I've
made a list of things that I wanted to write down so I'm just going to
be kind of scatterbrained sounding as you read this. I'll start with the
end of the MTC.
At one point my teacher looked at me after I said something and then said "Are you doing that on purpose?" NO I WAS NOT. Hmmph.
Anyways,
I woke up at 2 am on Tuesday morning and carried 2 huge suitcases, a
duffle bag and a very heavy purse onto a bus, then onto a train, up an
escalator, then onto the trax, and then through the airport. Along with
30 ish other missionaries with the same amount of luggage. It was quite
the adventure. Especially the escalator. Haha. Imagine a bunch of sister
missionaries getting to the top of the escalator, struggling to move
their luggage out of the way as another sister missionary with her
luggage is coming to the top with another right behind her and another
and another. Hahahahaha that was honestly really funny, but probably
could have ended up pretty bad... some elders went to save the day.
On the plane I sat next to a
man named Scott Larson. He served a mission on Deseret Ranch and knows
my Aunt Lori, Uncle Steve, and my grandparents that served on the ranch.
We talked about them the whole time as well as about his daughters who
served missions. He was really nice and gave me a lot of advice.
We
flew into WA and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was beautiful and
sunny. I bring the sunshine with me everywhere I go. :)
I
didn't get a chance to relax really all day. We were picked up by
President and Sister Blatter (pronounced blotter) who are super sweet
and friendly. We drove to the mission home, got a tour, went to a church
building and had orientation, ate some food, had a transfer meeting, I
saw Elder Nelson and Elder Graham, which was pretty cool, I got my new
companion. Sister Whitney Harris who is from New Mexico and "never lets
anyone pass her by." Haha She wants to know who started that rumor. Then
we went our separate ways. I went from 2 am to 10:30 pm. We even went
tracting for two hours. But I can do hard things. :)
Our
area is Belfair. It's the biggest area in Washington. The ward is HUGE
but I think more than half of it is inactive. I think it would take
about an hour and a half or more to drive from one side of our area to
the other. It's honestly gigantic and we don't know how to cover it.
Also, this is S. Harris's first time in this area also. We were doubled
in and I'm a greenie. It's an adventure.
Belfair
is an interesting place. There is a lot of marijuana. No street lights.
No side walks. Lots of dogs. A lot of trees. But the people are nice.
Most of them. When the sun doesn't come out
the cold is a moist cold so it kind of seeps through the windows and
into your skin and bones and refuses to leave. But the sun as been out
almost every day since I got here. :)
We
spend a lot of time lost. We have a car and we have become PROS at U
turns. One of the awkward but safe things that missionaries do is
backing up the driver. So every. single. time. we have to back up I get
to get out of the car and back S. Harris up. It's not embarrassing at
all. haha :) I'm a pro though.
We
tract every night from 5-7. That's mission rules. I've realized that
the mission is trying to squish all of my fears out of me at once. I
have talked to strangers, talked to hobos, talked to people who have
definitely been doing drugs, I have had big dogs bark at me about 500
times, I've backed our car up in a dark scary forest on a creepy looking
street, I've given people Books of Mormon and on and on.
We also taught a lesson to a
recent convert with another year old convert fellowshipper, and the
fellowshipper, Brother Dent spent like 30 minutes talking about how he
was in prison for 3 years because of his 32 acre marijuana farm. So, you
know, Washington....
There
is also a sign down the street from where we live that says
"Correctional Facility: Do not pick up hitchhikers." Haha I got a
picture of it. (Mom, I'm saying all these things for you. My mission
President said there would be things I wouldn't tell you, but I'm one of
the most honest people you'll ever meet! :D )
Which
reminds me. I live in the most beautiful place ever. We have an
apartment RIGHT on the Hood canal. The sun rises every morning over the
water and sets over the water, right in our backyard. We are so lucky.
 |
| "My backyard in WA. Be jealous!" |
Also, most of you know how
picky I am. This week I ate a slice of pizza, with pizza sauce,
potatoes, in actual potato form, and some really kind of not the best Mexican food. I had to pray the whole time that I wouldn't gag. But I
did it. Laugh away. And don't expect me to eat pizza or potatoes when I
get home. Because I won't.
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There's
also this thing in Washington called squatters rights where if a
homeless person can get away with living in an abandoned house for 7
years it's theirs. We went to one house the other night that looked like
one of these squatters houses, there were 3 children there. Devon (13
yrs) Susan (10) and Isabelle (5) They were adorable but their house was a
junk yard, the kids didn't have clean clothes or brushed hair and I
didn't see any parents around. But Susan really wants to learn about the
church so we came back yesterday to teach her and Devon. Their mom was
there and she is quite the interesting person. She's Pagan and Emo and
Irish and smokes and is missng a lot of teeth, but she lets her kids do
whatever they want and if they want to be mormon so be it. Apparently
most of the junk is recycled stuff that she will eventually turn into
art. So, it was an interesting lesson, but I really hope we can help the
kids to feel the spirit as we teach. They are really sweet and want to
learn and even though Devon is a teenage boy, so he won't show that he
likes learning, I can tell that he does and that he cares.
This week has been crazy, I
have done a ton of stuff. We're up at 6:30 and go go go until it's time
for bed, but I love it. I'm learning so many things and overcoming all
of my fears.
The
other night we were street contacting and some men saw us and as we
walked past they said a lot of really rude and crude things about us. I
didn't hear what they said but Sister Harris did and when we got a
little ways away from them we said a prayer that we would feel charity
towards them and that we would be able to forget what they said. But
something hit me when we were walking away and I realized I don't care
that they don't like us. I honestly don't. And it's a miracle, because 5
years ago I cared too much about what people thought about me. I hated
myself and stressed and worried about what people at school thought
about me. I was never enough. But through going to BYU and making
friends with people who love me and care about me, and an amazing and
supportive family, and people from church who encourage me, and now with
a mission that pushes me, I don't feel that way anymore. I don't care
about what people think about me. I can go and talk to strangers and
knock on doors, I wear mismatching church clothes, and people make fun
of me, but I don't care because I have a testimony of God's love for me.
Which is unconditional and will never end. Life is good. :) Don't
forget it. I miss you all and pray for you! I'm grateful for your
prayers for me and all of your emails.
Thank
you to everyone who sent me a dear elder in the MTC! I loved getting
them. Should you feel inclined to sending me a letter or a package my
new address is:
653 Gladwin Rd #4
Belfair, WA 98528
Also,
instead of sending a million emails with pictures I'll just send a few
of the better pictures and then if you want to see more I'll send them
all to my mom to upload onto my blog for me.
I LOVE YOU ALL! :)
Here's the rest of her pictures:
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