Week 1

Me and Sister Holmes

Sister Holmes and Me

Elder Cameron Clark, Sister Erika Hutchings, Sister Lauren Cousin, Me, Sister Leah Holmes, Elder Blake Anderson

Missionaries and Sister Hutchings, Sister Holmes, and Sister Cousin heading for our mission walk!

Hello Family!

This first week has been awesome. The first four days were the longest, most tiring days of my life. Everyone kept saying, "Just wait until Sunday, it's the best," and it really is! It was such a relaxing peaceful day, and it was just glorious. I will tell you more about it in a minute but i only have 21 minutes left so you won't get much stories. First, I love you and it was hard to say goodbye.

The girls in my room and my companion are just amazing. Sister Hutchings is from Lehi, and Sister Cousin is from South Jordan. They are going to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sister Holmes is amazing. We all came up with little nicknames for each other, Sister Hutchings is our "Compass" she gets us where we need to go. We don't get lost and she is just a sweet heart. She found out on Friday that her Uncle committed suicide. She's been handling it really well, probably because we are so busy all the time, but just keep her in your prayers. I'm sure she needs it. Sister Cousin is our "Lil' Gangsta" because apparently in "real life" she is a gangsta at heart. Haha, and Sister Holmes is our "Hooty Hoo!" Because she was loopy one day and started our District's battle cry of Hooty Hoo!!! My nickname is "The Destroyer" and I got it because we were memorizing scriptures and I was the one that was erasing the letters to indicate words or whatever and I was a little loopy too and called myself that and now that is my nickname. There are 6 of us in the District. We have 2 Elders and the 4 of us. Our Elders are Elder Andersen and Elder Clark. They are both going to Baton Rouge as well. Elder Andersen is from Orange County, CA, and Elder Clark is Salt Lake City. They are awesome men and are going to be such wonderful missionaries.

Anyway, some funny stories. We were walking down the hall in the main building and there is a BEAUTIFUL painting of John the Baptist baptizing Christ and Sister Hutchings said "Hey Christ looks like that guy from Lord of the Rings," and Sister cousin said "Who Frodo?" We all started laughing so hard! She meant Aaragon (no idea how to spell that), but yeah. In what way could Christ EVER look like Frodo?

Another story, we were coming out of the gym on Monday and were talking about what we had done in the gym and I just said "Yeah, I did a kick ass ab workout." I kept on walking as Sister Hutchings slowed her step, she said, "Did you just say what I think you said?" I soon realized I cursed. Ha, I was laughing extremely hard but was mortified all at the same time. Looking back on it, I remember Elders around us looking at me as I cursed. We all were laughing, so it wasn't just me!

This first week we have had a lot of laughs and fun. Todd, prison is wonderful. I know you hated role playing, but I like it. It honestly helps me. We went to the Referral Center and were calling people about things that they had ordered for free and I got to talk to 2 people, and they didn't hang up on me. Neither wanted to talk about the Gospel either, but they didn't hang up on me. The first person I talked to had had this conversation before and I froze up and didn't really know what to say. It was scary! The second person I talked to, we talked about the bible for a minute, but he didn't want anything else from us, and it was still a really good conversation, at least in comparison.

Sunday was the best day ever. We started the day off by going to Relief Society and Music and the Spoken Word. We are going to go the next two Sundays because boy howdy do I miss music. Speaking of, Mom, I might be able to have my iPod, but we'll see. Anyway, they sang "Where is Love?" from Oliver, and "The Prayer" I don't know who it's by but Josh Groban and Celine Dion sing it. It invited the spirit so much. It was amazing. I don't know if you remember Brian Carey, but he is here and he sang "I Stand All Amazed" on Sunday at the fireside, and it was beautiful. I wanted to cry, I love him. Ha, he is such a good friend. I have also seen Josh Gurrero, Alec Saunders, Michael Fogt, BJ's sister Megan, and a bunch of other random people from high school I didn't really know. It has been really truly amazing. I got a letter from Dan Mortimer. He is the first and only letter! It was a wonderful letter though. Dan if you are reading this, thanks! I loved it and will write you soon. In an object lesson in a class the teacher used my pen to pop some balloons, and Sister Hutchings was like, "Hey you've got a weapon now Destroyer." And it immediately made me think of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Mom, how was it? I love you all and hope you are doing well. The church is true and I am so happy I am here.

Love,

Sister Earl