Hey now! Thank you all for your patience, I'll be consistent in emailing from this point forward, pinky promise
FIRST WEEK (November 8th-13th)
First of all! My area is Glendale north, which is basically the suburbs of Phoenix. Glendale is a really pretty name, it reminds me of a night elf area on wow. But it looks like a horde area, for the orcs or cow people. Honestly it's gorgeous, there's cactuses everywhere and people use little rocks instead of grass on their lawns.
There's a ton to say. My companion is Sister Burkgren, and she's basically the definition of cool. She travels a lot, only spending money that she's earned from nannying and teaching children with disabilities how to snowboard (I kid you not), she's lived and taught school for children in Kenya for a few months, she joined the church at 17, and she's currently 23. These next 11 weeks will be her last ones in the field, but so far she's been focused on the work. She's also from New York.
I have an iPad. The new group of missionaries that I arrived with were the last ones to get actual iPads. After us it's just lame, non-apple tablets. I'm soo happy to have an iPad. We also have a nice car. But there's a limit to the miles we get to drive during each transfer, so we bike about half of the time. I haven't bought a bicycle yet, but I've been borrowing a used one from the travel mission office.
My apartment is really nice. It's just Sister Burkgren and me. We each get to use our own bathrooms and closets. We have a washing machine and drier. We have a dishwasher too. There's a bunch of random stuff left by other missionaries, including a rad windbreaker that I'm probably going to take. (Side note 11/28/16- I took it. It's mine now.)
Okay I'll move on to the crazy/cool experiences now. I had my first baptism on Saturday. Her name is Claire Diaz, she's 17 and exudes the light of Christ. Before you get excited, I hardly taught her a thing. But it was a wonderful way to start the mission. Everything went well, she had a lot of support all around.
The very first people I met were the Capshaw's. Pay close attention, because their lives are wild. They're a family of recent converts. Iris is Eva's mom, and John is her stepdad. Eva's 11, and her real dad, Ben, just moved into their home (?!?) from Hawaii. Now Ben isn't a convert, but he is an investigator. An investigator on date for baptism, nonetheless.
Okay keep paying attention, because that was just the family dynamic. They're hippies. Real hippies. They do yoga every morning at the crack of dawn and never eat food from the microwave. Iris is very chatty, Eva's your regular 11 year old girl, and Ben's eyes are very shiny. They're characters, but their hearts are in the right place and they're earnest to be a good Mormon family.
I love you all so much. I love it here too. Happy birthday to mom!! She looks 30, not 50. Dad kind of looks 50 though. I'm typing that in my lovingly teasing tone, promise.
SECOND WEEK (November 13th-20th)
This week has been pretty stellar. We've been focusing on teaching Ben, our main investigator who's on date for baptism this Saturday
I think he'll be ready, he has a great testimony and can recognize the spirit. It's really cool to teach lessons to someone who's only concern is coming closer to Christ.
Sister Burkgren and I have been biking more since we just got our bikes fixed and new lights. She told me that I'm good at keeping up, so *tightens helmet* I'm pretty much a professional. But seriously it's been lovely. Plus when we bike we can street contact much easier, which is rad. People listen more when you street contact, they're not quite as open minded when we knock on their doors.
Yesterday something really interesting happened at church. This woman (late 60s) named Duffy came, and she brought her non-member husband, Pete. Apparently they married last week, and she moved from Missouri to here for Pete. She's soo funny. She said that she and her friends squad name was We're Not Dead Yet until her first husband died. Anyway, we might have an investigator in Pete(:
THIRD WEEK (November 20th-28th)
To celebrate thanksgiving Sister Burkgren and I went to our wards turkey bowl, which basically means football and donuts. We had thanksgiving dinner with the Pikes, our favorite members. Malinda made me laugh so hard with her stories. She used to tape an empty soda cup to the top of her car and watch what people would do to try to tell her it was there, which is the least of the many pranks she's pulled.
Ben was baptized on Saturday, it all went swimmingly (pun unintended). I was a bit apprehensive since not very many members came and the font probably could've used a bit more water (he's a tall guy), but when all is said and done, it was lovely and he made a huge step in changing his life for the better. Much better.
I found out yesterday that Craig and Celeste Young is in one of our wards (we have three. THREE). They're from my home ward in pleasant grove, so that's pretty cool. Hopefully they'll help sister Burkgren and I find new investigators
anyway, that's all I have to report for my first few weeks in the field. Thanks for all the support and prayers, I've had a fairly smooth transition into the missionary life.
Godspeed,
Jane
