I’ve been transferred!
After three months and two baptisms, Billy has been transferred from Hyderabad to Visak. He just had the first baptism in Hyderabad in over 8 months and a second investigator was due to be baptized the following week. Upon hearing of his transfer, Billy’s companion was very emotional and took the transfer hard. Billy said that there were many tears and he struggled to say good-bye.
Billy loves the people of Hyderabad and said that you never realize how successful you are or what an influence you have been until you see how many people you have affected. He feels that he did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do and thereby strengthened the members. Between he and his companion, they were able to baptize two young men and he feels like he helped his companion gain the confidence he needed. His companion expressed to Billy that he helped him a lot and he would miss him.
Billy expresses frequently how much he loves his mission and India. He says that if this is the way he feels over being transferred, he doesn’t know how he will feel when he leaves India at the end of mission. It is hard to say good-bye to those you love and respect.
For his transfer, Billy took a flight to his new area of Visak and upon his arrival, he felt like he landed in the Bahamas. It is not as big, and certainly not as western as the Bahamas, but the weather is amazing. He even likes the humidity in the air and loves seeing the ocean. There are cocoanut trees everywhere and the people are very loving. Billy is now a district leader and said that his area is so small that he can easily walk it in a day. In his last area, Hyderabad, there were more people in just his area than there are in the whole city of Visak. They don’t have a church building so they use a small rented office to conduct their meetings.
Billy’s new companion is Elder Jenks. They started their mission together and now they are companions. They are exactly alike and they haven’t decided if that is a good thing or a bad thing. The other night Elder Jenks and Billy were in their beds and they heard a loud banging that woke them up. They were a little scared—OK A LOT SCARED. It sounded like someone was banging something in their apartment. Elder Jenks grabbed Billy’s football and Billy grabbed his belt and they set off to investigate. They were determined to beat whatever had gotten into their apartment, so they ran into the kitchen. Elder Jenks had forgotten that he put about 10 eggs on to boil several hours ago, much to their surprise, the eggs were exploding all over the kitchen. Billy said that he had no idea that eggs exploded. There were eggs everywhere—ceiling, walls and all over the floor. Billy and Elder Jenks couldn’t stop laughing at the situation.
The mission is going great. They have set some high goals for the area. They walk in the hot sun all day long, teach lessons, and love feeling the spirit of Lord beside them.
Thank you for all of you who have written and continue to write. He truly appreciates all your letters and hopes that you will continue writing to him.
