WOAH! This is one big WHIRLWIND if there ever was one!!! And there's so much to tell!! We arrived yesterday! We had a ton of training and stuff but we were all EXHAUSTED. At 6 I met my trainer, Sister Sprouse, and her old companion, Sister Dixon. I'm in the Lone Mountain area which is like right by the mission office. I'll tell more about that later. We went staight to dinner with some members. They were waaaay awesome about it being my first dinner appointment ever. haha. Then we went to play games with some progressing investigators. I was POOOOOPED so I'm pretty sure I didn't look like I was having fun and didn't make the best impression. So I'm definitely excited to go back and act like a real person who's actually alive. haha. Then we had to go pick up some soup from an investigator before we went home. With training and all being so long I didn't realize any of that was going to be happening. This morning we dropped off Sister Dixon at transfers so she could go to her new area. And now it's just Sister Sprouse and me. I'm the FOURTH person she's trained! She's way awesome, super understanding, and really encouraging. She's making sure not to overwhelm me with all the tonnnns of information I'll have to learn. I love her already!!!


Oh and all the sisters are way cool. I'd seen them all on the blog (BTW, go visit that!!! Sister Black's going to pics up soon!) At transfers they were all really loud and jovial and craaacking up. haha. My kind of girls! lol.


We're living at members' home! President Black said about 50% live in members' homes. I had NO clue. I thought we were all in apartments so that was a surprise. It's pretty neat though! The family consists of the parents, one daughter still at home (a senior in HS), and a dog that's exactly like Mitzi.


Another surprising tidbit: half the missionaries are down in just the small area of Vegas. I figured since the mision is so big I'd spend a lot of time elsewhere and when everyone talked about Vegas I was like 'yeah, whatever, that's such a small part of the mission,' but I was totally wrong!


It's staaarting to feel real. Last night when we were meeting with people it just felt like I was tagging along with the sisters. haha. It totally felt like I was just visiting. Luckily it's starting to feel a little more real and I'm getting excited. There are SO many emotions it's crazy. But just as has happened all up to this point, Heavenly Father has strengthened me and given me the ability to take it all in without going crazy. haha. but there's SO MUCH TO TAKE IN!! I get scared when I think about teaching real people and my own stuff and all but when Sister Sprouse talks about it and from interacting with people a just the little bit that I have, it all makes me feel soooooooo good inside. The gospel is true. The work is real. Hearts can change. And I'm soooo excited to witness that!!


P-days are Mondays, we're just emailing today b/c of the holiday yesterday.


So on to the Lone Mountain area!!! The church is super strong here! People always talk about that in Vegas but I was definitely surprised. My area is like 2 and 1/2 by 1 mile by wide. CRAZY!!! There's so much here! Sister Sprouse and Sister Dixon were talking about how they opened this area up to sisters like 6 months ago and it went on fire. It's SOOOO busy. It's a more humble area...the most ghetto area in the mission that sisters serve in. haha. YESSSSS! :) I can't believe how many bajillion investigators/potentials there are. Sister Sprouse narrowed it down to 66 that we're going to work on right now. HOLY MOLY. My brain's going to explode!!! She also said that with contacting and tracting and stuff about 40% of the time people are interested. WOAHIE. haha. I'm glad to be in an area where the people are so receptive. It makes it all a little less scary. Oh and they're doing a new program for new missionaries with their trainers. I'm suuuuper excited about it cuz it's supposed to be really effective in helping us become better missionaries faster! It's a 12 week thing, which means that I'm for sure going to be here with Sister Sprouse for the next transfer. Yay!


I meant to add pictures but there was no time. I'll be sure to do that next week!!
I LOVE YOU ALLL!!!!