Missionary life is divided into chunks of time called “transfers” which last six weeks each. At the end of a transfer, many of the missionaries serving in an area are shuffled around and reassigned to new areas and new companions. In the past, I’d hear missionaries talk about upcoming transfer days and how nervous they were about what would happen. Will I stay in this area for another six weeks? If not, where will I go? Who will I be with? There’s often speculation and good-natured joking.
Only now, when I’m serving a mission, do I really appreciate the anxiety of transfers. Of course Pepper and I aren’t going anywhere– we’ll serve in the same area for our entire mission, and I’m confident I won’t be assigned to a different companion. But our little “district” (three sets of missionaries) got transfer news today, and they’re all being split up. We posed for one last selfie together.
Although it’s sad to see my new friends leave, they’re not really going all that far. I’ll see them in a few weeks when all the missionaries get together for a conference. And I’m excited to meet their replacements, the missionaries being transferred into the district.
So now we’ve finished our first transfer. Many more to come.