Sacramento - Week 4

Due to the new security measures requested by the Mission leaders, the names of all investigators and people that Sarah comes into contact with will be replaced with the name of a well-known character from a children’s movie. This will keep the identities of people safe as well as make it easier to keep everyone straight. The name given is in NO WAY intended to reflect the personality, looks, or circumstances of the individual(s).

Monday, February 18, 2013

Italics are additional explanation added for your benefit

My Valentine's Day outfit!

Hello Hello Hello! (or Hey Howdy Hoo as Lisa Lou seems to think we say in Texas)

My make-up mirror came and is a lifesaver. Thank you!

MARY! Thanks for the message! I love all y'all and hope that 385 is a breeze.

Hey, sign me up for Samoan 101! It's my life and I want a fun class :) Plus, it's 4 credits.

Ok, so this week:

Me and Elder Harris

Last P-day we went and visited Elder Harris. He lives in one of my favorite places, the Green Valley Cemetery. You see, Elder Harris was serving his mission here in 2007. He was reading his patriarchal blessing one day and it was all about his mission and not about anything else. He jokingly said to his companion, "I think I'm gonna die on my mission." But then like a week later he got really sick and passed away. When his parents came to get him to take him back to Florida, they felt impressed to bury him here instead as a memorial to the mission. This week was his Paradise day (anniversary of his death) so we stopped by to say hello. I love going there because the spirit is so strong and technically he is still a missionary called to Green Valley, which is my area. We go and ask him for help from the other side because our area is so tough, and I know he is rooting for us. If we're having a rough day, I make us take a detour to Elder Harris and it's always better afterwards.

On Tuesday we were out visiting a potential investigator in a slightly sketchier area of town and when we came back outside, there was a sticky not on our car that said, "Go Back to Utah". We were totally freaked out. Then we found out that our Zone Leaders had been out on exchanges in the area and had left it. So, of course we had to prank them back. On our way home Wednesday we stopped by the chapel, knowing that they were inside with the YSAs (Young Single Adults) playing sports. We covered every single one of their windows of their truck with sticky notes. When they called us about it, we simply told them that if they prank us, the pranks shall be returned unto them seventy times seven haha. Silly Elders.

Sister Loli had to go back to the Dentist to get a few cavities filled and while we were there, Dr. Clark (who is a member in the Folsom Stake) asked us if we wanted to have our teeth whitened...for free! So of course we said yes. He is just the nicest man. So pray for him to be blessed because he is always doing things like that for the missionaries at no charge, fixing teeth and whitening the fixed ones. 

Left to Right: Sister Loli, Sister Hale, Sister Jackson,
Sister Dalley, and Me in the back!

Left to Right: Sister ward, Me, Sister Jackson, Sister Kim

Friday was our Zone Conference. I sang and it went really well. All the missionaries and President and Sister Skywalker were complimenting me and asking if they could have the arrangement. Then Sister Loli and I had to be like, "Well, actually we made it up so we can't really give it to you." And they would all freak out, but it really was no big deal. I do love the arrangement though. Since it is traditionally sung as a men's quartet, everyone loved hearing it as a woman's solo. They also called me up to sing it impromptu in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. That's what happens when you make up the arrangement at the Ward Music Coordinator's house. So then, Bishop asked us to come over and sing for their family night that night, so we threw together another song and sang and shared a power lesson (empowering members to do missionary work).

Zone conference was great! We had training on how to improve our baptizing, teaching, finding, and using family history in missionary work. Everything was focused on hastening the work and what we can do to help move the work along. It was wonderful to spend the day with other missionaries, the assistants, and Pres. and Sister Skywalker. I got to see Sister Kim and Sister Ward from my MTC district and we had a happy little reunion.

One of our investigators came to church yesterday! She only stayed for sacrament meeting, because she had to go home and take her dogs out, but hopefully next week we can get her to stay for the whole 3 hours. Longer church times are a big transition for people. She seemed to like it though, and met a lot of people. She is making great progress! We hope to finish getting the house in order this week so she can start having people over and being fellowshipped.

