The One Where Sister Randall Fell in a River
Companion's Log
Stardate: Oct 9-14, 2019
So I didn't have to deal with any airport stress or luggage weight limits because we took a shuttle up to Pocatello. Just a nice little uneventful 4 hour-ish bus ride...into the snow! That's right it done snowed as we got there. President and Sister Southward greeted us right off the bus. We had a bunch of meeting type stuff I already don't remember and later had dinner at the mission home, then we got our companion and area assignments. We split up and slept at members' houses. I kind of floated through it all, I already miss my MTC district and getting "I want it that way" stuck in my head didn't help :(
Next day I met my trainer, Sister Randall! Yup she's pretty cool, I'm already starting to pick up her accent a lil bit. She likes looking through my sketchbooks and stuff. This area just lost their cars so catch me walking around Pocatello just as winter begins. It's not too bad, though I don't know if my feet agree. Apparently I got here in the middle of a prank war because we got a few angry phone calls from an Elder with an Australian accent I can't understand accusing us of flipping his apartment and stealing his orbies. So I don't know what that's about.
So last week I got a new Grandpa in President Nelson, and now I have a new self-declared grandma in Carmelita, a very sweet little old lady with a very crazy little monster of a shitzu! The sisters here have been visiting her for a while and she insists we eat her store bought cookies.
My first dinner was with the Browns, they were so sweet and welcoming! Their 11 year old made Miis of us on his DS so I guess you could say we're already a part of the family. Their daughter just left the MTC for Indianapolis, they showed me a picture of her travel group and there were Elder Merrell and McKnight! So that was cool, and look at that I'm missing my MTC district again.
"Where are you from?" "Michigan" "Oh so you must be used to the cold then" can't tell you how many times I had that conversation. I'm serving in 2 wards so yeah 2 hour church was definitely sacred revelation because otherwise I'd have 6 hours of church instead of 4! I keep falling asleep, that's my main struggle right now even though I did fine with the schedule at the MTC.
So cool thing about being a missionary out in the real world (though I'm not sure if Idaho is the real real world) is that members will pay for your ice cream and honk at you and stuff. Kids think we're pretty cool, I mentioned the Miis, so that's fun. We went to get ice cream as a district and this kid goes "whoa there's like 8 missionaries in here!!" And when we got lunch at Costco this old lady got all excited "oh!! Missionaries!" Honestly though I don't feel much like a missionary yet. I know I still have a long way to go and all that but it's like everything I learned at the MTC just blurred together and is no longer in my accessible memory. Also the MTC didn't teach me ANYTHING about tracting/contacting/knocking on doors/like actually talking to people! Also everyone calls us "guys" again now. My mission president is pretty lenient on the rules so it's very different from the MTC.
But real quick bc this email is already way too long, coolest experience: we tried contacting this one lady and she barely even made eye contact as she told us to come by another time. But when we were walking back that way later she was raking leaves for her neighbor Scott. We helped her out and it immediately changed her attitude towards us. It's amazing to see how even just a little service can soften hearts. We also got to meet Scott. He was baptized as a kid but has long since fallen away from the church. He was recently in an ATV accident, his arm is still in a sling which is why she was raking for him. He told us about his near death experience, out of his body and drifting to the light, hearing his granddaughter calling him back!
Sister Randall really believes in service and I have to agree. I'm glad too because I would have just said, um idk I'm in a skirt I can't pick up leaves. But she was like yeah lets do it! And it was great. I love being able to help people out, even just a little.
-Sister Dunn out
P.s. oh and we went on a hike on p-day with the district and Sister Randall is very adventurous and doesn't really have impulse control and ended up falling in this little creek. We didn't see any aggressive moose though, sadly.
also also, there's a ton of dogs here, like pretty much every house has one, but I also get to see cats too, the one in the picture was limping :( but followed us around a bit :)
Stardate: Oct 9-14, 2019
So I didn't have to deal with any airport stress or luggage weight limits because we took a shuttle up to Pocatello. Just a nice little uneventful 4 hour-ish bus ride...into the snow! That's right it done snowed as we got there. President and Sister Southward greeted us right off the bus. We had a bunch of meeting type stuff I already don't remember and later had dinner at the mission home, then we got our companion and area assignments. We split up and slept at members' houses. I kind of floated through it all, I already miss my MTC district and getting "I want it that way" stuck in my head didn't help :(
So last week I got a new Grandpa in President Nelson, and now I have a new self-declared grandma in Carmelita, a very sweet little old lady with a very crazy little monster of a shitzu! The sisters here have been visiting her for a while and she insists we eat her store bought cookies.
"Where are you from?" "Michigan" "Oh so you must be used to the cold then" can't tell you how many times I had that conversation. I'm serving in 2 wards so yeah 2 hour church was definitely sacred revelation because otherwise I'd have 6 hours of church instead of 4! I keep falling asleep, that's my main struggle right now even though I did fine with the schedule at the MTC.
So cool thing about being a missionary out in the real world (though I'm not sure if Idaho is the real real world) is that members will pay for your ice cream and honk at you and stuff. Kids think we're pretty cool, I mentioned the Miis, so that's fun. We went to get ice cream as a district and this kid goes "whoa there's like 8 missionaries in here!!" And when we got lunch at Costco this old lady got all excited "oh!! Missionaries!" Honestly though I don't feel much like a missionary yet. I know I still have a long way to go and all that but it's like everything I learned at the MTC just blurred together and is no longer in my accessible memory. Also the MTC didn't teach me ANYTHING about tracting/contacting/knocking on doors/like actually talking to people! Also everyone calls us "guys" again now. My mission president is pretty lenient on the rules so it's very different from the MTC.
But real quick bc this email is already way too long, coolest experience: we tried contacting this one lady and she barely even made eye contact as she told us to come by another time. But when we were walking back that way later she was raking leaves for her neighbor Scott. We helped her out and it immediately changed her attitude towards us. It's amazing to see how even just a little service can soften hearts. We also got to meet Scott. He was baptized as a kid but has long since fallen away from the church. He was recently in an ATV accident, his arm is still in a sling which is why she was raking for him. He told us about his near death experience, out of his body and drifting to the light, hearing his granddaughter calling him back!
Sister Randall really believes in service and I have to agree. I'm glad too because I would have just said, um idk I'm in a skirt I can't pick up leaves. But she was like yeah lets do it! And it was great. I love being able to help people out, even just a little.
-Sister Dunn out
P.s. oh and we went on a hike on p-day with the district and Sister Randall is very adventurous and doesn't really have impulse control and ended up falling in this little creek. We didn't see any aggressive moose though, sadly.
also also, there's a ton of dogs here, like pretty much every house has one, but I also get to see cats too, the one in the picture was limping :( but followed us around a bit :)
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