Week 3

Well hello there! Florida is awesome! Some things about my mission before we get started:  

I am in New Port Richey, in the Palm Harbor Ward. That is also the name of our area: Palm Harbor. We have a car (A toyota corrola 2015, so its super nice), but we have our bikes here as well, so if we need to use them we can. We have 1000 miles a month on the car, though, so we don't use our bikes very much. My apartment is on the third floor, and it is really nice! We don't get furniture, since we're not supposed to be in our apartment except to eat or do morning studies. We aren't allowed to eat dinner with members unless an investigator is present, so I haven't had any member-present dinners yet. That's okay though. President and Sister Cusick are wonderful people. They are really kind, and are very friendly.

 I'm so sorry, but I don't have any pictures this week. It was so busy and because I was so new I spent a lot of time learning how to do things and didn't have time for pictures. I'll have lots for you next week though!

We have a laundry room in our apartment, so it's basically running all day as we wash our sheets and clothing. I'm so excited to go to the store and buy necessary things, like food! For exercise, we go to the gym which is in the clubhouse. It's nice because they have treadmills!! I really like treadmills. We get up at 6am, go exercise, and then get ready for the day. I'll tell you about that in a sec.

The weather is great. For the first few days, actually, the weather was dry! There were tons of clouds, but it didn't rain. And then all of the sudden it was thundering and raining. It's fun though. I haven't been caught in a downpour as of yet, so that's good. The humidity was really difficult my first morning because the AP's made us run 15 laps around a parking lot, so I was struggling to breathe and everything. I have never sweat so much in my life. In all honesty. The humidity definitely makes you sweat. I also noticed that I drink more water than I do in AZ. But its great. I haven't had the chance to ride the bike yet, but it's here for when I need it. Having a car is great.

So as to my week. I'll try not to do this very often, but because it's my first week, I feel that it's necessary:

Tuesday: We got picked up at the airport and drove to the mission home. It was really fun with all the new missionaries. We went there, had a short orientation, and ate dinner. It was some really good mexican food. We then, because we were exhausted, drove to the hotel and went to bed early (at 9:00).

Wednesday: We got up bright and early to exercise. the AP's conducted the exercise session, and we were struggling with the whole 'water in the air thing' and it sucked. But it was great! I ran and ran and the next day my legs were more sore than they had ever been before in my life. We then got ready for the day, and then drove to the mission church headquarters, which is where we did hours of orientation and things. We got our iPad's set up (I can't use it till next month sometime), got our driving stuff figured out, did brief health screenings, and did personal interviews with President Cusick. My interview was awesome. He really cares about me doing well, and I felt like he got to know me a lot. After that we had lunch, which was great, and then it was time for us to meet our trainers! 5 trainers came in for us sisters, but we didn't know which one was ours until the transfer meeting. I met Sister Dalley when my name was called, and we got all of my stuff. We loaded our stuff in the car, and then we went to our mission! We actually had to go straight to a lesson, so I didn't get to go and unload and unpack anything until after dinner. It was a great first day!

Thursday: Mission life. How to describe it? It's great, it really is, but it's so busy that I don't know how to explain it all. We got up at 6 to exercise. We came back to the apartment at 7, got ready for the day, had personal study at 8, had companionship study at 9, and did 12-Week from 10 to 11. We then have lunch. Then we head out! We've had a pretty consistent schedule of going and visiting potential investigators, progressing investigators, and recent converts. We also spend a lot of time tracting. I enjoy it all. We go back to our apartment at 5 for dinner, and then we're back out by 6 and don't come back until 9. We then get ready for bed and go to bed at 10. It's really simple and I like the consistency of it. The first few days were hard because I felt so tired at the end of the day, but I'm getting used to it.

Friday and Saturday were the same. I met lots of cool people that we're teaching, and I love them all. I don't have time to tell you about them, but that's okay. You'll hear about them as the weeks go by.

Sunday was fast sunday, which was great. We didn't have ward council or the missionary meeting (whatever thats called). so we didn't get to leave our apartment until 12. Church starts at 1, and it's a half hour away from our apartment. I met so many people there, my goodness. They all were excited to meet me, and I remember none of their names. We then went to an investigators house for dinner. She made us steak, potato salad, corn on the cob, watermelon, and then banana splits for dessert. It was absolutely delicious, and she gave us the leftovers!!!

Monday: Today we went and got our nails done by an investigator who does nails. I got mine done for $5, so it was super fun. We then went to lunch at this California taco grill place, which was yummy. Then we came here to email! After I'm done emailing, we'll go shopping and buy food (yay!), and then we'll go home and finish our laundry and cleaning. Then we have dinner, and then we're back to missionary work things at 6.

I love it in Florida!! Every day I thank God for allowing me to be out here, and serving with Sister Dalley as my trainer.

 With love,

Sister Minson