MI COMPANARIA
so the best part of nauvoo so far is that guess what....I'M COMPANIONS WITH SISTER FAULKNER!!!! :) i keep thinking that it's maybe just temporary cause it's way too good. we get along seriously perfect. she's big into hurrying and doing things efficiently. she doesn't get worked up really at all and she's into having many communal things like clothes and food. also she makes sure all the plates get finished when we eat. i love my life!!! she's happy to work out for more than a half hour if we wake up early and there are plenty of girls here who run. for reals, everything about my mission is better than i thought it could be. oh, and a couple other things i love about her is that A. we talk constantly and B. she told me that on more than one occassion she's slept-walked into her companion's bed and slept the rest of the night there. what the? haha! i love it!
MY ACCOMODATIONS
but wait, there's more!! i live in a house with 7 (soon to be 9) other sisters. it's a rad, old-school house with skylights and brick arches and here's the raddest part....it's across the street from the temple. no exagerration. like directly across the street. like the only thing separating my bedroom window from the temple is a street and some grass. and it's such a stinkin gorgeous temple! so crazy to think that the old-school saints built it and it looked just as cool. i'm so excited for you all to come out here.
NAUVOO AT LARGE
nauvoo is beautiful, it's true. we're right on the mississippi and there's lillypads and yes, i already saw a firefly. SO COOL. it's so small-town though. i love it. just random, no-name places everywhere! and the heat and humidity have both been very mild so far as a nice little blessing to not traumatize us right off the bat. :)
MID-WESTERN LIFE
the mid-west as a whole...i have a bone to pick with it. i mean i knew they fried everything, but seriously. it's disgusting. KT asked me a while ago wouldn't it have been hard if i'd gone somewhere in asia and had to eat weird food and i dare say that would've been way more ok than someone feeding me a fried strawberry. i mean, it's just sad. no one should do that to a perfectly good strawberry. eesh. oh, and there's country music EVERYWHERE. two strikes. but i suppose there's enough to redeem this place. :)
MTC LEFTOVERS (not like tator tots. leftover stories)
oh, a couple leftover stories from the MTC. so a while back i was in an empty hallway waiting for my comp to get out of the bathroom when this elder came up from behind me and scared me. like 100% on purpose. i didn't even know him. what the heck?! so of course it's me and i leapt in the air like a freak show and he laughed and laughed all the way down the hall. what?! and then another elder walks around the corner a couple minutes later and scared me to death again, this time not on purpose (come to find out later he was trying to find me cause his comp had told him about him scaring me. make sense?) anyway, so then these elders proceed to see me multiple times at the MTC and just blantantly laugh and me and be like, "there's the jumping sister." what? it pretty much haunted me til the day i got on the bus.
THE COOL OLD PPL(i think i'm gonna throw up my strawberry...unrelated point.)
the senior missionaries here are precious and apparently all think they're your grandparents. so that's cool. my mission pres is way rad. very soft-spoken and has an awesome spirit about him.THE PLANE RIDEon the plane ride over i was able to sit next to a lady from OR and we talked adn talked the whole 3 hours. we were very similar, just 30 yrs apart. i told her a little more about the gospel (she knew a bit) and was able to bear my testimony to her on some things. it was a really good chat. then after i got off the plane a lady who'd overheard like the whole thing and was obviously LDS was like, "how was your first discussion, sis cartwright?" funny. you never know who's listening. the lady i talked to was way cool though. i wish i could've told her more.
AIRPORT JOY
sis soza's bro is serving in the mission that the airport's in so she was just watching out the window the whole drive just knowing he was somewhere right there. she has 2 bros, one older and one younger and they're both on missions too and all in the mid-west. bizarre since they all speak spanish. but we also got to meet her bro's mission pres and stuff and it was so cool to see her eyes light up when they made the connection. precious.
NOT FUNNY
sidenote: the MTC and i imagine the mission completely zap your sense of humors. like i worry that i'm gonna be really into puns (no offense, james...) i'll let you know how it goes but there are lots of ultra nerdy jokes said and they start getting funnier and funnier to me. like the other day at dinner in the MTC this one group of missionaries passes another and an elder yells out "hey look! it's the missionaries!!" not a pun, i realize, but a lame joke nontheless. and i totally couldn't stop laughing. so sad.
THE PEEPS HERE
i'll let you know more about the actual missionary work here when i've actually done more but i can tell i'm gonna learn a ton from my comp and the other sisters here. so many awesome girls, no joke. and so many cute clothes that get very traded around. :) we're working on making connections of ppl we know. so far, i've only had one. sis rasmussen is from highland and knows the scoresbys. her older sibs are hayley, jake, jarvis, etc. good times. if anyone told me anyone to look out for someone here tell me again cause i forgot.
I STILL LOVE MY LIFE
i'm stoked to be here. everyone i know should come. it's worth it, i promise. i can already tell and i haven't even been to any of the sites yet. oh, and i do get to wear period clothing at least once a week. i'll let you know how that treats me. pics to come, i'm sure. mostly we work in the main VC though. and we get to go to the temple every prep-day!
COMMUNICATION
i can only email parents on this (or like a mass forward) but everyone can feel free to email me here cause i can print them out if they're long and i want to read them later. i can also see attachments supposedly yet i'm having some technical troubs. but i'll still be a little slow in responding just cause, well, that's how it goes. or real mail's always rad too.
here's the addresses:
regular mail:
PO Box 215
Nauvoo, IL 62354
packages:
975 Young
Nauvoo, IL 62354
WRAP-UP
ah, that was a lot. thanks for reading and for your thoughts/prayers/letters/packages. none of it goes unappreciated. i'm so thankful for all of you and i say it in my prayers all the time. i can feel the extra help of the prayers from you all. i love it, love it, love it here and i'm so stoked to share the gospel with everyone i can. i have a lot to learn about being more bold and getting more done but i'll make good goals and work on it. i love you all. know that i know with all my heart that the church is true and if you have any doubts please take the time to read the Book of Mormon and to pray and to find out for yourself because Heavenly Father wants to bless you and to answer your prayers and questions. He wants to you to come closer to Him through understanding His gospel and by coming unto Christ through the atonement. There are many blessings to be found through learning, and then living, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
love-sis cartwright (i'm totally legit now! :) )
p.s. sorry about the excessive smily faces. i know that offends some people.
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