I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello!

Today at 11:39 AM

But alas, transfers are upon us. (Or, were, because that was last week) And sadly, I had to say goodbye to my fellow Airdrians. Not to be confused with Aryans. 

Saying goodbye sucks. I've only been transferred once before and it's no fun saying goodbye to those that you've grown to love so much. But that's where the beauty of email and Facebook and sometimes Instagram (if they're hip enough) comes in. So this was not goodbye, just see you later! I have quite a few photos of me with people I said goodbye to, but I still haven't purchased a card reader to load my photos and my new companion says hers is sketchy and I'm not willing to risk it. So. That will have to wait until next week. Except for the few that people emailed to me and I'll just copy and paste those. 

Monday: We had supper with a family from 1st ward and our dear friends from the food bank. That was super fun and an awesome way to say goodbye. Especially because Brother Sheppard did the cooking and he's really really fantastic at it. Yum. I love food. Nothing too exciting happened on Monday besides that so... on to the next day. 

Tuesday: Now, keep in mind that we didn't know for 100% positive that I was getting transferred until Tuesday night. We knew that Sister Durrant would be training, but there's always a posibility of her training her new missionary in a different area and me staying. This was not the case. Tuesday night, we got the call, and I was informed that I would be going to the Brentwood YSA in West Calgary with Sister Jessica Dean. So that was kind of a bummer because YSA was awkward when I was in it, how much more awkward could it be serving in it? Oh well. Bring on the adventure. So I said goodbye to some awesome people in the ward and that was basically Tuesday. That and we brought Sarah with us everywhere. One last go at the #SisterSquad before transfers. 

Wednesday: We had breakfast at the Martin's. And it was super yummy because they're awesome and also their kids are adorable. We then drove to Calgary to pick up Sister Durrant's new missionary (the baby). She's super sweet, and all the other appointments we had that day, she was just solid. She'll be an awesome missionary. We went to the food bank and said goodbye to our lovely co-volunteers. Then we had a pre-supper at the Llanillos. They're a Filippino family and they'd prepared this huge feast for us. Filipino style. Which meant eating with our hands. It was so fun. Idk if they've already posted photos/videos to Facebook of it all. If they have, I'm sorry, Mom. I promise I use my table manners. This is just the way it's done(; And then we had supper at the Plewright's with all the other missionaries in the district. It was so yummy. Again, I love food. The Ronalds came over and said goodbye and then we went to the Jackson's to say goodbye. Did I mention that goodbyes suck? The title of this email is supposed to keep it positive, but it was sad. But so good, because that means that we have some pretty awesome people we got attached to(:

Thursday: Was transfers. We drove to Calgary and got there at 9am for transfers. I got my new companion (she's super awesome) and we went to our new area. The STLs drove us around because Sister Ovard was waiting for her new companion to come up from the South and she needed us to stay with her. So she took us to our pad and I unpacked (really quickly because I'm a pro) and then we went and met some of the sisters in our zone. Sister Allard made us all crepes for lunch and it was divine. Someone needs to wife her up really fast when she gets home. We then went back to the transfer station to pick up Sister Ovard's companion, Sister Trimble! She was one of my companions in the MTC and now she's my STL! So that's sweet. We had supper with the Stacey's from our bishopric and then we had a lesson with our investigator, Kelsey. She is just the sweetest thing ever! We put her on date for baptism for the 27th of February and she was just beaming! I'm so excited for her. 

Saturday: We had lunch and a zone meeting at the Pitcher's. They're a family in the other ward who LOVE missionaries and have had the elders living in their basement for EVER. Brother Pitcher does this thing called Orientation, where he takes the new to the zone missionaries into his office and shares a whole bunch of spiritual awesomeness. He has his Masters in Geology and so he has some pretty cool things to think about, lots of papers and theories on life that he saves to flash drives and gives to the missionaries. So that will be cool to go through when I get home. We had a lesson with our other investigator, Scott, later that night. He's so cool! He lives right by the temple and loved the architecture because he's a contractor. So he ordered a Book of Mormon online and the elders delivered it to him. They taught him the first lesson and he accepted baptism! He's YSA age, though, so they've been teaching him and Saturday was the pass off lesson, from the elders to us. He's so cool! (Oh yeah, the temple is like, right down the road from us. Be jealous)

Sunday: Was pretty cool. Both Kelsey and Scott came to church and the cool thing about YSA is that they're all RM's so they're the best fellowshippers out there. That was just so neat to see them reach out to Scott and Kelsey. I've decided that I'm terrified to go back home and be in YSA because I don't know how to talk to people my own age, but the spiritual aspect was SO COOL. Gospel principles was awesome and I learned so much. Sundays are like the coolest part of the week for missionaries. We get to be spiritually uplifted and edified by others who share our love for the gospel. So, hello to Brentwood YSA!

Anywho! I'm loving it here. Things are so good. Missions are awesome. I love my family and the gospel. It's the best. Hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!

-Sister Pipkin

1) This is Becca and I, my beloved little food bank volunteer and her mom, Lynne, photo bombing in the background

2) Sister Llanillo's mom. She's the cutest thing