Hey now!
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| Here’s my greenie the day I got her! Hermana Aguilera is from Fresno, California. She’s a native speaker and is so pure and bubbly and lovely (: |
I’m coming to you, for the first time in the history of these weekly emails, from the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky! It’s such a happening town that we have at least two of everything, as well as one precious Target. What a blessing to live near a typical middle-class department store. I will surely cherish it during the months I am here.
Bowling Green is radically different from Columbia, and I absolutely love it here. I miss many things from the equivalent of my hometown during my mission, but I’m also happy to see and experience new things. If anything, BG reminds me a lot more of West Valley than Columbia. It’s not really famous for anything*, but the people are kind and amazing, and by and large, I feel extremely loved.
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| New quad! L-R: Hermana Reddish, yours truly, Hermana Aguilera, Hermana Reidhead |
The process of starting the work here has been an equal extreme in terms of stress. For those of you who aren’t caught up! I am whitewashing in this area, which means that my companion and I are both new to the area. And I’m training her, which is a lot of responsibility that intimidates me way too much if I think about it too hard. Oh, and I forgot to get the SIM card for the area, which meant we had to rely on the other companionship if we wanted to call anybody, and then Hermana Aguilera’s Facebook wasn’t working on her phone, so in a word, the first week has been hard.
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| Goodbye to Franklin South and some of my favorite people ever. |
I think what I’ve been learning this week is that I really have to give everything to Heavenly Father. Which is something I’ve learned and relearned the entirety of the seven months I’ve been doing this.
In Alma 17, the sons of Mosiah and other Nephites are about to start missions serving among the Lamanites, who are their generations-old enemies. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of anxiety for them in this moment. They’re unsure about their future, whether their message will be accepted, whether they’ll be safe and well. Not much is certain as they begin their journey. But it goes on to say:
10 And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted.
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12 And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God.
I think if my experience in adulthood has taught me anything, it is that there is a lot to have fear over. But that gives us the opportunity to have courage. And I hope that all of us will be able to be brave going forward, whatever challenges we're facing. Because, dear reader, I know that you have it in you.
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| A fan favorite, Cathy Newton, cheering all of us on! |
— You’re an All-Star,
Hermana Newton
* To be fair, Bowling Green is the home of the National Corvette Museum.
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