Rio Rancho, NM--Transfer 1, Week 1

Well everyone, I know you're all anxious to hear from me. I am alive and well here in New Mexico. I arrived last Monday morning and was met by President and Sister Anderson and the 3 AP's (one of them left last Wednesday). We had a day full of orientation and I stayed at the Mission Home Monday night. Early Tuesday morning we were up and to the mission office so we could meet our companions. But more on that later. I'm sure you're all wondering what I've been doing for the past 2 weeks since you heard from me.

Wed: Last preparation day in the MTC. We went to the temple and did laundry and started packing! We had a TRC that night, but I don't remember what we taught or how it went. It's been almost 2 weeks after all.

Thurs: We had our last session in the RC. I don't remember any of my calls. It finally hit me that I was actually leaving the MTC for the mission field that day. That was a weird feeling. I got a package from Mill Run with pictures that the primary colored. That made my night.

Fri: We had our last teaching appointment. It went really well. Hermana Waldrop y yo finally figured out how to work well together. It was a good final TE. Our LGM was on Baptizing people--which is exactly what our goal is here in Rio Rancho. We did some more packing as well.

Sat: We had to say goodbye to our maestros. They were wonderful and taught us many wonderful things. I was totally unfocused all day long with the anticipation of leaving Monday morning. We did laundry so we didn't have to bring a week's worth of dirty laundry with us. We did lots of packing, and I pretty much finished with everything.

Sun: Elaine S. Dalton was our speaker in Relief Society. I remember it being a wonderful talk, but I have no clue what it was about. Ask me in 16 months when I'm home and have my notes with me. After RS we went and greeted her. She is a wonderful woman. We had sacrament meeting, and the 2 districts that were leaving sang "I'll Go Where You Want me to Go," and the sisters sang the "Olive Tree" that we sang for the departure devotional the week before, as per request of President Peters. We went on a temple walk and took pictures of our zone. We took many pictures. We went back and ate dinner then went to devotional. After the devotional, we had our Elders give us all blessings before we left for the field. That was a neat experience. We said goodbye to the elders (because they were all leaving later than me, except for Elder Evans) and went back to our room to finish packing. That was nuts! There were 3 other SHS class of 2006 sisters there at the same time I was, so they all tracked me down so we could get a picture together. Kesha, if you'd get on my facebook and find the mission addresses for Jennie Olsen and Shanna Tavenner I'd appreciate it--you may have to go to their blogs--the links are on the pages. We finally turned our light out around 11:30. I know we're horrible, but we... well, my roommates were still packing.

Mon: We were up bright and early, and after having very little sleep (about 2 hours), I left the MTC at 5:00 am. It was a good flight... after being delayed for 1/2 hour because they were still loading luggage and then there was a leak of some sort they had to check out. We arrived safely in Albuquerque. It was so fun to look out the window and see the... brown-ness of everything down below. But hey, I wasn't sick so I could actually look out the window! We met the Anderson's and the AP's. We got our luggage and loaded it into the trailer of the transfer van, then headed to the temple to take pictures of the newly arrived missionaries. Then we went off to pick up lunch (Dion's Pizza: Pepperoni, and Pepperoni with Green Chiles YUM!) We went to a church and ate, then had orientation for the rest of the day. 2 sisters came down from Rio Rancho to take Sister Lamb and I on a finding activity. They were awesome! They are Spanish Sisters, and there were some men working on the church putting a new roof on, so we went and contacted them. That was a little difficult, but I survived. By this time I was feeling sick to my stomach as a result of the medicine I took to combat that on the flight, so I was basically miserable for the rest of the day. But I didn't get sick all over Elder Evans, for which he was grateful. We had a nice potato bar for dinner. Yes, REAL potatoes! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Too bad I wasn't feeling super great. We had a testimony meeting that night with all of the new missionaries. Then Sister Lamb and I headed off to the Anderson's for the night. President Anderson interviewed us (he saves the sisters for last because we sleep at their home, the others all sleep elsewhere). We got to bed around midnight.

