I am officially in Ohio. Today is my one week anniversary of entering the mission field. Tomorrow
will be my companionship anniversary ;) My comp is Sister Nielsen from
Idaho! She has been out for 16 months, so I am her last companion! She
"dies" here in the Cincinnati area (that is mission lingo meaning that
it's her last area). So I was "born" in Cincinnati :) It's so crazy that
I'm in the actual city of Cincinnati, and not in like Indiana or
something. I thought I would go to Kentucky and be in some barren area.
Nope! I got the city.
So let's go over my week, shall we?
Monday: Woke up at 3:40 AM
to get packed and head to the airport from the MTC. It's so funny, we
got on this big tour bus, but they didn't even drive us all the way to
the airport. They drove us to the frontrunner station, and pretty much
sent us off to fend for ourselves. We had to take the frontrunner, with
all the luggage (luggage for 21 people), and then transfer to trax in
SLC, which then took us to the airport. It was so stressful. Once we got
to the airport, we had to check in. My luggage was under 50 pounds! My
prayers were answered. After security, we got to call home. I called my
dad first, and talked to Emory and him for a few minutes. Then I called
my mom (twice) and she didn't answer. I left her a voicemail of me
crying... haha. Then I called my daddy back so I could get my lovely
Sweden boy's phone number, and I called him even though he was at
school. Lucky for me, he was with Reilly! I got to talk to John, and I
guess just have Reilly hear my voice. The flight was almost 3 hours
long. I sat next to Sister Feil, who is related to some people I went to
Jr High with. I managed to fall asleep for a bit on the plane. When we
landed and got off the plane, you could feel the humidity! Ugh. We then
had to walk for like 15 minutes to get to baggage claim where I met my
mission president and his wife! President and Sister Porter. I was so
intimidated by the presidents assistants! They looked so old and wise,
hahahahaha. Anyway. Sister Porter loves pictures, so we took like 50 I
think. The Elders then helped all the sisters get their luggage, then we
walked like another 10 minutes to the cars. Sister Turpin, Sister
Breeze and I rode in the truck that pulled the trailer with our stuff.
That was fun! We rode with two assistants to the president, Elder
Seegmiller (From Kaysville! Also is home now) and Elder Pope (no idea
where he is from). Elder Seegmiller drove, and I feared for my life.
I'll skip all the dinner and mission home stuff and get to the cool
part. Elder Seegmiller and Pope had all the sisters pile into the van
later that night. Unfortunately Elder Seeghmiller drove again. They just
randomly (at least that's how it felt) drove us around. Then they
stopped and read D&C 60:6-- go read it NOW! The Elders told us to
think about how we were called here by God to serve. Then we started
driving even faster and crazier! They turned on the song that plays in
the Because of Him video. LOVE THAT SONG. They turned it ALL the way up.
We drove up this hill, and the music was so awesome, the spirit was
just screaming in my head that this was going to be the best 18 months
of my life.... and then...... BAM!!!!!!!!!!! The Cincinnati skyline!!
(bet you thought we crashed... nope! God is looking out for us) It was
SO BEAUTIFUL! It brought me to tears. The viewpoint is called like Echo
Park of something. Ahhhh it was so awesome! Something I will never
forget.
Tuesday:
Transfers! I got my trainer, as I said, Sister Nielsen! It was raining
super hard as we got my suitcases and took them to a members car. We
both fell asleep in the way to the members home! Missionaries aren't
allowed to drive themselves to transfer meetings, BTW. When we got to
her house, we put my stuff into our mission car and went to our
apartment. I got to experience the classic missionary backing out thing.
It's annoying (whoever isn't driving has to get out and direct the
driver when they back out). So we got to the apartment and ate. Then we
were off! Right into the work. I mostly just got to meet members that
day.
