30th December 2011

Hey Family,

 

Well, my offical email day is today and boy do I have, "A LOT" to tell you.  So, let me see, where did I leave off?  Oh, firstly I don't think I said thanks yet for all the Christmas goodies that I got. I got a cool package from Aunty Cerian and my friends in Hawaii, I got my scarf from Nanny and Grandad which is awesome and then all those who contributed to my box of goodies and my warm clothes, "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"  Christmas this year was definitely different, but the highlight was definitely skyping my family. I love you all so, so, so, much.

 

So, Monday we went to Twin Falls, got on the transfer Van and went up to Boise. It's a good 2 and a 1/2 hour ride and there were 3 other sisters with me which was cool. That night we went to drop Sister Schoepf off at her new apartment and we stayed there until the end of P-Day.  Later, we went back to the mission office where we were then driven to the mission home for a Trainer's meeting. There are 6 new sister missionaries and 7 new elders entering the mission so it was a nice small group of missionaries. I really enjoyed being with all the sisters and the training was amazing. It helped me realize how important this call is and how the Lord trusts me enough with a new missionary so I need to also trust myself.  It was an incredible training session. That night I stayed with Sister Bergstrom (one of the other trainers) and we stayed in Boise in her new apartment and she is about to open up a new area.

 

Tuesday morning was mostly a normal morning and we had to be at the mission office by 1:30 p.m. to take the new missionaries out for their first, "Finding" experience. It's funny though because we had the new missionaries from about 1.30pm - 4.30pm and the plan was to go tracting which needless to say would be the most tracting I have done my whole mission.  It was a cool experience because we were down town where there are a lot more apartments and people to talk to and meet, unlike being out in the middle of nowhere like Carey and Shoshone. It was a great experience and I know the Lord helped strengthen me during the tracting experience.  Later we dropped the new sisters back at the mission office and they went off to dinner and the rest of us went around with the sisters in Meridian to a few teaching appointments and it was so cool to see how other areas work in the mission.  Following the appointments we all headed back to the Boise sisters apartment to sleep.

 

Wednesday morning we needed to be up bright and early to be at the mission office for another training meeting and this time both the Trainers and new missionaries were in attendance until 11:00 a.m. and then we were assigned our new companions. So, my new companion's name is Sister Cline and she is from Dallas, Texas.  She has a brother who just got back from the Auckland, New Zealand Mission.  The name did not sound farmiliar to me but I thought that was cool when she told me. She is 23 years of age, has graduated from University too, with a degree in Exercise and Sports Science, so needless to say very different fields, but I know she will be a great missionary. I am actually blessed to have her as my companion as she is so willing and ready to get out there and do missionary work and that makes me happy.  We had to do some last minute things at the mission office before we were driven back to Twin Falls where we got our car and drove to Shoshone to drop off Sister Clines stuff, then head out to Carey.  Needless to say a VERY long day. We had a teaching appointment with Brenda who we hadn't seen for at least 2 weeks and thought it would be good to go and see her.  The lesson was awesome and Ed (her LA husband) participated so much in the lesson it was crazy cool. We were talking about baptisms for the dead and it seemed to spark a flame in him and he said that if he could do baptisms for his dead friends it would be something worth being activated for. So that was almost a tiny break through. We will see what happens. Then we met with our WML out there and got coordinated, then back to Shoshone it was. So we did, "A LOT" of driving on this particular day.  Upon arriving home, Sister Cline unpacked and I had the greatest nights sleep.

 

This morning we did our weekly planning, and now we are emailing and then we will take off to Richfield. I believe this opportunity to train is exactly what I need and I feel like I have to step up and be a lot more alert now and not slack off because I have added responsibility now. So, I know I will enjoy being a Trainer and becoming a better missionary.  I love my companion and I know she is the companion I need right now.

 

Anyway's that is it for this week. I love you all so much and I hope you enjoy the New Year for yourselves and for me! I am positive that next week I will have more cool stories for you. Love you. Take care, Sister Chadderton