Preparing to meet God

Hey Fam,

Oh, it was a roller coaster week! I honestly felt like I experienced the full spectrum of emotions. Pday was busy - shopping and cleaning and packing and energy sessions and Pday sports and saying goodbye to people in my area. Thank goodness for Sister Montandon and her energy work... I went in for an hour and a half with her and she worked her magic. I walked out of her house feeling well-equipped emotionally, spiritually, and mentally to face transfers and head to Henderson. Transfer day was busy - I got into the area in Anthem with Sister Smith and got to work setting goals and making plans for the transfer. For the first few days, I was overwhelmed being there. It was like a sensory overload experience - everything felt so new and different! We are over the Inspirada ward, which is up in the mountainous/"hillcountry" part of Anthem stake... our geographic area isn't very big, but the ward has over 800 members. In sacrament meeting yesterday, we had nearly 450 people in attendance! The membership is HUGE! Half of them are primary-aged kids... we have 2 primaries and 2 nurseries. We have tons of young couples - many of them are just a few years older than me. Yesterday after sacrament, one couple came up to Sister Smith and me and introduced themselves. They just got married in March, and they both served missions - He in Uganda and she in France. "We just moved in - this is our firstSunday here - and we just wanted to let you know that we will be happy to go out with you anytime! Seriously, we know how it is, and we have a lot of spare time right now as we're looking for work and going to school, so call us any time!" So we invited them to come out with us that night, and it was so fun. They're only 21 and 22 - I felt like we'd been friends for years. Because I know that I soon will be in a similar stage in life, I think it will be a good experience for me to serve here and see how so many young couples, freshly returned from their missions, begin their lives together as member missionaries! 

A Stellar Week

Family, 

This week was stellar. The first bit of good news is that OUR CAR GOT FIXED. Remember the video I sent of Sister Blanchard and I in the car with our doors roped shut? Well our passenger door had been broken since then - about a month! So with Sister Martin and me, one of us has had to sit in the back while one of us drives. I didn't realize how much of a strain it had been putting on our companionship until this week when I sat in the front seat beside her for the first time.... Ohhh my, it was a breath of fresh air! I could actually talk and laugh with her! It has put a whole new dynamic to our work and companionship this week, I could cry with relief! I realized that this month with one of us in front and the other behind has taught me an important life lesson (silly as it may seem) : in companionships (as a missionary, or a friendship, or a marriage), we have to work side-by-side. The relationship just won't work the way it's supposed to if one is ahead of or behind the other, not necessarily in a physical sense, but a spiritual, emotional, and mental one. Equal partnership is a powerful thing.