So I am transferred. I am sent to help open up a new Spanish area in Albany. It is a good sized area so we are in a car; and stretches down by lake Maurepas. They sent a Spanish speaker here last transfer and he had an English companion. It is originally an English area so the majority is originally English work, but the Spanish is growing (the lord prepares people). The Elder they sent here leaves for home at the end of the transfer so now I guess that I am here to take his place for when he leaves because they will need a Spanish elder that knows the area.. So that means that I will most likely be assigned an English speaking companion next transfer.
Albany- I Freaking love it here. This place is straight country. Thirty minutes away from our area is where the KKK originally started. Everyone here has thick southern drawls and it always seems like they are hunters, farmers, and/or were in the military. It is so cool down here and so beautiful. We live close to gator farms and swamps. At night the trees are lit up by fire flies and the locust sound awesome like always.
I have never met nicer people plus Everyone cooks amazing and offers you a ton of food. Everyone has Southern Hospitality... Yes sir.. Yes Mam. This is a completely different type of work than in Kenner. Mom do you remember when we watched that movie Mud together? that movie reminds me of how the people are down here.
The ward- So the ward gives us so much support. I have never seen so much support and this type of attitude before in missionary work. The attitude is very straight forward and is like a "lets get it done" type. The Ward has set up a schedule (they plan it every month) where twice a week (Tues. and Thurs.) we go on splits with people from the ward (they cycle through and take turns) from 6:00 - 9:00. We are constantly busy and are working our butts off. I love it.
Spanish work- We have a few Spanish investigators. They are very serious about baptism and they are all coming to English class also. We translate the English meeting into Spanish (easier than Spanish to English) for when they come and we also have a separate Gospel Principles class. We go to two church sessions because we work with both the Hammond and Albany ward. This week we are going to go check out an area called Tickfaw... supposedly there are a ton of Hispanics there because they work in the strawberry fields or on gator farms.
The work- It seems weird but down here we have been being very bold in our teaching. We have asked people to be baptized every single day this week in at least one (if not two) of our appointments.
Companion, Elder Mccutcheon- I don't think that I could ever ask for a better companion. There is a reason why President sent him here in the first place to start a new area. Not only that but in his last transfer too. That is because he is such a hard worker and going home soon still doesn't effect him. He stands out from the others. He knows why he is here and he is going to get it done. He is funny and reminds me a lot of Keaton for some reason. He has a tattoo of a bear on his shoulder... he says that he has changed a lot before his mission. He is from Las Vegas and actually lives right by where I was whenever I would go there with Grey. We work out every morning. He is about my height but he is a lot bigger than me. He is 22 years old.
I forgot my camera this week so I will have to show you my pictures next week. You can Google map it though. There is so much things that I could tell you about down here but I know how much mom hates long letters... haha.
I hope that I can accomplish that of which they expect of me here. I feel like I am trying to fill some pretty big shoes coming in after Elder Mccutcheon. (he is a strong example) I will work hard and will not settle for less. I have learned that if I am able to put all of my focus on my mission then I will be dang good at focusing on what I want in my life after the mission. Plus I love the people here, It seems like they are the only thing that I want to focus on in the first place.
Well I love Y'all and hope the best.
God bless!
Elder Cooley
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