March 12, 2012


Hello all you wonderful people! 

Oh my goodness, there is so much I want to write! Again, I apologize for typos. Get over it. :) 

So here I am....in Indiana....as a missionary....like....for reals. Weirdest thing of my life. But I'm growing into it! And I am LOVING IT ALREADY!!!!

Here's a summary of my week:

Last Tuesday morning, we got up at 3 am (rise and shine!) to get to the bus by 4. On the drive up to SLC, my mind was so full of so many emotions. Mostly exhaustion and like, "I can't believe this is happening right now" feelings. It was weird to be walking around the airports, knowing that people are watching you and expecting you to like....I don't know....be a missionary. I couldn't believe it. I was such a scardey-cat. It was so wonderful to talk to you mom! Yes, I know I didn't sound like it....with me crying and everything. 

So anyways....we landed in Indiana and I was immediately disoriented. I'm used to the mountains. I could see for miles and miles and there was no sign of even a hill. We got off the plan and all 12 of us walked to the terminal. And as expected, there was Pres and Sis Collins and the APs. Oh my gosh, they are WONDERFUL! Sister Collins is officially in my top 5 favorite people now. She is so nice, so happy, and SO dang funny. On the ride to the mission home, she was telling us about herself and what she loves about Indiana. She loves the squirrels here....they are practically her pets hahaha....funniest thing ever. 

President Collins is amazing. When I met him, I felt like I already knew him from somewhere....one of the first evidences that I was foreordained to come here. I think we were friends in heaven. :) He is so kind, gentle, and just oozes the Spirit. I officially have the best mission president on the planet. Anyone who says otherwise is lying and should be shot...:) He is marvelous! I am so excited to serve under such a great, powerful man. 

The Elders that I arrived with (there are 10 of them....) are so wonderful! I was lucky to have been sent here with a awesome group of them. They will be awesome missionaries. 

We slept at the mission home and then went to transfer meeting. Apparently this mission has one of the highest baptism retention rates in the world....pretty cool, huh? Also, this mission is known for whitewashing....which means that President Collins double transfers people in and out of areas a lot....putting fresh, new blood into areas that need a boost. 

That's exactly what happened to me. My trainer is Sister Gillman. Mom...you will be comforted to know that YOU KNOW HER. Or, at least, SHE KNOWS YOU. I pulled out our family picture and put it on my desk the other day and she said, "Oh my gosh, I know your mom!" Sister Gillman worked at the Costco optical shop for like 5 or something years! She remembers talking with you mom! Your prayers worked. :) I have an awesome trainer. She is a super star and I have learned so much from her already. Like I said, her name is Sister Gillman and she is an older-ish Sister. She calls herself the "Granny." I won't say how old she is...but I will say that she's about 10 years older than 90% of the mission. :) But she doesn't act it! She's so fun and happy and PATIENT! Oh my goodness, she's maybe one of the most patient people I know. :) 

Ok...so my first area is the Layfayette 2nd Ward. Yep. This is Purdue town. Purdue is like a mile away from our apartment. A few facts about the ward: Bishop Call went to Timpview High School and knows Uncle Dan. There are 60 kids in nursery. There are 101 kids in primary. Yes, you read right. 101 kids in primary. Like....101 Dalmations, but with kids. Sacrament meeting yesterday was the funniest thing of my life! Kids crying, toys falling, doors slamming, haha...lights turning off during the closing prayer? So great! I absolutely love it! That means that about half of the ward is 11 years old or less. :) But the members are so wonderful! This town looks and feels a lot like Utah....until we get doors slammed in our face. :)

So yeah....it is wonderful here! We haven't been teaching as much as we'd like to....a ton of our investigators have been out of town, sick, or just had a baby. But things are looking up this week. Much of last week was focused on meeting some of the members and finding people. Sister Gillman and I did a finding fast yesterday and we're doing another one today. We need to find more people to teach and we are coming up with ideas on how to find them. We are tracting like crazy and teaching lessons here and there. I ran into my first atheist yesterday....that was interesting...:)

We are trying to work so hard! It's only been a week since getting here?!? Feels longer than that. But I'm learning so much! Every time we get a rejection, Sister Gillman says, "This is good! It builds character!" I'm learning to adopt that attitude....I have definitely had some "trial of your faith" moments, but I know its helping me refine my skills and helping me put trust and faith in the Lord. 

The first lesson we taught was about 3 hours after getting to Layfayette. I'm not allowed to say their real names on emails, so I'll just put their last name initial when I refer to investigators and such. We taught the R* family. The previous Sisters tracted into them. They are both reading the Book of Mormon and they had great questions. I'll be honest, Sister Gillman did most of the teaching....because I was so scared. :) These are real people! 

But over the last week, I have gotten over my fears and just open my mouth when I feel like I need to say something. And it comes out.....clearly and powerfully.The Spirit is great! "Open your mouth, and it shall be filled!" I love it! 

We visited a potential investigator, A*. That was my first "real world" experience. When she opened the door, cigarette smoke came billowing out of the house. She invited us in and there were 3 women there.....each with like 3 kids. And the house was chaos. The kids were screaming, the women were swearing on the phone, and....I don't know, I just hadn't been in an environment like that before. It was dark and sad. But she needed to hear what we told her. Dispite all the noise, I was praying so hard that she would be able to tune out all of the noise, put down her cigarette, and listen to what we had to say. And she did. You could see her countenance change as we talked to her. We'll have to go back and see her again. 

Oh, I'm out of time! I've gotta go! My first week: long, but so good! I'm excited to get to work! Keep the prayers coming! Pray for Layfayette 2nd Ward Area! There are people here who are ready to hear the gospel, we just need to find them!!!!!