(January 27, 2011, 3:07 pm)
Wow!!! So much has happened in the last week it's crazy!! We left the MTC at 5am. and didn't arive to Lubbock, Texas till four ish. It is such an amazing feeling to be a missionary. In the airports we had so many people looking at us funny. ha ha I guess I'll just have to get used to it. We had tons of support too though! People would randomly yell, "Hurrah for Israel!" Parents would point us out to their kids and say, "Look! It's the missionaries" I love being a missionary so much. So naturally, like every eager missionary it is our mind set to convert every person we met on the plane! We soon found out that this was most likely not going to happen. Ha Ha We can always dream though!!! As I was getting onto my connecting flight there was a woman who kept looking at me. As she walked past me on the plane she told me she was sorry for staring at me so much but that I looked just like a girl she had once met and that she too was L.D.S. I said it was so nice to meet her and then she sat a few rows behind me. Once off the plane we had to wait in the aisle to collect our carry ons. She was having a hard time reaching hers, so I jumped in to help her and her friend get theirs. Well life went on and I was so nervous cuz they had put such a huge stress on making a good first impression to the Mission President. As I was almost to President Robison I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. It was that lady. She told me here name was Darlene. She told me how the girl she once knew was a missionary and how that girl had shown her so much love! She said that she then had met me and I had also shown her so much love without even knowing her that there had to be something about our gospel that made us feel the way we did. She told me how she wanted us to come and give her the lessons! Agh!!! So Crazy! so shaking and in shock I fumbled through my bag and all I could find was a "I'm a Mormon" pass along card, and a receipt. She have me her name and her phone number so that we could come and teach her!! I bore my testimony on how the gospel had changed my life and that I was happier than I had ever been!!! WOW!!! Words can not describe the feeling! It was so great! I am being transferred out of the Lubbock area, but I am so excited for the other sisters to teach her the lessons! I will let you know when I find out how the lessons are going!
Our mission president and his wife are so amazing! I love them so much!! They took us out to eat while we were in Lubbock. I stayed a few days in Lubock for some training and then my last night there I went out with some of the local sister missionaries. It honestly was kind of rough! ha ha Many of our appointments canceled on us. Texas is filled with such amazing people! They all believe in God, so it can be helpful. It's also a bad thing though because they are so nice that they can't tell you no to your face, so they just lie and tell you to come back later. They fill you with hope and then run, or "Punch you" as everyone calls it. Finally after hours of no luck at all we decided to stop by Sister Shaklefields home. She is in her 90's and is in inactive member. Someone offended her years ago and so she has become semi-anti. I guess the sisters said she has started to forget lots and so when they try to re-teach her she will just argue. So anyway...we went to knock on her door she then answered with no pants on!! Ha Ha Ha Ha I was trying to hard not to laugh! But she very simply said, "well I have no clothes but come on in" ha ha She was so funny and old! What a great first experience. We didn't really teach her a lesson. We sang her a song, cuz that way she couldn't really stop us to argue. (we sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer) then Sis. Arrington said the closing prayer. She pretty much gave the whole Restoration lesson in her prayer! It was definitely a new experience for me. Oh man! This is definitely going to be rough. But I still love it so much!
The next day we met at the transfer sight to go to our new areas! I met my companion Sister Robinson. She is from Washington State! She is so cute and always happy!! She gave me a huge present full of random stuff! I really like her and I think we work well together! So any guesses on my first area?!?! ............Roswell, New Mexico! Home of the aliens!! :) Ha all of the street lamps have little alien eyes on them! Even the McDonalds is in the shape of a space ship! There are about 50,000 people here! We have such an amazing area though!! The ward is absolutely amazing. Many of the members put in at least an hour of missionary work each week. Our stake president puts in almost 10 hours a week! They are all just so amazing!! We have so much support! The member as are all so close and love everyone they meet! We have many progressing investigators! And a woman who has a baptism date for next Saturday. I know that this is an amazing area! We are the first sisters to ever be in this area!!! I am so excited to be opening a new area!! I know that we will be able to do so much good here!!!! Last night the State President took us around the whole area and told us about the members. We made a few stops and set three appointments. One of the places we went was the Parks Family. They are an older couple and the wife is a member but the husband is not! Sister Robinson was teaching him and telling him he needed to read the Book of Mormon. He told us that reading was a chore for him. I didn't really say a whole lot cuz she just kept going. Finally he turned to me and said, "You can cut in...I feel like she is yelling at me." I just kind of laughed and so did everyone else; I told him that I knew too that the Book of Mormon was a true book. I told him that when I was growing up reading was always a chore for me too, but that people were always telling me I should read it. So finally one day I opened it up and would just read short amounts. One day, which happened to be a bad day I read Alma 36:27. I told him that I knew God loved me and would always carry me through. I knew that if he read this book he would know without a shadow of a doubt that god loved him too and would help him. I knew that the book was the only way to really know. He got tears in his eyes, looked me straight in the face and promised that he would start to read it everyday! What amazing experience! It was my first time teaching an actual investigator. I know that the Lord helped me know what to say! I love being a missionary so much! I can't wait for all the opportunities that are in store for me!
I love this gospel so much. I hope you know that I still pray for all of you everyday!! I hope life is great!!!
Love ya forever!
Sister Tracy
