Transfer: South Salt Lake

My Rose Park District.

Me and my old companion Sister Bragg.

Me and Hermana Ibarra, Nielsen and Bragg, with Elder Andrus in back.

I have been transferred! After two weeks and one day I have already served in two areas, which is pretty much the same as the majority of sisters here. So I am no longer living in Rose Park, but I am living in South Salt Lake. My new companion is Sister Arias. She is from Guatemala, is super nice, and is actually a Temple Square sister that is now doing the proselyting part of the mission. There are four of us living in the same apartment, so I actually got put back with my MTC companion, Sister Vincent. Sister Arias and Sister McNelly were companions, but when Sister Vincent and I came, they split the area. Unfortunately, Sister Arias mostly served in the other area so we are pretty much starting from scratch here. Yeah, two weeks in the field, and we're already white washing. Let's just say that I really know why the Area Book is important now.

Me and Hermana Nielsen after biking back from Temple Square.

Life in South Salt Lake is definitely different than in Rose Park. I think that my Mom was praying a little too hard for my safety because I haven't been able to break up any fights here. But it's all good, this area feels more like Utah instead of Mexico, but it's okay!

Running through the sprinklers after our last transfer.

The people here really are great, and we meet people on the street everyday. One guy was fixing his car yesterday, and we ended up talking to him for a good half hour or so. It really is surprising how so many people live in Utah, and really have no idea what the Book of Mormon is. Crazy Crazy Crazy.

Hermana Vincent and I in our new T-Shirts, on the first day in South Salt Lake!

I really hope that the weather clears up soon because nobody is outside when it's freezing. Which pretty much makes it impossible to find people.

Me and Sister Ibarra touching ET my last night in Rose Park.

Well, once again, I don't know when I will be switching Location so I can't really give out my address. Either email me or wait until I can confidently say what my address is! I miss and love you all!

One night someone brought us 2 dozen roses!

Hermana Vincent and I transferred to China!

General Conference Weekend

Wow, so much to write about during the weeks here because so much more happens than in the MTC. So I will just start talking.

First off, we broke up a fight a few days ago. We were in the middle of a lesson with a recent convert, and someone called her, and then she immediately ran out of her house and told us to follow her. We ran for a few blocks to find that her daughter was being beaten up by her boyfriend. We broke it up, and started walking our separate ways, and then the boyfriend turned around and started telling us (within his curse words) how he pretty much worships the devil. Needless to say, the cops were involved, and it was a little crazy. But don't worry, I feel 100% safe here! The moral of the story: Don't drink or do drugs. This guy was foaming at the mouth, and I have no idea what caused it. One thing about here is the fact that the families are so broken and have so many problems. It makes you really appreciate the Gospel and how it blesses families.

Have you guys ever seen the Other Side of Heaven? Remember Elder Feki, Elder Groberg's mission companion? We met the real life Feki's Sister our walking the other day. It was super cool, and it's kind of cool because my Branch President in the MTC served in Tonga, and Elder Groberg was his Mission President. Yeah, crazy small world.

 

So the other night we were walking around, and all of our apartments were falling through. We had been trying to visit with this guy for a while, but we haven't been able to. My companion was pulling our her phone, and then it flew her hands and fell off the balcony. It pretty much landed on this man, and then we started talking. He was so open to everything, and he is probably the sweetest man that we have ever met. His name is Edgar, and he is from Guatemala. He was absolutely awesome. We asked him if we could visit him again, and as we were walking to his house, we saw him on the front porch reading the Book of Mormon! We were so excited! He had been reading it for 20 minutes before we even got there! People always say that they will read or pray, but he actually does it! He even came to general conference, which was absolutely awesome! He said that he loved it. The people here really are so great, and it is going to be hard to say goodbye when my visa does come.

There have been so many blessings of being here. I mean, got to be a missionary in Salt Lake during conference! We got to go to the first session which was so cool. It's funny because I have lived in Utah my entire life, and I never went to conference until I was on my mission. Fun fact, the conference center has 20,595 seats in it. They told us that 90,000 people come to Temple Square for conference. It really is pretty amazing! And I got to see Liza! Which was absolutely fantastic! And it was beautiful weather, which was especially nice for us because we biked to Temple Square both days. It's funny because within a week, I will have gone to Temple Square 4 times. That's over half the week.

