Wow, it has been a long week. It feels like forever since I emailed.
Well, we left the MTC on Tuesday morning (we had to be at the office
at 4am) needless to say we didn't get much sleep. It was great to be
able to talk to mom. While I was talking to you, Sister Moore was
right next to me, talking really loud to her baby sister. It was
really funny and I had to plug my ears. The first flight to Detroit
was your typical cross country flight on an Airbus, so no movie was
playing to distract us anyway. I sat next to Sister Ebeling. She can
small talk like nobody's business. I had the window, she had the
middle, and the woman sitting in the aisle had no idea what hit her,
sitting next to two greenies. She had a pass-a-long card by the time
we landed. Elder Schraedel and Sister Moore ended up sitting next to
his brother's boss, or something like that, they said it was really
fun. We got to Detroit, which is big, but it's more long than anything
else, but really cool. They have a separate terminal like Cincy used
to have but you go in a tunnel under the runway to get to it instead
of a bus! We got to our flight to Richmond with time to spare. We got
on the plane, I sat in the very last seat, next to a real life cowboy,
he was fun, but by the time we were in the air, his hat was over his
face and he was out. Not as much of an opportunity on this flight. But
that wasn't the same for Elder Sweeten. He sat next to a young woman
who was in the military. She expressed that she felt that sitting next
to a missionary was a right place - right time sort of experience. By
the end of his flight he had placed a Book of Mormon, we were all so
proud. We landed in Richmond which is a smaller airport and the group
of us set off. The first person we saw, a tall young man in a suit
with a black name tag. He was Elder Beus, and was heading home from
his mission in Richmond. Then an older couple from another gate called
out and waved (they turned out to be Bro. and Sis Edens and they're in
my ward!). We continued out of the terminal and met the assistants,
and President and Sister Perry. They're awesome and were so excited to
have new missionaries. They told us immediately that we would be
placed with a companionship so all of us visa waiters are in trios,
and have two companions. President Perry is very used to having visa
waiters so he has a system down. We went to the mission office after
the scenic route in Richmond, had pizza, took pictures, they called
you, and then we met our companions and were off to our areas that
night. By 8pm I was in my apartment with two new companions and an
extra sister who was waiting for a greenie she received on Thursday.
President Perry informed our companions that we are to have a full
hour of language study everyday and we can call each other and speak
in Ukrainian whenever we need to. He's been really supportive and so
have my companions. Every time we have a dinner appointment, the family
always asks me to pray in Ukrainian which is great! They also
compliment me, it's sincere but I find it funny because no one knows
if I'm even saying the language correctly. I chuckle every time. They separated the
8 of us pretty far apart, across the whole mission really. Elder Ward
is with my district leader, so I see him a lot, his ward is in my
building and it's really fun to just breakout in Ukrainian for a
while. Sister Webb is in my zone so we'll see her for Zone Meeting
this week.
Okay, so for my area. I'm in Bon Air which is basically a suburb of
Richmond, so we're right in the center of the mission. President and
Sister Perry live in our ward and the office is in our area. So we're
always in the center of things. Our ward is fantastic, it's a nice mix
of old and young. The make up is actually pretty similar to our ward
at home. You've got the older couples that you just love, the younger
couples that are just really cool. We also have brand new ward
missionaries. Sister Jones and Sister Friden my companions say there
haven't been ward missionaries here in years and they had to beg to
have them. It will be a cool experience to jump start a ward in
missionary work. One thing that is really bizarre about being here in
Virginia is all the Southern accents. Mine is coming back because
everyone here has one. That and nearly everyone we run into is a
baptist. Brother Williams (older guy in the ward, totally awesome)
said that there are so many different baptists that they don't even
know what they believe anymore. He also says Methodists are just
Baptists that can read, he cracks me up. He's going to move to Utah
soon with his wife so he can be with "his people". We have a baptism
this week!!! Her name is Norma, and she's Filipino. I don't have a
lot more time so I'll let you know more about her in the future. We
could possibly have a baptism every week in February! This area is
booming.
Before I forget, my address:
2030 Timbers Hill Rd. Apt F
Richmond, VA 23235
We have a lot of part-member families we're working with too. There's
not really any street contacting or tracting in this area, they work a
lot through referrals. The church is also pretty established here.
Kind of a different environment that I'm assuming I'm going to get in
Ukraine.
Okay, so I have some time so I'll tell you a funny story and more
about my companions. Selma and Alberto are an older couple we're
teaching. They're from the Philippines and they were a HQ referral.
They had some contact with the church in their home country. We were
teaching the Plan of Salvation (which is much easier in English by the
way) and we were talking about some of the things Christ did while he
was on the Earth. Alberto mentioned that he turned water into wine.
Then he says..."I don't think it was wine though...it makes more sense
that he turned the water into...into...VODKA!!" We cracked up. He's
hilarious.
So my companions. Sister Friden is from somewhere in Utah, she went to
and graduated from BYU Hawaii. She's been out for a year and is a
talker all the time. She also has a huge laugh! Sister Jones is tiny,
she's also from somewhere in Utah, and she's super quiet. They're
quite the combination. Most of the time you can't get a word in
edgewise with Sister Friden, but she's always telling Sister Jones to
talk more. I like to think I'm a happy medium between the two of them,
most of the time I have no idea what's going on. They're both jokers
and have a really fun time wherever they are. I'll send a picture next
week. Believe it or not, Sister Jones was in the MTC for three weeks
and she left the week I came in in November, so she's only been out
for about 3 weeks longer than me. Sister Friden was her trainer.
Sister Moore got put with a sister who is training this transfer, so
her companion gets two greenies although we're not officially being
trained. It's kind of weird.
I'm not sure if I've found the reason that I'm supposed to be here
yet. To be honest I don't know if I'll figure it out before I leave,
but through all the people I've met I know there is a reason. I'm
looking forward to serving here.
Much Love,
Sister Meaghan Daniel
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