Wanna hear something awesome? I'm typing on an alphasmart! Do you remember those? From Elementary School when we had to practice typing? Well my companion's mom sent her one of those so she can type her emails beforehand to save time on actual email day. These weeks have been crazy! We got to wake up at 2 am on Monday, drag our bags to the bus to frontrunner, frontrunner to trax, trax to airport, fly to Denver, fly to Durango, be greeted by our mission president and wife, drive to Farmington, then collapse in the president's house. We were fed a traditional Little Ceasers pizza with green chiles on top which was way delicious. Not sure if it was so good because I was starving or what but pizza had never tasted so good. We had a quick orientation thing about medical stuff then president said we could just relax and stuff while he did individual interviews. Never have I wanted to cry for joy more than in that moment because I was exhausted. Sister Barber and I tried to nap but failed and ended up hanging out with the elders on the couches and just chatting and being lazy. Then we got to go out with some sisters and help teach. We taught some native americans and I'm already learning some Navajo.
On Tuesday we finally found out our area and companion. My area is Cortez, Colorado and my companion is Sister Strigham. She's very nice and helpful and patient while I try to figure out life, and she lets me borrow butter for my eggs and toast. We get along pretty well so that was a worry I dont have anymore. I was pretty tired all Tuesday so that was kind of a blur but we taught some and met members. I was pretty homesick but Wednesday was much better. We are teaching a lady named A--- and her daughther S----. They are both native and her dad is LDS so he told her to look us up. They want to be baptized but they have to get to church, so on Thursday we gave them a tour of the church building. They really enjoyed it and A---- was touched by a lot of the pictures on the wall (which the Spirit prompted me to ask about so that was fun). A--- called later and thanked us for the tour and said she saw her husband reading from the Book of Mormon (which at first he said he wanted nothing to do with us) so she was very excited about that which made us excited.
The members here are very nice and into missionary work, we got fed a couple times which was nice. Nothing nasty yet. There was a recent convert named J--- here who is like best friends with the missionaries (Sister Stringham to be exact) and its so funny. Sister Stringham watched his entire conversion process so they are really good buds. He is a mason and he invited us to one of their events. I guess masonry is basically a sophisticated adult fraternity. They do like initiations and its super exclusive. Liek a brotherhood! It reminded me of that one Spongebob episode where Squidward wanted to be a prat of that brotherhood thing. Anyway so that was interesting and cool to learn about. I got to meet the grandmaster so how lucky am I.
Everyone is super un-impressed that I'm from Utah though. I said I was from Salt Lake and some guy said "Oh I see straight from the factory" so that joke is getting old. I can see one mountain here that connects to Utah so thats kinda cute.
Also I'm not on a reservation so no worries, the closest reservation to us is called Toawoc and we can only go there if we have a set appointment during the day and we have a priesthood holder and his wife present. So basically we never go there haha. The elders are usually on the reservations but there are still a lot of native people living in these citites. We got ourselves a Navajo workbook and we have got a lot of invites to parties where they are making their famous Navajo tacos. So lets see how good they really are. They served us some in the cafeteria in the MTC and Sister Barber hated it so that will be fun for her. I think we will be having some Monday night so lets see if it lives up to the hype.
So we also volunteer at an old folks home where we are the bingo callers, and I felt like Mr Burns. The old people were sooo cute. There was one table of ladies and one of them could not hear to save her life and the other ladies were getting so frustrated with her. You could always hear them saying "No she said B7" or "You have that one, Judy" or stuff like that.
We also had a DELICIOUS dinner at a member's house on Sunday. The dad made his own smoker and was smoking a variety of ribs. Then we had mashed potatoes and salad and cheesecake with blueberry icecream. I ate so much but it was fast Sunday so it was okay. One of their kids started choking on a rib and his siblings were laughing and his parents just sat and watched while Sister Stringham and I are frozen with fear that we are gonna watch this kid die. Eventually he ran to the bathroom and I guess he got it out, nobody went to check on him which I was like what the heck? But I guess they raise their kids tough. It was terrifying though. But the food was good.
We adopted this investigator from the elders- his name is D---- and he was originally in the elders' area living with his girlfriend but then got kicked out and has a restraining order against him so now he lives with his mom in our area. He has a baptismal date and everything so thanks elders! But of course it is always uneasy teaching a dude with a restraining order against him. They gave us freshly picked apples though so I guess I shouldn't complain.
I'm still adjusting a lot and these days are a little hard but I knew I would go through this and Bishop Reese told me I'd be okay so I can't disagree with him. I do get pretty homesick but luckily that just helps me realize how much I love you all. Sorry I didn't spend as much time with you before I left, I really wish I did. Missions really sort out your priorities. But I know this is where I have to be and I knwo we'll get back to Disneyland on my return :)
So we also get free Dairy Queen on Mondays I just found out so again, one way ticket to weight gain. Its funny because I guess some elders in the past abused this priviledge and they had a competition to see who could eat the most hamburgers so now the elders can only order something thats 5$ or under. The sisters on the other hand, can order whatever. So yesterday we ran into the elders at Dairy Queen getting only a salad or shake or whatever and they were begging us to order them a shake. Poor guys.
I've been out in the field basically a week so thats nice. The first few days really sucked but they are gradually getting better.
I love you all sooo much
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