred!
A sudden and early transfer! Okay, so it wasn't that sudden, since she'd been in Oneida for six months, but sudden in the sense that President Vest called on Sunday morning and told her she was leaving on Monday, instead of Wednesday. It's unusual for a missionary to spend six months in one place, so Sister Fairbanks had gotten really close to the members of that little branch, which made this transfer REALLY hard. Here's some of what she told me about it (and remember, she's told me it's okay if I share extra stuff from my emails here 😉):
So here's how I found out. Saturday night right before bed I read my weekly email from President Vest. At the end of it he said, "...are you ready for the Lord to stretch you even more?" Well, that was enough to get my mind racing. What a loaded question! I didn't sleep very well that night. Sunday morning we were getting ready for church when we got a call from President Vest. He started by explaining that there are 9 sisters going home and only 3 coming. So he has to close 3 areas. We thought for a second that he was going to close Oneida! But no. He said that he needs to do pre-transfers, and we're included in the mix-up. My heart sank. I don't want to leave Oneida. Sister Di Iulio is excited because I am going to her previous area, but when we hung up the phone we both started crying. Hard. So much for the makeup I just put on.
So we went to church. I sat quietly next to Sister Lewis and Sister Sreca during sacrament meeting dreading when I would have to tell them. After the meeting Sister Jacobs came over to visit. I was already emotional, but apparently hid it well. Until Sister Jacobs said that she was leaving and wouldn't be in relief society. I quickly asked if I could get a picture with her. Her faced dropped as she realized what that meant and she goes, "No!" I nodded and started bawling. Pretty soon the rest of the sisters caught on and I had most of the relief society around me all crying and hugging. How I love these wonderful women. Each of them has touched my life and I will cherish their friendships forever. I will miss them so so much. This branch is incredible. I could live here just for them. And I promise you will meet them. :)
I won't give you the rest of the details of yesterday, but I'll just say that there was a lot more crying amongst packing and goodbyes. Saying goodbye to Chris was so hard. I pray he comes back to church and gets baptized. And I only got five weeks with Sister Di Iulio. We've both been crying a lot. She couldn't even say goodnight last night through her tears. I think this goodbye is harder than with Sister Larsen. You see, Sister Larsen lives in Utah. [But] there is a chance that Sister Di Iulio and I might never see each other again. Oh man.
Well, I am positive about the future. A new area and a new companion. It means my mission keeps moving forward. I'm almost halfway. That's crazy. My new companion in Canton is Sister Hamblin. I have met her once before. She seems sweet. And Sister Di Iulio told me all about the area. And I think I will be able to work with some elders that I knew previously that have become good friends. It will be good. Christmas will be interesting. But I can't wait to talk to you! [Christmas phone call!]
She also commented in her email to me about the fact that her group emails tend to be fairly full of sunshine, without too much elaboration about the hard stuff. Here's her take:
____ said that you included some of my struggles on the blog. Which I am totally okay with! I've thought about that before. And I definitely include ALL details in my journal. But I think my mass email is a good way for me to focus on the positive aspects of my weeks. Not that I want anyone to be under the impression that a mission is all sunshine and flowers, but it shows them and me that even in a dreary, strange week, even if I had some horrible days, there is always, always, always something to be grateful for. And the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.
Makes sense to me!
Then I got a short, follow up email a few hours later:
Hey! Real quick. I'm in Canton now! Yay! And I already love my new companion.
We will get a video call with her on Christmas, so I've been pretty wound up for the last week or so. Between anticipating that call and all the other craziness of the holidays, I've been feeling a little tightly-strung lately. I love Christmastime, though, and I know all the insanity will be worth it. Yeah, I know--it shouldn't be that insane, but this year, it is. Part of that is because of my church calling, though, so that's just how two or three of my Christmases are going to be. Simplifying is a little more difficult when you're the Relief Society president, but that's okay. To everything there is a season, and all that...
Well, anyway. Here are some pics, sent to me by the Oneida Branch President's wife Sunday night and then Becca emailed me the same ones 😂:
1. Her Catholic friend, Joe, came to the Christmas party!
2. One of the last pics with Sister Di Iulio
Here's the group email.
Good Morning!
We got a surprise call from the mission president on Sunday morning. I'm leaving Oneida! And I leave today! There was a lot of crying. I love these people so much. I'm grateful to have associated with so many amazing people that have become my life-long friends. Thankfully we got a lot of pictures yesterday.
So, I don't have a lot of time to email today. Right now I am on the way to Canton! It was so hard to say goodbye. I cried as we drove out of Oneida and I cried saying goodbye to Sister Di Iulio. But Canton will be great! I already love my new companion, Sister Hamblin. We've been visiting in the car and I think we are going to have a lot of fun.
