Dear family,
Holy cow! I am in my first area! It has been such a good 3 days of learning and growing. Monday morning I woke up at 330 with the girls in my room and we finished packing and boarded the the bus at 5. I sat with Sister Christensen and next to us was Sister Ellett and Sister Eldredge. Can I just say I miss all the girls in my district from the MTC and also Sister Hale and Sister Renslow! I am so grateful I got to know them before we came into the field. Anyway. So we landed around 10:30 Utah time and thats when it hit me... that this is really happening. All the things we were being taught in the MTC and everything they tried to teach us is all needed NOW. As we got off, us girls went straight into the restroom to fix ourselves and try and help eachother stay calm and not freak out (cry actually) We came back out and gathered with the others, which there were 26 of us entering the Portland mission on Monday, and we saw President and Sister Morby! It was an amazing day! President Morby is definitely a stick to the rules president but I love it! He is such a great man and I already have so much respect for him! Sister Morby is very loving as well! After taking all of us over to the temple and getting some pictures, we headed to the stake center by the temple and had a quick lesson on the rules in the mission field and things we need to remember. At 2 we had the nerve racking experience of meeting our trainers! My trainer is awesome though and I love her already! her name is Sister Poulson and she is from Salt Lake. She will be leaving in June to go back home so in May after my 12 weeks of training she will go back to the Visitors Center, where she was originally called to, and finish up the last month of her mission. President Morby doesn't like having the new missionaries stay in the mission home that first night, I dont know if it is because they have missionaries leaving on those transfers as well or if he just likes us to get out and get to work, but thats what we did; We went out and got to work!
So... My first area is about an hour and a half from Portland. I am in a small town called Rainier, up at the top of the state. We have 4 towns that we cover. Rainier has I believe 2 gas stations in it and a few small restraunts by our apartment. Just picture like Parowan or Beaver without the grocery stores in it and that is the size of Rainier. It is so small. We actually have to go out of our mission to go grocery shopping because there is no where in our area to shop. Its pretty crazy. Our apartment is right off the main road and across from us is the Columbus River. I'll send a few pictures of that. The other 2 towns are about a 15 minute drive from our apartment and we cant go tracting too easy there because they are all farming communities. Clatsanie is the name of another town we cover, which is also 15 minutes away, and they are the size of Fillmore. It has a Safeway there but because it is so expensive we aren't suppose to go there. Anyway, I'm pretty much in the farming communities right now but I am loving it! It is so green here and my first day it was sunny :)
I want to tell you now about my first real day here. Because we had to drive an hour and a half back to Rainier we didn't get any tracting or teaching appointments in once we left the Transfer meeting, so Tuesday was my first real day. After personal Study and companionship study we had my first district meeting. There are two other companionships in our District and they are Elders. after that we had 4 teaching appointments! Let me tell you, I was soo nervous! but during companionship study we did a role play of how to teach the lessons for that day and it helped ALOT! our first family was the Aberle's. They are less active and their youngest son just moved back home from college. he is 22 and likes to talk about video games during the lessons. After their house we went tracting for about a half hour until our next appointment and guess what.... I got an appointment with a lady named Sandy!! She has been looking around for religions because the catholic church kicked her out for asking questions. next was our 93 year old investigator, Elenore. She is very stubborn, kinda like grandma Tony and thinks that if you believe in Jesus Christ then nothing else matters. her son is a member and she is very frustrated that he referred her to us :) she will be a fun one to teach :) After dinner we went and taught Dusty. he is 10 and his sister Caelyn was baptized before i got here. he is really unsure about religion but i think it is because his dad wont have anything to do with it.
Anyway, Sorry this is such a long email but I wanted to tell you everything! I am loving it so far and we have our first baptism on Saturday and one on the 9th of March! Sister Poulson said that this part of the mission was shut down for awhile and just opened back up in November or December. Everyone is so excited and ready to hear what we believe in here and the mission is having alot of success! I am excited to go teach Sandy on Tuesday as well. Technically I am not suppose to count her as an investigator yet but I am just so excited!
A few questions for you guys now, How is soccer going for Jaden? Did he make the team? ;) and are the guys flocking around Kelci like normal? I hope everything is going good and I miss you guys so much! I loved getting tylers email and I cant wait to hear back from him. I dont know if I should email him or just write him. Thank you mom for the treats and my bedding! I loved getting the cute sayings on them! you are the best!!!
K I better go. My P-day is usually Monday but this week it is Wednesday. So you will hear from me again Monday ok.
LOVE YOU GUYS SOOO MUCH!
sister stone :)
scripture of the week. 2 Nephi 31.
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