Last night, we visited some of the ward's recent converts. They are a miracle! They have two kids, 9 & 11. They were baptized a few months ago. It has been cool to see their transition and how they are changing and growing closer together as a family because of the gospel. Last night, their daughter said the blessing on the food and I just about cried. Her prayer was so beautiful and she prayed for all the missionaries. We've been encouraging them to share how the gospel has blessed their lives with their non-member family and they are doing a great job. They have been such a success for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that they were introduced to the gospel by their neighbors and good friends. This is why members are supposed to be the ones finding investigators, not the missionaries. When a member invites their friends and family, those investigators have an instant support system in the church. They have people to talk to, to learn from, to ask questions from, besides the missionaries. After baptism, they have someone to integrate them into the ward and keep them active. The miracle in member missionary work is that, like it says in D&C 88:77-88 (I think), we are taught when we teach. When we teach others, God's grace is upon us to teach and edify us. When members reach out in the missionary effort, they are blessed with an increase of their own faith and testimony, life-long friends, and a glimpse at the depths of God's love and His desire for every child to come home.

I know that our Savior lives. I know He loves us. I know we have a Heavenly Father who wants nothing less than total joy for us in this life. That joy comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ and being a member in His church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. It is the hardest, and most fun thing I have ever done! And don't forget that every member of this church has been called on a mission. The minute you came out of the waters of baptism, you received your mission call, to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone you know through your words and actions.

Love y'all!

Sister Burchett

A Koala from a Sister in our ward. She works as a flight attendant
 and went to Australia, so she brought us back these cute Koalas.
They have boomerangs and their little sweaters say "I Love Australia".
 I put him on my lamp on my desk :)

We went over to a families house for dinner, but when
we got there Sis. M wasn't home yet and we can't be alone in the
 house with Bro. M
(It's against Mission rules for Missionaries to be alone in the house
without a member of the same sex present)
Hence, we hung out in the garage with the door open and took
out some aggression on the punching bag.

Also I found a razor scooter and burnt off some
 energy in a very graceful way ;)

My desk is against the bunks, so I get
 to decorate the foot of my bed.
Oh yeah. Classy.

I made this bookmark for my scriptures.
It's President Skywalker, hahaha

Sacramento - Week 3

Due to the new security measures requested by the Mission leaders, the names of all investigators and people that Sarah comes into contact with will be replaced with the name of a well-known character from a children’s movie. This will keep the identities of people safe as well as make it easier to keep everyone straight. The name given is in NO WAY intended to reflect the personality, looks, or circumstances of the individual(s).

Monday, February 11, 2013 

Week 3 in California (Is that right? I think it is.)

Talofa! (That's hello in Samoan)

Nice to get emails from y'all. Glad everyone's lives are spinning on without me there. I told you they would. 

John - happy birthday on Saturday. There is something in the mail for you as of today so keep an eye out.

Also, when you register me for classes, I think I wanna take Samoan 101.

Other things I've realized I need:

Some more T-shirts. We do a lot of service.

Mongolian BBQ is like this, you get a bowl and put whatever raw noodles, vegetables, meat, etc. you want and pour whatever sauce you want on it (like soy sauce based sauces with peanut oil etc. They have a house sauce that I have no idea what it is but it is delicious.) Then you hand your bowl to the cook who throws it on this huge round grill thing and cooks it all. Then he puts it back in your bowl and hands it to you. You sit down and eat it with rice. Very tasty.

As far as money goes, we have a debit card. On the first of each month the mission puts money on it for us ($137 for sisters and $127 for elders).

Isaacson’s - shout out to all y'all. My mom said you are still reading my letters. Congratulations on not being bored to death yet. Lou, I think we are off in our letter mailing cycle (where I send you a letter but then right after I send it I get a letter from you) so I'll wait to write you again until you write me. This way we are back on track, and I get more mail. haha

So news from Green Valley this week: 

I have my first zone conference on Friday and Sister Skywalker called and asked me to sing for the conference. So, Sister Loli and I arranged a version of "Brightly Beams, Our Father's Mercy". I wrote an additional fourth verse for the conference:

Now His work is hastening forward 
And to us He gives the call

Till He says, "The work is finished."

We will give to Him our all.

And we'll keep the lights a'burning 
Sending gleams across the waves

And His fainting, struggling children 
We may rescue 
We must rescue

We will rescue 
We will save.

We'll try and video one of our practices and I'll send it home so you can see it. I really love what we came up with so hopefully it will go well.

Sister Hale has been sick all the past week with Bronchitis. This means we've been stuck at home a lot, but that's ok. The more she rests, the sooner she'll be better and the sooner we will be back to work.

