So I'm in Florida. We arrived last Tuesday afternoon. The mission president and his wife were at the airport to greet us. We drove to the mission home and had a little time to just sit and listen as the president, his wife and the senior couples introduced themselves. They made us an incredible southern dinner. I had my interview with my mission president and it was amazing. He is a wonderful man and it made me so excited to serve here in Jacksonville. I felt the spirit very strongly in that interview and was really emotional but that probably could have been because I had been awake since 1:30 AM. Anyway, the next morning was filled with meeting after meeting. The meetings were great but I struggled to keep my eyes open. I don't know. I guess I had woken up at 4:00 Utah time so maybe my body didn't agree. At 2:00 in the afternoon we met our new companions. My companion is Sister Kaitlin Beacham. She is from Beaver, Utah! She is absolutely wonderful. She has been here for 12 weeks and she is already a trainer. It has been necessary though because there are so many sisters coming out!
We drove to our area. We are in the Lake City area. It is a small...ish city. People here in Lake City don't have driveways! Everyone drives on and parks on the grass! It is gross grass though. Not soft and wonderful like the grass in Utah! Anyway, Here's my address, so write me maybe...
Sister Lauren Kasteler
We dropped my stuff off at the apartment and then got straight to work! That first few days went pretty well, I thought. We didn't really have a lot of chances to teach lessons. Sister Beacham was having a terrible time. She was feeling very inadequate. We were trying to visit the investigators in this area but mostly all of them fell through. We need to find more investigators but her trainer never really took her tracting and I don't know much about tracting either. I don't really think that tracting really works in this area anyway. She was also realizing that she doesn't know the area as well as she thought she did, and I don't know it at all! I felt bad that I couldn't help her more.
The days have been seeming to get better and better each day. We have been teaching more lessons and even finding a few more investigators. I guess I will tell you a little bit about some of the people we are teaching. Betty Glen is this cute lady who has said that she will be our grandma away from home. She had a baptisimal date set for Sept. 21 but she didn't come to church yesterday and she can't get baptized if she hasn't been to church at least 3 times. Jasmine is 16 years old. Her mom and brother are converts. She has been meeting with the missionaries for a while but isn't really finding answers. We think that there is probably something holding her back. Hopefully we can discern her needs and concerns. Rabbi is this old guy who loves meeting with the missionaries and talking about the gospel (basically everyone loves talking about Jesus here :)). He won't come to church and he won't make any committments. He is coming on a tour of the church this week so we will see what happens after that. This guy named Greg Brown is on fire. He loves the messages we have to share and on Saturday he commited to baptism. We are excited to continue teaching him and watching him continue to grow in the gospel. He has been playing the guitar since he was 3 and wants to teach Sister Beacham and I how to play. Hah! Unfortunately, I don't think its gonna work. Brother Nunn is a less active member. We talked to him on his porch for a while on Friday night. His wife has a brain tumor and the doctors have told him that there is nothing else they can do. She is going to come home and hospice is going to come to help him take care of her. It was really neat because as he was talking about everything that was going on, I was having tons of memories come back to me and I could really connect with him. He expressed is gratitude that I knew what he was going through. It was cool. And, as we talked to him on his porch, I'm sorry to say this mom, but we got eaten alive by the mesquitos. I think that I counted....74....give or take a few. Oh wow my legs and ankles have been so itchy! I haven't even had a chance to go to the store since I got here but today I am definitely planning on buying bug spray. Unfortunately they bug bites have been affecting my sleeping so I have been really tired today and yesterday. I think that they will start getting better soon though. We visited this lady named Gwen. She is so sweet. She has some health issues and a huge family. We had a lesson with three of her daughters. They seemed to be really into it. I am excited to go back and teach them again! We had a "harvesting" prayer with their family. It was really cool. Basically we said a special prayer to bless their house and family.
I have to keep reminding myself that I haven't even been here a week and I need to be patient with myself. I get a little frustrated because I don't really know the area but I am really grateful that my companion does. I want to be the best missionary that I can be but it is going to take time. I'm still working to feel comfortable and earn the trust of the ward. I am also trying to work as hard as I can. I often think about dad and how hard of a worker he was. That is how hard I want to work. I know that Heavenly Father will reward my efforts even if I don't realize it.
Oh, and there is a mission blog page and I think they put pictures and I don't know what else up. It is floridajacksonvillemission.blogspot.com.
Love Always,
Sister Lauren Kasteler
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