iaorana errbody!
ok! i feel like i have so many things to say
about this week but i don't know how to organize my thoughts so...basically i'm
apologizing in advance if this email is just a giant mass of word vomit. YOU'LL
READ IT AND LIKE IT ANYWAY.
so i'm in PAEA now! it's a new sector for the
soeurs so i'm opening it up and lemme tell ya. opening a sector is kind
of...how do i put this...grueling. yes. that is a good word. so we got here on
tuesday and walked into the house that they just rented for us--it's completely
empty, and filthy. me=not happy about this. and so we spent the day de-filthing
and settling it. oh by the way, when i say "we", i'm referring to me
and the holy ghost. just kidding. me and my new companion, soeur teraiamano
(teh-ra-ay-ah-mah-no). she's actually not a real missionary, she's on a what
they call a "mini mission." she's 19 and preparing to go on a mission
in two years. since there's a serious lack of soeurs in the mission for the
moment, i guess president set up some deal or something where ward missionaries
could become provisionary missionaries and serve with us to fill in the gaps
until more newbs arrive. i didn't really ask too many questions. but soeur
teraiamano is great--she's like already super missionary, and we get along
well. so anyway.
let's talk about how this all went down. our
sector is TEENY, but there are two wards that we took from the elders (vaiatu
and tepuhapa). so i talk to the elders
me: i'm like hey buddies, can we get the area
books and a run-down of the area?
elders: yeah! we'll make a list of all of our
potentials and fixed baptisms and give you all the stuff tomorrow.
me: yay!
next day: we go to pick up the stuff.
elders: here you go! *hands over area books*
me: thanks! so the list of potentials is in
here?
elders: huh? no we're keeping those for us.
here are all the stand bys.
me: ..................(i hate you guys)
so basically they gave us NOTHING. and i had
to work really hard on my christlike attributes. but then i was like WHATEVER we'll
find our OWN amis! so this week we basically ran around like chickens with our
heads cut off trying to track down all of the people in the area book that had
previously met with the missionaries to see if we could recontact them and
start up lessons again, all the while stopping and visiting and introducing
ourselves to the members. it was grueling. but we were able to get some lessons
fixed for next week and we even have two new potential investigators! pretty
happy about that. BUT, the elders redeemed themselves on sunday.
elders: hey we talked it over and we decided
to give you our potential amis.
me: yaaaaaaay i don't hate you anymore!
anyway, now there's another mini missionary
with us, soeur isnard. soeur teraiamano finishes next week because she has to
go back to school. and i'm sad because i like her a lot. soeur isnard got here
on saturday. she's cool, although i feel like i need four ears to listen and
process all that she says because...she talks a lot. but she's suuuuuuuuuuuper
nice.
anyway, i'm gonna try and wrap this up. all in
all, things are going well. the new sector is good and we have high hopes for
the future. just trying to work hard and be happy!
love,
soeur hansen
p.s. the picture--me, soeur teraiamano, soeur
weller (a new american! finally!!! the last american sister to get here was
ME), and soeur tauaroa at the beach at paea