We did a lot of service this week. We helped some of our investigators move apartments (to a new ward, which means they are no longer our investigators. Boo. They're dropping like flies. We've passed over 3 investigators to other missionaries since I've got here. It's majorly depressing, but at least they are still being taught. It doesn't matter who teaches them as long as they are taught.) during which I, in all my graceful glory, tripped on a curb and skinned both my knees. I'd send a picture, but I think that's gross and nobody cares to see that. I'm fine, just clumsy. 

While we were helping them move, we met their neighbor who described himself as "A moderate, Muslim, pacifist who accepts everyone". He told us that the church should start accepting the gays and letting them get married, and then we would have more success and curb appeal...We tried to explain that Christ is the one who makes that decision, because it's His church, but he just went off on a tangent about bacon. I just said, "Wouldn't the world be a better place if everyone bonded over bacon? There would finally be world peace." And we got out of there. 


We also had a giant bonfire at the Doolittle's where we burned old documents for one of our investigators. We've gotten a lot done on her house. We plan on having it completely unpacked and cleaned before the next transfer at the end of this month.We had a miracle with her this week. She called us on Tuesday and asked if we could come over and talk to her. It was the first time we have taught her a lesson and done no service when we've gone over. Being in her house in my proselyting clothes and not sweat pants was a new experience. Anyways, she had a bad interaction/fight with one of her daughter's and her son-in-law and she asked us how to handle it in a Christ-like way! She also asked for some scriptures to help her. I could almost hear angels singing the Hallelujah chorus from the heavens! She was supposed to come to church yesterday, but her dog, ate something that did not agree with him and pooped all over her house, so she was dealing with that instead. We promised to pray for her dog, that his health might improve. She also called us last night to tell us that her dad's ghost (who normally just comes as a smell of cigarette smoke) came and pulled down the chandelier in her kitchen from the ceiling (WHAT?!). She has made great progress and has a very big heart, and we love her crazy and all.

Me and some burning documents

Speaking of crazies, we got a referral from a member in our ward, for his two crazy neighbors who are sisters from England. They are older ladies and one of them's dead husband's ghost came to visit (yep, apparently a lot of ghosts just chilling around here in Cali) and they were telling him about it and he set up an appointment for us to teach them the Plan of Salvation on Tuesday. If only these ghosts could be helpful and just go around telling people, "The Mormons are the ones with the truth. Be a Mormon!"

In other news, apparently I talk really fast. Who knew? (This is sarcasm, because pretty much anyone I've ever met knows this.) My district leader, Elder Seomanutafa, who is from Samoa and learning English, was talking to me on the phone. I was explaining something to him and he says, "Sister Burgess," because he can't exactly say Burchett, "you need to slow down. I can't understand you. It's like, my ears hear the words you saying, but my brain can't understand you because you talk SO fast." The irony was that his companion, Elder Knotts, who is from Payson, Utah and has spoken English his entire life, told me the same thing earlier that afternoon. For the sake of these poor Elders, I'll try to slow it down.

Sister Doolittle came home last night, so we finally moved home! It is so nice to be moved in and have a permanent place. I'll send some pictures of the digs.

Close up on the Doolittle's goats playing

Close up on the cute playset Brother Doolittle built,  I think I
enjoy playing on it as much as their grandkids do!
                         

It has been a great week! One of the beautiful things about this gospel is when members catch the vision of missionary work. This is a missionary church! That is our focus and our purpose. We created our ward mission plan this week to help the members catch this vision:

1. Pray for an opportunity to have a member missionary moment

2. Mention that you're Mormon.

3. Bear Testimony

4. Invite

This is really very simple! Here's an example:

Co-worker - Hey do you want me to grab you a cup of coffee?

Member - Oh no thanks. I'm Mormon and we don't drink coffee. I always have plenty of energy without it.

Co-worker - really?

Member - Yeah, and I know that if you gave up coffee, it would be hard at first but then you would have more energy too.

Co-worker - Ha, well maybe I'll try it sometime.

Member - Haha, yeah. Actually, we are having a party at my church this weekend. It's gonna be a Hawaiian Luau with great food and games. You should come and bring the family.

Simple as that. A member missionary moment doesn't have to be big and scary. It's simple everyday conversation. So let's do it!

I'm gonna try and shoot some pictures over. The church is true. Being a missionary is AWESOME. Y'all should try it sometime (like right now. Have a member missionary moment!)

Love,

Sister Burchett

This is the first counselor in the Bishopric and his two sons.
We were at their house for dinner and in the middle of our
spiritual thought, one just started putting pillows on his
Dad, and then just laid down on top of him! The other was jealous
and then crept over for some fun too. They are one of my
favorite families. Every fourth Sunday, the youngest sits with us
because every other member of his family is on the stand
(Dad is in the Bishopric, Mom plays the organ, brother is the Bishop's
assistant runner boy, and the other brother blesses the Sacrament).
He loves us and we color coordinate on those Sundays just for fun!

