Sister Stephani Rodriguez: The girl who cried transfers...

What a crazy week! So last Monday, Sister Maughan was on the phone with President and he told us that I will be transferred this week! He didn't say where I was going or who would be coming to Hamilton. So the last week has been TORTURE of not knowing! I told a lot of the branch members that I'm leaving and they kept asking me where I'm going and I just had to keep saying "I still don't know" So last night, the Rains threw me a little goodbye party and had ice cream Sundaes and a bunch of the branch members came over to say goodbye, it was so sweet! Brother Rains said "what if you get the call and they tell you that you're staying in Hamilton! Then you would always be known as 'the girl who cried transfers'" Hahah it was so funny, but alas, last night around 10:00 I found out that I will be leaving! I'll be going to Manchester, VERMONT! Just when I think I can't get any farther away from home, I get sent another state away! Haha there is a tiny sliver of Vermont in our mission and that's where I'm going! ) So I will be joining Sister Folkman! I am super excited. I have only met her once or twice but she trained Sister Park (a sister I came out with) so I've heard really good things about her! AND SISTER STOWELL (The girl I went to high school with) WILL BE COMING TO HAMILTON!!!! I honestly was more worried about who would be coming to Hamilton than I was about where I would be going but when I found out it will be Sister Stowell, I got so excited! I feel like Hamilton is my baby since I've been here for 6 months (WHAT WHAT) so I'm so excited for Sister Stowell to come here. She will do so awesome! And of course Sister Maughan is amazing so they will do wonders here! I am super sad to leave Hamilton and Sister Maughan and all the branch members. I have grown so close to so many of them that it's been really hard to say goodbye. But I definitely feel very peaceful about Vermont, I know that this is where the Lord needs me at this time. (But of course if y'all could keep ya girl in your prayers this week I would appreciate that very much).

So like I said, this was a crazy week! On Monday, while Sister Maughan was on the phone with President, he told us we would be going to Albany on Tuesday with the Oneida sisters for a doctors appointment (not for me fyi) SO we ended up having to cancel all of our appointments and our service for that day and basically drop everything to go to Albany. It's about a 2 and a half hour drive but we were with the Oneida sisters so it was great!

Albany was like the greatest blessing EVER because when we walked in the stake center, I saw Sister Redd. I've never met her before but I know that she is Sister Campbells companion so I FLIPPED! I was like "AHH. IS SISTER CAMPBELL HERE?!?!" And she was like "yeah!" So Sister Campbell walks out of the office after her appointment and she was like already half crying and when she saw me, she just bust into tears! We hugged for like 10 minutes! We were able to talk for like an hour and then go out to lunch at Olive Garden with her and the oneida sisters as well. I haven't seen Sis Camp in since return and report FIVE months ago! We write each other weekly but it just has been really hard being away from her because we were SO close in the MTC. She has grown to be like my best friend. So seeing her was the BIGGEST BLESSING Heavenly Father could have given me. It was a testimony builder to know that Heavenly Father is watching out for me and He is always waiting to bless us. (OH and I'm super stoked because I will be going to the Saratoga zone which is the same Zone that she's in so we'll get to see each other at Zone Conference!!!! Seriously, God is good. I have been praying every night since I got here that Sis Camp and I would end up in the same district or companionship or even Zone and.. it happened!!!! Ahh. I'm so excited.)

The rest of this week has just been hectic trying to say goodbye to everyone and figure out packing (which is a mess. I have accumulated so much crap over the last six months, it's so bad hahahaha) Oh and we also went to New Hartford to do exchange on Saturday! It was so much fun. I got to spend the whole day with Sister DeVries who is just the stinkin cutest and we had so much fun. (even though we were freezing cold from walking around and tracting and OYMing in the snow) But it was really cool because while we were out OYMing people, we met this homeless guy who asked us if we had any food or anything we could give him. We were so sad cause we didn't have anything. I had a few mentos so I ended up giving those to him (now I'm super sad because I totally forgot I could have given him one of my McDonald gift cards! grr.) and we also gave him a Book of Mormon. It was incredible to see how humble he was. He was so grateful that we were willing to stop him and talk to him and give him some mints and a BoM. He said he loves to read and that he was so thankful to us. It was sooo cool.

Well. Everyone wish me luck and keep me in your prayers as I head out to Vermont on Wednesday! I'm super excited to see what The Lord has in store for me out there. I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you this week :)

Funny stories:

Sister DeVries and I met this homeless guy called 'rainbow' and apparently he's like a legend. He looooveeeeesssss the sisters and so he saw us and interrupted an OYM approach haha but he was like "what are ya'll preachin today?!" and then sang us a hilarious song on his guitar and gave us hugs and then left! So we get in our car a little bit later and Sister DeVries had some white stuff on her coat that when she looked down she was like "Oh my gosh!!! Is that cocaine?!?! From rainbow?!?!" and I was like "hahahah no! your coat probably brushed against the dirty car" hahahah

Abby Rains at dinner: "how dare ye"

Edna May: "Justin Bieber? Let me tell you my opinion of him: he's gay."

OH! super cool spiritual story real quick: We also have this super cool eternigator Steve that just asks all these hard questions all the time but he gives us like homework that we have to go and really study to find answers to his questions! So a while ago he asked us about the succession of prophets and so I had never even questioned that in my life. So I know how the process works but he just wanted to know more and so I had prayed a lot this week to have Heavenly Father help me find an answer to Steve's question. So I was reading in the "Our Heritage" book and found this AWESOME section on, you guessed it.. the succession of prophets! So i was like "MAUGHAN. THIS IS IT. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO SHARE WITH STEVE!" So we had a crazy experience with meeting with him but we finally made the lesson work and we shared it with him and he said it helped a ton and that it made sense! YES! that was such a relief and such an answer to my prayer. It's cool because I just felt like I wanted to read that book this week so I did and that's how He answered my prayer. I am SO grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who lives, loves us, is watching out for us, and answers our prayers.

Also, in Gospel Principles yesterday, Steve said the closing prayer and he prayed that I would go to an area and find someone that asks just as hard of questions as he does to keep me on my toes! Haha so I will let you all know when I find that person in Vermont. thanks Steve! Ha.

Pictures:

Happy 6 months mark to me!!! (I know the MTC doesn't count for English speaking sisters but screw that, I'm still counting it)