I'm in Washington-- wohoo! I absolutely LOVE it here! Time to get out your map: I'm in Port Orchard, Washington North of Tacoma and RIGHT ON THE PUGET SOUND! Right before we walked into the library to e-mail, my companion and I walked out on the dock to look at the Sound and all of the boats. It's AMAZING!
My first area is Port Orchard. It's North of Tacoma, and is a little town nestled in the woods along the Puget Sound. I'm serving in two wards, the Southworth ward and the Penninsula YSA ward. How cool is that? A YSA ward! My first day, the plane ride went smoothly and we arrived to President and Sister Weaver welcoming us with open arms. I got to ride with President Weaver to see the Puget Sound, so I got to know him quite well my first day. We were assigned new companions and went to our areas on the first day. It was tiring, and sad to say goodbye to everyone I loved from the MTC. It's especially hard because so many of us will become part of the Federal Way mission in July, meaning that I won't see my MTC companion (Sister Martin) until after the mission.
So, funny story. We're all sitting in the Relief Society room waiting to find out what area we'll be going to and who our new companion will be. President Weaver says, "Sister Johnston, Southworth/YSA ward with Sister Brown"! Sister Brown, my trainer, runs in the room and I shout: "you know Trent Poulson!" She stared at me funny and said "yeah, I do!" Then President Weaver was confused because he thought that we knew each other. Turns out, that Trent, who's friend, Sister Brown, has been serving in Tacoma, became my trainer. And Trent only joked that it would happen. Well, it's true :D She's from Springville, UT and this is her last transfer. She's been serving in the Gig Harbor area for the past 8 months, so Port Orchard is a totally new area for her too. We had fun trying to find our house (which is along a long dirt road in the middle of the woods). We're living above a member's garage in an AMAZING flat--there's a huge living area, small kitchen stip along the wall, and then a bathroom. There's also a baby grand piano! How lucky are we?!
Well, mission life is amazing. Although it does have his challenges. I left the MTC with a cold which only got worse when I came to Washington. For the frist 5 days of my mission, I almost lost my voice, and every time I did talk, it was really scratchy and hurt. I learned to sit through lessons without sniffling or coughing. I'm just starting to get better, which is a huge blessing. My companion doesn't know what my normal voice sounds like :D
The first door I ever knocked on while tracting, the man started screaming at us about polygamy and the lies that we preached :D We tract every day from 5 to 7 in the most beautiful area. The houses are pretty spread apart and are all up long dirt roads, right along Long Lake. We've had somenoe threaten us with a paintball gun, possibly have a new family to teach when a lady came out, accepted a Book of Mormon, and prayed on their doorstep, and got invited into a home that turned out to be a member who has a stuffed taxadermy lion and zebra in her living room that we got to pet. We've had some amazing experiences, and some not so great ones, but that's how we find people to teach.
I am SO grateful that I'm from Toledo, Ohio. The Lord put me here for a reason. I know that. I know I'm supposed to be in this mission, and in Southworth. Our first night, we went to a member's home, Sister Eischen, who's basically the missionary mom (we do our laundry at her place) She was NOT happy about having sister missionaries at ALL. But, as we got talking, she found out I'm from Toledo. And her son lives in Oregon and works for the Toledo Police force. She's been thinking about moving back to Toledo for a while now, and took it as a sign that maybe that's what the Lord wants her to do. She's called the Toledo II missionaries, who have appartently talked to Bishop Hiniman? IDK, but it's a small world!
One day while we were tracting, we came across 3 guys drinking around a bonfire. We were scared to go talk to them, but we did. One guy was not interested, and starting shooting down everything we had to say. I started talking to another guy, Mark, who said that he's from Toledo. He lived off of Bancroft and Holland Sylvania (right by Kroger), so about 4 minutes away from home until he got a divorce about a year ago. After that, he totally opened up and we talked about Christ, his faith in Christ, and how tough his life has been since his divorce. They let us pray with them, and Mark stopped me to pray that he will find a job. He gave me a huge hug (which isn't allowed but what could I do?!) and he totally felt the Spirit. He said that he WANTS to remember his faith in Christ. It was a miracle!
The last blessing of Toledo, Ohio is that I've been exposed to the RLDS church. My second day, we taught our first lesson with a lady named Margo. She was raised in the backwoods of West Virgina with 32 kids in the house (she had 17 brothers) in the RLDS church. I was able to answer a lot of her questions because of watching that video so many times at the Kirtland temple. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I absolultely LOVE her and defnitely think that she's ready to accept the gospel. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes (once she knows more) but one big problem: she's deathly afraid of water and hyperventalates every time it touches her face. Well, the Lord can work miracles, can't he? :)
We have a baptism on the 11th- wohoo! His name is Scott and he's SO ready. He's in the YSA ward, and has been friends with members his whole life. He's just finally ready!
I absolutely LOVE the people. Everyone I meet just blesses my life. The wards are SO supportive- we have two amazing BIshops, an amazing ward mission leader that makes us call him every night to tell him that we're home safe, and members that go out of their way to love us. We had one lady stop on the side of the road to ask us if we had dinner for that night :D
Always have a prayer in your heart. Always look for opportunities to share the gospel. EVERYONE needs the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to share this gift that we have with those that are searching! I love you all- have a great week-- I know that I will :)
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