Hello family and friends!
First of all, thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes! That was so sweet of all of you to send me a little note. I wish I could respond to all of you, but please know that I appreciate all of your kindness! I am super happy that I get to spend my 20th birthday as a missionary. I was thinking last night about how there is literally no where else I would rather be! It is such a blessing and a privledge to be a full time servant of the Lord, and I wish it could last forever.
Sorry about the short letter last week. I was kind of frazzled last week and couldn`t really think of what to write, but this week hopefully I can give you some good information about my new area!
To answer your questions Dad, yes, I was able to say goodbye to some of the members in Guadalupe before I left. Hermano and Hermana Ruiz took us to the bus station and when I got there I found Hermana Mejia waiting for me, which made my day. I had said goodbye to her the night before because I knew I was probably going to be transferred, but I was able to say goodbye at the last moment. She`s the sister that I`ve told you about, who was my 'mom' there in Durango, so I was really glad I got to say goodbye to her. I also knew transfers were coming, so I kind of said goodbye to other members before hand. One couple who we were really close with, Pepe and Adriana Soriano, are actually planning on coming to Utah this December when I`ll be home, so I got Adri`s Facebook so they can hopefully come and visit us!
They notified us of transfers Sunday night at about 10:30, so it was a long night of packing everything up and getting ready. And yes, I`m in the actual city of Torreon, about 15 minutes from the center of the city. There was a small pool of investigators when I arrived here, but la Rosa was divided into three areas and in this transfer they closed one, so now there are only two. My companion was is la Rosa 2 before, but now we have la Rosa 2 and la Rosa 3, so we`re opening la Rosa 3. It has been a busy week of getting to know the area and finding the investigators of the other hermanas, but we`ve been doing really well. This area is a lot different than my other area. It`s definitely a lot more well-to-do than my last area, which was kind of a shock at first. But it seems like a really good area, and I`m honestly very excited to work here! Also, Hermana Tuitupou, who was in the MTC with me, is nearby so I`ve gotten to see her, which is awesome. I`m also kind of close to my trainer, Hermana Leiataua. So far Torreon has been great!
I also love my companion. We are defintiely different but we get along really well and use the different strengths we have to strengthen the companionship. We also teach really well together and are really unified, which is awesome! We`ve been learning a lot from each other and I`ve felt a really strong spirit working with her.
I love you all and hope you have a great week! Thank you again for all of the support and love I felt this week, and always.
Love,
Hermana Southard
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| Left to right: Hermana Johnson and Hermana Martinez, the Sister Training Leaders, Hermana Tuitupou, Hermana Villegas (my companion!) Hermana Martin, and me! |
