HELLO!
What a past couple 10 days! I cant ever go that
long without a pday again haha…it was killer! But I’ve been super busy so it has been
alright! But from the last time I
emailed you guys a lot has happened and I have tons of pictures!!
We had a long last day on Friday in the
CCM. It was a training day and we just
learned certain tools that would help grow our finding efforts and teaching and
such. My brain hurt by the end of the
day but it was really inspiring. Our
last Sunday was fabulous and sad all at the same time, gave my testimony in
Spanish during sacrament. We then watched
a really powerful devotional talk from Elder Holland. Boy can that apostle speak. I LOVE IT! Then later that night we watched the
restoration for our movie and cried during it, and then it is a tradition that
the whole CCM sings "Till We Meet Again" to the missionaries that are
departing, and you all stand as a district and just cry…haha. Then say goodbye to all the friends you’ve
made, and then we headed home. I finished
the last few things for packing and headed to bed.
(My district in the CCM. This was shown on the big screen the night before we left.)
We got up at 2 AM and our bus left the CCM at 3 AM
to head to the airport. We got all our
bags checked and headed for the gate. I
got a whole row AGAIN :) on the flight to AZ. We landed in AZ and had to run through customs
and immigration, and then we had to get back in line to go through security and
by the time we got through security we had to run to our plane and get right
on. I was SUPER disappointed to not be
able to talk to you guys :( so I’m sorry that I got you all excited and then
didn’t get to call. But Mother’s Day is
not that far away! Just remember that!
On the flight to Bakersfield I sat by a member
and talked to him for part of the flight. We landed in this suuuper small airport in the
middle of nowhere and I knew this was home. Our mission presidents and a couple other
leaders were standing there waiting for us, and I was like “hallelujah these
people know how to treat missionaries!” We headed to the stake center, ate some lunch,
and then got some rules and met the other leaders and assistant missionaries. Then the unthinkable happened...WE WENT AND
KNOCKED DOORS! I was freaking out just a
little. But we headed to a little area
and started knocking doors and you wanna know how it went…IT WAS GREAT! I actually really like tracting. Yeah you run into the few people that don’t
want to hear our message, but then some will honestly listen and want to learn
more. Most of the people we talked to
were English, which just fine for me! haha.
Then we came back and had interviews
with President Wilson and ate some dinner and then headed to the members home
we were staying at. And I’m so glad that
you got that text from Sister Morris! And
funny small world, I was in a science class at BYU-I with her daughter, and I
totally knew who she was! haha it was so funny! But I got the best 9 hours of sleep, and I
probably wont get that again until I come home from my mission.
The next day was transfer day! And I was nervous and excited to meet my new
companion! We got to the stake center,
had some training, and then the meeting started and our mission president
starts pairing people up, and normally I’m first because of Aase, but no I was
the last one called haha… so I was freaking out. But I sit next to my companion and instantly
I’m like this is going to be great! She
had the same watch on as me, was super cute, and just looked so happy.
(Me and Hermana Dodge)
My companions name is Hermana Dodge (like the
car). She’s from Texas, and has been out
13 months. So she is almost done! But we got in the car and headed to my first
area. We had a nice 2 hour drive from
Bakersfield until we hit our area. By
the time we made it here it was 4ish and we get off the exit and literally you
can see where Edwards starts and ends...that’s how small it is. I’ll have pictures of everything don’t worry. But I just laughed to myself. But I was so excited to be in a small town and
not have to deal with annoying people.
Haha.
