Letter #6 - Blue Skies

August 29, 2016

Dear Family and Friends, 

One of the things I've enjoyed on my mission so far is the service that we do at the local soup kitchen. We've worked on mailings, distributed food, and been on dish duty. Mostly we're on dish duty, but it's actually pretty fun, so I enjoy doing that. They have this automatic industrial dish washer that fascinates me, and my companion and I are usually on the dish drying side of things aka we get the easy part, haha. I also like working on mailings because...mail. I love mail. People would probably consider it junk mail though, so that's not as fun for them. We're supposed to be doing 10 hours of service a week, and an ideal week would get us 6 hours of service at the soup kitchen, but we haven't had an ideal week yet. A lot of times a meeting will fall on at least one of our scheduled times there. 

Our last P-Day was fun. We got to explore downtown Denton a little bit. My companion needed to get her hair cut, and one of the members in another ward was nice enough to cut it herself at a salon down there where she works. We then went to an ice cream shop nearby and the girl said the ice cream was on her! The people here are so good to us. One of the members caters BBQ and so having dinner at his house was amazing. He then sent us home with all the leftovers! Also, Pokemon Go is alive and well here and all the shops downtown try to encourage trainers to stop at their business. I've been having fun taking pictures of all Pokemon related advertisements. Pictures to come. 

This week was also the first time that I had the chance to go on companion exchanges with the STLs (Sister Training Leaders). It was fun because I got to go to the other area and see a new part of Texas. I think the city was called Trophy House. I had a lot of fun running around with Sister McCann. She had only been in the area for a couple of weeks so she was as new to her area and I was to mine. I'm glad it was her and not me, haha. Apparently they often have the greenie take a STL around their area. 

The weather continues to be very nice and stays in high 80s to 90s. I'm thrilled about that. I also found out that our mission currently has 198 missionaries. I also had my first Zone Conference and it was good to hear from the mission president. I'm still getting to know the missionaries here - there isn't a lot of time to meet and get to know them. I'll have my second district meeting this week and that's where I'm finding we have the most chance to get to know each other. I am however, getting to know the members better and better and that has been fun. We have a great ward. 

Love, Sister Prue

Letter #5 - One Month

August 22, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

As of the 20th, I have been gone for one month now! I forgot to bring along the list of questions people wanted me to answer, so I'm sorry about that. I do remember that lots of people wanted to hear about my companion, Sister Harbour. She just turned 20, has red hair, and is from the Nashville, TN area. She likes Harry Potter, and we had one slightly awkward visit where we were at a house where the Olympics was on TV and then as soon as we looked down, we saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It felt like there was nowhere to look, haha. Temptation everywhere! It was pretty funny though. 

Everyone here has a dog. Sis. H calls them the Texas doorbell, and that's pretty much true. About half of them are friendly and the other half are not, so I'm developing a bit of a fear of them. Sis. H is fearless though and says you just need to tell them who the boss is (that's me, I guess). She has already taken a bite for me, so I'm grateful to have her around in those situations.  

This week there has been a ton of rain! One of the members guessed that it was about four inches. It makes it a little harder to get out there, and sometimes it makes the roads quite dangerous, but it has brought the temperature down quite a bit and I have been grateful for that. It's been around the 80s and that has been heaven for me and really cold for my companion. I sincerely hope that 80 never becomes "cold" to me. 

We met with the investigator who came to church last Sunday and she said she loved the sense of community we had. She had been reading the Book of Mormon and made it past the first book of Nephi. I had given a talk that Sunday and she was very impressed that we had women speak at the pulpit, so that was cool. She was going to come this past Sunday, but she ended up moving the day before, and now I think she might have moved out of our mission boundaries. She was really awesome though and I hope she continues to learn more in her new area. We are also beginning to meet with several less actives in the ward. 

Love, Sister Prue

Letter #4 - Howdy Y'all!

August 15, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

So. I live in a barn. I thought my companion was kidding when she told me, and then asked if I had any allergies, but nope. There are longhorn cattle around and horses in the barn where we live. There's a small apartment in the barn. The area around it is pretty, if isolated, but for exercise we get on our bikes and ride around and it's gorgeous. The sunrise/sunsets here are very nice. 

There is a ton to learn and I'm scrambling to learn it all. It's getting easier though. We just had a new Ward Mission leader called and he is awesome. He's my age and he and his wife got married less than a month ago. It has been fun working with them. We were able to teach a newish investigator for the first time on my first day and it was an awesome experience. The Spirit was there and I had a blast helping teach the first lesson and giving her a Book of Mormon. This week we also received a referral who we visited and then invited to church. She came for the first two meetings and it sounds like she'll be back next week! We also had a great experience visiting with a less active. On Sunday, I had my first experience with tracting for more than a half hour or so. It was actually really nice. It's been overcast the past couple of days and when it is, it makes being outside a lot more pleasant. I actually haven't been as bothered with the humidity as I thought I would be. It is hot though. People are really nice here and often give us something to drink. And so far people have rejected us super nicely. It's almost funny. 

