Real Missionary

Well this has been the BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE!!! Zipideedoodah!

Sisters Wilson and Oliphant

So the boodbye from so many loved ones at the MTC wasnt the easiest.  My MTC companion (Sister Furnell), my district, and my teachers I had all gotten so very close too. How do you not when you spend 16 hours a day with them :]  But none the less the bags were packed and I headed out of that little bubble and off into the real world at 4am on Tuesday morning. My poor companion got up with me at 2:30 so I could shower and get ready. (If I'm up, my companion is supposed to be up as well). The flight was great, I sat next to a couple on both plane rides. The first wanted nothing to do with me and the second we had a nice conversation in very broken English... They didnt really know English and were just flying home to Mexico from a trip. We landed, and good thing too because I was just starting to get really annoyed with the 9 other elders I was traveling with, and were greeted by President and Sister Lewis and the assistants at the airport. :] 

 

We went to the temple and had sack lunches, had interviews and training that afternoon, a formal sit down dinner with President and with all the senior companions (who are just the sweetest things! I love them all SOO much!) warm food NOT from the MTC cafeteria was seriously heaven! It felt like I had just come to a small oasis after traveling 8 months in a desert where I had been deprived of taste bud satisfaction. I never thought cooked carrots could taste so good. Bliss really bliss. Well I was treated to the best room in Sacramento at one of the senior couples homes, I slept in a room all by myself! That was strange. More training the next morning with those 9 other elders and finally it was the big moment we had all had been waiting for, when they announced our trainer and we got to meet them! Sister Wilson is just so great! I know everyone says this about their trainer but I LITERALLY got the best sister in Sacramento! And she's fluent in ASL. Yep I'm learning a lot and missing praying in English. She's a graduate in deaf studies from UVU and is stellar awesome! We are currently assigned to the Brookside Ward in Stockton. We do the English work here for the ward boundaries, and all the deaf work for the southern half of the entire mission, and parts of the Roseville mission too. Not that we do much deaf work to be honest, but its fun when we do. There is a deaf woman named Lani in the Brookside ward so we get to interpret for her on occasion, but there is an older woman in the ward here who knows a lick of sign so we can stick to missionary work on Sundays and not have to stick to Lani the whole Sunday meeting block. (This Sunday wasn't the cases tho). Being a missionary was been seriously so great! But oh my goodness this is not really what I expected, I don't really know WHAT I was expecting, but whatever it was it didn't quite fit.

Companion hug

So let me tell you a little about Stockton!! Okay well first of all I had actually been praying this would be my first area, covering the south half the mission and not the north. Mostly cause Sister Wilson I knew would be so awesome, but it would be a perfect opportunity to practice sign without getting overwhelmed. I would be voicing in the deaf branch up north when I head up there and when I can barely understand a deaf person when they sign at normal tempo, I barely get every other word, let alone how those words together make up an idea with proper grammar. I'm praying for patience and the language. But the best part about this area is I get to do English work too in the GHETTO!!! So Stockton is #1 in California for crime, and #3 in the US for its murder rate. Don't worry about me, I'm really just fine. but it sure makes for the best stories, adventures, and brings so much entertainment. Oh I love it! And the people are mostly all so humble and ready to hear the word. We live across the street from a park so we get to see lots of stuff.  Bwahahaha its awesome. We have a cross dresser strange man in our neighborhood frequently, last time I saw him he was wearing a hat, hawaiian button down shirt, womans shorts, womans knee highs, heels and had on a purse! I'm dying to find out his name. Last night we heard someone blaring a trumpet down the street at 11 oclock at night. I'm telling you, you do not get a boring day here! :] There's a prostitute lane, don't worry we drove down at 11am in the morning. 

Well this week was a week of firsts. It was the first week as a real missionary, I have my first Sacramento companion, I saw my first cockroach, I placed my first Book of Mormon, the Lord blessed us with my first new investigator, it was the first time I was asked to come up and share my testimony as a missionary impromptu in church, my first door was slammed in my face, I bought my first sac trucker hat (now I just need an excuse to wear it).

This week I met so many of our current investigators; the work is moving along and soon I'll tell you about Elder Holland's special blessing he gave to the Sacramento mission when he was here earlier this year. The blessing is coming to pass and we are seeing the results! Its so exciting! More to come next time...

Zina is a recent convert here and those stories are also to come. She's is a reincarnated Cal Buie but with a lot more energy.  Love her!

 

Also the bishop's family here in the Brookside ward is the sweetest! The little girl Alana asked me to sign her cast so I left her with a signature cow, and the wife sent us away with chocolates. The ward feeds us so well, we have a dinner appointment every night. Feed those missionaries!! It's the best!

Pdays are Mondays. So I'll email then. It was so great to chat with you on the phone!!! And thanks for your letter this week! LOVE the African outfits! You both pull them off so well!!

I love this work!!! Its going forth so strong!! Thank you so much for all your love, money, and support as I help do this work! Its seriously the best!!!!!! I love it here! I love sharing the gospel! and surprisingly enough I think I'm going to love knocking doors. :] I'm so thankful to be here and its all thanks to you too!!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Lots of Love!

Sister Oliphant