So my MTC companion Sister Sprouse and I had to get up at 3 am Tuesday morning to make it to the bus at 4. from the bus we went to the train and rode it for about an hour with 40 other missionaries and ALL of our luggage. From the train we had 3 minutes to get everyone AND the luggage off to get on the tracks to get to the airport. It was just about the most stressful thing I've done since I've been out here haha
I got to Arizona and instantly fell in love with it. It's extremely hot and flat, but it's so beautiful. There were 15 new missionaries that came here with me. We all climbed into vans and went to the Gilbert, Arizona Temple to walk on the grounds. It was so amazing and beautiful..and in my personal opinion it's more beautiful than the Salt Lake Temple. On Wednesday I found out who my trainer was. SISTER CONDIE!! She's been out for about 6 months, and Queen Creek was her first area as well. I cover 3 wards: Cloud Creek, Creek Side, and Terra Ranch. I absolutely love my mission president and his wife!! They are so amazing, loving, and welcoming. Our Stake president's wife picked us up to take us to our apartment and guess who it was? Sister Zemp's aunt! Saturday night Sister Condie and I went to the Armstrongs for dinner. They told us they lived in Corona, California their whole lives..and guess who they know? The Saunders family. This world is way too small.
We wake up at 6 or 6:30 am every morning to workout and twice a week we have zone sports, which is where the elders and Sisters play sports together, which is kind of dangerous because guys are super rough. We come back to the apartment at 7 (or 8 after zone sports) and get ready for an hour. After that I have an hour of personal study from 8-9, then an hour of companionship study from 9-10. We go out and tract for an hour after that. Then lunch, visit less active members, and we usually have 3 or 4 meetings a day since we cover 3 different wards. So it's never a boring day! Also we ALWAYS get fed because at least one of each of the members here have a son or daughter on a mission..which is good and bad. We'll see how much weight I gain in a month.
We have a car, but we can only drive about 30 miles each day. We bike a lot to save our miles for the hot days of the month which sounds like it makes sense, but when you bike on a 95 degree day, you start to wonder how hot it really gets if a 95 day it's considered hot. On Friday I biked 5 miles and didn't even break a sweat, fall off, or die. I got a such a sore bottom that it hurts to sit and a huge amount of dust in my shoes, but other than that it was fabulous! Who knew that I could ride a bike or love cardio? That's a miracle. A pair of my shoes already have a hole starting to break out. Which shows how much walking and stuff we do. There are a lot of nice neighborhoods in my area, but they're spaced out by cotton and dust fields and stuff.
As much as I love my area, my trainer, and the mission it's hard not being in the MTC and seeing familiar faces every day. It's hard being in the field where not everyone knows I'm a missionary and not everyone is nice to me. We've had a door slammed in our face already, but we have also picked up a new investigator. I love being here. I love the power of the prayers that I feel, and the miracles that I have already seen. I love the people and ALL of the members that I have come to know. There are a lot of less active members to visit here which I like a lot, but it's hard to talk to them because they usually don't want to talk about the church. I hope everyone has a fabulous week!
The first picture is of Sister Condie and I in Arizona and the rest of them are from the MTC! One of them was from my second week zone and the picture completely explains how dysfunctional we were.
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