Bitter...sweet?

Greetings from New South Wales!

Wow, I haven't been able to type that in 5 months... Let me tell you about how I came to be up here once again.

This week was up and down, up and down, up and down, UP and DOWN. We visited a lot of less active members and a few of our beloved faithful members down in good old Woden. There wasn't much anything of excitement to tell you about. Sorry to be a boring little thing over here. It was just a hard week, there were some good parts too though! I'll tell you something funny that happened. We were visiting a less active part member family with one of the brethren from the ward, right? Well, they have a 13 year old that is just a HANDFUL. He was hitting me the whole time we were there and I just had my arm out so he would be hitting that rather than my face. As we were walking out of the lesson I said, "That's it, I really don't think I can have children." And the Brother that was with us said, "It's okay Sister Stott, all mothers have their strengths. Yours just happen to be your biceps." Haha. I don't believe in hitting children but it was pretty funny. If I've learned one thing on my mission, it's patience. Well, I'm still learning it. Always a work in progress. :)

Saturday night transfer calls came and Sister Swan and I both needed to leave Woden. So we went around saying goodbyes on Saturday and Sunday. It was SO HARD. I love Woden so much. The people there are incredible and they honestly consumed a huge piece of my heart. I think that was the hardest group of goodbyes for me to say, which is something considering how long I was in mourning over leaving Wollongong. I really hope to be able to return some day. Probably not in my mission life, but maybe when they can call me by my first name.

Monday morning we said a few final goodbyes, loaded up the car, picked up the sisters and headed to Sydney! I dropped off Sister Swan and the other Sisters in Sydney and  they were able to meet their new companions, But the Elders bringing our luggage took AGES. Honestly, we sat at the chapel for a few hours waiting, no phone, no nothing. But they finally arrived with the baggage, then I drove to pick up another sister then I drove all the way up to Bathurst. I actually had to leave the mission boundaries on the road I was taking to get all the way up here! So 11 hours later, I was finally in my new area just in time to meet my companion, plan the next day, and go to bed. Haha.

Today has already been exciting. We tried emailing a few hours ago but the Chinese restaurant next to the library caught on fire... Don't worry, no one was hurt.

About my new life: Welcome to BATHURST! A little po-dunk town up in good old Orange Zone. It reminds me of Iona or even downtown Logan by the Blue Bird and such. It's a pretty nice place and I think I will be happy here. My companion is Sister Kurita, she is from Japan. She seems really nice and I'm excited to get to know her. Together we are the Sister Training Leaders, so our purpose is

to help all of the other sisters in the zone. It should be good. I'm excited! My new address is:

2/129 Keppel St

Bathurst, NSW 2795

Australia

I will probably be in Bathurst until I finish my mission. So please write.

Love you! The church is true!

Sister Danielle Laree Stott