05/05/14

Wow has it been one crazy week! I went from the biggest area in the mission where there was NO civilazation to Lakewood West IN CLEVELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is a tiny area right on the lake! I love it here so so so so so much! It is gorgeous. Huge houses EVERYWHERE instead of the trailor parks and farms I was used to in St. Marys. It has been a VERY busy week and I'm still not even unpacked. hahaha! But it is so great! there are 6 of us living in an apartment together right down the hallway from all of the mission office Sisters. It is really crazy trying to all get ready in the morning, but we make it work. In the morning for excersize we run to the pier and then spend some time out on the rocks and dock. I LOVE IT! It reminds me of home. It so beautiful to watch the sun come up and you can see the Cleveland sky line from the pier. I love it! I absolutely love my new companion, Sis. Hawkins! She is so great! She is 6 feet tall, very quiet, so funny, from Utah, and just awesome! She is exactly what I need right now. Most of my companions in the past have been very bold, in your face, intense, which is fine! They were wonderful! But after leaving St. Marys being so hard for me it is nice to have someone who is quiet and just nice. I really like her. 

 

I am living with Sis. Gardner who I lived with in Massillon, and her companion is Sis. Gannon who was in my district in St. Marys for a while. We also live with Sis. Mitchell who I have been on exchanges with and her companion Sis. Byers who is recently new to the mission. So we have a lot of fun. I really like it here and I feel like this is where I need to be. The Lord is so aware of us and knows us so well. It is such a blessing to be here! This was Sis. Dahle's first area, so she's pretty excited to hear that I'm serving here!

The only way to describe the past week would be fun. We've just had so much fun. I've met some pretty interesting people here. There is this one less active lady that we teach that loves anything that is an animal or insect or something like that. she's got tons of plants all over her apartment and she has these HUGE ants that crawl all over everything. it was so gross.... Then we went to another less active's apartment who made me a little uncomfortable. He owns a lemozine service and so he is very friendly and touchy. I didn't like that. He shook my hand a bit too long... They fed us this awful thing called Easter Cheese. All it is is milk and egg cooked and then strained and formed into a ball. .... not pleasent. But they loved it. We also have met a few active members who are nice and welcoming. Church was interesting yesterday. I'm used to the branch where the most people we've had is 53 and then I came here and we have a huge ward where I'm pretty sure the primary is the same size as the whole branch. So it was different. And they weren't as welcoming and friendly as the branch was, so that was kind of sad. But they have a lot more to do than the branch members do.

 

Not much else to report yet. Sorry I don't have any pictures yet, we've been too busy this week. But I'll make sure and get some to you next week!!!

 

I hope everyone has a good week! Love you all!!!
Sis. Chapman