Transfers are this week, which is why preparation day is today rather than tomorrow. Eric was thinking he might get transferred, since he has now been in Sheffield for 6 months. Instead, he was asked by the mission president to stay in Sheffield and serve as the district leader. This means he is responsible to work with and supervise a few other missionaries in the area. He was surprised to receive this assignment, but excited to remain in Sheffield. He now expects to be transferred about the middle of April, and is hoping to go north, perhaps to Newcastle.
One of the other missionaries in Eric's flat, Elder Strong, is being transferred this week. Eric has described him as a very good missionary who has become a good friend. Elder Strong is scheduled to go home this summer. Eric will miss the opportunity to work with him.
In other news, Vincent and Zibo, who were scheduled to be baptized this coming Friday, were both sick on Sunday and unable to attend church. As a result, their baptisms have been rescheduled to March 13. Both have had their baptismal interviews, and Eric believes they are well-prepared to be baptized. Several other investigators and new members were unable to make it to church on Sunday. Eric was a little disappointed by that, but committed to finding ways to help all of them grow in their commitment to the gospel.
We asked Eric a few questions in our e-mails this week, some of which he answered. I thought a few of them might be interesting here. Linda asked him how often they cook for themselves. As we have noted earlier, they are invited to dinner with local members of the church nearly every day, so they don't cook for dinner much. They do sometimes cook lunch, and occasionally they go out for fast food. They have an allotment for food and toiletries which is sufficient to pay for their groceries and some eating out.
I asked Eric how his Chinese language skills were progressing. He said he is doing well, though it seems harder now to make measurable improvement. He said, "I want to go to China so I can be immersed in it."
I also commented on the humor in last week's e-mail, and told him it seemed like he was having fun and working hard. This was his response:
"I'm really having a lot of fun right now. It is more fun when you have success. I still get really stressed out. I don't think I've ever taken anything so serious. My mission is probably going to take like 5 years off of my life. I could smile a bit more though."Hard to imagine Eric having difficulty smiling. I suspect he's just being a little hard on himself.
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