WELCOME to Elder John-Gregory Sierra's mission blog! For the next two years Elder Sierra will be serving as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the California Sacramento Mission. We hope you will enjoy his experiences, shared through weekly letters. We will post his letters each week and any pictures he may send.

Write Elder Sierra

WRITE ELDER SIERRA!

Missionaries love to get letters (and care packages)! If you'd like to write to Elder Sierra, please use the following addresses:

MISSION OFFICE:
Elder John-Gregory Sierra
California Sacramento Mission
8267 Deseret Ave
Fair Oaks, CA 95628

EMAIL:
john-gregory.sierra@myldsmail.net


Monday, August 4, 2014

A TRANSFER AND A SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT

Letter from July 15, 2014

Dear Mom,

Well, it's that time again for me. After about 3 months in East Sacramento, President Jardine believes that I must go and serve in a different part of the vineyard. This particular transfer call was interesting. If you are simply being transferred to another area, then you receive your call from the zone leaders. However, if you are going to be training, going DL, or ZL then you receive your call from either the APs or the Mission President. Well, I was returning home from a late dinner with a member with two other missionaries and then my phone buzzed. I looked at it to see that it was Elder Russel (one of the Ap's and one of my closest friend in the mission). I give the phone to Elder Martinez thinking that they were going to make him a leader, but to my dismay lol it was passed back to me with a little jab from Martinez saying, "It's for you buddy haha". So I get on the phone and Elder Russell tells me that I am going to be shotgunning (meaning that my companion and I would both be very brand new to the area) Downtown Stockton, which is the most dangerous place to be serving in right now in the mission. So, I wasn't being made a leader or anything like that, so my first question was, "Why are you calling me if I am just being shotgunned into a new area?" He then replies, "This is actually a special assignment that President Jardine is issuing to you and Elder Williams. We have been praying and thinking about what we can do to jumpstart the work down there and President Jardine and I both thought of you. We also thought Elder Williams would be the perfect companion for you for this assignment. President Jardine wants you to know that he thinks that you can start getting work going down there. The area has been dead for a very long time but we know that you can do it, man. I don't know any other missionary that I could trust to send down there." I'm like, "Alright. Well, I accept the calling. Hey, Elder Williams is a DL, so am I gonna be going junior again?" "Nope. For the first time in a VERY long time, you will both be a co-senior companionship. There will be no seniority between you two. You are to work as a perfect companionship as equal partners. We know that this is the way it's got to be." In short, I was pretty overwhelmed at all the pressure that was being thrown at me. No one likes that area and they expect me to get things up and running. I, for one, am nervous, but I know that I can do it. Elder Williams is also worried, but is excited to work with me and I am also. 
Well, my birthday is in 5 days. Don't know what I am going to do since there is not much I can do. Probably gonna go get a cake or something and since I will have 3 other elders in my apartment with me, we can play some card games or something. Anyways I don't have too much time to talk since i gotta get going soon, but I love you Mom. I will talk to you soon.

Elder Sierra

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