Hello Family!!
I'm so excited for
P-day and that I can share what has been going on these last few days as I've
arrived in the mission field. Where do I begin??
Wednesday, May
30th, I woke up at 2:45 AM to get ready and to catch the bus for the Salt Lake
City Airport at 4:00 AM. There were 12 missionaries on the bus, and 11 of us
were traveling to the Iowa Des Moines Mission. We arrived at the airport around
5:30 or 6:00. After getting our boarding passes and passing through security,
we located our gate and then I called Mom and Dad around 6.30 and was so
thrilled to reach them both. It was so good talking with Mom and Dad and I
don't know if they could tell, but I got really chocked up in the beginning.
After talking with them for half an hour we ended our call and my companion had
a few moments to talk with her family. Unfortunately they didn't answer right
away and then we were all of a sudden having to board the plane. Our plane left
at 7:30 and arrived in Denver Colorado at 8:50. We had a layover till 10:30.
During this layover, my companion once again tried contacting her family. I
went with a Spanish speaking Sister to get a bagel for breakfast and she talked
with the cashier of the little stand about the church. She did great. It was
such an interesting experience being out of the MTC and surrounded by people
whom we could share the gospel with. We were told however, that we were not to
proselyte, but we could talk with someone if we were approached. For a little
while I sat next to Elder Sproul from my district at the MTC and then an older
couple came up and started talking with us. I asked if they were members and
they said yes. We talked with them for a while and learned all kinds of
interesting things about them and their family. I felt very at ease talking.
This happened during our layover.
We flew with
Frontier and the first plane had little TV's on the backside of each seat. On
channel 13 we could see a map of the US and where the plane was. However, after
10 or so minutes in the air our free preview was over and we had to pay $6.00
to continue watching. I decided it would be best to examine the back of my
eyelids, so I closed my eyes. We ended up in the Emergency Exit row so we had
extra leg room, but we couldn't recline our seats. The headrest, however, could
be adjusted and wrapped around our neck a little, so that made it nice for
resting the eyes. Our second plane was smaller and had only two seats on
either side of the aisle. There were no TV's on this flight. I was able to take
a fifteen minute nap during this leg of the flight. I also took a few moments
and wrote in my Mission Memories Journal about the MTC.
So there were 4
Sister Missionaries and 7 Elders in our group flying. As we came down the
escalators at the Des Moines Airport in Iowa, I could see President and Sister
Jergensen and it felt like I was arriving at home. This would be my home for
the next 17 months. I can't wait until I return and what a feeling of home I
will feel as I embrace my true family :)
After we gathered
all our luggage President Jergensen had us take a group photo at the airport in
front of a barn that was painted on the wall. Afterwards, we loaded our things
into a little U-haul trailer and then piled into a 12 passenger van. We grabbed
lunch at Wendy's, stopped by the Mission Office, then went to the Mission Home.
In the basement they had a room with two bunk beds for us sisters to sleep in.
There were two rooms on the other side that had maybe six or more bunk beds
for the elders. Before dinner we had an interview with the Mission
President and he said he would be calling our parents later that night. We had
a very tasty dinner with rice, chicken, green beans, Jell-O and homemade
rolls. We met the senior couples who were serving in the mission office
and we also received lot of information from everyone. After dinner,
we met for a testimony meeting where we all shared our testimony, even
President Jergensen, his wife, their counselor and those from the mission
office. We got to bet around 9:30 and I was very appreciative. I slept so good
that night.
The next day I got
up at 5:00 AM in order to have breakfast at 6:15am and then leave for Iowa City
at 6:30 AM for transfers. My trainer is Sister Whitaker and she has been out for
16 months. My first area is Iowa City, a college town, with a population
of around 100,000. We are staying in the basement of a member's home. It's a
good size basement and really nice. It has a little musty smell but that's
alright. The one major downside is that there are spiders that I'm not happy
with. Every day we have to kill at least a couple per person. I'm really not
enjoying this part. Everything is great except for those spiders.
There are lots of
squirrels and rabbits around and on Wednesday I saw my first Cardinal.
I'll write more in
a letter. I've run out of time at the library today.
p.s. we had Stake
Conference on Saturday and Sunday with Elder L. Tom Perry and I got to shake
his hand on Sunday. I also ran into the Filmores on Saturday. They now have 9
kids!
Love you all lots!!
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