Pioneer children sang as they walked... and walked... and WALKED... AND WALKED....
Hello all!
Yep. You guessed it. I'm in a walking area. Haha! Mom, you told me it wouldn't happen. But what did I tell you?! I told the Sisters in the MTC that I was going to get a walking area because Heavenly Father knows that I HATE to exercise in the morning... And what do ya know? I'm walking. Ha! He sure has a sense of humor. We should be getting bikes soon... but we both hate riding bikes with skirts. Especially in the wind. If ya catch my drift.
Day one here in the field was spent waking up at 2am to travel by train, then traxx, to then a 10am plane to Boise. Ick. We were exhausted! So we got to Nampa and met the mission president, as well as the Elders and Sisters who had been chosen to be our trainers for the next 12 weeks. After eating lunch, we gather together and President Cannon welcomes us by saying, "Everyone grab a new companion- we're going TRACTING!" -_- yippe! haha! What a way to be welcomed! It wasn't too bad though. :)
But at the end of the night, he assigned us our companions for the next 12 weeks. My companion is Sister Halaapiapi! Pronounced (hall-uh-ah-pee-ah-pee). She's from Tonga. Seriously. She is. And she's so legit. Watch Johnny Lingo- or The Other Side of Heaven (her favorite movie) and she is LITERALLY just like those people. haha! It's so funny. She's been out for 10 months and learned English in the MTC- so she's still learning. That was a HUGE struggle for me the first few days I was here. 75% of the time, I couldn't understand a WORD she was saying. But the communication has gotten a lot better. I'm now starting to be able to translate for others (members of the ward can't understand what she's saying a lot of the time)- which is relieving. And every now and again I have to explain to her what things mean... For example...
We were walking down the road the other day and were waving at random cars as they passed by. One guy was... well... rude. And so I said, "What a punk!" She gave me the most confused look ever and said, "What is.... How you say?... A poonk?" HAHAHAHA! It's so funny. "What do people mean when they say... Uhh... How you say?... 'What a bummer'!" I feel like I need to watch what I say so that I don't corrupt her English. haha! Her favorite phrase so far is "Whadda heck?!" Oh man.
We are serving in Kuna, Idaho! Which is actually an area that covers some of Kuna, Meridian, and Nampa. We're living with a family in the ward- they gave us an entire basement to live in. And, my, is it fancy. Apparently it's one of the most coveted places here in the mission. :) There were Elders in the ward for several years here before us. So everyone is excited to have Sisters here! But Sister Halaapiapi and I are BOTH new to the area (we call that a whitewash). It's been a struggle for us. The Elders before us didn't leave barely ANY teaching records or numbers of people that they taught or any investigators. So we've had to start from scratch and do some detective work. But I managed to call around and we've gotten a long list of less actives, 3 recent converts, and about 5 potential investigators. After a long, tiring week full of struggles, we've met each one and we're pumped to start teaching. Apparently the mission president must have trusted me with something... Cause I don't know why he put a greenie into a new area. haha! He probably made a mistake. ;)
We only serve in 1 ward. But the ward is HUGEEEE. We tried walking one day... and it took us 3 hours to get from one side to the other. Yeah. Not doing that again. I felt bad because (being a greenie) I think I push my companion a little too hard... and she's getting pretty tired from walking a lot. (I joke with her about how she's such a relaxed beach girl and that work is good for her. haha!) But after one day of seeing her completely exhausted, feet swollen, I realized I pushed her a little too hard. (She jokes all the time that I'm actually training her on missionary work... haha) But I sat down that night and separated the ward into 3 different areas. I also set up a ride list and asked members to give us rides to that area during the day so that we wouldn't be walking for millions of miles. I also set up with the ward mission leader for people to stay with us during lessons for a few hours at a time. So my comp is doing a lot better now. :)
The Laurels in the ward are going to be going out with us every Saturday- YIPPEE! They're super awesome. And totally pumped to go on missions. Man, it's weird being on this side. I'm used to being WITH the missionaries- not THE missionary. haha!
