January 25, 2010
Dear Family,
I feel so bad; I did not know Tyrel passed away. I did not get any mail for the last five days I was in the MTC. What happened? I feel so bad for Aunt Trudy and Uncle Steve. It sounds like the service was really good. Also I think the send off was perfect, I think that is just the way he would want to go. I will keep them in my prayers.
I did get to hear L Tom Perry when I was in the MTC, so that was really powerful and inspiring.
Well, I made it! I’m in Lynn Haven, Florida. My companion is Sister Hall; she is from Los Angeles, California.
I felt so bad I didn’t get to talk to you again and I only talked to you for half a second. We were so busy on Tuesday; I woke up at 2:45am and went until 7:30pm, when I arrived the weather was perfect. Sunny and warm. We went to the mission home which was so pretty. It was a big red brick house very southern. We had dinner with President and Sister Summerhays. They are really nice people. President gave me an interview. I was feeling so exhausted, overwhelmed and stressed and he could tell. He gave me a blessing, that was just what I needed and it calmed my nerves and comforted me. I crashed pretty early that night after we went through and did orientation stuff. I woke up the next morning and got ready pretty quick.
It was a foggy morning so it was kind of creepy, but beautiful at the same time. The Elders loaded up my stuff and we had an hour drive to the transfer spot. Guess what? My companion didn’t show up again. A member dropped her companion off (Sister Hess) and picked me up. It was about a 45 minute drive from there. My companion Sister Hall was at a members house. She had been up all night long with her companion (Sister Hess) throwing up and the runs. Nasty! I met her when she walked out of the restroom from throwing up. Not the best first impression. I spent all of Wednesday at a member’s house going in and out of sleep from being so bored and watching my companion sleep. I tried to study, but that didn’t happen because the member had 3 small kids, so they were up in my business.
Thursday was kind of lame too. We planned all morning (10 to 3) for the week. We did have an amazing storm. It started sprinkling on Wednesday afternoon. Rained into the night, but in the morning it was poring for hours. They have massive ditches here that were flooded. It was so awesome, I loved it! I did get to go visit a less active that night and she took us to dinner. She was a lot of fun. I hope we can get her back because she knows the gospel is true. She just says she’s lazy, so we’ll keep working on her.
On Friday, we spent the morning at the library covering books. I talked briefly to another less active that day. We went to dinner with our district leader and some members. I was fun and all, but a total waste of time. We spent like 3 hours with them, it was pretty ridiculous.
On Saturday, we don’t have a car. The Panama City Elders get our car. We had an appointment at 10:00am with the Hopkins. They are investigators that have investigated on and off for years. The bishop came with us. We spent like 21/2 hour with them. We gave them the Word of wisdom lesson. John said he would throw his coffee pot away that day. Then, the most amazing part was at the end John said he was ready to be baptized. It was really amazing. His wife isn’t ready yet, but she’ll get there and is really supportive of John. Well, we biked like 8 miles total to get to and from the Hopkins. My companion is still pretty much weak from being sick, so we went home and she slept the rest of the day. I was able to get some good studying in, but I got bored after 3 hours. It was rocky.
Sunday, Church, a little overwhelming cause I couldn’t remember very many names. It wasn’t too small of a ward, but not as big as your ward. The people were really nice though. After church, we had planned to go tracking. We, that didn’t happen, we returned some stuff to a member, then we visited the Williams. They are an older couple like maybe early 70’s. Well, they are major quilters. Betty has a ton of machines and a sewing room mom would love. In the room, I could visibly see like 12 machines. She had 2 old singers that were in perfect condition that she used all the time and 4 mini singers that were just on display. Also, had 2 serger’s and a touch screen embroidery machine. It was pretty intense! Even Andy her husband has started making quilts, which is funny because he is a total gun/outdoors kind of guy. He really enjoys it; they told us they would help us make a quilt, so that’s pretty fun. We went to the Peel’s for dinner and they are about the same age as the Williams. We spent way to long there.
I really do love Florida! The biggest down fall is the wind. When it blows from the south a horrible smell comes through. There is a paper mill to the south and it smells like burnt beans, it makes me sick to my stomach. Also, it’s mostly all country in my entire mission. I feel like I’m in an extended Ford Commercial. It is not a very big city, compared to home. Our area is pretty big; it takes about an hour to get to the very top of our area. It’s kind of funny because my apartment isn’t in my area, it’s in Panama City. I love the area because I can smell the ocean when it rains or the wind blows just right. We do have some of the bay in our area, so I love driving across the bridge so I can see the water. Our district likes to do things together on P-day, so we plan on doing a picnic on the beach, can’t wait for that!
I HAVE BAD NEWS!!!!! We have gators in my area. We rode our bikes past one of the ponds were there is definitely gators. Lucky, they are still hibernating. Not looking forward to that
A little info on my mission, we only have 11 sister Missionaries, there aren’t a lot of us. I think my trainer will teach me a lot.
I’m so glad dad is doing well; I heard you had some crazy rain.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!
Love Kelsie
P.S. P-day is on Monday
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