Heading to My 3rd Area

Carta Semanal:

Our zone leaders had called us saturday night to let us know what I had guessed already. Elder Cerna will stay and finally, I will be heading to my 3rd area and my 6th companion. If I had to give my thoughts, I am rather sad that I will have to leave so many good people behind like I had already stated in my last letter, but on the whole, I´m excited for new opportunities. It excites me to know that I will be going to Salvador tonight to see some of my good buddies, to see who my companion will be, where I´m going, and such. Change is a sad story sometimes but I´m excited. I´ll attach photos of some of the people that I had said goodbye to and explain how it is that I´ve come to know and love them. 

Really I have like next to nothing to say. Elder Cerna gave me one of his Peru ties and I gave him the essential oils that he really likes, and I´ve been proudly sporting the tie these days as you will see in the photos that I will be sending. When he first got here a while back, I expressed my coveting of his beautiful wool llama tie and he was rather reluctant to part ways with it as it was his last Peru tie and had already given away a bunch of them to past missionaries, but he knew how much I would´ve liked it and gave it to me. He told me he has no idea why every american he met until now always goes crazy for the peru ties and nor I can explain it, but this tie is pretty awesome! It is interesting though. At the end of every transfer when I will be leaving a companion, I always have these regretful feelings of not having treated my companions better. From Elder Rivera until Elder Cerna, I always have those thoughts of ´´Wow, I wish I would´ve stopped doing that.´´ and ´´I wish I would´ve done more things like that for my companion´´. I´ve never had any fights with my companions and all of them have told me that I need to stop overthinking things and feeling sorrowful for certain things, but I guess it´s just a part of who I am. I sure hope my next companion is ready for me and that I can take everything I learned to be the best companion for my next buddy. 

Sunday I managed to say goodbye to a lot of people and take pictures like I had said. It was crazy though, because a lot of people wanted to take pictures with me. I didn´t realize that that many members had taken a liking to me or perhaps it´s just them wanting to be in a picture, hahaha. Either way, I was touched by the feelings that many of the members here have felt for me. I hope one day I can return here to Petrolina to see many of these amazing families again. 

Like I´ve said, I´m going to be going to the Juazeiro Bus Station tonight and I will be with Elder Williams as he is being transfered as well and Elder Cerna and Elder G. Santons will be staying together until their companions arrive. Wish me safe travels :)

Love,

-Elder Skinner

 

The boys were sad to hear that I would be leaving. They said they would be praying that I would stay. Just to mess with me, they put a little piece of paper on my suit coat and said that if I walk home and it stays on me that I would stay and if it falls that I would be transfered. Perhaps a miracle will happen and I will stay?

 

 

 

Carlos and Tatiane. A great family that moved here from São Paulo if I remember right. They give awesome lunches and love us. They have a little boy named Lucas with clear skin and bright green eyes that loves to play with me while we´re visiting them. I was sad that I coudn´t take a picture with Lucas because he was sleeping but they promised to send me photos and keep in touch with me :)

Thifane. She´s the less-active in our area that can´t go to church because her mom´s friend told a bunch of lies about the church to her mom and now her mom doesn´t let her go. She has a great testimony and a funny personality. She´s the one that saved us during our water crisis.

Márcio. He´s the guy who put together the musical that I had a role in a while back. He had taken a bit of a liking to me as well and so I took the time to snap a shot with him.

Our district with our zone leaders :)

We went to Francisca´s house and she has a dog that´s super sweet, playful and full of energy. I had the flash on, took some pictures, and got some interesting results.

Wilton, Me, Elder Cerna, Marlene, and Junior. A good family. Wilton came up to me and said that he liked me a lot in this ward which surprised me because we never visited them a lot as they had lived in Pedra Linda.

Iraci. A nice lady that makes great lunches. She goes to church by herself as she´s divorced and her daughters don´t want anything to do with the church.

Fabio and Helena. Another great family that always liked seeing the Elders.

Betânia. A great lady that has a great testimony of the church. She has a sad story because her son and daughter both grew up wanting to serve missions and do great things but ended up getting caught in the world and now criticize her and show her a lot of things that bash the church. It´s really sad. She´s a great sister to have in the ward.