A Valentine from one of the little girls in
our ward, and it was scented!

Sacramento - Week 2

Due to the new security measures requested by the Mission leaders, the names of all investigators and people that Sarah comes into contact with will be replaced with the name of a well-known character from a children’s movie. This will keep the identities of people safe as well as make it easier to keep everyone straight. The name given is in NO WAY intended to reflect the personality, looks, or circumstances of the individual(s).


Monday February 4, 2013

Italics are additional Information

Hi!

So, it's been a busy week. Thanks for the Valentine's package! We have been munching on the chocolates all week.

Next package you send, birthday or whatever whenever I'd love my silver basketball shorts that I left at home.

So this week Sister Loli was sick at the beginning of the week so we spent a lot of time at home studying. Wednesday we went to a member's house for dinner. They live in a neighborhood next to a little airport and so EVERYBODY has airplanes! One Brother has a WWII restored plane like his dad learned to fly in the war and he let us climb in and take pictures. He said he always promises the missionaries when they come back to visit he will take them up in the plane for a ride.

We did service the other day and the Elders came and helped so we took them out to dinner. Everyone's favorite place here is Mongolian BBQ. It's a fun little hole in the wall and really delicious. Our Investigator came to stake conference this weekend and she seemed to enjoy it for the most part. She said she would come to church next week so we will see.  We are making great progress on her house though. Once it is clean she will be healthier mentally and emotionally and therefore spiritually too. The Stake President is her financial adviser and he is the one who referred her to us. He's always encouraging us to hang with her because "She needs the gospel." It's true. Everybody does.

We went to lunch at the Subway here. The man who owns it LOVES the missionaries. He tells us that his Subway is blessed because we come in and that we bring a great peace. He always gives us part of our meal (a cookie, a drink, etc.) on the house. He is Indian but from England. One of these days we will get him baptized.

In the adult session of stake conference this week, President made all the new sister missionaries stand up and talked about how we were making history and he had a picture of us that was going in the stake history. We were like total celebrities at Stake Conference. Everybody wanted to talk to us and we didn't get home till nearly 10!

We started teaching two kids, Barbie and Ken (10 and 13). Their dad is an RM (returned missionary) who had two marriages where the wives left. Now he is recently remarried and active. The kids want to be baptized, but their real mom won't let them. Pray that she will let them be baptized! They are really great kids.

Brother Doolittle story for the week :

We went over for lunch and he gave us a lesson (where he'll pull out something awesome from Jerusalem and we talk about it and he teaches a principle of missionary work and gets us pumped) I got to see the manual for missionaries they used from the time he opened up missionary work in Jerusalem to the time they banned proselyting in 1984. So cool! He said we'd probably never see that manual again, at least until work with the Jews open up, but maybe not until the Savior comes. When I am off my mission we will have to come back and visit the Doolittle's. Daddy would have a field day with him!

Brother Doolittle always reminds us that as missionaries if we are worthy, humble, and obedient, we are ENTITLED to miracles, visions, and miraculous experiences. As members of the church, we are too, but especially as missionaries and we should strive to be open to these experiences. The Lord will reveal great things to those willing to listen and act upon His words.

The church is true! The work is hastening on! There are people out there for each of us, whether full time missionaries or not, that we are supposed to bring to the gospel. We just have to be bold enough because we love them, to invite them to come unto Christ.

Love y'all! I'll try and send a few pics!

My Valentine's Day cookies for
the Activity day girls!

My planner cover! Love me some Alex Boye,
Samoan symbols from Sister Loli, and Jefferey R. Holland

The view from our balcony at the Doolittle's

Our bedroom! Sister Loli has the daybed in the corner
and Sister Hale and I have the bunks.

Sacramento - Week 1

Due to the new security measures requested by the Mission leaders, the names of all investigators and people that Sarah comes into contact with will be replaced with the name of a well-known character from a children’s movie. This will keep the identities of people safe as well as make it easier to keep everyone straight. The name given is in NO WAY intended to reflect the personality, looks, or circumstances of the individual(s).

Monday, January 28, 2013  11:31 AM

Good morning!

First off, I just love it here!

