Steiner Missionary Moments: Moving North!

Dear Family,

This week has been crazy! I found out on Wednesday that our apartment is being closed and that we had to deep clean it, so I had hopes that we would be moved to another apartment, hopefully one that actually had a washer and dryer, but my hopes were dashed the next day. President Eaton called us on Thursday and told us that we are both being transferred and that there would be no Elders replacing us. That's right, the Scenic Hill Elders area is closing. The ward is being left to the Sisters. Then he called us later and told us that our apartment wasn't really being closed, but that Sisters from another ward were moving in, so we still had to deep clean it.

This week, we had to tell all of our investigators and members that we are leaving. It was hard. Many were disappointed and wanted us to stay. We had the Sisters meet as many of our investigators as possible before we left. The good thing about knowing that we are being transferred ahead of time is the fact that we have a long time to pack!

Today is transfers. At 2:00 today, I am going to the Maple Valley Stake Center to meet my new companion, Elder Samuels. He will then take me to my new area, Benson Hill in the Renton Stake. Maybe I will stay in hilly areas my whole mission! It is a bike area. No car. I am going to lose some fat! Woo Hoo! I will miss Scenic Hill and treasure my time spent serving in it. I will also miss the car... Wish me luck on getting to know my second area!

I have some facts about Kent. Kent is the 6th largest city in the state of Washington. It is very diverse. So diverse, the school district handles 139 different languages! That is a lot! I ran into a lot of people that didn't speak English! There were also a lot of Spanish speakers. Sometimes I wish I knew how to speak Spanish. Right now, all I can say is La Iglesia de Jesu Christo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I think). I really want to learn more Spanish, too! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

P.S. I took a lot of pictures this week, but all of it is packed away. :) So, next week I can send a few more.

PS from Dad: I looked up his old chapel and his new one on google maps. They are only 5.1 miles from each other so I guess he is not moving very far.

Bretton: Oh, Elder Anderson gave me his card reader to borrow! Yay!