First P-Day

HEY!!! Yep, I am still alive and currently serving in Newport News, VA (first ward)... And I drive around and can't believe I am here. It is gorgeous and insanely cold. I guess it is humid but I can't really tell I am too cold. haha. SO to wrap up the travel story we ended up taking a red eye to Georgia on New Years eve. What a long day. We had a three hour lay over there and then flew into Richmond around 11:30 am. SO i didn't get much sleep and it was pretty much the scariest thing because you all know my "love" of flying. not. It was not fun but by the time we got on our little plane to Virginia I did not even care anymore. I just wanted clean clothes. a bed. and to finally get back to doing missionary work. When we got to baggage claim our mission president was anxiously waiting for us along with his four assistants. They were so excited to see us it was pretty sweet. We headed to the mission home where we were fed an excellent home cooked lunch and got to sleep in the softest beds for almost 4 hours. When we woke up it felt so good to shower and then we ate a yummy pizza dinner, had our interviews, took some pictures, and chatted with the assistants and then went back to bed. It was so nice to be there and the mission president and his wife were so nice and caring. They were everything I was hoping for and more! When we woke up the next morning we ate breakfast and then headed over to the local church building to do some training and what not. Then everyone that was involved in the transfer came together in the chapel and we got to meet our new trainers!!!! OMG! I love my companion. Her name is Sister Cox, she is from Fruit Heights Utah and has been out exactly one year. She is amazing. I have know doubt that Heavenly Father knew exactly that we needed to be together. After we left the church in the transfer van we got dropped off at the church with several other missionaries and got a ride from a sweet member in our ward. OK so I realized I am still in America and pretty much am in the best area ever. I guess before I left I was going to be in the middle of nowhere but SUPRISE we live 2 seconds away from a target, costco, wal-mart, and the MALL. I knew you would all appreciate that. ;) And yes we have already hit up Target today. I said to sister cox, uh-oh my family is going to be scared knowing I live right next to a Target. haha. But yes I guess we live in one of the best areas and are so lucky to have all of this just in our ward boundaries. Now.... So after we got back to the apartment that day we ate lunch, planned for a little bit and then got to work. My trainer kept telling me I was a natural but I am not so sure. I have so much to learn but I think I am picking it up pretty quickly. I taught my first lesson on Monday and it went SO good. Heavenly Father blesses me everyday and I am so greatful for the courage He gives me. You would be so happy to know I am almost never nervous and I have NEVER EVER been this calm when trying something so NEW, and completely out of my COMFORT ZONE!!! WOW. I know that Heavenly Father is knows us perfectly and I am blessed everyday to know that He is there every step of the way. It helps me trust in Him more and rely on Him to get me through the days. So I know I am so scattered right now but there is just so much I want to tell everyone!!! Sunday was a crazy day. It is so stressful because there are so many recent converts in the ward and so many people we are teaching that we need to get to church . I guess there have been 36 beaptisms in the year of 2009. The bishop is supposedly the best one in the whole mission and I am defintely starting to see that. It was so hard to try and remeber everyones names but it is getting easier everyday. We don't get dinners every night unless we get invited to someones house because our mission president thinks it is wasting out time unless they are inviting non-members. But its ok. We eat on the run everyday but I am getting used to it . I just can't say enough and there is so much to say but things are going so great and I am loving every minute of it. I have never been happier in my entire life!!! And one cool thing was last night I witnessed my first baptism... It was so sweet... It was a girl my age and she has a little boy who is 8 months old. The crazy part is that she had been taught the gosple for almost 2 years and we finally had commtited her to baptism on my first day. She is super shy and so she didn't want to make it a big production oh and did I mention she got married in the bishop's office right before she got baptized?! CRAZY!!! I am so happy for her though. She has the strongest testimony and is going to be such a great new member of the church. We are busy everyday and we do a lot of tracting because we are trying to re-build our teaching pool... Sister Cox is a rock star and just saw so many baptisms so we are trying hard to find more people and also help less actives as well. The area we are in is pretty big and so we have to do a lot of traveling. We are so lucky to have a sweet apartment that is so nice. It has the laundry inside and it also has a gym in the front of the complex that we get to work out in every morning. Sister Cox said don't worry not every area is like this ;) I have it good and am so greatful. I am not too homesick and was so happy that I got to talk to each one of my siblings and parents and nieces and nephews in the airport. It was hard but so good to hear those sweet familiar voices. Our P-days are on Wednesdays and it has been a great day and great first week :) I lvoe you all so much and thank you for all of your prayers!

My new address for this transfer is:

602 Riverbend Ct. Apt. 106
Newport News, VA 23602

I would love to here how everyone is doing :)

Love Sister Dunn