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| President Riggs, Sister Udall, Sister Riggs |
I am here in DC/Northern Virginia!! The first two days were crazy here! Traveling took all day pretty much, and there were 38 new missionaries total! They said that is the most they have ever had! DC is really diverse! It is way more diverse than LA in a lot of ways. There are just so many more people from different parts of the world here. One Elder was telling me that there are lots of people from Ghana. We even have an investigator from Ethiopia. Two of our investigators wanted an Arabic Book of Mormon, and another man that we met tracting the other day wants a Bermish Book of Mormon (he is from Bermuda). So there is an endless amount of different nationalities and it is way cool! We went to the mission home that night. There were so many of us! President Riggs interviewed all of us, which took him all night. He only had a few minutes with each of us, but he had us pretend to be our mom. Then he asked us, "Tell me about your daughter/son..." NOT FAIR! I hate talking about myself, but I just did my best to say what you would say, Mom. Hopefully I was true to what you would say, but who knows. That night we stayed at a members home. That was so sweet of them! The next day was transfers/I found out who my companion was and where I would be assigned! Well...my companion is Sister Hansen, and we are in the Great Falls ward. (She is from Vacaville, CA and it is so fun because we definitely have a lot in common. Funny story, on transfer day we were matching! I was wearing my red and navy shirt with my navy skirt, and she was wearing a navy shirt with a red skirt! It was meant to be!! haha) But my area covers Great Falls and part of Vienna. It is a pretty big area, but we have a car and are doing great! We live in a members home, with an older couple in the ward. They are both so sweet! I feel spoiled. They buy all the cleaning supplies for us, buy the milk, let us do our laundry at their home, etc. Like I said, I am spoiled. It is back a ways from the street with the forest surrounding us. So pretty! It is nice to be in a home.
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| Sister Udall and Sister Hansen |
The work is hard, but wonderful. We have a few investigators, but we are in the middle of trying to find more! We always are finding, but we definitely need more! We have also been working with members in the ward and those that don't come to church as much. It has been fun to meet everyone, although I am realizing how bad I am at remembering names! My companion is so good at that! She has an amazing memory and connects really well with people right off the bat. Church yesterday was a little overwhelming, but good! It was so nice to be in a chapel and a ward again. There are just so many names and faces, and I just want to know them all!! But it has only been a few days, so that will definitely come with time. I am just praying that my memory improves.
So some funny connection that I have made already! At our zone breakfast, an Elder Alfaro came up to me asking about Burbank. When I saw his name I totally recognized him! Diego Alfaro! It was so crazy to see him all grown up! He has been here since January I think. Our zone leader is from Kama, UT! His family owns a pizza place on main street in Kamas. He said once I get back I should come and visit. What a small world! A member in my ward, Brother Smith, came up to me and asked if I was related to a Tom and Todd Udall...well of course I am! I guess he was in one of thier wards at BYU. {note to the family: So if I could get thier contact info (like phone numbers) that would be great! He wants to catch up with them.} All the little connections :)
There have been so many miracles this week! I taught my first lesson...on my first night in the field as well!! I wasn't super talkative, and I really need to work on being more vocal and being bold. I know it will come in time, but practice makes perfect. The sooner I start, the better I will be! It was a miracle that she was home! I guess she is impossible to get ahold of on weekday nights, but she was there! I guess people are really busy around here, so it seems like a miracle if anyone has time to talk to us or is willing to take time out of thier lives to meet with us. Everyone has pretty exciting jobs/important jobs here. Busy people, but great, nice people! Yesterday it was pouring rain, and as soon as we were going to start tracting it stopped! And there have been a couple people we have tracted into that are interested. One has some cousins that are members, and he invited us to come back sometime this week. The other one just listened to our message and agreed for us to come back as well. And as we were tracting last night, we had skipped a house because someone was outside and we said hi, but he didn't seem interested at all. On our way back, we decided to cross the street and give that house one more try. Good thing we did! Another man answered the door and seemed really receptive to our message! He took a Book of Mormon and said we could come back. We both thought we maybe could have done a little more teching just at the door, but he seemed sincere on wanting us to come back. Yay!!
I know I have a lot of improving to do, but the Lord pulls through and helps make up for Sister Udall's lack of words/work. I need to participate in the conversations more. My companion is just so friendly and relates to people really easily that I don't really do too much of the talking. Haha. That is typical of me though. I like to sit back and observe...but that is not what I am here to do!!! NOPE! So I am working on being bolder now and just opening my mouth to talk to people. I am loving it though! I am so grateful for this gospel and how simple it really is! SIMPLE AND POWERFUL! And mom, you are right! Prayer is the answer to everything!!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Have a wonderful wonderful week!
Sister Udall
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