Transfer to Meridian, MS and MY FIRST BAPTISM!

June 22, 2015

Hey Family,

So it's my first week in Meridian and I love it here. But let me say what happened the week before because I didn't have time to say it last week. Mostly what happened was that I was saying good-bye to everyone cause I knew that I would be leaving. And I have pictures to send.

So on Monday, We went and said good-bye to Tracy and her grand kids, and they were surprised that both Sister Quilty and I were leaving Flowood. Yea, President took me and Sister Quilty out of Flowood and are pink washing it. (Changing both companions out) Sister Poulson (Who was in the MTC with me) and Sister Harrison are in Flowood now. But I was able to say good-bye to them, and then after we went over to the church building to help sent up for the new missionaries coming in. I can't believe it was just a few months ago that I was coming in to the mission field. Time goes by so fast.

We had to leave right when the new missionaries got there, because we had a lesson with Leslie and a member, Sister Hintze, who just moved into the ward. We met with Leslie and her husband and the lesson went very well. Sister Hintze was talking with them and they have so much in common, so we hope that they can become friends and be able to get a connection through their friendship. After the lesson when we were talking with Sister Hintze, she was telling us that there is a missionary in the MJM mission that was set apart by Brother Hintze's dad. She was talking about Sister Kendall. The funny thing is, is that Sister Kendall is at the mission office because she had to drop off her companion because she was going to Brazil. We told Sis. Hintze this so she called her husband to see if they could come see her. Their baby had just fallen asleep so they couldn't. We went to the mission office and told Sister Kendall that the Hintze Family were in Flowood, then we asked President for permission to have Sister Kendall go on a trio with us and we would bring her to the mission home later, and he said, “yes”. So we took Sister Kendall with us first to the Bishop's house to have dinner with them. Also we were able to see the bees that they have and I got to hold one. It was pretty cool. Then we took Sister Kendall to the Hintze house and surprised them. It was pretty cool to talk with them about everything. Then we took Sister Kendall back to the mission home and went home to finish packing.

Tuesday was Transfers. Sister Quilty and I packed up the car with all of our stuff and drove to Clinton. I DROVE on the Freeway for the first time! It was pretty interesting with our car full of stuff and two bikes on the back. We made it there in one piece though. We got there and took everything out of the car and just stared hanging with other missionaries. I was able to see everyone and it was great. It was President and Sister McDonough's last T-Point (transfer point) and then they leave to go home to Utah and we get the new president, President and Sister Olsen on July 1st. I said good-bye to Sister Quilty who is going to Laurel which is by Hattiesburg. Then we played handball (I watched) and then played volleyball. Then Sister Demetropoulos and I went and got lunch at Chick-fa-la. Then we got back and started playing Werewolf (it’s like cops and robbers). We played and then it was time for everyone to leave. I said good-bye to Elder Mobley because he was going home. It's sad to see people that I have spent all of my mission with go home but I am excited to see what he does and hopefully he will walk on to the BYU Football Team. Then we got everything in the car and drove the almost 2 hour drive to Meridian.

Wednesday, we had our district meeting and it went well. In my district is Elder Clayton Eidson, Elder Jordan Eells (same one from my MTC district, which I'm excited about), Elder Cordon Mecham and Elder Jepherey Shcmitt. I'm excited to see how it all goes.

On Thursday, we went and cleaned this old theater, "Temple Theater". It is a super cool theater. It is all based off of volunteer work, because Meridian has no money to fix it. They have Fiddler on the Roof playing this weekend so it was cool to help them set everything up for it.

I'm just going to skip and tell you what happened this weekend. I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!!! Lauren is 9 years old and she was baptized. It was so exciting. It was so great to be a part of her being baptized. She is a sweet girl and has such a great testimony in this gospel.

So ya, this week has been pretty great. Sister Demetropoulos and I get along great with each other and I’m so excited to be in Meridian.

Love you all !!!!

Sister O'Connor