in da field

Dear Family,

So I can email everyone in the family. We email at the library, which also has a 30 min time limit, but i guess we can sign back in..grr, it muffs up the works. But today I still have to stick to 30 min because my comp is super sick.

We have a car, but we're not allowed to use it on pday, so we have to get rides from members and that throws a wrench in the works too. So my trainer is Sister Schilling and my first area is Syracuse!! I like both exceedingly well. I live in a ghetto lil apt (think motel 6) but it is fun to have a little place of our own as opposed to living with members. Though it was freezing in Provo, Syracuse is hotter than Hades, and there is no air con so we pull our mattresses into the living room where the swamp cooler is. I am getting a farmer's tan and a shoe tan. It's pretty gross. We have a car but we still tract a lot. We will usually just drive to a neighborhood and tract the streets and talk to everyone, even though most of them are members it is still good for us to be seen out and about so everyone will know there are sisters in the area and give us referrals!! Because that is how we get most of the work done around here. The members are great about missionary work and we have a dinner appointment every night. What we do when we are not teaching or tracting is go visit the auxiliaries and get them pumped about missionary work, which is no small feat because we cover 2 stakes and 18 wards! Whoa dang! I am really starting to despair that I will never remember the names of 18 bishops, young women's and primary presidents, etc etc etc...it's way wild, but everyone is super nice and helpful. Tracting, we meet a lot of members as I said but that is good because we can ask for referrals and service opportunities (or get a drink of water and score a snack). But we also meet a TON of inactives and nonmembers who are wary of the church. It is fun to see what everyone's beliefs are and to testify of what we know to be true. Sometimes people want to bash but Sis Schilling is really good at leading the conversation away from that. A lot of times when people don't want to listen to us we will ask if we can sing them a song, and we sing a couple verses of a hymn, and it bring the spirit so quickly! Sister Schilling has an amazing voice!! (she sings like a black girl, even though she is white. Think Quinn sisters) So I will just sing a soulful rendition of the melody, and Sister S. busts out some beautiful amazing harmony! Everyone loves it, and we are getting to be known as the singing sisters who walk the streets of Syracuse!! I love singing with her, it reminds me of being at home with Nina and the way that when I start singing, she always joins in with a harmony, and then we both start giggling. Sis. Schilling is from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She is super laid back but we always work hard and have fun while we're at it. She is also waaaaay organized and good at planning down to the last second, which I
am bad at, but she is teaching me! There is so much stuff to remember, it takes a lot of faith to believe that someday I will know all that stuff and Sis S will leave me!! I really don't look forward to that day. But we are always busy visiting, teaching, (but not vistin teachin'), tracting, finding, etc etc etc. There is a lot of paper work that makes my head explode! We are teaching a few eople, we do a lot with part member and non member families. My time is actually about to run out, so I have to go, but I'll write some more in snail mail letters.

Love, me