Recap:

After I sent my last email we went to the temple. The assistants drove us up to the temple (which is on a hill overlooking a valley and a river and is absolutely gorgeous. As you come up the hill, they play a special recording in the car of epic music and a quote from President Hinckley about the temple and the great work we are called to do as missionaries. It was so epic!

Then we went to the mission home and had a little chat with President and Sister Skywalker. Then we ate a huge dinner of delicious food homemade by Sister Skywalker and had a testimony meeting. It was awesome! 

That night, we spent the night at one of the counselors, President and Sister Sebastion, house. I walked in and saw a baby grand piano and a big cabinet full of music. Sister Sebastion saw me eyeing it and said, "Feel free to play if you want. My husband plays so we have everything you could possible ever want to play here." So, that's what I did for the rest of the night, sit and play that baby grand. President Sebastion walked in and sang while I played, and some of the other sisters sang too. We had a lot of fun.

The next morning we had more training, and we committed to the mission's Book of Mormon challenge which is to read the Book of Mormon in 6 months and underline every time it talks about Christ, Christ is speaking, Christ is referenced etc.

L to R: Sarah Burchett, Sister Loli, Sister Hales

Next we went to meet our trainers.. It was really cool how they do it in this mission because you walk into the chapel while all the trainers are singing Called to Serve. Then they call you up one by one and have you open basically a second mission call which has your trainer's name and the area you will be serving in. I am serving with.....Sister Loli and Sister Hales in the Green Valley Ward in the El Dorado Stake!

Sister Hales is a greenie from Abilene like me. We are training in trios because there are so many new sisters. Our trainer, Sister Loli, is from Australia and is Samoan. She is so much fun and a really great trainer! We are in the Green Valley Ward which is in the hills and a little more rural than the city, which I love! We used to cover two wards, but they split our area so now we just cover Green Valley which is in Cameron Park, California. We love the Green Valley ward, but all of our investigators were in Bass Lake (the other ward) so we had to hand them over to the other sisters and now we are starting from scratch. Lots of work, but a great opportunity to get members involved in finding efforts.

We live with the members here, the Doolittle's. They are the bomb.com! They live out more in the country (kind of like a subdivision but the houses are like multiple acre lots). It's beautiful! Our room is upstairs and we have a balcony that looks out on the mountains. They have a dog and cats and goats and chickens so it's pretty much like home. Brother Doolittle is like church legend because he was called on a mission to Jerusalem! He was the first person to baptize with proper authority in the river Jordan since John the Baptist. He is always telling us about Jewish traditions, speaking hebrew, etc. He's hob knobbed with prophets and apostles and now he is called as a special jail minister here in California. He goes into the jails and teaches the inmates. We haven't gotten to meet his wife yet because she is out of town. Since she's gone, we can't sleep there so we are staying with some other members. They are great, but we are ready to move home to the Doolittle's and actually unpack. Right now we are living out of suitcases. Sister Doolittle is with her daughter cause she is having a baby but she should be back at the end of this week and we can move back home into our lovely bedroom with the balcony. We live in their son's old room which they've turned into a room for us. He is on a mission in North Carolina and will be done about the same time I am.

Buzz Lightyear: The most excited 8 year old ever!
He is the youngest of 5 and his Mom said that
when he woke up on Sunday she heard him say,
"FINALLY! My day has come!"

We have been super busy since I got here. Running around meeting members and non-members. The members here are awesome and have embraced us with open arms. Our ward missionaries are great too. One of them is the sweetest older lady. Her husband is blind so whenever we go over there they have me play piano. I sang at a baptism yesterday for Buzz Lightyear, one of the cutest little 8 year olds ever, and he was probably the most excited human to be baptized in years. He was about to burst! We got to teach seminary this morning to the Seniors which was awesome. We are teaching Seminary again on Friday and Young Women's on week after next.

Sister Hales and Sister Burchett

We went tracting for the first time the other day. We've decided it isn't the most effective way to find people, but it was a good experience to have anyways. We got a return appointment with one woman (we'll see if it happens) and then a lot of slammed doors! The key to tracting is to make it fun. When they slam the door we just yell "Have a nice day!" through the door and smile.

Yesterday we had testimony meeting because our stake conference is Sunday. We all bore testimony of missionary work (and wore matching red sweaters) and that the work is hastening and we need the members' help to be a part of it. They all seemed really motivated so hopefully we will be able to find some people. We have a few appointments this week with part member families that hopefully will turn into new investigators.