I can't believe my mission is what it is. I thought that when I went to Salt Lake before my mission it would be the last opportunity that I would have for 18 months. It's crazy how fast plans can change, but it's pretty remarkable at the same time.

Also, letters.. for now. I would probably just email me because I have no idea if I am staying for another transfer or if I will be done. It is absolutely crazy right now!

I love you all, and I hope that you are all doing well!

-Hermana Jamie Vawdrey

Temporarily Reassigned to the Utah, Salt Lake City Mission

So for those of you that haven't heard, I have been temporary reassigned to the Salt Lake City Mission. But it doesn't feel like Utah. We are in Rose Park, and it's pretty much a MiniMexico. I forget that I am only 30 minutes away from home, until I am either on Redwood Road, North Temple, or I look to see the state capital building. Really though, it's so strange!

It's crazy because in the MTC, I felt like we did the same thing everyday. And now, even though we are still doing the same thing everyday, there are so many crazy things that happen. The people here have some crazy life stories, but for the most part, the people here are really nice! The first few days were a little bit rough readjusting to mission life, but I have learned to enjoy it!

I should start by saying that in this mission, I probably gain on average 10 lbs/day. We have the opportunity to be fed by members every night. The food tastes so good, but there is SOO MUCH! On Saturday, we had a dinner appointment with Margarita. She is the nicest lady (which actually all of them are), but she prepared so much food. And culturally, it's offensive if you don't eat it. So... We go to her house, and we start eating, and as we're eating, she pretty much keeps putting more food on our plates. It was such a struggle; we all gave each other the look of "I am going to throw up," but we put on our happy faces and kept eating. The only thing that I could think of was in the movie Matilda when Bruce has to eat the rest of the chocolate cake. I thought one serving was big, but then there were two, then three... It felt like it was never going to end.. I just had to keep thinking, "Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!" But I made it through! Oh, but that's not the end of the story. After our dinner appointment, we were walking down the street, and we hear a party going on. My companions (we're in a foursome right now) walked behind the house and started talking. They were so welcoming us, and made us sit down with them. They offered us food, beer, and dessert. We insisted that we were fine, but before we knew it, there was pozole in front of us, and there was no choice. We ate it, and I didn't even think that it was even possible. Anyway, we thought we were going to explode, but OH WAIT, the story isn't over yet. We rode our bikes down the street to go to our next appointment. When we got the house we realized that they were having a party, too. It was pretty much the exact same party, too. The blaring Spanish music, the bounce house, and the mass amounts of food. To make a long story short, they fed us as well, but OH WAIT, after we left that party, we met a member at the church to pick up some clothes. The Sister gets out of her car, and says, "Look what I got for you sisters!" She brought us different sweet breads. Mine was an enamorada, which tasted divine, but as soon as we got home I decided that I never wanted to eat again.

But then the same thing pretty much happened the next day. Maybe it was just because it was Easter, but so much more food. We actually got done having lunch with some of the members, and then we here, "Hey Sistas" in a deep Tongan voice. "Come here, I want to show you something."--"You're not going to feed us right?" He just had the biggest grin, and when we walked into the house, it was full of food. Living room, kitchen, backyard, no importa.. it was everywhere! They kept making us eat, but at least it all tastes good! The polynesians definitely know how to cook, too! Mmmmmm! And that was all before our dinner appointment!

On to maybe something a little more applicable to the gospel..

So last night was definitely an interesting Easter. There are three different types of people when teaching a lesson: the interested, the bored, and the dark. It was really interesting because last night, I got a dose of the dark. Even though I really couldn't understand everything that was going on, I could definitely feel a difference in that room. It was good to have an experience that I could compare to, but I don't think I want to teach a murderer that has no desire to change ever again. But don't worry Mom, I am on the Lord's team.

Well, let's just say things are pretty crazy here! And I don't know when I will be shipping off to Argentina, so just email me if you want because now I can email whoever!

Love you all,

Hermana Vawdrey