Hermana Morgan Rawlins: Hola From Idaho!

Hi friends! I'm back in the United States! I hope everyone was able to enjoy their Thanksgiving! It seems like forever since my email, and this one might be a long one just since so much has happened since then. I apologize in advance, if anything just look at the cute pictures I send, haha!

First, leaving the MTC was HARD. Those 6 weeks seriously flew by and I will always look back on them as some of the best, funnest, and most spiritual weeks of my life! Half of my district left super early Monday morning (Elders Murdock, Hurst, and Williams to Omaha, Nebraska ; Elder Travis to Merida, Mexico) and saying goodbye to them Sunday night was hard. A couple of them wrote each of us little notes and they were the sweetest things I have ever read. I seriously admire those elders so much.

Monday was so different with half of our district gone! We still had all our regular activities like class and gym. It was actually pretty boring with only 2 elders instead of the regular 6 to keep things chaotic and entertaining! However, just to keep things exciting, some workers at reception came into our classroom Monday morning and told us Hermanas that they needed us packed up and moved out of our dorm in 30 minutes so that they could clean it for some unexpected missionaries that were arriving to the MTC a day early. So we hurried and shoved an entire 6 weeks of living into our suitcases and had to move all the way across the campus into one of the casa's that's supposed to be for the elders. It was actually kind of exciting to be in there for one night because it was way bigger than our dorm and instead of it being 2 girls to a room, all 4 of us were in bunk beds in the same room! Kinda fun to have a sleepover together for our last night! Anyways, the rest of the day went on as normal. Saying goodbye to our teachers was sad, I learned so much from them and they became good friends! Me and the rest of my district were super lucky because we all got to be on the same first flight to our layover in Dallas. We had to be packed up, ready, and to reception waiting to leave at 3:30am tuesday morning! Once we landed in Dallas and got through customs and everything, I had to basically run to my gate- I had no time in between! Out of the 6 left in our district, I was the only one who had to go their separate way :( Elders Yorgason and Sorensen as well as Hermanas Oliveros, Mugleston, and Merrell are all serving in San Diego together! But, so, they all ran to my gate with me to say bye and send me off to Idaho. It was like saying goodbye to my family all over again! Having to leave them all and leave the comforts of the MTC was so, so hard. I'm still been hard- I find myself missing it and being sad about leaving allllll the time. But I'm trying hard to adjust and look back on it happily instead of sadly.

I got to Boise and it was COLD. Boy was I in for a rude awakening though because the next morning I got assigned my first area- McCall, ID! And it's even COLDER! Haha. This week the high was 7 degrees and we got about a foot of snow yesterday, with 5 or 6 more coming. It makes everything so much harder. Everyone up here lives in cabins in the mountains, there's not really a huge city scene with apartments or close housing, so that with the snow makes tracting impossible. So we do a lot of member visits, and working with referrals from members. I am in the farthest north area in my entire mission, about 2 hours away from the mission home in Boise, so we never get to see anyone. We don't get to see any other missionaries for weekly district council or anything because we are too far away, so it's literally just me and my companion. It's been a hard transition going from the MTC where you are constantly around people, to this. I've been feeling pretty lonely lately. Also, it's english speaking :( I am devastated. I'm trying to keep up my own personal language study so I don't forget everything I've been working so hard on in the MTC.

My companion is Hermana Percival from Indiana. She is really nice, and we are having fun getting to know each other more. She is my trainer, teaching me more about the area, the people, and the daily missionary routine. So, this week has just been a lot of learning and getting into the swing of things. We did have Thanksgiving though, which was really nice! We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners with different families in the ward! It was so nice of them to have us over during the holiday, to feed us, and to get to know us more! And I definitely was in need of a good day. This week has definitely been super hard, I've struggled a lot trying to adjust to everything and missing the MTC.

Sorry this email was soooo long, and I didn't say everything that I wanted to but I figured you'd heard enough from me in this email, haha! I miss you all so much! For those of you who have asked, my address for at least the next 6 weeks is:

808 South Samson Trail

P.O. Box 192

McCall, ID 83638

Thank you all for your constant love, support, and prayers! I really need it this week. I will talk to you all again soon! Sending soooo much love

Hermana Rawlins <3

Pictures (mostly from the last week at the mtc):

1. District photo at the front of the MTC

2. District Hermanas selfie

3. District Hermanas

4. Me & Oliveros <3

5.District photo!! plus 2 random elders on the end because no one will ever let us get a good district picture

6. Me and my comp matching on our last day