Week 3

May 4, 2009

Hi everyone!!!!!
Oh man, I'm sorry I haven't been able to email any sooner! My P-Day is on Monday....the day I got here....so I had to wait a whole week! But I am glad it's finally here and I get to find out what is going on with everyone else! So I finished with my first week out in the field and let me tell you that it was really an amazing week! A lot of cool things have happened! First of all, I am serving in a place called Elizabethtown and I was put in a threesome. My trainer has been out for 13 months, her name is Sis. Deal from Redmond, WA and the other girl has only been out for one transfer now and her name is Sis. Bradshaw, from Layton, Ut. They are a lot of fun! 
So let me tell you about my first day....we got into Harrisburg and stayed the night at the mission home with President and Sister Pugh. They are so nice, they fed us dinner and just got to know us! You probably already got my letter from that night. The next day is when I got to meet my companions! We first went to a new missionary training session and just got oriented with things....insurance, bank cards, bikes, etc etc boring stuff.....then our trainers came in and introduced themselves, we took pictures, then off to our areas!!! We did go tracting that first day and it wasn't as bad as I thought. The first door I knocked, the old lady wasn't very nice and didn't give us much time but it's gotten a lot better since then. You'd think old ladies would be the nice and easy ones to talk to.....nope. They are the meanest out here! hahaha. 
Well I just really want to tell you of a couple cool things that I've been able to see so far. First we had an appt with a family, the Geibs, who are investigating. They've had the first 2 lessons already so we watched the restoration with them and talked about how important prayer and scripture study every day is so important. By the end of the lesson, they pretty much invited themselves to church!!! Oh my amazing!! There 13 yr old son, Joey, was so excited to have a church to go to! Well, they came to church yesterday but it was a stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake....not very fun for Joey. He got very very bored and antsy so they ended up leaving halfway through. Next week should be better for them and I think they understand that. 
Another cool thing that happened this week....on Saturday, Sis. Deal went on an exchange with a member to teach an investigator. So Sis. Bradshaw and I went tracting. She's fairly new too so I thought "this might be an interesting day!" haha. But, the Lord works wonders!!!! We were able to teach 3 first lessons in a row and they all committed to reading the Book of Mormon and we made appt's to come back and see them!!! One ladies elevn yr old daughter, Tasia, was so excited too. haha she wanted to walk around with us and be a missionary with us! She practically gave us another referrel too! She's so cute. We met some other pretty amazing people that day! By the end, we ended up having 8 new investigators!!!! It's gotta be the new missionary fire! hahaha, or just the miracles of the spirit working on people. I'll tell you more about these other people in letters. 
I have to hurry and finish. But random facts I want to tell you. First when the wind blows in from the east, you can smell chocolate in the air from Hershey. Yummmm!! BUT when the wind blows from the west....ewww it smells like maneur. And let me tell you....the maneur here is SOOOOOOO much stinkier then anything I've ever smelled in Idaho! It's terrible!!!!!!! I never thought it could be so bad! haha. Another random fact.....I saw just one Amish buggy riding around :) And an amish man with a long beard helping people put boxes into a U-haul! I thought that was a pretty funny sight. (since they dont' use cars, haha) ....It's been pretty rainy here all week but it's a warm rain. So i've been ok with it. The Dogwoods here really are so pretty though!!! They are everywhere! I'll get my picture in front of one some time soon for my plaque picture. 
Anyway, I hope all is well at home! I sure do love all of you and can't wait to hear more about whats going on! Love you!!!!!