First Week

Hey All Y’all (that's the plural form of y’all, which is singular, in case you didn't know)

I guess you want to know all about Virginia and my first week. Well, it was kind of hard at first because I just feel so inadequate and unprepared, but I'm loosening up a bit now and really the people here are hilarious! There's one family (or rather clan) that has been around forever and there's tons of them and they have names (well, nicknames, but nobody calls them their real names anymore) like Tonky, Butterball, Pinto; it's so funny. And of course there's always a Bubba around. And one of the grandsons (who's in his 30's) says things like "Gegoobleedoo!" and "Hootie Hoo!" "Good-time-a-day!" It cracks me up. And I guess people get excommunicated and re-baptized out here all the time; it's kind of crazy. Sis. Andersen says it's kind of a part of the culture of just switching churches all the time when you don't like someone. It cracked me up, one of them was so excited to show us this DVD she bought of a fire with Christmas music playing in the background - just like they broadcast on TV on Christmas morning. She kept carrying on about how pretty it was.

And then the other day I was so happy, the bishop's family (the bishop was actually originally from Mesa) fed us burritos! But they put ketchup in the beans, how weird is that? And they thought it necessary to tell me how to fold and eat a burrito! ME! I thought it was hilarious.

Well, I'm running out of time. But it really has been a great experience, and I promise I'll tell you more about it all. I feel kind of spoiled though as a new missionary being put in this area, with so many members and already have 6 baptismal dates scheduled in the next couple months. I might get the idea missionary work is easy...:) But when my trainer leaves to go home in January, I guess it will be all up to me here, so I better learn all I can! Well, love you all!