Here is Elder Troy's new address if you'd like to send him a Christmas card or letter:
1120 Green St, Apt #3
Brenham, TX 77833
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Howdy Y’all!
This last week has been INCREDIBLE!
I was complaining on Tuesday on the drive to transfer meeting (while I still didn't know where I was going) that I would be okay going anywhere in the mission but College Station. For those who don't know, that's the town where Texas A&M University is, and the last place I wanted to go. It's nicknamed ‘temptation station’! There are just so many distractions there I did NOT want to deal with.
On the drive over with Elder Johnson, he joked that I would go to the College Station zone, to finish training Elder Taylor's (who just finished his two years of service) trainee. We both laughed, because this was very unlikely. I hadn't trained yet, and had never been in that zone, let alone district, so I wouldn't take over the area with a new trainee.
Well, It's funny how things work out! I’m now finishing the training of Elder Airth, from Rexburg ID in the little town of Brenham TX. For missionaries, there's a lot of funny culture around training. When you're on your first day in the mission, you're “born”. Your trainer is your ‘dad’ and when you finish your mission you 'die’.
I guess Elder Airth is my adopted son?
THANKFULLY, I'm not in College Station proper.
Brenham is the home of Blue Bell ice cream (which is a big deal in Texas) It's also the sort of little town where more than half of the men wear cowboy boots to church every Sunday, and a good number of them wear bluejeans with them.
It's a branch (a congregation too small to get the funding and organization of a Ward. Congregations of 60-80 instead of 150-300) with a very cool, quirky old building. The property adjacent is a small pasture with horses. On our drive to meet with the rest of the district each week, we drive past cotton fields - something I'd never seen before.
I was just settling into (and enjoying!) this new rural area, when we had another shock:
SNOW!
This is the most it's snowed in Texas for about 20 years. We got a good 3 inches or so. Elder Airth and I took advantage of the opportunity and built a snowman with some neighbors. I finally had a good excuse to use the snow gloves I packed over a year ago!
I was sad to leave our 3 baptismal dates that we set in Westlake, but this area already has one at least! His name is Roy, and he has a 1947 Jeep pickup and likes motorcycles. We're gonna get along great!
Have a blessed week Y’all, and Merry Christmas!
Elder Derek Troy
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