The members in the ward are SO AWESOME. I love having dinner with them every night. :) It's the best part of my day. Also because I'm SO HUNGRY... ALL THE TIME. I'm praying that I don't gain 50 pounds by the time I go back home. I don't think it's normal for someone to be this hungry... haha!
We visited with two families last night that have 8 year olds getting baptized on Saturday. We were able to talk with them about baptism and the holy ghost (Dad was right- And I DID write 2 talks on baptism on notecards while in the MTC! They came in handy as I was preparing!). Both of those families have ALL BOYS. And they were all the same ages as Reid, Chase, and Ryan. I didn't realize, until I was there, how comforting it is for me to be in a house full of boys. It was weird. Yep. I miss my brothers- my home boys. Word. (Those last few sentences were for the "wanna be hipster"- Reid.)
We can listen to music here as long as it follows the white handbook. So, no heavy beats and no romantic lyrics. So some missionaries here have just normal music (within those guidelines of course). But I only have a CD player in my apartment. So I listen to it while getting ready or doing scripture study. :) Send me CD's! haha!
Sunday's here on the mission are SO SHORT. I actually wanted church to last another 3 hours. Haha! Church is awesome. :) Maybe I just like it so much because it means I don't have to walk on the side of the road. ;)
I did use my debit card in Nampa. It's the closest Walmart to us. We don't have any stores or shopping in our area- so we need to leave the area if we want to do anything. Our area is 70% field and 25% houses/people and 5% horses. I've pretty much mastered my horse calling. I'm pretty much a pro. When I walk past horses, I do my little horse call, and they all come running to me. It's awesome. I'm a horse whisperer.
I think that's everything... :) Oh! WRITE ME LETTERS! PLEASE! I NEED THEM!!!
Hello all!
Yep. You guessed it. I'm in a walking area. Haha! Mom, you told me it wouldn't happen. But what did I tell you?! I told the Sisters in the MTC that I was going to get a walking area because Heavenly Father knows that I HATE to exercise in the morning... And what do ya know? I'm walking. Ha! He sure has a sense of humor. We should be getting bikes soon... but we both hate riding bikes with skirts. Especially in the wind. If ya catch my drift.
Day one here in the field was spent waking up at 2am to travel by train, then traxx, to then a 10am plane to Boise. Ick. We were exhausted! So we got to Nampa and met the mission president, as well as the Elders and Sisters who had been chosen to be our trainers for the next 12 weeks. After eating lunch, we gather together and President Cannon welcomes us by saying, "Everyone grab a new companion- we're going TRACTING!" -_- yippe! haha! What a way to be welcomed! It wasn't too bad though. :)
But at the end of the night, he assigned us our companions for the next 12 weeks. My companion is Sister Halaapiapi! Pronounced (hall-uh-ah-pee-ah-pee). She's from Tonga. Seriously. She is. And she's so legit. Watch Johnny Lingo- or The Other Side of Heaven (her favorite movie) and she is LITERALLY just like those people. haha! It's so funny. She's been out for 10 months and learned English in the MTC- so she's still learning. That was a HUGE struggle for me the first few days I was here. 75% of the time, I couldn't understand a WORD she was saying. But the communication has gotten a lot better. I'm now starting to be able to translate for others (members of the ward can't understand what she's saying a lot of the time)- which is relieving. And every now and again I have to explain to her what things mean... For example...
We were walking down the road the other day and were waving at random cars as they passed by. One guy was... well... rude. And so I said, "What a punk!" She gave me the most confused look ever and said, "What is.... How you say?... A poonk?" HAHAHAHA! It's so funny. "What do people mean when they say... Uhh... How you say?... 'What a bummer'!" I feel like I need to watch what I say so that I don't corrupt her English. haha! Her favorite phrase so far is "Whadda heck?!" Oh man.
