Georgia!!

Hi family!!

 

I spent so much time reading your wonderful emails that I have no time to respond now!! It's a good dilemma. I appreciate it!!

 

It was so fun to talk to you last Monday. It seems crazy that it was only a week ago, it seems like it was much longer than that. Man, I don't even know what to say with such limited time.

 

So, Tuesday morning we had transfer meetings, and I was going in to have lunch, and across the room I see Sister Brittany Snyder. Turns out she started her mission in the Atlanta Mission, but when the Macon Mission was created in July, she ended up in this mission! So, that was fun and random. Then, we go in for the transfer meeting to find out who our companions are, and low and behold, we are called to be companions. What the random?! Right?! You never expect to end up with a companion that you already know. Granted, we don't know each other very well, but we still know each other, and we have Clovis in common. We made a comment that we knew each other and the Mission President got a little nervous because he didn't know that, but I obviously didn't know that she was even in this mission. But we are in a trio, with Sis. Johnson, who is from Riverton, and she knows Andy Nielson, so that's fun. Sis. Johnson and Snyder were companions for this last transfer.

 

We are over a YSA Branch in the city of Auburn, Alabama. So, ya...I'm actually serving in Alabama right now. It's been an interesting week, because the area got whitewashed and Elders used to serve here. So, it's been interesting trying to figure out the area, and learning how to best serve in a YSA Branch. Serving in YSA is a completely different feel. The first couple of days we were having a hard time getting a grasp on how to best find people to teach. We are right next to Auburn University, so most of the kids go there.

 

On Thursday we ended up walking around campus a little bit and finding people to talk to and invite to institute. We really like using the mormon.org cards and using it initially as an invitation to attend insititute classes, then we feel out how much they are willing to talk to us. We have two ladies come up to us...and I experienced my first Bible bash. It was interesting. Sis. Snyder hadn't experienced one yet, and she has been out 6 months, but we definitely learned from the experience. My problem was that I didn't know how to politely get out of the conversation. But this week we will be setting up a booth on campus, and we heard that the Elders have done it in the past, and sometimes people come up just to Bible bash. So, we have already worked on tactics on how to politely get out of the conversation without opening a can of worms or have all your time wasted by someone that is just trying to rip you down. But we did talk to people that were friendly and seemed interested.

 

We have found that our best source of finding people is truly through the members. So, we are focusing a lot of the less actives and visiting them. Then, every person that we visit we extend them the committment to invite a friend to an activity or institute. The members are awesome and they are surrounded by nonmembers. The members are really good at inviting their friends, so I think as we really work on strengthening the branch, then we will continue to find people to teach. We visited a less active member on Saturday, and she invited her friend to church on Sunday, and her friend liked it and wants to keep coming. So, the members really our are best source of help.

 

Saturday we were really worried because it was football day, and football is no joke in the South. They start setting up stuff to tailgate on like Thursday Night, and they started drinking Thursday night as well. So, that keeps things interesting. We were warned by the members that people are more hostile on game days, and that it probably isn't even safe to try and tract that day. So, we were kind of worried about filling our day, especially when we are working with YSA who have such iffy schedules. But Heavenly Father really did bless us. We were able to find people to visit and help. Saturday night we weren't sure what to do during the game, and we had felt impressed to go to a shopping center. We were feeling so awkward about it, and we ended up at Target, really not knowing why. We felt weird about just going up to people in Target and talking to them. But then we saw a sister from the ward that we had tried to visit earlier that day, and it hadn't worked out, and we had both ended up at Target. Even she had meant to go the mall, and had ended up at Target. It was just a testament that Heavenly Father knows that we are trying to work hard and be good missionaries, and that He will provide a way for us.

 

Things are good!! We are continually learning and growing with working in a trio! I told my companions that I had said that I didn't want to be in a trio, but Heavenly Father was like, "Sister Van Wagenen, you are really funny, here is a trio just for you!" hahaha. It's good! With any companionship, you continually learn how to best work together and strengthen your companionship!

 

But I am doing well!! Last week was interesting getting things rolling here, but this week is so busy and we are so excited to do what we can to bless this Branch!!

 

Love you all!! I am out of time, so I may not be able to write people back! But I'm so grateful for all of your support!!

 

Tchau!

Sister Van Wag

 

Address for the Mission Office, and then all my mail will be forwarded to my apartment in Alabama:

 

400 Northside Crossing

Macon, Georgia 31210