11/18/13

OH MY GOSH HAS IT BEEN A CRAZY WEEK!!!!

 

Saying goodbye was super hard. I was actually pretty proud of myself though, I kept it together for most of it. Packing was pretty easy, I had known for a while that it was coming so I had been packing for a few days already. We had to pick up some other sisters in Tallmadge and then went up to Kirtland for transfers. I had heard people talking about an elders area where both elders had gotten their visas to Argentina and they hadn't had missionaries there for about a month and then people started saying that's where they thought I was going to be put with my new companion. I decided I wasn't going to assume anything, you never know what Pres is going to do. So we go into the room where all of the trainers wait to meet their new companions. There were 8 new greenies who walked in and sat in front of us and then President told them to "go find your trainer" and sweet Sis. Lemmon walked up to me. She is adorable. She is 19 from Tooele Utah. VERY young. She went to Snow College for a year before coming out here. She is the youngest of 4. We got to know each other a little bit and then I asked her where her paper said we were going. And she said St. Marys! That is the elders area where they hadn't had missionaries for a month. It is the largest area in the mission. It is the farthest south west corner of the mission. I'm right on the Indiana/Ohio border. There is a tiny branch here, about 40 people come every Sunday on a good day. It reminds me a lot of the East St. Louis branch, super small, same building set up and everything. The people here are really nice, very friendly. The towns are very small and really spread out. In Massillon we had 1050 miles for the  month, here we have 1500 and the area is A LOT bigger than Massillon. Our house is really nice! Mom, our closet is bigger than yours!!!! It's quite exciting! We have a 2012 Malibu - its super swanky! I like it a lot! I'm not used to driving such a big car though, my last one was a tiny Subura Impreza, this thing is huge compared to that! but it's been fun.

 

The area is a hard one. everyone has been making sure we understand that! Most people out here are Catholic and aren't interested in changing. It's been hard to talk to investigators that the previous elders were meeting with, no one returns phone calls. But we are trying. Things are just going to be really slow for the next couple weeks I think, which sucks but oh well. The branch president here is great! He's a lawyer and has a great family! We had dinner at their house last night with the senior couple that is serving here. (they are the Jensons. WE LOVE THEM! They are the best!) While we were there we were under a Tornado Warning so we had to go down to the basement and wait till things calmed down. Quite an adventure for my companion who didn't really know what a tornado was... haha!

 

Well I hope things for Sarah get better and that Rex's visa gets figured out. Sis. Trussel was telling me that one of the elders she knows, his mom went and did the visa process herself and was able to get it before everyone else. She also said that because people were doing that it made it harder for everyone else too! haha! But if the lady from the church said you could do it THEN GO FOR IT!!! Let me know when you're going, I want to fast with you guys. I hope he's getting excited and is preparing! He hasn't emailed me in a while, so I don't know how he's doing. I loved the pics of Haleigh and Cory and Steph! They look so happy! I miss you guys all so much! I am happy though that I'm out of the super homesick phase, Sis. Lemmon is having a really hard time with it. She breaks down at random parts of the day and needs a hug... I feel bad for her. Hopefully things start picking up here soon and we get busy and she won't have time to think about it.

 

Well I love and miss you all! I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Rachel

 

P.S. I'm sending a couple pics. my new comp, a buddy of mine that was in my first district, some families that I said goodbye to in Massillon and some other stuff...