Well, I honestly can't remember what I did day to day. They all mesh together. So I'll just talk about my favorite people:
Stef
Roberts: He got baptized about 2 weeks ago. He called God Yahweh....
and he thinks that he's a prophet or something. He is also a "provert"--
professional pervert. But as time has gone on, he has been a lot
better. He just needs to think before he speaks. He is going to pass the
sacrament next Sunday, and he also really enjoyed conference!
Roberta: Potential Investigator. I don't know why I like her. I just have a good feeling about her.
Omartion:
He's a 13 year old kiddo. He started talking to us when we walked by
him waiting at the bus stop. We made an appointment to see him the next
day. When we saw him, we had a member, Abby Tensmeyer, with us. We tried
to teach the restoration, but that freaking brat won't sit down and
shut up!
Joey and Faith: Friends of Stef. Had a
lot of crap happen to them. They got robbed the other night, and Joey
got beat up a few months ago in Atlanta. They went to conference on Sunday
with Stef! They both liked it. Faith is freaking annoying. We tried to
teach the restoration, and she kept interrupting to talk about her
freaking kids. But on the other hand, Joey seems really interested. I
think we'll baptize him before Faith.
Maxine:
Member. Old. Grumpy. Always complains. But she does our laundry and
feeds us, so it's good. She is so opinionated. She will tell you what
she thinks no matter how mean. She said she wishes she was dead....
awkward. We told the story of Job one night and told her to be grateful
for what she has. She didn't seem happy!! Hahaha. She has a little
Cocker Spaniel or something, named Charlie. He is so old, just like her.
But he's nicer and cuter. We decided that we are going to start reading
the BOM with her three times a week.
Bro and
Sis Taylor: Bro Taylor is the Ward Mission Leader. He is so smart! He
knows how to actually help us too. I guess the last leader didn't help
much. His wife is so sweet too. They ahve the cutest little (big) house.
Sis Nielsen wants them to be her in laws. She doesn't even know their
son because he's on a mission, but she doesn't care. Sis Nielsen is cray
cray.
We have a lot of less actives in our
ward. If every less active was active, we would have to split into like 3
wards. It's the bishops vision to have that happen.
My
area, Cincinnati, is funny. One area is super ghetto, and then another
is super nice. We spend a lot of time in a place called Madisonville
(Ghetto....). This is going to sound horrible, but if a white person
opens the door, I get super sad. They are so mean here! If you want to
talk to anyone about God, it has to be a black person.... sad. Oh well!
The rich area of Cincinnati is called Indian Hill. DANG. Those houses
are nice!
SO MANY TREES. NO MOUNTAINS. ONLY
HILLS. All the trees gets kinda creepy at night. There are squirrels
everywhere! Also the bugs here are bad.
Well I
don't really know what to tell ya'll.... I'm doing well! I feel like
I've been here forever, but I haven't even been out for a month yet! I
hear after 3 months, it'll go by super fast. We'll see!
I
guess I'll share a scripture: We are reading the BOM as a mission, so
we read 5 pages a day. Right now we are in Mosiah. Mosiah 7:33
"But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart,. and put
your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do
this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out
of bondage." BOOM.
I have developed such a
greater appreciation for prayer. IT IS SO REAL. I pray like, no joke, 20
times a day at least. We do personal prayer in the morning, then
companionshp, then personal, then personal again, then comp, then comp
again. Then you bless your breakfast, then we pray before we leave, we
pray every time we get out of the car, during lessons, opening and
closing prayer during planning, personal before bed, and comp before
bed. OH MAN. That doesn't even count the prayers we say during
conference calls with our district and zone.
I
LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON. Fo' real. If you haven't read it, please do!
Also, if you read the Bible, the Bible proves of the Book of Mormon! So
if you doubt the BOM, first, read it. Then read it with the Bible. You
will believe! Trust me.
I challenge you all to
pray to know what may be stopping you from progressing closer to our
Savior and Heavenly Father. We should be striving everyday to be true
disciples of Christ.
I love you all! Please e-mail me!!
Peace.
$ister Fultzzzzzz (I put all the Z's because I need more sleep)
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