What A Week!!
Holy Cow I am a missionary in California! I am currently serving in Vista. Oh, and Tuesdays are my P-Days.
Allow me to share my first day with you:
So, we left the MTC around 5:15am to go to the airport, left SLC at 8:40, arrived in San Diego at 9:30, and met our mission president and his wife, as well as our zone leaders and the assistants at the baggage claim. We loaded up in cars and went to the mission home, where they fed us lunch and did some training, interviews, and they lets us all take a nap! That was wonderful. We then went to the mission office where we had more training and where we later met our trainers. It was transfer meeting, and so everybody was already in the chapel, and when they began to sing "Called to Serve" we (all the new missionaries, there were 11) walked in and made a grand entrance haha so cheesy. We proceeded to sit on the stand and one by one he introduced each of us to our trainers in front of everyone. Why did you tell him my popsicle story? Haha he introduced everyone with these awesome things and then he got to me and said "and this sister has a strong testimony of prayers, especially with popsicles..." LAME! So we met our trainers, continued with the transfer meeting, and then we went out and did missionary work! We had an appointment scheduled but of course they weren't there when we came. So we went contacting on their street. Contacting is fun! Then we taught an English class to some members in our ward (every Tuesday we teach an English class!). Then we went to our next appointment to one of our investigators named Jose Luis. He has a baptismal date but we keep having to push it back, but we know he can do it! Then we went home, planned, unpacked, etc.
SO, that's my first day in the field. Oh, and before I came here everybody and their mom told me to find someone who is serving here, and I found every single one that first night at the transfer meeting! haha it was awesome! There was like 10 people. I'm roommates with one of them, too! And, it turns out, one of my friends from BYU-Idaho from fall 2010 is in my zone haha that was a funny surprise. I had forgotten that he was sent here too. Hermana McBride is in a different area now, I miss her. Elder Bear (who was in my district in the MTC) is in my district here, too so that's fun and comforting to know somebody. Funny side note- our last name "Inman" sounds like "iman" in Spanish, which means "magnet" haha, so some of the members here call me "hermana magnet" how appropriate, eh? Nah, I'm just kidding. It is funny though. The people here say I speak really good Spanish, especially for only learning it for 2 months, but I don't believe them! I can hardly understand anybody! And Latinos are TALKERS, they like to talk and talk and talk, but since I'm new, and I'm not fluent in Spanish, they won't look at me, and it's so frustrating. We'll go through an entire lesson and they won't look at me once until I say something, and then after I've said it, they won't look at me again, even if they're answering my question. So frustrating. You don't realize how important eye contact is for communication until you can't communite except through context clues and body language.
My companion is Hermana Farr. We're very different people, she and I... I'm having a really hard time getting a long with her, but I am trying so hard! We just don't mesh very well. And I pray and pray to love her more and for us to be united and get along... but I think the Lord just wants me to learn patience and dilligence for these next 3 months- that's how long we'll be companions...
Our mission president and his wife have a rule that we have to jog/run for 30 minutes every morning for our exercise, no exceptions! So, we do! Rain or shine! And it happens to rain a lot here haha so we run in the rain, and I feel like a Spartan beast! And apparently that's what we looked like because somebody pulled over on the side of the road and yelled out their window "hey, you look really hot running in the rain!" oh goodness. OH, guess what happened to me the other day? So we were out contacting the streets the other day and were waiting to cross the street when a man, probably about 50 years of age, Hispanic, came up to me and started telling me about how he has lots of friends, he doesn't drink or smoke, and he has money. And I was like, well that's great! So then he asked if he could take me out to dinner, on a date. Hna. Farr and I told him that no, missionaries don't go on dates, that we're here to share the Gospel and that's it! He then proceeded to ask me if I would marry him (he's not even drunk!), and I was just in shock so I just laughed and shook my head no. He looks over to my companion and asks her, pointing to me, "will she marry me?" And she tells him no. So he asks, well how much longer do you have left as a missionary? I told him 16 months. And he says "I'll wait for you." And so by now we are totally creeped out and take a detour back to our car to get away from him. Anyway, fun things happen when you're a missionary!
Lot's of really amazing things happen, too. I'm gaining such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon! It is so powerful! I wish I had more time to tell you all of these stories! The other day all of our appointments bailed on us, all day long. So we spent a lot of our time tracting and contacting. Nobody was interested and we couldn't figure out how to catch their attention. Then I remembered a talk at the MTC the other month about the power of the Book of Mormon. I remembered that in that talk, that this person would have people come up to him and talk to him about the Book of Mormon if he was carrying it in his hand. So, I decided to try it out. We went to the next house and asked if we could share a message about the Book of Mormon, and gave them an overview of what it is. This girl let us come in and teach her a lesson on the spot and we are going back to teach her in a couple days, with her whole family! Then, after that, in just 5 minutes, we met 2 other people on the street who wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon. There is power in this book!!! Share it with everyone!
My companion and I cover 2 wards. The members are so nice and accepting and they love missionaries. And, apparently most of them are tone deaf because they asked me to do a musical number last Sunday (with like a 4 hour notice) and then asked me to sing with them in the choir and then the other ward asked me to sing in their sacrament meeting next week. Hna. Farr has a singing voice, and they love her to sing for them, and they think for whatever reason, that I'm almost as good haha. Bless their hearts.
Hey mom and dad, I forgot to get a BYU-I deferrment before I left on the mission... could you please call them and see what we need to do with my enrollment? Muche sent me a Christmas gift in the mail, that was so nice :). Oh, the mail system here works like this: you sent everything to the mission office, and then they distribute it by hand, which takes at least a week... so if you want to send something to me by a certain time, allow an extra week or so for it to get to me. We're going to try to find a member this week who will let us come over and use their phone/computer on Christmas.
I read a cool scripture today in Mosiah 2:34, and the line that struck me was "render to Him all that you have and all that you are." All that you ARE. That's a lot! It just made me think about what I need to change so that I can give all that I am to the Lord. I also learned a good lesson about the Atonement the other day. It was actually in the MTC. Think of the Atonement like a gift. Think of a time when you worked hard and long to make or purchase a gift for someone, and when you gave it to them, they didn't really appreciate it or use it. How did that make you feel? It's like that with the Atonement. The Savior worked so hard and suffered so much to give us the Atonement, which is the greatest gift we could ever receive. Are you appreciative of that gift and do you use it everyday? We truly need it every day, and should cherish it.
Anyway, my time is up and so I have to go. I hope you all are doing well. I pray for you every day. Have a great week and happy holidays! I love you and miss you!
Love,
Hermana Inman
