Mount Vernon Area

Hi!

I am proselyting in the Mount Vernon area. It is a huge area! It covers so many cities. It is; however, the most diverse of all of northern Virginia. There are tons of apartments (mostly African Americans, Africans- mostly from Ghana, and Hispanics) and they are the ones who listen to our message- but they do not follow-up on their commitments. We have invited them to read select passages from the Book of Mormon and come to church- but they never do! It is so frustrating. A ton of them also cancel appointments or shorten the lesson time without notice. We also proselyte in neighborhoods that have HUGE homes but they rarely listen to us. They usually yell from the other side of the door: "Not interested." I know that it will get better though.

I had dinner with Hallie's brother and sister-in-law and their children. Oh my goodness, they are so nice. Hallie's brother is hilarious; he made us laugh the entire time. They invited us to have dinner with them often but I do not know how often we will because Sundays are the best proselyting day in this area.

We went to the temple on Monday. Which is rare for us because we live pretty far from the temple (traffic is crazy). One of Sister Olsen's former investigators took our her endowments. It was wonderful. It was so peaceful and really helped us a ton because four of our investigators cancelled the appointment and it just gave us a boost of confidence.

The Dansko shoes that we bought hurt my feet really bad so we are going to find a store that sells cute walking shoes. I also have to get other cute shoes because the members in the ward are well-to-do and they critique our clothes and shoes all of the time. It is so frustrating. Also, I have to get more garments because our p-day changes a lot as we switch areas. But other than that I am okay.

I miss you all so much!

Arrival in DC

After arriving early in DC (we beat the mission president to the gate, and his group met us in baggage claim), we got packed up, headed to the mission home for a meal and rest, and the following morning headed for Mt. Vernon. At the transfer meeting, we met our new companions.

With Mission President and Sis. Albright

Mt. Vernon (home of George and Martha Washington) is a special place of historical significance, both to our country and to the mission.

Trainer-Trainee Meeting

Sister Olsen and Sister Evans

MTC Photos

Here are some pictures sent from the MTC. Enjoy!

I am pointing at DC.

Sis. Jeppson (my companion). She is from Vegas. She is so nice and sweet.

Front, L to R: Sis. Kristine Owens (UT), Sis. Merilee Goates (Canyon, UT), Elder McGoffin (Texas), Elder Andrew Case (Sacramento, CA), Sis. Julia Jeppson (Las Vegas, NV), me.
Back, L to R: Elder Bergman (Kaysville, UT), Elder Matthew Hodgson (CA), Bro. Jeffery Widfeldt, Elder Shane Riggs (Arizona).

My Zone.

P-day

So I leave on Wednesday! I am so excited and nervous. My flight leaves at around 9am. This morning we went to the temple as a zone. It was so amazing. Life here is crazy. Sorry I do not have a lot of time. I miss Michigan so much but I am happy to be going to DC. I feel like I have been here forever. It is so crazy. I love you and the children. All of our "investigators" Keon, Joe, and Kexin have been baptized! They said that we were really good. I don't know if that's true- I will find out soon enough. I miss you.

I am writing too fast and haven't collected my thoughts. Thank you so much! My roommates and I loved the donuts and I love the snacks.

Quick Update

It has been quite a learning experience here in the MTC. I have really learned so much about myself and the people here. My district, zone, and teachers are so amazing. Two districts in our zone, and another one that have the same gym time as me, are leaving tomorrow. They are going to Toronto Canada, Washington state, Saint Louis Missouri, and Houston Texas. It is so sad to say goodbye to them but I am glad that they get to go and serve. Tomorrow we get 2 Cebauno Districts who will be in my zone (16 missionaries- but only one sister). It is so exciting. This past week we got another district of 9 elders in our zone. They are so funny. I am learning a lot about teaching with the Spirit. I had a mini breakdown the other day because I just could not find the words to say to an investigator. I was too busy thinking about what to say to listen to the Spirit; however, my teacher (Brother Widtfeldt) really helped. He is so awesome. After that the day went good. We did the temple walk yesterday and took tons of pictures since everyone that we met our first week is leaving.

Oh today we went to the temple and I did Inititories for the dead. The temple is so big on the inside. Anyway it was great. We went as a zone and we took the new elders and it was great to talk to them afterwards.

First Impressions of the MTC

I am here in the MTC. Unfortunately I just found out from the Bishop that we can only email family so I cannot email my branch but I will send letters! The MTC is awesome. I really love it here. I just got back from the Provo Temple. I did endowments for a woman from the Netherlands. The temple is beautiful on the inside.

My first five days with Kaili as a missionary was great. She really was my companion (although we did not sleep in the same room). She was a trooper getting up at 6:30am with me and going to bed at 10:30pm. I went shopping and got some cute skirts. They also took me to really nice restaurants and them Kaili drove me to the Manti temple and we did baptisms for the dead! They live about 2 1/2 hours from that temple so that was really nice of her. The temple is out in the middle of nowhere but it really does look amazing both on the outside and the inside. It sits on this hill and just looks amazing.

I went into the MTC on Wednesday and from the beginning there was no relaxing. I got my badge and then it was off to meet my companion and then off to start training. Sister Julia Jeppsen is from Las Vegas Nevada (Henderson area) and she is amazing. There really is this amazing Spirit that she has. Since being here we have already taught two investigators (our teachers but they really do play the role). It was amazing. We get to teach other investigators on Tuesday (three investigators who will be ours for the duration of our training in the MTC). They are not LDS but they are actors. Some people have ended up really getting baptized afterwards (this is the pilot program that I wrote you about). We are they very first ones to do this since they have changed it.

The food here is awesome. Our district is awesome. Our zone is awesome. Our Branch (which is our zone and the Branch Presidency is awesome). I just love it here. I have such wonderful roommates.  oloveyou.