I've been a missionary for a month! This has been the longest month of my life haha. I now see what people mean when they say the days feel long but the weeks fly. We do SO much in a day so it feels like you've lived 10 lives by the time u hit your bed

I said goodbye to my family for a third time on Wednesday. The roads were awful on the way to the airport so I was running pretty late. I had 10 minutes to get from security to my gate so I sprinted as fast as I could. I barely made it before they shut the doors and I was dripping in sweat

On my first flight I sat next to former mission presidents, who has just been released. They served in Africa. It was pretty intimidating to sit next to them. One of the engines on our plane went out so we weren't able to take off for a while

I was soo exhausted and wanted to just sleep and chill at the airport but when you're a missionary EVERYONE wants to talk to u. Everyone was so nice but my social battery was not there

Also there was another Elder flying to Arkansas but he wanted nothing to do with me. He didn't want to talk and didn't sit next to me. He was soo immature and his parents definitely made him serve a mission. I asked him where his parents served and he had no idea lol. Anyways he didn't have money in the airport so I ended up buying him lunch then he started to get to know me.

On the second flight there was two empty seats next to this guy so I sat next to him. He was probably upper 20s. He immediately knew who I was and started talking to me. I assumed he was lds because he already knew who I was so I asked him if he had served a mission. He told me he was not lds. He was a Christian who studies other religions and picks them apart. He goes around college campuses explaining different religions. He talked to me the ENTIRE 3.5 hour flight. He just compared our religions and he asked to see my book of Mormon and my preach my gospel. He was asking me the hardest questions I seriously felt so dumb. He asked me "What if you read the Bible then God reveals to you that the Book of Mormon isn't true." My brain stopped working haha. He told me he admires the Mormon church though and that he used to have the missionaries over in college. He showed me his favorite scriptures in the Bible and I was able to answer alot of his questions and misbeliefs about our church. He told me that when he saw me walk onto the plane he immediately said a prayer that I would choose to sit next to him. He said he watched me decide where I would sit just hoping I would pick his row. I was soo shocked he told me that. He gave me his name and number and told me him and his friends would love to meet with us. He lives in little Rock. 

They assigned me to Memphis Tennessee so I'll probably never see him haha

My mission presidents picked me up and they are SO nice. They both just grabbed me and hugged me. I went in their car with them and they said normally they arent ever with missionaries alone so I got special one on one time with them. It was soo relieving to know that I got good mission presidents. We met up with other sisters and elders and we all went and got hibachi. It was soo yum

The roads here are super icy. In Utah it wouldn't matter but it never snows in Arkansas so they don't have snow plows to plow the roads. They can't send me to my area yet so I've been with these Spanish sisters for the first days. Most of their lessons are in Spanish so I have no idea what's going on. We went and read the scriptures with this mom and her 14 year old daughter who was baptized just the week before. I couldn't understand anything but the mom was crying reading the scriptures and I felt the spirit a ton. I could only say Hola and Adios but their family loved me and were so sad that I was getting shipped off to Memphis. A different member and her daughter took us to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and it was so yum! She was this VERY southern black lady. She told me I was too skinny and they needed to fatten me up. 

Anyways so I was with the Spanish sisters for two days and they just found out the lease was ending in their apartment in 24 hours so we spent the entire two days moving them. They had so much junk in their apartment it was awful. We had to move EVERYTHING. Take down all the bunk beds and rebuild them in the new apartment. It was so awful to spend my first two days in the field moving everything. Everyone kept apologizing to me saying that this is so unusual and my first couple of days shouldn't be like this 

Anyways Friday the elders drove me to Memphis! It was like a three hour drive and we just talked the entire time. They said Collierville (my area) is so boujee and that I'm very lucky. They said we will get fed every single day and that this is the wealthiest area in the mission. Apparently we are over two wards so we have to go to two churches every Sunday. And the second I met my companion she tells me I am speaking on Sunday !!!! Ur kidding me !! I am already so stressed out and so I was so annoyed by this. 

Our apartment is very old and sketchy. Our car on the other hand is a brand new Volkswagen and it is SO nice so it evens out. The church spoils us with our cars. My companion is the sweetest ever. She has only been out for 6 months but she is awesome. I was so relieved that my companion was a good one because I've had a rough start to my mission. She was in the exact same boat as me and has never wanted to go on a mission but then it kinda just happened. She has had a hard life though. Her mom passed away of breast cancer and her entire family left the church after. She told me all she has left of her mom is her journals so she makes it a priority to journal every night. When I got there all the sisters in our area took me to lunch! It was fun they are all super nice. 

I'm not going to lie I am so overwhelmed. Everything I know and am comfortable with is gone. I'm not allowed to ever be alone. My companion has to approve every text message I send. I'm not allowed to drive. I have to back up my comp even if we are in an empty parking lot in the pouring rain. We study 3+ hours a day. I'm hoping that with time I'll get used to everything. If I can keep up with this routine after my mission I will be the most productive person ever! It'll take alot of adjustment to get to that point though. I have no idea how some of my friends served a mission. It is TOUGH. I think my mission is especially strict though.

 I don't mean for this email to be me complaining the entire time haha. Just want to tell yall that this is not easy whatso ever. I don't know how I'm going to do this for 18 months but I know it will get alot easier. I haven't been able to actually get into the real work yet and I think that's where your motivation comes from. From getting to know the people and growing to love them. 

Everyone too is so southern. I'm screwed. I am for sure getting a southern accent weather I like it or not. Also all everyone wants to do is just feed you like crazy so I'm going to do everything I possibly can to not get fat. It's going to be a battle everyday. My companion says everyone makes you deserts. She also said everyone in this area lives in mansions so it's so intimidating to have dinner at their houses. She said alot of the members are from Utah, and the other half of members are converts. She says everyone LOVES the missionaries and always want to take care of us. The first day I was here we had two members drop us off treats and food. We can't really drive anywhere because of the snow so we are going to teach lessons online. Also we have to leave all our faucets dripping all day/night long so our pipes don't freeze. It's pretty cold here....

Our apartment has a really nice gym and pool. We got soo lucky I am so excited there's a gym. My companion also likes to workout everyday so I'm super excited about that. We only get 30 minutes to workout though so it's hard to really get a good workout in. If a male were to walk into the gym though we would have to leave. So I'm hoping we will get the gym to ourselves most mornings. Since I'm being trained I will be here for at least 3 months! I'll probably end up being in this area for 5ish months. Usually what happens is I'll be trained in this area then my comp will leave and another missionary will move in with me and I will show her all the members and the area.

The very first lesson I did was over the phone. We are stuck inside, President doesnt want us driving on these roads. Most of our friends (investigators) are African American. So they all have crazy names that idk how to pronounce. Some of the names I've heard so far: Kentoya, Cornisha, Kamarion, Ashtavious, Jaunterryal, Marvella, and Cleotha. I'm going to have the hardest time pronouncing anyones name. But we taught a man named Carletus the restoration. We had a member join us. We starting talking about prophets and Carletus went on a RANT. He asked us if we thought we were prophets. I was so lost but the member that joined us carried the lesson. I didn't say anything I just listened and stayed quiet. My companion is actually so awesome she responded to everything so well and he agreed to do another call in two weeks! I didn't think u could feel the spirit in a call but when my companion talked about the first vision we all felt the spirit SO strong.

Utah has churches around every corner, same here. Except none of them are Mormon churches. Our neighbor saw us and handed us a bunch of her old skirts and she told us that if her Southern Baptist daddy knew she was talking to us he would rise from the grave and smack her.

On Sunday we went to our two wards! I gave my talk in the first ward. Right when I finished my talk this huge family came up to me and hugged me and said they were related to Patsy Forester!! They said they had seen me on her Instagram and were hoping I would come to their area. So cool they r so awesome!! Such a small world. I almost started to cry when they were talking to me because it's the first thing that's really felt familiar for me in such a new place and time of my life.

I love the two wards. The two bishops are both so awesome and the members are all so kind. I'm excited to go to everyone's houses for dinner and get to know them better. Since we are over two wards every Sunday will be three hour church. I thought I would never have to do three hour church again but here we are haha.

 

The two wards are VERY different from each other. The first ward is full of all the classy rich people. The bishop is very proper and you can tell that alot of the members were from Utah. The second ward the bishop is very redneck and things are a little less organized. 

When I mentioned in my talk that I'm originally from Destin Florida one of the counslers told me that everyone in this ward vacations to Destin and that they basically "have callings there" because they go so much haha. Apparently Destin is only like 6ish hours from this area.

We went to a members house for dinner sunday night. They lived like 30 minutes away. The family has 9 children, they adopted two black kids and two disabled kids. The disabled kids are very very disabled. The little boy is 8 years old in a wheel chair and he can't respond or understand anything. The little girl is 11 years old and is completely deaf and blind. She also has a million other things wrong with her. She has to be fed through a tube and she throws things at everyone. She was actually very very scary looking I've never seen anything like it. She randomly throws things at the dinner table and she hit someone in the back of the head with a book at church today. She also wears a huge diaper and was just going #2 at the dinner table. Let's just say it was a very weird first family dinner...

After my comp and I decided to drive through one of the neighborhoods that alot of the members live in. It was SO nice. The houses were all so southern and huge. We are in a very very wealthy area but my companion says it makes it hard to teach people because everyone already has "everything they need." She told me I will learn to love the ghetto because those people are more receptive to hearing the gospel. 

We get alot of referrals online. Some of the people are very weird. This lady named Niki calls us all the time. She's 46 years old and just wants a friend. She's divorced with no kids and lives with her parents. She told us her last church didn't like gay people and asked us if ours did because her husband turned gay and left her. Very interesting I don't think she really wants to hear about the gospel she just wants a friend. 

Sorry for the long email! Since I can't message anyone till Monday it helps me alot to add onto this email throughout the week so it feels like I am talking to you guys. No hard feelings if you don't read the whole thing. I would LOVE it if you guys emailed me throughout the week though! You guys can email/message me whenever u want I can only respond Mondays though. 

Love u all! I would love it if everyone emailed me back and told me about their week/sent me pictures

Love Sister Reeves 

Here's a little update about my first couple of days at the mtc since today is my first Pday!

The first two days were roughhh. The mtc is definitely not for the weak. We get up at 6:30 and are gone all day until 9:30 pm. We aren't allowed to spend more than 5 minutes in our rooms during the day. They always want us to be out and about. Lights out is at 10:30 but we always end up going to bed earlier because we are exhausted. My comp and I are complete opposites. I like to workout she never has. I like dogs she likes cats. I'm social she's not. I like boys she's never had a crush or been on a date. Even tho we are so different we get along! I really like her. She's so type A, always on time and schedules everything out. So I literally just follow her around because this campus is huge and I have no idea where I'm going. We've also bonded because we were both so overwhelmed the first couple of days so it was nice to know we were both in it together. Our district had a meeting with the president and his counselors and it was super intimidating. They interviewed us in companionships then prayed about what positions they should assign to us. My comp and I were hoping we would be off the hook but we were assigned sister district leaders! We were so mad because we were already so overwhelmed. We are in charge of Sunday, relief society, musical numbers, and hymns.

Food here was so bad at first. I decided to go for the salad bar but I saw a fly in my salad and lost my appetite. I've found better stuff to eat so the foods getting a little better. 

I've also met so many people that I know! I've ran into 3 people that I went to high-school with so far and a couple of people I have met in college! I haven't met anyone going to my mission though. Today one of my friends that I met at BYU told me he got reassigned to Little Rock! I think we will be on the same flight so I'm excited to have someone I'm familiar with come to my mission. 

I'm in a room with four girls. We have bunk beds. Last night I was telling the girls a story from my dad's mission and two of the girls thought it was cool. The other girl not so much. She woke us up in the middle of the night and told me I really scared her and that we all needed to say a prayer together. Lol the story wasn't even scary but I think she's just super sensitive. I apologized tho for scaring her but it wasn't even a scary story. Also that same girl sleep talks at night and she hasn't showered once since being here! I feel like I should say something to her because in the missionary handbook it says to shower everyday. But idk how to say it without offending her. 

The first day we got here we saw a fight! It was between an elder and a poly sister. He made her mad and she dumped her soda on his head it was funny lol and they got in a lot of trouble.

I LOVE my teachers. They teach everything so well and keep us engaged so it's not boring. I feel like I've learned the most I've ever learned in my life. But there is still SO much to learn. I can't even imagine being a missionary without preach my gospel, it seriously has every thing u need to know and it probably one of the most interesting books I've ever read

Also I thought covid was way over but apparently it's going around at the mtc so alot of ppl are wearing masks. So annoying feels like 2020 all over again.

I met a girl from Ukraine. She said she moved here to escape the war and ended up converting to the church. And now she's on a mission. Her family is still back in Ukraine. Also one of the boys in my district tried to kill himself with his gun, he said he held the gun to his head then pulled the trigger and his gun jammed. He said because it jammed that was his answer that he needed to serve a mission. Kinda crazy what u can learn from other people.

OK I'm tried of typing but I love u all! Just had to send a little update bc I know my family is probably curious. I'll try to send an email every week but we are so busy so let's see how well I keep up with that haha

Here are some pictures!