Like I said last week, I am in a trio now! One of my companions, Hermana Martin, is from Highland, Utah and has been out for 7 months. Together, we are training a brand new missionary, Hermana Sanchez! She is from West Jordan, Utah, but was born in Mexico, so she is fluent in spanish! They are both so nice and such great missionaries. We are having so much fun getting to know the area and the people, and having Hermana Sanchez help us with our spanish.
We have already been kept so busy here!! Our first night, Thursday, we went and visited the Vega family. The wife is an inactive member, the husband is a nonmember, and then they have 3 kids who are nonmembers as well. We introduced ourselves and got to know them a little bit, and they told us they are so ready to take the lessons!! YAY! We have our first lesson scheduled with them this Thursday- I am so excited! Also, last night, we went and contacted a referral from someone in our Spanish ward, a man named Salmos. Ee shared a scripture with him and set up a return appointment for next Sunday to talk more about our church!! Exciting stuff
So yes, I am covering a Spanish ward now!! It is so awesome. After not using spanish at all for 6 weeks though, I feel like I literally forgot everything I learned in the CCM. But the more I talk with the members and the people in the neighborhood here, it's slowly coming back- definitely have a lot to learn though. We split the spanish ward with 2 Elders who are in our same area, Elder McIllece and Elder Fields. I actually came from the CCM with Elder Fields so that is super fun. We do a lot of teaching appointments together, and they get a lot of referrals for us from people who "prefer hermanas" hahahaha but it's so cool having the opportunity down here to work with other missionaries!
The Elders actually found a service opportunity for an English family that they are teaching, so we did that on Saturday along with another companionship of Elders in our district. They told us we were helping them clean out their garage because they are moving, but when we got there we found out that these people were BIG TIME hoarders. There was just HUGE piles of clothes, toys, garbage, literally anything, all over the driveway, in the house, and from the floor to the ceiling in the garage- there was a car buried in there that we couldn't even see til we started clearing stuff out!! Not only that but all of their stuff in the driveway and their front yard was soaking wet and soggy from the rain, dirty, and covered in dog poop. It was a good time. She also informed us that she had 2 dead dogs in her freezer and kept asking us if we wanted to see them- i took a polite pass on that one. It was a sad situation but the people were truly so nice and were so grateful for our help. It took a long time and we still have to go back to finish the job, but it was awesome to get out and help someone in need!
The people have taken such good care of us already. We have dinner appointments every night, and have been invited over for breakfasts as well! They also have given us lots of referrals and members that we need to go see and do service too, so it looks like this will be a busy transfer! I am sooo excited, the best days on the mission are the days when you have a full schedule!
Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes!! It meant so much to me and made my day a little more special :) It was cool though that I just got to do missionary work all day on my birthday, because I know there is nothing better that I could be doing right now. I love and miss you all so much and wish nothing but the best!
Hermana Rawlins
1111 South Cole Rd
Boise, ID 83709
Pictures:
1. The trio!! At the laundromat waiting for our laundry hahaha
2. Me in front of my McCall house for the last time :,)
3. Me and my old companion, Hermana Percival, on our last night together- eating candy and playing "how well do you know your companion" hahaha