One of my favorite families here joined the church in August or September and they are great! They have two kids like 11 and 9 or something like that. The parents, are so funny! We are working with them on things like Family Home Evening and preparing to go to the temple etc. Their neighbors are how they started investigating and we just love them too. They are a hoot. We were over there the other night and the family came over with leftover birthday cake and they all started feeding us. We love our morning glory (morning work outs) because the members here are relentlessly nice and feed us all the time!

The church is true! There are miracles everyday. God is hastening his work and has great things in store for the church. I read a great article on lds.org about the hastening of the work and how all of the church programs for youth are coming together and working together with the age change (as if by chance, but we all know that there's no such thing as coincidence). We just have to have faith and get with the program. It's HIS work so we better do it HIS way!

I love you! I'm going to try and send some pictures now. We'll see if it works....

MTC Pictures: 

Sister Jackson
Sister Ward
Sister Kim

Our welcome at the Mission Office

My Coat Tag!!!

I'M HERE!!!

Due to the new security measures requested by the Mission leaders, the names of all investigators and people that Sarah come into contact with will be replaced with the name of a well-known character from a children’s movie. This will keep the identities of people safe as well as make it easier to keep everyone straight.The name given is in NO WAY intended to reflect the personality, looks, or circumstances of the individual(s).


January 22, 2013 


Hello all my lovely loved ones,

I AM IN SACRAMENTO! And it is beautiful and it is 60 degrees and the sun is shining and the birds are singing (oh wait, that's just me, Sister Burchett) and I can't remember when I was this happy to see someone not wearing a nametag!

Rewind: My last week at the MTC was crazy busy and flew by like nobody's business. We took a lot of pictures though and I will send those when I get the chance which will probably be next week. Our Elders left on Monday morning so Tuesday was just sisters in the classroom all day. It was SO quiet without them and I missed some of them...all of them in their own special way, but some more than others. It was nice to have some purely sisters time though with our teachers.

We flew out this morning and it was 0 degrees in Salt Lake. I was the travel leader for our group and it was so fun to ride to the airport in a bus full of missionaries who all were dying with excitement. Everyone at the airport who were LDS were just smiling and waving and so happy to see us and everyone who wasn't just looked really confused. It was easy to pick out the members from the nonmembers. We had 12 sisters and 5 elders. Next transfer we are getting 31 missionaries.

When we got to Sacramento, the first thing I saw was green grass, sunshine, and trees of every kind and I nearly cried I was so happy! We came down the escalator to baggage claim and there were the assistants and the Skywalker's smiling and waving and taking pictures and it was the best! We took a big group picture so I'm sure they will send it to you with a welcome email etc. They are the sweetest people ever and I can't wait to get to know them better. The assistant, Elder Smith (who is from Denton), drove our car from the airport and he said he was talking to a guy in the missionary department who told him that most people think that when they are placing missionaries in missions, they are putting you where you will be most effective for the people you teach, that there are people waiting for you, which is true, but more importantly, they pray about which mission president you need to learn from and who will be the best for you and wherever that president is, that is where you go. So, moral of the story, Pres and Sis Skywalker are for us and we should learn everything we can from them!

We came back to the mission office for orientation and lunch and Sister Skywalker made us all sorts of snacks. The office Elders and Sisters are spoiling us rotten and are fantastic. I just had my interview with President Skywalker and I just adore the man already. After this, the assistants are taking us to the temple to walk around and see everything. Then we are having dinner at the Skywalker's and spending the evening talking and bonding. After that the sisters are getting split up between 3 houses (one of which is the Lewis').

Tomorrow morning we will be back at the mission office for training and we will meet our trainers who will be assigned to us tonight (AHHHHH) and we will be out of here working by 1 in our area. CRAZY. We will be training in trios (one trainer and two greenies) because there aren't enough sisters to train us, at least that's what Sis Skywalker said.

I can't wait to get my area. They said that 4 of us will be up in the foothills and I hope that I am, which probably means I'll be here in the heart of SacTown in the Carmichael area, but I don't care where I go as long as I can get to work.

Also, apparently the members here are fantastic and feed us all the time. Sister Skywalker said a lot of the sisters have asked that they only be served dessert on Sundays because they are getting fat haha. There are 50 apartments and 20 member homes where the missionaries live so we will see where I end up. (I'd love to live in a member home but we'll see).

How is everybody doing? Daddy, are you dying of worry yet? I love you! Is Bridie doing her yawning? Tell me about James' birthday. How's my brother John?

I love y'all! The church is true. Missionary work is the BEST!