September 12th, 2011

This is so awesome!!! It was amazing getting to talk to y'all on the phone at the airport, thank you SO much for being available, I still feel really bad a bout not mentioning the time difference. So we flew in to St. Louis and the weather was PERFECT! It has been SO nice this entire week, and every house we stop at it seems mentions how the weather has changed so much and vbeen so nice since we got here. It drizzled a little the other day, but other than that it has been in the 70's and mostly sunny with no excess of humidity to speak of! We spent the first night at the mission home, and Pres and Sis Clark are so great! They are both really funny and caring, and Pres Clark makes an amazing roast! Then the next morning we got to the Transfer meeting, and I met my new companion, and you'll NEVER guess what his name is. ELDER MARSHALL!! We are the Elders Marshall! His first name is Cameron, but it's still wicked awesome!  He is way cool, too, he's only been out 7.5 months! Cool thing #2, we got called to open an area that's been closed for at least two years! It's called Potosi, a branch of about 40-50, and there is not a lot up here. We can't even find a place to stay yet, so we're sleeping on the couches of the Elders in the next closest area which is Farmington, but we have a 2010 Malibu, so we've been able to make it to our area without too much trouble. Opening is a really interesting experience, but it has been such a strong testimony builder for both of us that this is where we're supposed to be. Our mission is getting super young, of the 6 Elders in our district, 2 of us are green, one is one transfer in, and the other three are all well under a year! I can definitely feel myself every day getting more and more lost in the work and finding a greater and greater love for the people. We have been guided to people up here who have been waiting for the Gospel almost every day. Yesterday we found a young man who was a recovering alcoholic and said that the BoM had been the only book of doctrine he studied when he was going through rehab that made sense, and so we taught him most of the Resoration and have another appt tonight! We just got here and we are finding like crazy, the Lord's work will go forward no matter what! A major part of our work will be focused on strengthening the Branch. There are a TON of less-active families in the area, and we've already started visiting some of them. I still haven't gotten any of your mail, which I expected to be the case, so if you send anything else (make sure you tell EVERYONE this) send it to the Mission Office, I'll give you the address of my apartment when we actually have one. Another fiasco is the fact that the Church is out of planners! They were, as I might have mentioned, through my entire MTC stay and they still are, thank GOODNESS the sisters who had out car before we got it left a blank one in the back of the trunk! How are things going back home? Is Levi walking around on his own yet? Can Max write his ABC's? Have my sister and that Mexican Man of hers set a date yet? Are you getting any help from anyone else with cleaning now that I'm gone? Oh, I had to buy a blanket and pillow, since we're starting out with nothing, things should continue to be pretty interesting, even once we do get out to Potosi. We are following this new 12 weeks training program (ask Mike about it or to look it up) that is really interesting, and it's goal is to put out Elders that, after two transfers, can train. Wow. We're the first set of missionaries to be officially using it (piloting has been done) so it is very exciting, but almost worrisome to think I might be responsible for training an Elder in three months! I have a perpetual list of things I might like, and the most important things on that list right now are that black overcoat in my closet that I got from the mission home, and those blue and green REI jackets, it's been cooling off and I've been hearing about the ice storms, and Elder Marshall (isn't that weird sounding? It's WAY weird to say all the time, but when someone calls we both answer) says all about how it gets WAY & colder here than in Vancouver, Washington, where he says the coldest it gets is "only" 20. Oh geez. Other than that, though, I packed pretty well, everyone seems surprised that I only have one checked bag and a carry-on, most of the Elders had to full-sized checked bags and a carry-on. I'm REALLY hoping I get all of your mail soon, cuz I haven'y heard from anyone in over a week and a half, but the days are already flying by, and the more I enjoy the work, the faster everything goes. Even as a greenie, I'm not feeling like a burden on my companion, which has a lot to do with going out with the missionaries before I left, how amazing my family is, and the new program at the MTC. But mostly my family. I love you all so much, and I hope you like the pictures!!!