Sister D's first week in the field Yo!

Léihdeih hóu!!

I bet you were all wondering where my email was on Saturday haha. Well surprise!!! Here in the Fort Collins mission, pday is on Tuesdays. If you've emailed or messaged me on another day, just know that I am receiving and reading everything, I'm just not allowed to answer until my pdays haha.

But I'm sure you just want to hear about how everything has been this past week and a half so here it is!

On Tuesday morning I flew out from LAX to Denver and I was the only missionary on the plane. It was cool though because I sat next to a really nice man and he talked to me a bit about the Book of Mormon. He saw me take out my quad and was like "oh is that your Bible?" And I said "these are my scriptures yes". Then later he asked me about the book I was reading in (Alma) because he didn't recognize it. I told him it was from the Book of Mormon and he was like "oh okay". He saw me marking scriptures and made a comment over how impressed he was that I'm very studious about reading. I told him I'm a missionary and he was like "well that makes sense". It was a cool little experience. Once I got to Denver and went to baggage claim, a pair of Elders found me. They said that 27 more missionaries were coming in and all from Salt Lake because they were all English speaking and just did MTC in person at Provo. We had to wait for a while before everyone arrived, but I got to talk to the Elders about the mission and things which was pretty cool. They said the mission covers most of Wyoming and a bit of Nebraska which was news to me. When everyone arrived, I finally got to meet Sister Johnson in person!! It was so cool to see her finally. We stuck together as we traveled with everyone to the stake center in Fort Collins. It took a while but when we got there we had dinner and got our companions and areas which was great. However, because of how big the mission is, some of our companions we had to meet over zoom. Sister Johnson's companion was there in person because she has been assigned to Loveland, Colorado, but my companion was on zoom. Her name is Sister Steiner and I learned we'll be serving in the Riverton, Wyoming zone, but specifically in Pavillion, Wyoming. I was really surprised but very excited because one of my close friends goes to University of Wyoming and I've always been curious of what it's like. The people who didn't have their companions in person at the moment, had to stay in a hotel for the night, so I was in that group. It was pretty nice though to be able to sleep in a bed bigger than a Twin for one more night. I also roomed with a sister named Sister Griffin who was the only other Sister staying in the hotel.

The next morning we had to wake up at 4 and get ready because we needed to leave the hotel around 5:15, get to the Fort Collins stake center at 5:30, and then catch a bus up to Wyoming that leaves at 6. It was a longggg bus ride. I talked to Sister Griffin for some of it, journaled for some of it, and got to talk to other missionaries as well. There was one Elder named Elder Rodriguez and he was really talkative and fun. He basically stood up in the aisle the whole time and just talked with everyone. I got to ask him about my mission area and he said that the Riverton zone includes a reservation. But they don't let sisters stay on the reservation without a group because it's dangerous. It sounds pretty crazy but cool. Sister Griffin and I both got off the bus in Casper. Casper was were she'd be serving but for me, I had to meet my companion there and then drive from Casper to Riverton which is another 2 hours. I got to meet Sister Steiner, the STL’s (Sister Training Leader), and some of our district though and they all seemed super nice. We went to a place called Qdoba for lunch and then took it back to the church building to eat. After that, Sister Steiner, the STL’s, and I all drove to Riverton. It was a long drive, but I got to talk to Sis Steiner about all sorts of things like Cantonese, the gospel, and our families. It was so cool and I could tell we'll get along well. When we got to Riverton, Sister Steiner and I said goodbye to the STL’s and hopped in our car which was parked at the stake center and then we went grocery shopping before heading to our abode. I'm not lying to you when I tell you we live in a BARN. Like people had been telling me we'd be in a barn but I didn't know how much of a barn until I actually got there. There's a barn door and stalls and everything and then there's just this little apartment wedged in right next to it. It's funny though because you can see the inside of the barn through our kitchen window and there's a second door in the bathroom that leads directly into the barn. I thought it was weird just driving through Wyoming and only seeing grass and cows for miles, but to live in the middle of a grassland with horses in our backyard was such a culture shock. The apartment is quite nice though. I've had no problems here. We don't have a couch, but we have two very squeaky chairs which is pretty good. The worst part for me is the mosquitoes (aka what I like to call the state bird). I have to put on bug spray every morning because if I don't then I will be attacked (not that I don't already have giant mosquitoe bites). Sister Steiner loves Pavillion though. She's been here for three transers if you include this one. She just loves the branch (it's not big enough to be a ward), and the barn, and everything.

I think that after a week of being here, something I've noticed is that everyone, especially the men, is either a trucker, a farmer, or a hunter (not to say that not everyone loves hunting because they do). I never imagined that I would be in a place where we'd be doing farmwork as service but lo and behold, here we are. Sister Steiner said she had to kill chickens last week and all I can say is I'm glad I missed that because I don't think I could do that. We did however, load some hay, hold some goats down while their hooves were trimmed and their ears were tagged, and picked a bunch of weeds. It's been pretty fun overall though. I've never lived in farming country before and it sure is different. We went to see a member at the county fair the other day and she was working in the poultry barn so she showed us all the chickens, and ducks, and geese and told us all about them. It was so cool. I think that if I could describe the people here, they can talk forever if you'd let them, they love living in the middle of nowhere, and they have what Sister Steiner likes to call "cowboy religion". This is basically "I believe in God and I have my farm. That's all I need in life." It can be hard to talk to people like that about the gospel but it's also super cool too. I've definitely learned a lot already from Sister Steiner about teaching. She's been out 7 months and I'm the first person she's trained but I really look up to her and hope I can be where she is one day.

