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Jan 25 (1 day ago)
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I have officially been on my mission for 2 whole months!!!!!!! (though it's only been 2 and a half in the field)
It has been so fun!!! It is absolutely crazy and busy but really good!! Yes we still have like 60 investigators, but we don't know who like 30 of them are because the elders that were in Little Rock before us didn't update their record book very well so we don't know when people are home, or really anything about them other than a name and address so we have been going around and trying to find these "investigators" without much luck, so we'll see how that goes... it is a lot to handle and try to fit everyone in!! Especially because you're supposed to see your investigators at least 2 times a week, and there just aren't enough hours in the day for that!!
To answer your questions Mom, most of the time we go to member's houses for dinner but there are 1-2 days a week where we don't have dinner scheduled with anyone so we just eat at our apartment. We have only eaten out twice when we were in Little Rock and didn't have a dinner appointment and didn't want to drive 20 minutes home just to eat and drive 20 minutes back. It has been good though, they take good care of us! And I didn't send them last week because I didn't have a full hour to email because there are more missionaries than computers and we had to go to a zone activity so I didn't have very much time to email last week.
Speaking of zone activity........
We went HIKING!!! It was SO FUN!!! We hiked up to Devil's Chair, it's by Devil's Punch Bowl. It was so pretty and reminded me of good ol' Utah! There was a little snow on the top of the mountain, but we weren't close enough to touch it, but we were close enough that I was happy!! So the hike was going well, but my companion Hermana White really loves pictures and likes a lot of pictures taken of her so we got way behind the rest of the group. We ran and finally caught up (they were waiting for us) and they said that it would take about 30 more minutes to get to the Chair, and by this time it was about 4:00 and we had hiked an hour up, so we needed to hike an hour down, drive 20 minutes back to Palmdale, go grocery shopping, pick up our laundry, and go to out dinner appointment by 5. As you can see, that wasn't going to happen!! So we couldn't go the rest of the way to the chair, so we headed back down. Somewhere on the way down we got lost...
Not a huge shocker though, right? It's me! I always get lost!!! We were wandering around for an hour trying to find the right trail!! Finally we found our way back and made it back to our car at 5:15... Then we still had to do all that other stuff and we were late for dinner. Oh and we had exchanges that day and had to be in Lancaster at 6, and Lancaster is about 20 minutes from Palmdale. So basically if we just went straight to Lancaster we would have been on time, but we still had to get groceries, finish laundry, and eat dinner. It was crazy and super hectic!!! We were rushing and running, and we got to Lancaster at 7:30... It was rough, but the Hermana Training Leaders were understanding (that's who we went on exchanges with). It was pretty exciting and super crazy!! And at Zone Conference we asked everyone else when they left and they said that they got back at 5:20... So if we stayed with them we could have made it to the chair and only been 5 minutes later!! We were pretty bummed, but that's ok!!
Exchanges were fun!! My temporary companion was Hermana Meacham. She is awesome!! I learned so much from her and we talked to a lot of cool people!! We taught a lesson to a family and when we set the return appointment I told them that I wouldn't be there because I was only in Lancaster for the day, but that I live and work in Palmdale, and they were all sad!! They all said they wanted me to come back and teach them!! It was so sweet and very humbling. I wish I could teach them again!! They were so great!! And very patient with my Spanish, which most people are, but a lot of people correct me and tell me words to say, when that's not even what I was trying to say, but these people were very nice. I am sad I can't teach them!! But hopefully I'll be able to go to their baptism ;)
And Zone Conference was good, Zone Meeting and District Meetings were good too!! They all pretty similar, we just set goals for the upcoming week/month and talked about how we can do better and what we need to improve on, and then we roleplayed. At the District Meeting Hermana White and I were asked to give a training on how to not give anyone "outs" meaning to teach them the whole restoration without them running away. One of our Zone Leaders Elder Iguasnia said that it pumped him up and almost every day he tells us that our training got him pumped to find and talk to people! I didn't think it was that good, but it got him excited!! But he is CRAZY so anyway..
So spiritual experience of the week: (granted there are MANY but there isn't much time to write)
When we were hiking and got lost we wandered for an hour before we finally had the sense to pray and ask for help. After we prayed to find direction, about 30 seconds after we said amen, some people were coming down the mountain and we asked them how to get back and they pointed us the right way and we were back to our car in about 3 minutes. Moral of the story, ALWAYS PRAY!!! Never EVER go without asking for help or you will be lost a lot longer than you need to be. We were right there the whole time. It wasn't until we had the sense to pray that we found our way back. Heavenly Father is there and He is there to help, He is just waiting for you to ask for help. So ALWAYS ASK FOR HIS HELP!!!
Thanks for the updates on what's happening, Mom, and for the pictures!! I really genuinely appreciate it!! I really haven't been distracted like at all!! I have been doing really well I think!! It has been really good!! It's been a good week!! And sorry I don't have any longer to write, but I have a letter written for you, but I might not get it sent till next Monday, so you might not get it for a week and a half, but I will try to send it out today. We'll see how it goes. I just want you all to know that I love you so much and that you all meant the world to me!! I also want you to know that I have a testimony of the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ, and I have a testimony of the Atonement and that it helps me every minute of every day.
I love you all!!
Love siempre,
Hermana Martineau
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Jan 21 (5 days ago)
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Hi Meagan!
A lady gave me an idea to send you short emails with quick questions. That way it will be easier for you to answer, so I thought I would try it.
I never heard about the day you arrived in the mission field. What did you do that day? Did you have an interview with the President? Did you tour anything? Where did you stay that first night? Tell me about your first day when you got to Bakersfield.
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Jan 25 (1 day ago)
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Good question!! Well when we got off the plane President and Sister Wilson and the APs (Assistants to the President) were there to greet us and we just talked until the missionaries coming from the Provo MTC arrived, then we went to the mission home and all the senior missionaries there talked to us about housing, cars, finances, all that fun stuff, then we ate a nice dinner and then members in the area picked us up and took us to their houses. The elders (there were 4) went to a different home and us sisters (there were 3 of us) went to Sister Himnley's house. She just let us do our own thing because she knew we were tired (and I was EXHAUSTED) so we went to bed at around 8pm and slept all the way till we got up at 6:30. Then we just got ready for the day and we talked with Sister Himnley for a bit, then she had to go to work so another member picked us up from her house and took us to the transfer meeting where we had some more training from President and Sister Wilson, then we went into the meeting where all the departing missionaries shared their testimonies. Then I met my companion, and we headed off to Palmdale, dropped our stuff of at the apartment and went out and proselyted until 9, then we came home, planned for the next day, then I unpacked and got settled in. It was really late though so it took a few days to get all my stuff unpacked and settled in. When you're a missionary, there is NO free time for stuff like getting "settled in" and "comfortable." Those are words that do not exist in missionary life!!!
Lancaster Zone at the World Wide Missionary Training
My District at the Mexico CCM. AWESOME MISSIONARIES!
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