Monday, June 17, 2013

Greenie Fire

So I have survived my first week as an 'official' missionary.  The MTC doesn't really count. My first impressions of Nevada....slot machines.  That was the first thing that I saw when I walked off the plane.  They lined the walls throughout the whole entire airport.  Gotta love Nevada ;)  Brown.  I have never seen any place so brown in my life.  But everyone has roses and are always watering their lawns so they are all green until you get to a house or place that isn't watered.  The difference is really funny!  Also, everyone has dogs.  Their dogs even have pet dogs.  I have a feeling that I really am not going to like dogs by the end of these 18 months.  Week one and I already have had to run from a dog that was lose (and not very nice) in one of the areas we were walking in.  
So we got here on Tuesday around noon and we met Pres. and Sister Hermansen and were in meetings for a while just to let us know some mission rules and safety and other fun stuff.  There were 30 new missionaries that come in this transfer; the largest group they have had yet!  When we boarded the plane a guy was talking on his phone and said something along the lines of, "most of the plane is missionaries, they must be turning over the whole state of Nevada!".  We got lots of comments like that at the airport.  It was weird to be out in public as a missionary and not have everyone around you be a missionary; people look at you different!  We had about a hundred of us that came from the MTC so people were grabbing their phones and taking pictures and videos of the group of us coming in.  It was fun ;)  But that night we got our assignments and companions!  I am assigned in the Sparks 2nd Ward with Sis. Nunn and Sis. Verkist.  They are super cool. 
 My first night, we saw a plane flying over and sis. Nunn turns to me and asks, "How close do you think that plane is?"  I say I have no clue, maybe right above town?  "Nope!  It's about 18 months away, but you see that plane over there?  It's only 8 months away."  They have both been out about a year and love throwing things at people.  I was coming out of the bathroom one night and they attacked me with nerf guns, pillows, and some beanbags we have laying around.  Like I said, they are pretty cool and dedicated missionaries.  Sparks is a pretty big city that borders Reno and is where the Mission home is.  We live about a 5 minute walk from the mission home in the ghetto.  Our neighbors are....interesting.  My first night I came home to the smell of weed and rap music, our apartment is really nice though!  I like it there.  We actually live out of our area; we have the upper/middle class side of town so it is a nicer area to tract in and walk around in.  We do have a car (just because Sis. Verkist and Nunn are training leaders) but we use our bikes quite a bit.  
So we have two investigators that we are teaching and are set with baptismal dates so hopefully I will have news of those coming up in the next couple weeks!  This week was busy, we had 22 lessons!  Our goal was 20 and I guess that neither of them have had so many in a week before.  Sis. Nunn calls it my greenie fire...hopefully we can keep it up!  I love being out here.  It is the most fantastic thing every to see people you taught come to church and sit with us and make changes in their lives.  I know that I have only been out a week  but you can still see it!!  We only have two investigators right now so we have spent a lot of time tracting and looking for other people to teach.  My first full day out they only did one door and then made me do the second one.  Talk about intimidating!  It get's easier though and we have only had one door slammed so far, although we have had a couple people ask if they could pray for us to find our way out of our misguided ideas.  Those are always fun ;)  The people in the ward are great and really helpful to us.  So all in all, it's been a great first week and I'm looking forward to them getting better and better!
Love you all,
Sis. Rae
My apartment.

Sparks! You can see the casinos in the background.

Sunsets here are pretty.

Sis. Verkist with the extra Father's day candy!

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