A little about Sister Steiner is she grew up I Smithfield, Utah but her family moved to Louisiana not long ago. She LOVES to run and was on track and field in high school and college. Every morning she'll run outside and for a long time. Sometimes I'll join her (although not for as long) and other times when I need to work on my journal, I'll sit inside and watch her from the window. She's also an amazing singer like no joke. She does runs and improvisation so naturally and loves to just sing all the time no matter where we are. We have a lot of fun together, the two of us. The other night we did facemasks and the STL’s video called us. We were just laughing at how funny we looked. She's also been helping me out a lot with language study! She doesn't know any Cantonese but she thinks it's super cool and loves to learn new words each day. I got emails from my MTC district that they're all safely in Hong Kong in quarantine and I'm so glad! Although I still don't have my visa and don't know exactly when I'll get to go, I'm still very happy to be here and am trying to keep up my language where I can.

Missionary life in general is super busy!! Every morning we do daily planning and Sister Steiner always makes sure our day is stacked. We always plan time to do personal, comp, additional comp, and language studies as well as time to contact people whether over the phone, in text, or dropping by their house to see them in person. It's super important to text people every day and stay in contact with them so they know we're here!

We've had many lessons and contacts already! At first it was hard because I wasn't familiar with any of the names that Sister Steiner talked about, but slowly I'm getting to know them better. The first day I was here we got to have dinner with someone less active and his son and they invited a member family from Casper to join us! They were all so much fun and it was so cool to be the missionary in that situation instead of the person at the table. We also got to give a lady a Book of Mormon! We dropped by her house to talk to her husband who Sister Steiner has met with a few times before, but he wasn't home and instead, we got to talk to her! She's a 7th Day Adventist, but we were able to talk to her a lot about God. She told us a lot of stories about her childhood and stuff but we were always able to relate it back to the gospel. Sister Steiner shared with her a verse from the Book of Mormon that she thought of and it gave us the chance to introduce that a bit. She said she had heard some about it and had read some stuff about our church (who knows how accurate that was), but she was surprised when we told her that we believe in the Book of Mormon along with the Bible and had no idea about the Book of Mormon taking place in Ancient America 600 years before Christ was even born. She also mentioned that she likes reading so we thought it was a great opportunity to give her a copy. We just invited her to read and pray about it and I testified of it's truthfulness to her. She said "just know that you aren't going to change me" and I was happy because it's not our job to change her. The Book of Mormon has the power to bring the Spirit into your heart and testify of truth. All we have to do is invite her to read and if she does, giving it an honest chance, then she will feel the Spirit. She said a prayer for us before we left and it was so touching. Even if she's not of our faith, I could feel her love for God and His love for her. I'm not sure if she will read the Book of Mormon or if she will be interested in learning any more about the gospel, but I am so glad to have had that experience.

Another cool experience I'd like to share was at church on Sunday. There is a man that has been taking the missionary lessons named Roland. He's around 70 years old I belive and he's legally blind and very hard of hearing. Sister Steiner said he came to church last week but wasn't able to really decipher anything so we planned to give him one of the hearing devices that every church building has to use. We set him up with it and he also brought a bunch of magnifying glasses and such to improve his hearing. When the meeting started he said he felt odd having all this "paraphenalia" hanging off him. I know how hard it must be for him to have to use all these aids because he's a very independent guy, but I'm just so glad he was able to hear the meeting. A high councilman spoke on increasing your faith and about how miracles aren't just when you almost died and survived, they are small things like when someone reaches out to you when you pray for help. After the meeting, Roland talked to us about how that talk really struck him. He said "I've never felt like this before. I'm glad I came to church today." He said that he wants to grow his faith and he wants to keep coming to church. I was so happy for him. It really was a great sacrament meeting.

One thing that is still hard for me as a missionary is being able to think up a scripture on the spot that relates to the person we're talking to. Sister Steiner is very good at it and I feel bad that she's always the one to share one. One of my district members here, Elder Nichols, shared with me though, that he's not great at it either, but one thing he does in personal study is think of the people that they're going to see or teach today, and find a scripture that applies to them. Even if that's the only scripture he can share, it's something. I definitely want to try that going foward.

Sometimes it can be very tiring to do everything and by the end of the day I feel pretty drained, but I can say that overall I love being a missionary! It's just a really unique experience and I'm so happy I can be in the field right now.

I hope you all are doing well! Feel free to shoot me a message today if you have time! I'd love to talk to you!

And if you'd like to send anything by mail to me, please send it directly to the barn! Our address is 36 Peterson Rd, Pavillion, WY

Much love!

丁姊妹

(Sister DelHoyo)

Alma 26:37

37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

Quotes of the week:

-The brass section 😏

-Eyetalian

-Hooope of IIIsrael (sung to the tune of Bet On It)

-*Makes a heart with hands over scripture*

-Haw yee