We are serving in Kuna, Idaho! Which is actually an area that covers some of Kuna, Meridian, and Nampa. We're living with a family in the ward- they gave us an entire basement to live in. And, my, is it fancy. Apparently it's one of the most coveted places here in the mission. :) There were Elders in the ward for several years here before us. So everyone is excited to have Sisters here! But Sister Halaapiapi and I are BOTH new to the area (we call that a whitewash). It's been a struggle for us. The Elders before us didn't leave barely ANY teaching records or numbers of people that they taught or any investigators. So we've had to start from scratch and do some detective work. But I managed to call around and we've gotten a long list of less actives, 3 recent converts, and about 5 potential investigators. After a long, tiring week full of struggles, we've met each one and we're pumped to start teaching. Apparently the mission president must have trusted me with something... Cause I don't know why he put a greenie into a new area. haha! He probably made a mistake. ;)
We only serve in 1 ward. But the ward is HUGEEEE. We tried walking one day... and it took us 3 hours to get from one side to the other. Yeah. Not doing that again. I felt bad because (being a greenie) I think I push my companion a little too hard... and she's getting pretty tired from walking a lot. (I joke with her about how she's such a relaxed beach girl and that work is good for her. haha!) But after one day of seeing her completely exhausted, feet swollen, I realized I pushed her a little too hard. (She jokes all the time that I'm actually training her on missionary work... haha) But I sat down that night and separated the ward into 3 different areas. I also set up a ride list and asked members to give us rides to that area during the day so that we wouldn't be walking for millions of miles. I also set up with the ward mission leader for people to stay with us during lessons for a few hours at a time. So my comp is doing a lot better now. :)
The Laurels in the ward are going to be going out with us every Saturday- YIPPEE! They're super awesome. And totally pumped to go on missions. Man, it's weird being on this side. I'm used to being WITH the missionaries- not THE missionary. haha!
The members in the ward are SO AWESOME. I love having dinner with them every night. :) It's the best part of my day. Also because I'm SO HUNGRY... ALL THE TIME. I'm praying that I don't gain 50 pounds by the time I go back home. I don't think it's normal for someone to be this hungry... haha!
We visited with two families last night that have 8 year olds getting baptized on Saturday. We were able to talk with them about baptism and the holy ghost (Dad was right- And I DID write 2 talks on baptism on notecards while in the MTC! They came in handy as I was preparing!). Both of those families have ALL BOYS. And they were all the same ages as Reid, Chase, and Ryan. I didn't realize, until I was there, how comforting it is for me to be in a house full of boys. It was weird. Yep. I miss my brothers- my home boys. Word. (Those last few sentences were for the "wanna be hipster"- Reid.)
We can listen to music here as long as it follows the white handbook. So, no heavy beats and no romantic lyrics. So some missionaries here have just normal music (within those guidelines of course). But I only have a CD player in my apartment. So I listen to it while getting ready or doing scripture study. :) Send me CD's! haha!
Sunday's here on the mission are SO SHORT. I actually wanted church to last another 3 hours. Haha! Church is awesome. :) Maybe I just like it so much because it means I don't have to walk on the side of the road. ;)
I did use my debit card in Nampa. It's the closest Walmart to us. We don't have any stores or shopping in our area- so we need to leave the area if we want to do anything. Our area is 70% field and 25% houses/people and 5% horses. I've pretty much mastered my horse calling. I'm pretty much a pro. When I walk past horses, I do my little horse call, and they all come running to me. It's awesome. I'm a horse whisperer.
I think that's everything... :) Oh! WRITE ME LETTERS! PLEASE! I NEED THEM!!!
And I also forgot to mention- I've been sick for the past week with a TERRIBLE cold. I've been blowing my brains out and coughing up a storm. I'm hoping that I'll get better soon. :) And that I won't get anyone else sick. That's been pretty discouraging... But it won't last long. :)
ANDDDD I forgot my camera at the apartment... So I'll have to send my pictures next week. GRR.
And if you can't remember my comp's name- we all just call her Sister Happy-Happy. :)
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