Ever Onward 3: September 22, 2013 Maren

Hello Family!

First of all... No... my mission president didn't tell me anything... Lame. I think after the initial contact he just wanted me to stay focused and figured i'd hear about it in my weekly email. So I am very happy to hear that everything is okay. Everything is okay right? So it's not anywhere else in your body? but you still have to get it off your face/head? Is it life threatening at all? I am glad you are okay. To be honest I either felt the peace before I heard the news or I really have just been way too busy to think about it...

Secondly... Tania and Nathan were here!!!! What ward did you go to?!? Dang I wish I had known. Especially today. We were all over the city today so it would have been fun to keep an eye out. I want to hear all about your trip!!!! What sights did you see? Anything I should make sure I see too?

I am in Jamaica! No... not the tropical island. Jamaica, Queens! And its awesome. Lets see if I can get this all down in an hour.

Monday night I stayed up til 1am packing... we didn't have any time all day because there were a lot of people I wanted to see. It was hard to say goodbye. Although ever since I got my call I haven't really been able to cry when saying goodbye. I think knowing we will be getting facebook soon helps. I'll be able to keep tabs on people.

I think the hardest part was leaving the other missionaries behind. That probably sounds weird but we (my district) got really close. We were "the most united district" in the mission according to president. We were one big happy family. So on tuesday morning we got up bright and early and went to breakfast. Then it was off to transfer meeting and finally the nerves hit. O man! I was freaking out inside. Our district leader (Elder Nelson) actually almost started crying. He had been in his area for almost a year and leaving was hard... Super hard. And then on top of that was the uncertainty of where I was headed next. City? Back out to the island? and then on top of that who was going to be my companion!? O man. Lots of questions.

They started with zone 6. And the first district they called was their spanish district... the first name...? Elder Nelson as district leader. He was shocked! He has served in Mineola before so he was sure that was where he was going but no... Jamaica, Queens. The next name they called? Mine! I wish I had a picture of my face at that moment because I am pretty sure it was priceless. I was shocked. I have heard about Jamaica since the beginning of my mission. I've had several zone leaders that have served there before. They tell stories of 14+ baptisms and no white people... haha. And that in the past its been a man area... meaning no sisters allowed. A few transfers ago they put in English sisters so I guess it was time for spanish. Which brings me to my companion. Her name is sister Jensen, she has been out for 7 months and was serving in Staten Island. Blinded in Round 2! Yup! but this time we opened a brand new pool. Last time we had an elders pool to work off of... this time nothing but us and the hard work we put in to building ourselves a pool. I am so excited though. I love being blinded in. Granted I don't know anything else but O well. besides that I am super excited to still be in the same district as Elder Nelson.

So after a long day of transfers we headed to our pad led by the elders since we had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. Luckily we were able to load most of our stuff into the car of the Senior Couple who live in the same building as us. As soon as we got on our floor we were attacked by the Enlish sisters who had been waiting for us and had dinner ready. They have been amazing in taking care of us and making sure we dont starve before we could get some food. One of them used to be in my zone, Sister Millett. She is awesome and I am glad she is so close by.

So yeah..

The next few days we spent just trying to survive really. We spent the bulk of our time cleaning to be honest. Our pad used to be an Elders pad and besides that the church has had it for years and it shows. It took us four days to tackle the kitchen and it was sparkling. And when we got home that night... it was to about 15 cockroaches all over my beautiful kitchen! AHH!!!! now it is covered in Raid again. I am guessing all our cleaning distirbed them. We'll get them taken care of no worries... Haven't seen any today yet so.... yeah... haha the joy of living in the city.

In other news. Church was crazy yesterday. I left with a headache from all the spanish. I miss my dual-language branch. Haha. But my spanish is going to take off. :D And hopefully I loose some weight too.

Okay. Dad... I dont know where that list of questions is so i'll just do my best.

Companion: Sister Chelsea Jensen

(Age: 22, Hometown: Woodland Hills (?) Close to spanish fork, Sister Jensen has flat feet so she was shocked to be in a walking area. President says we have a car the moment she asks for it but so far she's been a trooper. Besides that I really don't want to drive in the city... freeway is one thing... navigating the roads is completely different.)

Unit: Jamiaca 2nd Branch (spanish)

Address: 88-20 Parsons blvd. Jamaica, NY 11432 #6C

.... What else?

O! You should see if you can google our church building! Its so COOL! Its 6 stories tall! The chapel is on the 2nd floor, the kitchen and gym are on the 4th(?) The set up is so cool I love it. And this branch is a lot bigger than my last one, the auxilary heads go out each week to try and find the less actives and a ton of people were at church. I'm super excited to be here.

Today we had an adventure. We went into the city to get groceries (Jamaica is renouned for cheap shopping but not when it come to groceries) and that was super fun. We went to costco and Aldi's and had to carry all our stuff back on the train. Doesn't it look like we were having fun?

Other pictures in this batch:

Last breakfast with the Riverbays district

My new Companion Sister Jensen

Me, Sister Jensen, and Sister Millett

My new view out our window

This is such a great adventure. Its so different but so beautiful. I love you all so much! I wish I had a little more time. Oh! and Daddy, I am so proud of you for figuring out the pictures! Did you put my hard drive back? Haha... but really... I am glad you found them okay.