Letter dated February 18, 2009
This week has flown by so fast! Tomorrow marks the 3 months in the mission already- crazy! Being out here on a mission truly has changed me completely and continues to each day- I'm excited to still have quite awhile left and look forward to all of the good things and hard work that lays ahead. There's nowhere else I'd rather be right now than here on a mission in Virginia, serving the Lord and His children, especially the Hispanic people- they are so receptive and ready to accept the Gospel into their lives. I love it!
The ward here is wonderful! The ward we go to is Spanish speaking. They are so willing to do anything and everything to help out and forward the missionary work here. The members are so important! We also have the opportunity to work with a lot of less-active members. It's been so much fun to see how the ward here does all that they can to fellowship them, as well as those investigating the Church- they truly have a genuine love for everyone.
One way that we have found very effective in finding people to share the Gospel with is by teaching English classes. It's a goldmine! The people who come there amaze me with their desire and diligence to learn and are so humble. They help me out with my Spanish as well!
Every day I think more and more that my companion, Hermana Barney, and I are related! We're both pretty quirky and I love it! She is such an amazing example to me of how a missionary should be. The love that she has for the people and her desires to serve them is so unselfish. She is such a great trainer and I'm thankful for her patience with me. She has such a magnetic and friendly personality that everyone is attracted to, and is a wonderful example of being "real" with the people and not adapting to "robot" missionary mode. I love her to pieces!
I'm not quite sure what else to say... Life is good, the Gospel is true, and I love you!!! Especially during times like this, it's good to know that we have something to believe in and hold onto. I know that as we put our faith and trust in the Lord, and have hope, that all will be well and we have no need to fear. He will never abandon us, and He knows exactly what we're going through. We are all His children and if we strive to do what's right, He will always watch over and protect us.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Finally Here
Letter dated February 4, 2009
So... VIRGINIA IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is absolutely breathtaking here and the people are incredible, especially the Spanish people! I couldn't be any happier! But first of all, let me back up a bit....
On Wednesday, January 28th I left the Provo MTC at 5 a.m. and headed to the airport. I was able to call home quick before our plane left around 8ish and we arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio. We were supposed to have only about an hour layover, but because of the bad weather, we ended up staying there for a total of 4 or 5 hours longer! Crazy! But that's alright, it was great! There were 15 of us traveling in our group of missionaries. All of them were English speaking missionaries, except for me and a cute Spanish sister missionary from Mexico. I looked in the airport to try to find Spanish people to talk to and test out my "butchered Spanish" :) , but didn't find many. But we had the opportunity to go and contact a lot of people, and share the message of the Gospel with them- it was great! I'm a pretty chatty person and usually talk to everyone, but I'm not going to lie- I was a bit nervous, but excited, to talk to people about the Gospel. It was awesome! Yes, I fell flat on my face many times, and continue to do so, but that's all a part of missionary work! It's good to just get thrown into it, even if you're not sure of what you're doing, and you'll get the hang of it and it will be fine. I'm excited to keep on making mistakes and being rejected and feeling a bit dumb- it's great- it's the best way to learn! We learn from our mistakes. Just keep on trying!
We finally got in Virginia around 8:30 or 9 p.m., and met the Mission President and some other missionaries in the area. They had planned for us to attend a baptism that evening, but our plane was a few hours late, so that didn't exactly happen. But that's alright- what an adventure!
I couldn't see much of Virginia because it was dark outside, but there were a lot of trees.... yay!!! I was excited to see it in the morning! We spent the night at the President's house and the next morning headed to meet my new companion. Her name is Sister Barney!!! How ironic!!! She's amazing!
So... VIRGINIA IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is absolutely breathtaking here and the people are incredible, especially the Spanish people! I couldn't be any happier! But first of all, let me back up a bit....
On Wednesday, January 28th I left the Provo MTC at 5 a.m. and headed to the airport. I was able to call home quick before our plane left around 8ish and we arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio. We were supposed to have only about an hour layover, but because of the bad weather, we ended up staying there for a total of 4 or 5 hours longer! Crazy! But that's alright, it was great! There were 15 of us traveling in our group of missionaries. All of them were English speaking missionaries, except for me and a cute Spanish sister missionary from Mexico. I looked in the airport to try to find Spanish people to talk to and test out my "butchered Spanish" :) , but didn't find many. But we had the opportunity to go and contact a lot of people, and share the message of the Gospel with them- it was great! I'm a pretty chatty person and usually talk to everyone, but I'm not going to lie- I was a bit nervous, but excited, to talk to people about the Gospel. It was awesome! Yes, I fell flat on my face many times, and continue to do so, but that's all a part of missionary work! It's good to just get thrown into it, even if you're not sure of what you're doing, and you'll get the hang of it and it will be fine. I'm excited to keep on making mistakes and being rejected and feeling a bit dumb- it's great- it's the best way to learn! We learn from our mistakes. Just keep on trying!
We finally got in Virginia around 8:30 or 9 p.m., and met the Mission President and some other missionaries in the area. They had planned for us to attend a baptism that evening, but our plane was a few hours late, so that didn't exactly happen. But that's alright- what an adventure!
I couldn't see much of Virginia because it was dark outside, but there were a lot of trees.... yay!!! I was excited to see it in the morning! We spent the night at the President's house and the next morning headed to meet my new companion. Her name is Sister Barney!!! How ironic!!! She's amazing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