Tues: I woke up to find a spider bite on my ankle. I thought it was a mosquito bite with the way it reacted at first, but as time has gone on, it is definitely not a mosquito. Don't worry mom, it's getting much better. And it was only a little bigger than a quarter. We were up bright and early 5:00 am so we could get ready and be to the mission office by 7 for breakfast and a little more orientation and to meet our trainers. I actually already knew my trainers--because they were the sisters that took us out on Monday. And I had been told as much by them and by President Anderson. Sister Trunnell is from Northern Idaho, just outside of Couer d'Alene. She has been out for almost a year, and this is her first area. Well, sort of. We're actually opening a new area for just Spanish. Up until this past week they were covering English and Spanish. They brought in more English Elders and now we're just Spanish. Sister Michel (Me-shell) is from Chihuahua, Mexico. She learned English in the MTC and has been out for about 6 months. It is such a blessing to have a native speaker for a companion! There was a package waiting for me in the mission office--the only mail I've received since I arrived, but that's okay. I'm so busy that by the time I get home at night I just want to collapse into bed. I loved the picture frame! And especially the photos of Martha and her parents! A couple of Elders followed us with my bed and set it up while we unpacked my stuff. Then we ate lunch and had a short companion study to fill me in on everything and off we went. I met the Luna family, recent converts. They fed us. Boy was it yummy! We also had a FHE with a less-active, part-member family in Bernalillo.

Wed: My first full day of missionary service. We contacted a referral one of the Elders gave us on Monday and taught her the first lesson. We're going back today to finish that lesson and teach more. We contacted several people as we were out and about. I really liked it when we tracted into English speakers... I could understand everything they said :) We met with several of our investigators and also had a meeting with one of the ward mission leaders and 2 of the new Elders (well, one of them is new, the other is just new to the area.)

Thurs: I got a mosquito bite. Those darn things have found me! But this wasn't a regular mosquito... oh no. It was the biggest mosquito I've ever seen in my life! At least 4 times bigger than any mosquito I saw in Idaho! But I put stuff on it right away and it didn't swell up, so we're all good. District Meeting was canceled, so we started organizing our maps and area book all morning. We headed out to work, and had an appointment with the Luna's. She fed us again, but this time it wasn't quite so enjoyable. It was saltine crackers with... I don't know what it was. The best way I can explain it is fish, yes fish, salsa and cactus salsa. Yep, you read right. Fish salsa and cactus salsa. The cactus wasn't so bad, and neither was the fish until I heard Sister Trunnell ask how Sister Luna made it and picked out the work "pescado" (fish for you non-Spanish speakers.) I mean, it wasn't the best, but I could eat it. After I heard what was in it, I had a gag reflex going with every bite I took. One of the members in the stake also fed us--a normal American dinner of chicken and rice.

Fri: It was "creation day", or in other words, the weekly planning session. Boy was that intense. We have so many investigators and people we're working with that we were sitting there for 3 hours and still didn't finish. We've been working on that as we drive places. We had a lesson with investigators. We showed them the Restoration DVD (with English subtitles so Hermana Good would know what was going on). We had a couple member missionary lessons--trying to find people who speak Spanish for our Spanish service. We don't have a full branch here yet. In fact, Sunday was the first day that all 3 hours were in Spanish. Before, the Spanish speakers had to use translation at church.

Sat: We contacted into a drunk man. That was... interesting. We also made many visits down in Bernalillo.

Sun: We had church. It was very exciting to have all 3 meetings in Spanish. There were about 28 people there. It was so neat to see the recent converts get up and bear their testimonies, and to see Felipe pass the sacrament for the second time. These people are so humble! I have such a great love for each and every one of them!

Well, I'm running out of time (I have 45 minutes to e-mail here, and 15 to e-mail President). All in all, I absolutely love it here! It is beautiful! Lots of sagebrush, but you'd be jealous of the sunrises and sunsets. We live in the apartment above the garage of some members in Corralles. They live on a farm. The best way I can describe where I live is Bugs Bunny on a farm. Yep, bunnies and road runners and we can hear coyotes. And they have horses and water buffalo and camels. Yep, camels. It's pretty awesome. But I have to take Claritin so I can breathe... but it's working so we're all good.

I love you all so much and appreciate your prayers! Good luck with school everyone! Is BYUI starting this week? Probably. I hope you all have a most wonderful week and look forward to next week's edition of "Sister Good's Mission"! Oh yeah, it will come on Monday, but the library was closed yesterday for Labor Day so we're e-mailing today. So you've had to wait for 13 days for this e-mail, but only have to wait 6 for the next one! How about that!

Love you all!

Hermana Good