Hello Cultural Hall !!!!!
OMGOODNESS!!! I thought I liked preparing for a mission. I thought I liked getting my call. I thought I loved the MTC. But boy, how I loooooove the FIELD!!!! It’s sooo much better!
My first area….drum roll please….. is IN FREAKIN ILLINOIS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM 2 HOURS AWAY FROM KT ANNE!!!!!! I was soooo thrilled! I will be here for at least another 18 weeks too!
So it’s amazing!! Hahaha everyone in Illinois has TWO dogs. EVERYONE! And the weather isn’t NEARLY as bad as everyone makes it out to sound. IDK tho…maybe I’m being too optomistic because I’m a missionary… The town I’m in is Peoria. I live in a melting pot! It’s awesome! I SEE PEOPLE FROM INDIA ALL THE TIME!!!! Hhahaha I told my new trainer, Sister N., I already knew I’d love it here since there are so many different cultures. There are tons of Christian Churches too. A new one every block. That’s the biggest challenge around here….they’re already converted to their own Christian Churches. But it’s so beautiful here!! It looks just like Idaho…but greener and without mountains! Also, there are wild bunnies that run around on everyones lawn!!! IT’S SOO CUTE! And I even held a REAL FIREFLY!!! They aren’t just in movies…like! They’re reall!!!!!!!
We’ve met some amazing people just tracting!! We ran into Brittany who was a heroine attict for 7 years and has 2 kids. She said she felt like she got a break just from talking to us and we’re meeting with her this week!! Another man we met has been battling cancer for 6 years and said, “I know I’m still alive for something…I just need to figure that out.” And I’m like HELLO!! IT’S THE GOSPEL!!! He started tearing up too… Man! I love this stuff!
My first day was really embarassing though because I started talking to the cashier at Wal-Mart (her name was “Ab reeeal”) and I told her we were Mormon Missionaries and asked her if she wanted to come to church with us. She’s like, “Ummm What’s a MARMON?!” hehe I felt so stupid. I’m so used to everyone knowing us!!!!
OTHER FUNNY STORIES: I was super tired after traveling and It was the first full day of my mission. During personal study time, I kept drifting off to sleep! So I woke up, said a prayer to help me stay awake, and went and got a drink. For SOME silly reason….I PUT THE LID of the Almond Milk container in my cup! So when I took a drink…I SWALLOWED THE MILK LID!!!!!!!!!! I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!!! I was like, “Oh great. The first day in my area and I’m going to be in the hospital getting my stomach pumped!”! Thank goodness it got stuck in my trachea. I started making all of these gagging noises because I couldn’t breathe. Then I decided to try to pull it out with my fingers. After like 30 seconds, I got it out! It had a little blood on it and my throat hurt for the rest of the day, but I laughed sooo hard! Like, seriously! God answers prayers….just be careful because you never know he he’s going to do it!! hhehehe But I laughed at how dumb I was.
We were tracting and my trainer needed to be cheered up… All of the sudden…I saw a LAFFY TAFFY WRAPPER ON THE STREET!!! So I picked it up, hoping a joke would cheer her up. Um.. it was heaven sent! It was about owls, and owls are her favorite thing ever!!! She has owl necklaces, earings, pjs, pillowcase, etc!! So I just know that she was being watched out by Heavenly Father. “What’s an Owl’s favorite subject?” “Owlgebra!!”
Anyways. Thank you so much for all of your prayers! I can definitely feel them!
Remember how lucky you are to be in the fold of the Gospel with the best Sheppard possible!!
Sister Tobias