Week 1 - Getting started!

While not quite what I expected for my first week in the mission field, it has been a great and humbling week as I learn to look for and accept my responsibilities.  After completing my week at the MTC, Brad, Keriann and I met up with Daylen and Ashley for dinner - they were going to surprise me with the place!  And of course!  We went to Los Hermanos, our traditional dinner for our missionaries!  This is where we usually went as a family when taking our children to the MTC, so the boys decided it would be the place we should go for my farewell dinner before leaving the next day on my mission!  What fun!  It is a great tradition carried forward, and a terrific dinner, followed by fried ice cream, of course!

Brad took me early to catch my flight to Washington D.C., such a breeze going through security and I had time while waiting to reflect on the inspiring week in the MTC.  It's interesting how you are taken out of the world for a few days to prepare to go into the world to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  There is such a different feeling just in leaving the MTC, the spirit is so strong there, and you just want to feel it all the time!  I hope I can strive to have the Lord's spirit with me throughout my mission as I felt it there!

My flight was almost four hours, but went quickly.  Near the last hour I enjoyed visiting with the fellow sitting by me who was a Muslim from Libya - such a interesting person.  He just finished his Civil Engineering degree at the University of Idaho in Moscow, told me about his wife (a Christian from Poland) and a little about them.  I told him why I was going to Washington D.C. and a little about the church and he was very interested in the church apps I showed him on my ipad, wrote down how to get them and said his wife would be interested to have them.  He was interested in my large family and said they wanted to have a large family (he is from a family of 9 children, who are all in Libya still).  He was such a nice person and so interesting to talk to!
  
As I was waiting at the airport for my luggage, I was surprised to see a sister with a missionary tag, and it was Sister Johnson, the mission mother, there with her husband, who quickly introduced themselves.  While they hadn't received the message that I was being picked up by my daughter, they seemed rather relieved, and asked if I would like to stay with her until my companion arrived on Wednesday.  After helping me with luggage and loading it into Stacie's car, we assured them that we could pick up Sister Brown on Wednesday (they had transfers on that day, so were happy to know she would be taken care of!)  I was able to spend the next few days with David and Stacie and their 3 beautiful children, so cute, full of energy and fun to be around!  I helped Daniella (their au pere) some and tried to help with meals, feeling useful where I could.

Then Wednesday afternoon Stacie took me to meet up with Sister Brown.  We got the rental car I had reserved and took off for Waldorf, MD, with the great help of a GPS.  Pres. Johnson had called me earlier in the day and told me they had a hotel room reserved for each of us there and I reassured him we would be fine.  We kept busy getting somewhat settled (in a hotel room?), shopping a little and learning our way around.  Friday we met back with Stacie in Springfield to get the things we had left in her car, and this helped us to improve our navigational skills and learn where the Mt. Vernon Stake Center is.

Saturday was the highlight of the week when we met for a mission conference with both the North and South Washington D.C. missions.  After meeting a number of sisters and elders in the mission, we had a mission wide picture (with almost 200 in it) and with the visiting authorities - Elder M. Russell Ballard, Elder Ronald Rasband (both apostles of the Quorum of the Twelve), 4 of the Seventies (Elders Bennett, Meurs, Perkins and Yong) and several area presidents.  What a conference!  We got to shake hands with several of them, then went into the chapel for the conference, which was tremendous to hear from so many of the General Authorities speaking just to us missionaries!  They commented that this was pretty historic - seldom do they have this many authorities together in a mission (or 2 missions combined, as we were) at one time.  I have written and recorded in my notebook many of the teachings and challenges they gave to us, such a powerful spirit there!  What a great way to start the mission and feel of the Lord's blessings and help!

Although it was about a 45 minute drive each way, we certainly felt the Lord's blessings and help in our travel, and that the weather was not the predicted ice and snow for that day - only rain!  We certainly felt uplifted and spiritually fed, and hope to utilize the messages learned there with us throughout our mission!  I am enjoying being with Sister Brown, she is so sweet, humble, dedicated and full of the desire to serve the Lord.  I feel fortunate to work with her and we are both learning together, discovering our responsibilities, talents and weaknesses - so much to learn!  (I need to learn how to add pictures, maybe next time?)