We had a dinner appointment at 5 with a church
member, and then a lesson with a recent convert, which was a really good
lesson. After the lesson we headed to a
"family" that was less active, my companion said, to have
dessert. They seemed nice, but a little
off-putting. But we sat down and the mom
served us her famous brownies with blue frosting, and me being skeptical of
food, took it and just stared at it. My
companion had told me that the mom gets really offended when you don’t eat her
food, so I know I had to eat it. But
they smelled really weird, and they had weird ingredients in it and I about
threw up when I ate it. I stopped and
then Hermana Dodge told me to keep eating…and I was about to cry, so as I took
another bite, the ENTIRE family burst into laughter and then were all like “were
you fooled”, and “how do those brownies taste?” They and my companion PULLED A
BIG FAT PRANK on me…I was laughing so hard, and they brought the real brownies
out. They said the other brownies had
like boiled eggs, onions, hot dogs, lemon juice, just whatever they felt like,
and then the frosting was cream cheese and sour cream. WORST THING IVE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE. And this family's dad is the new ward mission
leader haha. It was pretty funny.
Im in this little town called North Edwards, that is all filled with family and little spurts of random families. but the town in small and I can see the start and beginning haha. But I am in an english area and ward. Hermana dodge and I are starting the spanish work up here and so we are teaching both spanish and enlgish lesson, which im really enjoying! We are the only spanish sisters in our district also.
(My first area, North Edwards.)
My first real day in the field was like a dream
to all missionaries. We had a lesson
with a Spanish lady named Elizabeth, but I couldn’t understand any of it. She isn’t super interested anymore in the
church, but she wants it for her daughter, so we are going to start teaching
her daughter. We then headed to Chipotle
and then Walmart, and bought food and headed back home. We had another appointment with a less active
who is getting back into the church and it went well! He is really nice and just wants to learn more
and more about the gospel. And then
after dinner we had a lesson with a guy named Eli, and I absolutely love him! He has already come to church 3 times, and
hasn’t gotten the discussions yet, but this guy is going places. We taught him the restoration and it was a
very powerful lesson. We knew he could
feel the spirit. And he accepted our invitation to be baptized once he knew if
this was true. Which I KNOW he will. So I’m really excited about that.
(Left: Our house! Right: Our car we call "The Red Mistress". It's the only red car in the mission.)
Thursday is weekly planning and holy cow it is
in-depth, and it took us forever haha. Later
that day we had a lesson with a lady named Cristina. She is an older lady and has been taught the
discussions for 2 years now, but her husband is holding her back, this is
common within the Spanish culture. But
we teach her English and she feeds us food. And then we headed to a relief society
activity.
Friday we had a Zone Training Meeting with our whole
zone, so we drove out to Lancaster where the church building was. And then guess what??? WE WENT TO PANERA FOR LUNCH!!! I was crying haha. I was so excited! And it tasted so good. SO officially I went to Panera before Target. After lunch we finished weekly planning, and
then went to our dinner appointment. So side note, the ward is super nice
here and they feed to missionaries every night :)
Saturday we had a meeting with our new ward
mission leader to teach him all what he needed to do and the investigators and
people we are working with, and ate breakfast with his family. Then we came back and I unpacked all my
stuff, which was really nice to have that done! Before that I just had clothes laying all the
room haha. We then had our managers come
over because our stove was broken and the homeowners brought us a new one. Then our sister training leaders came over, and
by that time is was time for our dinner appointment, so it was kinda a lazy day
because we didn’t get out to proselyte. Oh
well, next week will be way better!
(Left: A flag that everyone serving in this area signs. Right: Our bedroom. I'm on the top bunk.)
Sunday was good! We had choir practice and then
relief society, gospel principles and then sacrament. And they had me bear my testimony in sacrament
meeting, so that was good! The rest of
the say we had another meeting and then dinner and then contacting some less
active people and went and saw them.
So today Hermana Dodge and I are getting our
nails done haha, then hanging out with other missionaries at the stake center. Then we have dinner and a lesson
tonight.
I love it here. It’s small and everyone is related to everyone
in this town, but there are people that need to hear the gospel. I love my companion. We get along really good and have lots of fun.
We are very comfortable around each
other and are good teachers together. I’m
excited for the next 6 weeks and I hope we are together for another transfer!!!
I love you all so much!! And I hope you have a wonderful week! I’ll talk to you next Monday!
Love, Hermana Aase
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