The only thing I've noticed that is different about Texas is that the stoplights are put up horizontally instead of vertically and that's been kind of funny to me. Other than that it kind of reminds me of a tossup of California and Idaho. 

My companion, Sister Harbour is super nice and has been very patient with me. She's also been a good example. She just gets out there and talks to people even though it's a bit awkward. I'm hoping to get to that point pretty soon. Luckily the Spirit loves to work with people who are willing to do better :) I probably haven't answered all the questions people wanted answered. I'm going to have to come up with a system to compile them each week and then address them in my e-mail. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Prue

Your Missionary Sister Prue

August 10, 2016

Dear Family,

Sister Whitney and I want you to know that your missionary has arrived safely in Texas.

We look forward to serving together in accomplishing the Lord’s work.  We hope you

enjoy the attached picture of your missionary as well as knowing that the missionaries

are in good hands here as they are in the Lord’s service.

Your missionary’s assignment will be in Denton, Texas. She will be serving with

Sister Harbour.

If you will go to the Facebook Account The Texas Fort Worth Mission-President and Sister Whitney you will find pictures of the missionaries as they arrived in Texas this week.

Your missionary will email on Monday which is their preparation day.  They are always

happy to hear from you as well.  Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

President & Sister Whitney

Letter #3 - Texas, Here I Come!

August 5, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

A lot of you have been asking when I'm going to leave. I leave early early on Tuesday Morning (August 9th). You can probably send me a Dear Elder letter as late as Sunday and I would get it, but at this point I wouldn't send anything by mail anymore. I should arrive in Texas about 12 and it will be some kind of adventure from there. I've really enjoyed my time at the MTC and I feel there is so much more to learn, and I wouldn't even mind staying longer, but I think at this point it's time to learn by doing (not that that isn't all we do here). 

Some of you have asked what it's like being older here. Honestly I have a fantastic and fairly mature district, so it's been great. I obviously have more life experience to draw on and I think that that makes it easier on me in a lot of ways. It's definitely been a blessing. All the others in the district know how old I am, but they've never commented on it, except for once a few days ago and it was to say that they thought it was funny that I'm older than all of our teachers. Otherwise they've treated me as an equal. I thought it was possible that I would end up as the nurturing character, but honestly a lot of us (especially the girls) are really independent, so that hasn't happened. Yesterday we did do some training in a huge group that involved us as being ourselves as investigators and every time I explained where I was at in my life the other missionary asked how old I was. One elder assured me that I didn't look that old, haha. 

A little about the TRC. Basically you have four scheduled appointments per investigator per week and each appointment is 45 minutes long. You go to a room with a couch and table set up to look like a living room and you teach as if they were a real investigator (some of them are). It's a really good way to practice and to get to know your weaknesses as a missionary and companionship, before you go out and do the real thing. There's always something to work on. My companion and I had a cool experience though. One of our investigators was in the Spanish TRC section and every day we would see a lady who was there to learn. Unfortunately the missionaries who were supposed to teach her didn't show up the first two days. She thought we might be them the first day and that's how she started talking to us. She spoke to us in Spanish and I was able to use my extremely limited Spanish to have a short conversation with her before we had to teach our investigator. The third day we saw her after our lesson and I asked her if the missionaries had shown up. She said that they had, but that they were confusing and she had some questions about the Holy Ghost. She asked if the Holy Ghost had form. I said that he did, but that he didn't have a body yet like Jesus and God the Father. Apparently the other missionary said that he didn't have form and she thought that the Holy Ghost was some kind of mist or something. I'm hoping what I understood and taught didn't get lost in translation. It was cool to teach in Spanish because I have a feeling I might use my Spanish in Texas, if only a little. She then asked if we had time to meet with and talk to her. Now, missionaries have no time to do this, but my companion and I blew off our study time to do so. We talked to her for an hour and it wasn't long into the conversation that we transitioned into English and her English was actually quite good. She's Catholic and we talked about the similarities and differences between our faiths. Unfortunately we weren't able to do much teaching, but it was a good experience all the same. We got to meet her husband as well and she told him that my Spanish was very good, which was sweet. She is hoping to talk to us next week, but we probably won't be able to see her as we leave pretty soon and Monday will be crazy. I'll probably write a letter and leave it with the TRC office and see if they can give it to her.  

There is so much that I could write, but alas, there is not enough time. I think the time I have to e-mail will be less in the field, so my letters will be shorter. I'll have to figure out what the best stuff to write you is. I love you all and love hearing from you. Thanks so much for the support! I hope you have a good week. I don't know when my P-Day will be out there, so it'll probably be longer than a week until you hear from me again. 

Love, 

Sister Prue