I love you so much! It sounds like everything is so busy there! I can't believe Mercedes is home! That's so crazy. I bet Sister Kurtz is really happy to have her back! I hit six months this week! Can you believe it? I don't know where the time went.
Are you ready for the transfer news? As you already know, I'm training. Yikes. Her name is Hna. Sorensen, she's 20 and from Utah and very, very sheltered. She doesn't speak much Spanish, but I'm really impressed with how much she has already learned and how bad she wants to speak Spanish. She is so enthusiastic about the work, and hopefully I'm teaching her something. Also, I finally left Old Town. My heart is still really sad about that. I miss it so much. I miss the Castanedas and I miss all our investigators. Hna. Dopp took my spot though, and I know she's going to do awesome there. I'm just so sad that I can't be there too. I got transferred to Centerville and we're opening up a new area, called Sudley. There have been two sets of Elders here for a while, but they haven't had Hermanas here for years. So we are starting from scratch. We got some teaching records from the Elders, but most of them are from at least five years ago, and some even from 2003. We've done a lot of knocking this week. And this area is definitely not the city. It's so suburban that I don't know what to do. In Old Town we could spend all day just talking to people on the street because there were so many. That's not the case here. And everyone lives townhouses. Or really nice apartments. Or houses. It's so weird. Brett and Elise will get this, but I feel like that girl in Suburgatory. I miss the city. Also, we got a brand new apartment. It's really nice, the bathroom is basically the size of our entire apartment in Alexandria, so that's a plus. The bad thing is that they thought they had a member that was going to donate a bunch of stuff, but there was a miscommunication and that didn't happen. So we're living in a naked apartment. We have exactly one giant desk, two chairs, two beds but no box springs, two bowls, two cups, two forks, two knives, two spoons, and one saucepan. It's almost like we're camping. Just inside. So we're working on furnishing our apartment, but we're surviving. It's been an adventure for sure.
I'm trying really hard to stay positive, but this week has been exhausting. I know I said that my first week in the MTC was probably the longest of my life, but this one has been a million times longer. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. We have to spend all day finding but I don't even know where to go to find. And we're in an English district, so our District Leader is no help when it comes to things like that. And I don't know how to train! I'm still figuring out how to do everything. And my companion is so enthusiastic about everything. Her only concept of missionary work is what she experienced in the MTC, so for her it's all sunshine and butterflies. She hasn't quite realized yet that it's hard work. I don't want to ruin her view of missionary work, so I'm trying really hard to be excited with her, or at least not let it show how hard this is and how stressed I really am. We also got in an accident on Friday. We got stuck in this sudden downpour and we hydroplaned. Right into the back of the SUV in front of us. We couldn't stop and it was terrifying. The worst part is, we just got a brand new car. There was hardly any damage done, but I feel so sick inside every time I think about it. I don't really know what we could have done to prevent it, but it's just awful. And now, even though it's dry, I'm terrified that we're going to hit the car in front of us every time we brake. It could have been much worse, and I'm thankful that we were kept safe. There's been quite a few trials since Wednesday, and I keep trying to tell myself that the Lord has put me here for a reason, that I did everything he needed me to do in Old Town and now he needs me here. I know that He does have a purpose for me, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what it is. I know you already do, but please keep me and this area in your prayers. We're going to need all the help we can get.
On the bright side, the branch is super excited to have sisters again. We're kind of like celebrities, so that's fun. The Branch President used to be a mission president so he's really involved in the work so that will be helpful.
We did get two new investigators this week. One was a referral from English sisters, so it's a miracle in itself that he was actually interested. Usually English referrals are people that aren't interested at all. Anyway, his name is Pedro and he's Dominican! I was super excited to finally find and teach someone from the Dominican Republic. So Jeffery Young, if you're reading this, be super excited! I finally found one. The other really neat part is that we taught him the first lesson and he loved it. And when we finished he told us, "My wife and daughter will be here in 10 days, you can come back before then, but when they get here I really want you to teach them this, because they are really going to like it." That was music to my ears.
I don't really have much else to say. I love you so much. Keep praying for me, pray for the people here, and keep praying for Junior and Pili. My heart is breaking that I can't be with them. Things are going to get better here. I'm going to learn how to love this area and the people here and I'm going to learn how to hunt down the Hispanics. I'm going to keep working hard, and I'm going to do my best to help Hna. Sorensen become the best missionary she can be. And hopefully I can even help her learn Spanish. I love you so much. Thank you for everything you do for me.
xoxo
Hermana Simpson
I'm going to miss my District so much. I love them!
La familia Castaneda. I miss them so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment