March 25, 2013

I am definitely getting used to the area and the schedule. At first I was thinking that missionary work was NOTHING like I was expecting. It's really weird to be over YSAs. I felt like I was just at school or something. It was really weird for a while. But I've been doing more missionary work. We have awesome lessons, and I love being able to study in the mornings! I don't know why everyone hates tracting so much. Besides giving lessons, it's one of my favorite things to do! This week was Spring Break, so we did a little more tracting than usual, and we found 4 new investigators! I love tracting, and I love teaching, and I love being a missionary! My mail is messed up. I got Dad's second letter that he wrote to me on March 11, on March 23! So I guess it's all being held at the mission home for longer. I was really sad for a week not getting anything, I was at least expecting something from him! But maybe I should give you my residence address for now, I'll be here for at least 9 or 10 more weeks! Sheesh lots of questions! I love Flagstaff SO MUCH! Sister Harrah and I were driving all over trying to find people on a list that the couple missionaries, the Kilgrows, gave us to look for over Spring Break, with more than 40 less-active YSAs. We found some of the cutest neighborhoods! If it wasn't weird and if I didn't have as much pride as I do, I would probably move to Flagstaff, because at least in the Spring, it is beyond beautiful! It's like living in a forrest with all the trees! I took some pictures, I will send them to you. Speaking of which, did you get all the emails I sent with pictures attached? I'll send you the card when it's more filled, but I just wanted to give you all the MTC pictures. So there are two YSA wards that Sister Harrah and I are over. We only teach people that are 18-30 and single so if we find anyone that is older, younger, married, or has children or pregnant, we give them as referrals to the Elders in our area and they are supposed to give any young, single adults to us. Our Sundays are nuts! We have 1st ward council, 1st ward sacrament metting, second ward council, 2nd ward sacrament meeting, second ward Sunday school, then second ward Relief Society. We're busy from 9-3! Then we have companionship study and then we either tract some or have a lesson or do visits or something. Every single night we get dinner fed to us from the members! We are so lucky! I spent $50 on food my first week, and at this rate, it will probably last me until the end of April! Well, some of it will go bad, but that's just how nice everyone is! Okay, I thought that YSA wards were awesome, but no, Flagstaff YSA is incredible! It is so inspiring! Their ward missionaries are amazing! They do their job so well! Sister Harrah and I don't even teach the after-baptism lessons because they have it totally covered! And we have so many people on hand ready and willing to come to our lessons with investigators! They are so awesome. I hope one day to be on an institute council or ward missionary or something so we can implement some of these amazing things that the Flagstaff YSA does. Like on Wednesdays they have correlation meetings, and every other week they all split up and go out to visit the less active members! They are so united and spiritual and I'm not surprised that every week 3 or 4 of them are getting mission calls. I don't think I would like having anyone see me. I am trying to be really focused. I don't know what I'd do if I saw anyone I knew! It would be weird, please don't let anyone find me! I am so pumped to hear where Kelly gets her call to! Oh and I just remembered something. I wonder if Dad got his laundry bag and the other package I sent to him? I don't know if you are getting any of the things I'm sending home! It's probably hard because I only read what you say once a week and I'm apparently not getting Dad's letters, but that would be something I'd like to know! Also, Carola Proctor keeps sending me Dear Elders, and I think you should talk to her about that, because it's so easy and costs nothing and you should all be doing it! Thanks for the thought, Mom. I have been worried that I'm not teaching very well. Every now and then I will get a prompting to say something, too and once I say it, I feel like our lessons start going a lot smoother. I'm still in the phase where I'm trying too hard to tell the whole history of things instead of the application and the why! But at least I know it's an issue. I just need to practice and figure out how to fix it. I always think about how I need to be talking to the person like I would with anyone talking about anything (obviously not too casual, but like they are important and the message isn't just rehearsed), but I'm having a hard time getting out of "missionary mode" and just going out to talk to people! I don't know, I guess it's hard to explain. I think I just need to relax a little more. I get too caught up in talking about the defining words and events and not enough time establishing what it means to us and to them and why we're telling them these things, why it's important and what they need to do with the information they're getting, I guess. I don't know, it's way too easy to just preach, and a bit of a challenge to teach, I think. But at least I know that it's a problem! I'll be working on that this week. Anyway, love you lots! Tell the family and Sister Gregorio hello for me :) Til' next week! -Sister Tolley