July 30, 2012

Hello Fam and Friends!!

I got my bike it is in fine shape, BUT we don't ride as much as we thought. SUPER DISAPPOINTING. Just because we bought all my clothes and shoes for bike riding. We are supposed to ride all day on Thursdays, but my companion was in a car accident in April and still has back issues. So... I still haven't even bought a helmet. Sad right? But I am super glad I didn't pay all that money for a brand new bike.

There is our companionship (which has a car) and the elders in our ward (yes we share our ward). The elders are biking elders so when we have to go to church and such they come with us. And on Tuesday Sister L brought her companion to Lubbock, the transfer spot and picked me up. Usually if you are transferring in Texas you bus to the next location. The church rents a charter bus from some Baptist church and it drives up through the mission one day and down the next for transfers. I haven't had to do that so we'll see how that all goes. President A wishes we could all get together for transfers as a whole mission but it is something like 12 hours from the top of the mission to the bottom, and is just not possible.

My area is only 2 hours away from Lubbock though, so the ride wasn't bad. It's a lot of farm lands and reminded me of Idaho a little. It's an airforce base, and being such has hard times with investigators in the ward. We have more in actives then not, because it is hard to fellowship when people are moving in and out every other month. It is the land of the dairy farmers, and though I have not seen any cows we can sure smell them when the wind is coming in town. Yuck is all we can say about that. When we start conversation with people and ask them what they do here for fun, they just laugh at us and say there isn't anything fun to do here. Haha. Such a small town. We have the south part of the city and that includes the lower income part. With the desert and dryness there is no green grass, and it just reminds me a lot of Mexico with people having boarded up windows to keep the dust out. We know we are in a nicer part of town when the windows aren't covered with sheets or boards or towels to keep the dirt out.

Even though I bought everything to ride a bike in my outfits and shoes and stuff have been perfect. I have been applying sunscreen daily to my face and top of my feet because it is very hot and I'm sure I'll get burnt. So far I still love my clothes, but I am finding I really love my dresses and not so fond of skirts. And all those shirts I bought at Target I don't have a ton of motion in, so they aren't my favorite to wear all day long. Oh well. They match perfectly and such is life.

Sister L has been out a year this month. She is from San Diego and her parents are from the Philippines. Her parents spoke Tagalog in the home so she knows that too. She is teaching me great things and is so patient with me. I am loving her fun sense of humor, and she thinks I'm funny which is great! We are loud and get along so well. I'm so happy that she is my trainer. She thinks she isn't a good enough missionary to be a trainer, and is so humble. She is very laid back and is helping me not to stress about things and everything in our companionship is going so well!

Right now we have about 7 progressing inv. (investigators). Some of them we are wondering how much they are really interested, but we are working hard. We have been tracking, and it actually is not as bad as everyone makes it sound. Everyone here has a pretty strong faith in God and opens their doors to us to "talk about Jesus". The struggle comes in helping them realize that just having that faith is not enough. That we have to act on it and make changes in our lives because of it. But I have been humbled a lot by the way the people trust in their Savior, and see His hand in their lives, and make Him a part of their every move. They are amazing. We just are trying to find those who are ready for more.

Our other struggle is the members. Like I said most of them are just passing through, and so we struggle with finding people who will be here long enough to fellowship our investigators. I had a really hard time with it this past week and through prayer we decided to pass out the ward mission plan with a magnet on the back so they can all see it and put it on the fridge. It's hard because without ward help all our work is in vain. A baptism will not help someone unless they endure. So we passed those out, and passed around a sign up sheet for members to come out and help fellowship, so we'll see how that goes. I just have been having a hard time, because our work is being stopped because of others. I am trying to be patient but I just want to start helping the ward RIGHT NOW. But there are lessons I need to learn.

Next week I will send pictures, I forgot my camera this week. Our apartment is ghetto (carpet in the kitchen) but spacious and I like it. (yes dad we have AC- only after I called to get it fixed. The sisters were just making due with it being crappy. Now it is nice and cold!!)

I love you all so SO much and miss you more. If you send me letters I can read them not on P-day but will reply on p-day.

Lots of love, Amanda