Called to Serve: The Adventure Begins

Hey Y'all!

This week was just crazy! We had to drive to Tallahassee on Tuesday night so we could be there the next morning to pick up the new trainee. Well we did not account for the time zone change, so we were an hour late arriving to Tallahassee. But it all worked out. I spent the night on FSU Camps with another Sister who was going to be training. We had an entire apartment to ourselves. So that was nice. We got up on Wednesday and headed to the Church to attend our training meeting. There were 14 of us there, so it wasn't a huge group of incoming missionaries, but big enough. Once we received some guidance from President Smith, we headed into the Chapel to get assigned to our new companions.

My new companion is Sister Richins. She is from Mesa Arizona. She is the 4th out of 5 Children, and is the first to serve a mission in her family. She is just awesome. I said my goodbyes to Sister Porter. She will be missed for sure. Sister Richins and I then grabbed some lunch at Wendy's before heading back to Bonifay.

Side Note... Before we left for Tallahassee, we set off a bug bomb in hopes to get rid of our roach problem.... When Sister Richins and I came back to the apartment, it stunk... so we had to air it out for a while. So while it was airing out, we drove to the big town of Chipley and got some things at Walmart.

We were able to see everyone that we planned to see on Wednesday afternoon and evening. That was super awesome, because that doesn't happen very often. So it was good for Sister Richins to see some success right off the bat.

Thursday was the beloved weekly planning. I'm sure Sister Richins was just dying inside. I am so OCD when it comes to planning haha. I even go as far as color coding things. But Proper planning prevents poor performance. When we show the lord we are doing our part, he blesses us with people to teach.

We had a few appointments cancel, but it all turned out alright. We attended the Addiction Recovery Class. That is such an amazing program. It is so centered on the Atonement. I feel myself getting closer to the Savior by just being there.

Friday was an alright day. Sister Richins is just trying to get into the flow of things. But we were able to see a lot of people on Friday as well. We saw our Investigator, Terra, who is all for baptism. Her husband is a less active member, so she knows a lot about the church just from talking to him about it. She really wants to be sealed to her husband and their 1 year old daughter. So that is an awesome goal for her to have. Hopefully we will be setting a Baptismal Date with her this week.

Saturday was Awesome. We went to Brother and Sister Kelly's house for breakfast, and helped them in their garden. I love gardening now. haha who would have thought that the mission would have changed my feelings about weeding and gardening haha.

Sunday was great. We attended church and got Sister Richins introduced to most of the ward members. Some members invited us over for lunch right after church, so that was nice. The Bowen family takes up the majority of the ward pretty much haha. So she got to meet most everyone yesterday.

Sister Richins is awesome. Good things are going to happen in Bonifay! I can just feel it in my bones haha

I am so grateful for the knowledge we have of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. I know that our Heavenly Father knows each of us individually. He knows our hopes and desires. I know that I have been paired with Sister Richins for a very specific reason. I cannot wait to see what is in store for the town of Bonifay, and us as individual missionaries.

Have a blessed week y'all!

Love,

Sister Melissa Jean Wood

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