Writings from West Virginia: Virginia is the promised land!

Hi!

I'm in Wytheville, Virginia everybody! I am in the literal promised land of Zion! Well, not really. Utah is still really awesome, but for the WVCM (West Virginia Charleston Mission) this is the promised land!

Transfer day was awesome! For transfers, all the missionaries who are leaving come to the chapel in Charleston, and we all have a big meeting with words from the AP's and President. The new missionaries are then asked to stand, where it is announced where they will be trained and who will be their trainer. That's by far the best part of transfers. I would go to transfers every single time just to see all the newbies. The sisters that came in will be the sisters that go home with me! I can't remember their names. They seemed cool though!

I arrived in Wytheville around 5 o clock, and met Elder Larson! He's a cool, short little guy from Cokeville, Wyoming. He is the 12th of 15 kids! He's a great guy who really loves this area and has a way with little kids and dogs. They love him!

The next couple days were just meeting and seeing people. We have an excuse to go to pretty much everyone's house now so that I can meet them! It's great! I've met some cool people so far! I'm really going to love it here in Wytheville. I feel that some big things are going to happen here for me!

Sunday was an awesome day. We have to get up at 5:45, because a member of the bishopric comes and gets us at 6:45 so we can be to the church by 7 (its a bit of a drive and we dont have miles for that). Correlation starts at 8 with one of the greatest people and best Ward Mission Leader ever! Brother W.W. He's a funny guy in his early fifties. He's been a cop for 30 some years now, and he's just a fireball!

Church was great. Fast and Testimony Meeting is always awesome. After church though, Brother W.W. spends the entire day out with us going and seeing people. It's. So. Awesome. I can tell you that if I'm ever Ward Mission Leader, I will be doing that. It helps the work progress so quickly and so amazingly. This ward has had 22 baptisms in the last year. Are you kidding me? That is unheard of ANYWHERE. It's so awesome. It's because of people like W.W. That is how the work moves forward, because people do missionary work.

We saw some great people with him, but first, we went to a luncheon at Liberty Hill Penecostal Holiness Church! Yeah baby! We were invited by a less active part member family that sometimes attend the church. They can cook. When we entered, on our left there was a buffet line of two or three tables filled with the best southern cooking you can imagine. on our right, past the seats of people, were 4 or 5 tables of just desserts. Cake, cookies, pudding, EVERYTHING. Oh. My. Gosh. We, along with Brother W, ate so much food. It was so good. So. Good.

The best part was though, how nice everyone was to us! They were all cordial and excited to see us, and I got to explain a few times who I was, why I was 2200 miles away from home, and what the nametag was all about. It. Was. Awesome. Had a 10 minute conversation with their pastor! I talked about the bible with a pastor who has been preaching for 20+ years! Yeah!

Anyway, that was my week. I love you all! I hope you all have a good week and great Christmas season!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson