The beginning of the week was pretty slow- my comp was taking it easy getting back on her feet. Wednesday she was finally feeling up to getting out of the house! We went and knocked on some doors that day! We don't do a ton of knocking in this area, we never have the best of luck. We knocked on this one lady's door and we asked if we could share a scripture with her. We shared the scripture then right after she said "Do yall know what BIBLE stands for? Basic Intructions Before Leaving Earth" then she shut the door. That was her way of telling us she knows what Bible stands for so she's all set haha.

We had a lesson over the phone with a guy named Matthew. We asked if we could start off the lesson with a prayer and before we could say amen he said "Well from the calculations in my head from hearing your prayer I would say you are some decendant of Christianity." (In the most know it all nerdy voice ever) We could tell he doesn't want to grow spiritually, but intellectually. He told us he is a Discordian and believes in the Greek Goddess of chaos. It was the weirdest lesson ever he definitely plays Dungeons and Dragons. We told him we could sit here all day and tell him what we believe in but it would mean nothing if he didn't pray and ask for himself. Then right then and there he prayed!! On the phone!! Instead of addressing the prayer to Heavenly Father he prayed to Yahway whoever that is lol. He asked Yahway if the things we were telling him are true. He downloaded the Book of Mormon app & has been reading it. He's a very interesting guy... he also believes Jesus was just a man not Christ. He was very understanding of everything we were telling him but he was throwing out Bible terms and history that I've never even heard of before. He's actually so annoying but he wants to keep meeting with us again.

I hate all the phone call lessons. People want to hear our message and meet with us but they want to hide behind a screen! A lesson over the phone just isn't the same.

We've been doing alot of Facebook work this week! Most missionaries hate the idea of Facebook and messaging random people and I was totally against it as well. Since my companions been down I've been doing alot of contacting on Facebook! Most of the time I get left on read, but recently I have had SO much success! It's cool to see how the Spirit can guide you with who to message and what to say to them.

We drove to one of our outer areas Saturday to Summerville, it's about an hour away from us. We only have the miles to go maybe once a month. It's hard to knock doors over there and say "Hey come to our church it's only an hour away!" & most people out there don't have cars. We went and visited a couple of people who used to be taught. We told our friend Nathainal (who we had been having phone lessons with because he lives so far) that we would stop by and bring him a Book of Mormon because he really wanted one and he didn't have a phone that could download the app. When we got to his house we realized we didn't put more BOMs in our car. We were so upset. We meant to put more in our car before we left but we got so busy we forgot. We had a couple of pamphlets in our car & we were so bummed we forgot. I decided to say a prayer that we would be able to use the resources we have to help Nathainal. We got out of the car and I looked in the back for a jacket and I saw a Book of Mormon under the jacket!! We were SO happy and we were able to give it to Nathainal. We read some of it with him and he's excited to read more of it on his own. He was the sweetest old man. The neighborhood he lives in was sooo sketchy tho. After this we decided to go knock doors at this sketchy apartment. The whole place smelled like weed. We knocked on this one door and the lady yelled " come in" & we said "we are the missionarys!" then she went silent and never came to the door. We should have just walked in 

The missionaries before us used to host a ward "game night" where they play pickleball and board games Saturday nights. My companion and I decided to start it up again. I baked cookies and we went early to set up. We texted all the members in the ward. 1 person showed up. This sweet mom came by herself so embarrassing we are never hosting anything again haha

Sunday I spoke, following me two new converts spoke about their experience joining the church and how the missionaries helped, then my companion spoke. It was a powerful sacrament meeting I cried the whole time. The lady that spoke after me said she joined the church at 24, and her dad had warned everyone in their family to stay away from the Mormons and whoever joined the church would be disowned from the family. She started meeting with the missionaries in private because she LOVED the plan of salvation. She ended up getting baptized and she told her family. Her dad said "Well we don't have a daughter anymore" and she went a year with no family. Her dad got really really sick and decided to have her over for Thanksgiving but wouldn't speak to her. Eventually on his death bed he told her he was sorry for everything, and that he wishes he would of listened to the missionaries that came by. He asked his daughter to get his temple work done for him. It was the saddest story I'd ever heard but it was so so good. Brother Scott spoke next, he was the new convert that came to the temple with us (who had an awful experience). I don't know why they asked him to speak he had no idea what he was doing. He didn't know if he was supposed to sit on the stand or anything. He didn't have anything prepared. He was SO scared. I feel awful they should have a rule where new converts don't have to speak!! The Bishop shook our hands after the sacrament meeting with tears in his eyes it was so sweet

A boy moved into our area who was just recently baptized. He's a 21 year old boy and I think he might have a little autism. We researched his history and he hasn't come to church in forever & hasn't done any of the new member lessons. The elders that baptized him made a note on his records that "he's a ladies man and killer with the ladies" haha. He told us we can come by tomorrow, but he wants to keep it a secret. He doesn't want his fiance to know about it. He also wants to see us in person to see if we are pretty.......

 Update! We had a lesson with him. We are SO mad that the Elders baptized him. They just did it to say they had a baptism. He has zero understanding of anything. He had no idea what a prophet was & has never heard of the Plan of Salvation. We are re teaching him everything & hes coming to church Sunday. We've had to pick up alot of the Elders pieces. Anyways he was a weird kid, he told me he's in Cobra Kai and he wants us to come to his tournament on Saturday because he is fighting Daniel Larusso. I was trying so hard not to laugh. He also showed us some of his moves. 

I love & miss you all. I hit two months and this has been the longest two months of my life haha. I hope it just gets faster from here. 16 more to go...

Thursday we were able to go to the temple with a new convert in our ward, Curtis! It was his first time and he had all of his family names ready. His brother was a member of the church and always tried to get Curtis to read the Book of Mormon. He passed away of cancer and after he died Curtis decided to explore the church his brother was apart of. It was super cool because Thursday was his brothers 28th birthday and Curtis told us his brother would be so happy because he always wanted Curtis to go to the temple. He also got to baptize for the first time!! He baptized me and he was so proud and happy.

We also invited another newish convert to come do baptisms as well. He's an older man & we asked him if he's ever done baptisms before. He said "I've tried" and we weren't sure what that meant. We quickly figured out what that meant in the font later haha he had zero mobility and could not bend back to be baptized. We had 2 different priesthood holders try. He would not go down!! He was fighting it but when we kept asking him if he wanted to stop he said no. The person baptizing him seriously had to shove him down it looked so painful. I hope he had a good experience  Anyways we found out later that he has a huge fear of drowning and we felt SO bad. It seriously looked like he was being drowned he would not go under.

Friday my comp got surgery! I was in the hospital all day long it was awful. The doctors gave me a huge long list of everything I need to do to take care of her. So instead of a full time missionary I'm a full time nurse! I have to wake up in the middle of the night to give her medicine. I don't mind though, I feel bad for my companion I bet it's hard to get surgery being so far away from home. This is her first ever broken bone and first surgery! The surgeon wore scrubs and cowboy boots. It was definitely the most Tennessee you can get haha

I did exchanges so I wasn't stuck inside all week taking care of my companion. I went with one of the sister training leaders and part of her area covers Memphis! We went to go visit one of her friends, Marianne and when we got there my comp told me to take off my tag because there is alot of anti people living in Mariannes apartment. They tell her that we don't belive in Jesus and that we are "devil worshipers." We walked in and all her friends were watching us walk into her apartment it was pretty intimidating. She told us that she doesn't care what her friends think, because she knows what she feels when she learns from us and tells us how happy it makes her. The deal we have with her is if we teach her a lesson she teaches us some sign language afterwards haha. 

Sunday was crazy. My comp was still down and so I had to cover two areas! We were running all around and we went to 4 different wards. We went to the singles ward and it was pretty interesting. The single adults are all pretty odd and theres this guy named Ollie who always tries to get my snapchat or messanger so he can send me his rap music he makes. He also told me i am very beautiful haha. We also had 3 different meetings and I couldn't think straight because it was fast Sunday and we were at church ALL day. It's so intimidating meeting with the Bishops & ward leaders every week because they just write down everything we say. Sundays are probably our busiest day. I thought Sundays were a day of rest but not for missionaries. It honestly feels like we aren't keeping the sabbath day holy because we work all day. The only thing we do differently is not go to the gym.

I love you all !!

On Pday we went to a huge bass pro shop with our district! After we walked around downtown Memphis, got lunch and played pickleball. My district is super fun and they r all really good at pickle! It's weird because they are just normal teenage kids but then the second someone asks us who we are they have a switch they can flip in one second. It's definitely weird seeing the Elders flip their switch because they are immature teenage boys then they can turn into these spiritual men in 1 second haha. 

Tuesday night we went to dinner at a members house. It was a grandma and grandpa and they said they've fostered 79 children. So crazy and they've adopted 12 of those kids. They are white but they adopted all black kids and half of them are drug babies. At dinner the grandparents were telling us that both of their parents were very racists and if they knew they had adopted black children they would be disgusted. Then they started ranting to us about how black people are so lazy and that none of them want to work and they just rely on the government for everything. They kept saying "that's what black people do!!!" The grandma also told us she never saw "the blacks" until she was 30 years old. My companion and I were literally in shock because all their black kids were around the dinner table and it was so awkward we didn't know what to say. Member meals can be so awkward 

Wednesday we got to go visit our friend Steve! He LOVES us and he loves our lessons. He asked us to sign his book of Mormon next to our favorite verses. Towards the end of the lesson he started going off topic saying how pretty we were and that we were beautiful without makeup. Then he asked us if he wanted to date someone in our church could he if he wasn't a member? We told him yes then he told us if he had to pick one of us to date he wouldn't be able to choose because he likes us both and we were like uhhhhhhhhh Steve you're 50 years old !! Idk if he was just being nice or what but. He says he's wanting to get married in the temple but he doesn't want to go to church because "He hates buildings because he was in a prison building for 29 years". He told us the only fights he got in prison were when someone tried to interrupt his Bible study haha.

We went to the doctor again to get my companions cast off and doc told us she needs to get surgery? We are meeting with the surgeon next week and I'm hoping she doesn't have to get surgery because that means I'll be spending a lot of time at the hospital with nothing to do...

 

A member refered us to this lady who rents a house from him. He said she has a hard life and was let go from her job so she isn't working and we could stop by whenever! He told us he tried to send elders over a while ago and she opened the door and cussed them out. We were pretty scared but we decided that we have "sister privilege" and that won't happen to us. She told us to come inside- her house was filled with cigarette smoke, I was trying not to choke when i walked in. It also burned my eyes. I had just washed my hair and now my hair/everything I was wearing was covered in smoke. She told us she didn't like Mormons but she thought we were sweet and she would meet with us again. She also dropped the f bomb a couple times but then kept saying "excuse my french". Man she was pretty weird. Everyone we teach has some sort of trauma and we just have to listen to their life stories and it's so hard to focus and pay attention because we want to act like we care but also it's hard to cut them off and start talking about the gospel because they just want to trama dump on you. So basically 2/3 of our lessons are usually people trauma dumping

We had a lesson with Caraletus! He loves meeting with us and told us he knows he's supposed to be here right now meeting with us and that the Lord put us in his path. We taught him repentance and baptism. By the end of the lesson he told us we make him feel so good inside and that he can feel the spirit. He told us he wants to get baptized and that he found a church that will baptize him. We kept saying noooooo and we tried to bring up being baptized into our church and he didn't like the idea of "being baptized into a church" which is totally valid. We tried to explain you need to be baptized by proper authority and I don't think he really got it. Other than that it was a great lesson and the member we brought with us shared a powerful testimony! Having members in lessons is seriously so powerful because they can share their conversion stories and bare their testimony.

Every week we meet up with the Elders and Sister in our district. There are 6 of us here. We talk about our friends and any problems we are having and we all work together to figure out the best solution. We got lucky with our district the Elders are the zone leaders & the sisters are our Sister Training Leaders! They are such awesome missionarys. At the end of out meeting Elder Peugero the zone leader asked if anyone wanted a preistood blessing. My heart starting beating so fast and I felt prompted to ask for one. I didn't need one or anything but I felt like I should ask. The Elders put their hands on my head and Elder Peugero said everything I needed to hear. I've received many preistood blessing throughout my life but this was the most powerful one I've had. Elder Peugero was so inspired with what he was saying. I think the blessing was so special because I've been studying alot on preistood blessings and it is really cool that we have it on the Earth once again. The Elders take the blessings so seriously and hold the preistood so humbly because they know it's the Lord's power. Anyways super cool I didn't realize I needed one until he asked. I was scared to speak up but I'm so glad I did because it brought me so much peace and comfort.

Stake Conference was this weekend! We got to go to Saturday & Sunday session. The Saturday session was SO good. Every single person that spoke had the Spirit speaking through them. My companion and I were seriously bawling. The members here have such strong testimonies because most of them are converts. The spirit was so strong in the chapel. This moms story really stood out to me- she mentioned that shes been battling cancer for the past couple of years. She said that instead of praying for her circumstances to change, she prayed to have strength through them. She wasnt worried about herself, only worried about not being able to give her kids 100%. She said she prayed for specific things, such as healthy kids while she went through chemo so she didnt have to take care of sick kids. She also prayed that her 1 year old would be ok not needing as much attention from his mother. She told us her entire family got Covid and that no one had any syptoms! Also, her 1 year old was so mellow and never had tantrums and just wanted to snuggle his sick mom which was something she could give him. It was the sweetest story and really shows the love a mom has for her kids. I looked over at my companion and she was just SOBBING because she lost her mom to cancer. The last guy that spoke was an African American from Louisiana. The chapel was calm and quiet and he stood up and starting preaching !! He was yelling and screaming Amen and calling people out in the crowd. He definitely used to be a Baptist or something. We were trying not to laugh because it felt like we weren't at an LDS church anymore. He looked at me in the crowd and made me stand up in front of everyone and they handed me the microphone and I was seriously shaking. Anyways when the meeting ended we were talking to an investigator who came and that preacher came up to us and told her to stay close to us because 28 years ago the missionaries changed his life. It was really cool I think all the members thought his way of teaching was weird but all the investigators that came loved how he was teaching because that is what they are used to. He was a mission president in Louisanna which is super cool because he got to teach the missionaries how to "teach his kinda people."

We had a really good lesson with our friend Fabe. He's a 49 year old man who is recently divorced and is filled with guilt and reached out to us. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and really focused on faith and repentance. We were so unsure about what we were going to teach him we were leaning towards the Restoration. We prayed that the spirit would guide us with what to say. We started teaching and he told us we were touching him so much and he asked how we knew what to say to him because it was exactly what he needed to hear. The lesson was only supposed to be 30 minutes but it ended up being an hour long! He said HE KNOWS God led him to talk to us. My companion and I both said it was the most we have ever felt the spirit during a lesson Fabe is SO prepared to hear the gospel and I know he was feeling the Spirit. He told us he was baptized into the Catholic church at 1 years old but he keeps getting the impression that he needs to be baptized again. He's out of town so the lesson was over the phone but it's cool how the Spirit can speak even through the phone. This was also my first experience of having the spirit put words into my mouth! During our lesson I kept remembering scriptures I had read through out the week and quotes I had written down from stake Conference. He loved everything I was saying and kept saying we were speaking words that he needed to hear. In D & C 11:21 "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men."

This scriptures came true for me during this lesson and it was so cool to have my tongue be loosed.

That night we had a lesson with a 17 year old boy named Justin. His best friend is a member of the church and gave him a book of Mormon. He goes to seminary with his friend every morning at 6AM. He's really close with his best friends family. They invited us over for family home evening so we could teach Justin. Justin was super timid and nervous but by the end of the lesson he opened up. He told us his family raised him atheist and he said "I feel like a part of my life that has never been touched before is being touched." I wanted to cry !! We are going to go over every Sunday night to teach him little by little. I'm so impressed with this young boy reading the Book of Mormon. He marks his scriptures and writes down questions. He's a very mature 17 year old boy and I admire his friend for sharing his testimony with his friend. I also love the family that hosts us they are awesome! The mom and dad are so much fun and sitting in the living room with a family makes us feel a lot less home sick.

Guess who's waking up at 6AM tomorrow to go play pickleball  it's hard to get competitive that early in the morning but I'm glad we fit some time in to play haha. Elder Peugero and I are undefeated as of now!

I love you all !! Miss you guys so much ! 

 

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!