We had a very good week! We had lunch with some sisters from the branch. How I love them! We watched the city tear down an apartment building. That was cool. We also had our branch Christmas party on Saturday! It was so much fun!
I hope you all have a good week!
Sister Fairbanks
1 - Christmas party
2 - some of the beautiful women I love in the Oneida Branch ❤
So here's how I found out. Saturday night right before bed I read my weekly email from President Vest. At the end of it he said, "...are you ready for the Lord to stretch you even more?" Well, that was enough to get my mind racing. What a loaded question! I didn't sleep very well that night. Sunday morning we were getting ready for church when we got a call from President Vest. He started by explaining that there are 9 sisters going home and only 3 coming. So he has to close 3 areas. We thought for a second that he was going to close Oneida! But no. He said that he needs to do pre-transfers, and we're included in the mix-up. My heart sank. I don't want to leave Oneida. Sister Di Iulio is excited because I am going to her previous area, but when we hung up the phone we both started crying. Hard. So much for the makeup I just put on.
So we went to church. I sat quietly next to Sister Lewis and Sister Sreca during sacrament meeting dreading when I would have to tell them. After the meeting Sister Jacobs came over to visit. I was already emotional, but apparently hid it well. Until Sister Jacobs said that she was leaving and wouldn't be in relief society. I quickly asked if I could get a picture with her. Her faced dropped as she realized what that meant and she goes, "No!" I nodded and started bawling. Pretty soon the rest of the sisters caught on and I had most of the relief society around me all crying and hugging. How I love these wonderful women. Each of them has touched my life and I will cherish their friendships forever. I will miss them so so much. This branch is incredible. I could live here just for them. And I promise you will meet them. :)
I won't give you the rest of the details of yesterday, but I'll just say that there was a lot more crying amongst packing and goodbyes. Saying goodbye to Chris was so hard. I pray he comes back to church and gets baptized. And I only got five weeks with Sister Di Iulio. We've both been crying a lot. She couldn't even say goodnight last night through her tears. I think this goodbye is harder than with Sister Larsen. You see, Sister Larsen lives in Utah. [But] there is a chance that Sister Di Iulio and I might never see each other again. Oh man.
Well, I am positive about the future. A new area and a new companion. It means my mission keeps moving forward. I'm almost halfway. That's crazy. My new companion in Canton is Sister Hamblin. I have met her once before. She seems sweet. And Sister Di Iulio told me all about the area. And I think I will be able to work with some elders that I knew previously that have become good friends. It will be good. Christmas will be interesting. But I can't wait to talk to you! [Christmas phone call!]
She also commented in her email to me about the fact that her group emails tend to be fairly full of sunshine, without too much elaboration about the hard stuff. Here's her take:
____ said that you included some of my struggles on the blog. Which I am totally okay with! I've thought about that before. And I definitely include ALL details in my journal. But I think my mass email is a good way for me to focus on the positive aspects of my weeks. Not that I want anyone to be under the impression that a mission is all sunshine and flowers, but it shows them and me that even in a dreary, strange week, even if I had some horrible days, there is always, always, always something to be grateful for. And the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.
Makes sense to me!
Then I got a short, follow up email a few hours later:
Hey! Real quick. I'm in Canton now! Yay! And I already love my new companion.
We will get a video call with her on Christmas, so I've been pretty wound up for the last week or so. Between anticipating that call and all the other craziness of the holidays, I've been feeling a little tightly-strung lately. I love Christmastime, though, and I know all the insanity will be worth it. Yeah, I know--it shouldn't be that insane, but this year, it is. Part of that is because of my church calling, though, so that's just how two or three of my Christmases are going to be. Simplifying is a little more difficult when you're the Relief Society president, but that's okay. To everything there is a season, and all that...
Well, anyway. Here are some pics, sent to me by the Oneida Branch President's wife Sunday night and then Becca emailed me the same ones 😂:
1. Her Catholic friend, Joe, came to the Christmas party!
2. One of the last pics with Sister Di Iulio
Here's the group email.
Good Morning!
We got a surprise call from the mission president on Sunday morning. I'm leaving Oneida! And I leave today! There was a lot of crying. I love these people so much. I'm grateful to have associated with so many amazing people that have become my life-long friends. Thankfully we got a lot of pictures yesterday.
So, I don't have a lot of time to email today. Right now I am on the way to Canton! It was so hard to say goodbye. I cried as we drove out of Oneida and I cried saying goodbye to Sister Di Iulio. But Canton will be great! I already love my new companion, Sister Hamblin. We've been visiting in the car and I think we are going to have a lot of fun.
We had a very good week! We had lunch with some sisters from the branch. How I love them! We watched the city tear down an apartment building. That was cool. We also had our branch Christmas party on Saturday! It was so much fun!
I hope you all have a good week!
Sister Fairbanks
1 - Christmas party
2 - some of the beautiful women I love in the Oneida Branch ❤
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