Hola familia!
Sounds like there was bad weather everywhere! We had some pretty cool thunder storms this past week. One woke us up in the middle of the night when it sounded like there was a bomb going off right outside our apartment. Kind of scary, but pretty cool. We are back to doing the same old, same old. We picked Sis. Osburn up on Thursday and got her moved in and situated. She is from Nephi, UT. She is great and will be great addition to our companionship. It is good to have three again because we were restricted on who we could see and where we could go. I'm glad the first Scoresby Scamper went well. Sis. Mickelson was sick that day so we actually weren't even able to go outside and exercise, but I ran as much as I could the next day. Congrats to Preston! I got the shirts today, so we will make good use of them. Well, that's about all. Due to it being New Year's Eve, we had to find a different place to email. It isn't as good as our normal place, but at least we can email. We are going to a part-member home for a little New Years Eve party, but other than that it will just be a normal day. It was good talking to y'all. I love you! Joanna

Dear Family,
Since I will talk to you tomorrow, this email will be brief. Thnks to everyone who sent me special surprises. They were all very much welcomed. We did our normal stuff this week, but we also got to take Sister Chadwick down to go home. Sister Mickleson and I have adjusted well, but we will be getting a third companion this Thursday. We don't know who she is, but it will be good. Tonight we are having Christmas Eve with a family in the branch, and then tomorrow after our Christmas Conference we are going to some other member's home. Well, I guess I will talk to you tomorrow. I will probably call sometime around 7:00 pm. I'm glad everyone is h ome and safely accounted for. Carry a picture of me around as you do all your fun activities. I love you all! Love, Joanna

Dear Family and Friends,
Things here in Southern Alabama are going along just like normal. Everyone is in the Christmas Spirit. It seems that as a missionary you notice it more than when you aren't a missionary. People are more willing to listen to us and our message about Jesus Christ and the Restoration of his Church because Christmas is all about Christ. It makes missionary work a little more fun.

It has finally gotten cooler-mid 40s for the high. It isn't that cold, but at least it feels like winter instead of the summer heat we had last week. We actually saw some frost when we went out for our exercise this morning.

This past week allowed us to work hard to earn the trust of both our members and investigators through our weekly service. It is great to see the friendships grow as they see that you sincerely care for them enough to work for them. It is great! Andalusia is the home for the World Championship Dominoes Tournament. When we do our community service on Fridays, we help serve lunch to senior citizens. Before lunch time, we get to talk with them, or play any games they might be playing. One group always plays dominoes, so we usually will sit down and play with them a game or two.


The primary presentation went so well. It was pretty short and Sacrament meeting got out early, but that was alright. We had one of investigators who doesn't normally come show up and he said he wished his wife had been there. She would have really enjoyed it. I had to sing one verse of This is My Beloved Son and forgot the words, so I made up some that sounded right. I was too worried about making sure the kids would be able to sing. We had the Young Men and Young Women sing Love is Spoken Here with the kids and it turned out so much better than the practices we had with them the Sunday before.


Sister Chadwick is going home on Wednesday. It will be strange to not have her here with me, but I think it will be good to work with Sis. Mickelson. She is great and works really hard, so I am excited to have her as my companion. She even said that she would bike with me as I ran the Scoresby Scamper on the 26th. I love her. I love Sis Chadwick as well, but she is ready to go home.


I don't think Christmas will be as hard as I imagined. Everyone is so good to us as missionaries. We are having Christmas Eve with an extended family in the branch, so it will be good. Then we have our Christmas Conference the next day. I'm excited. I can't wait to talk to you all either.

I hope all of you are enjoying the week before Christmas with finishing up school and preparing for Christmas. I love you all! Love, Joanna

Dear Family and friends,
This week was a little more exciting. Well, I guess you can't really say if each week gets more exciting because every week holds a variety of surprises. But, the excitement doesn't stop in Andalusia, Alabama.
In our last Zone Conference, the assistants focused on doing service, especially for members (less-active and even active) and going through the Relief Society president to know who to help and what we can do. This week we decided to rake leaves and pick up pecans for our Relief Society president without her knowing. It was so good to be able to serve her. She does so much for us and is always willing to help us with our missionary work. She was so happy when she came home and saw her yard raked and the two big buckets of pecans on her porch. Even though we weren't our proselyting, we were still doing missionary work and serving God. Mosiah said it right, when he said "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." This week we are planning on helping the "YW President" wrap her Christmas presents. I hope it works out :)
We also did some publicity for the Church here in our small town. We entered a float in the Christmas parade. The branch was so excited and they all pitched in to help. We had a good turnout and had fun during the parade. It was Friday night, and Saturday morning we got phone calls telling us we had made it on the front page of the newspaper and the internet site for the paper. We won second place in the religious float division! It was such a good thing that we were in the parade. If you get a chance today check out the website http:/www.andalusiastarnews.com or http://www.andalusiastar.com/. The picture should still be there and if not, I have a copy of the newspaper.
To top off the week, we had our first baptism here on Saturday. It was so sweet. Out little investigator was so cute as he entered the waters of baptism. Nikki said there is nothing as good as seeing your investigators be baptized, and it is true! He is a good kid and will do well in life if he remembers what he has learned. It is important to remember that importance of our baptismal covenants. I'm so glad we have a weekly reminder in the Sacrament every Sunday. It helps us recommit ourselves to living the Lord's way.
Love, Joanna

Hola family and friends,

This past week was almost work as usual. We had the excitement of Zone Conference, two birthday parties, and the Christmas Devotional to add to the usual rush of missionary work. Sister Mickelson turned 25 yesterday, and we celebrated with her and with the entire branch at the potluck right before the Devotional. The branch takes care of us very well and loves having us here. The other birthday party was for a 16 year old member whose parents are not members. This week the son asked his Dad if he(the son) could baptize him, and the Dad said that would be great. It was such a great experience to be there when it happened. Almost everyone was in tears. Don't worry, I resisted and no tears fell, but the Spirit was SO strong there! It is great to see such amazing things happen. The Christmas Devotional was good. It was hard to be sitting in the little Church building and watching it over the satelite when last year I was actually there in person. However, I know I am supposed to be here for some reason. Zone Conference was great. I love my President Summerhays and Sister Summerhays. They are great! I was called to repentance during it, and am no longer speeding when I drive. We'll see how long that lasts.

A snowstorm that dropped 8" of snow? I'm jealous! I haven't even broken out my jacket yet. Andalusia had a tree lighting ceremony Saturday night and I didn't take my jacket. It was wierd being at a Christmas function and not being bundled up. That's the south for you.

We do have a cell phone. It's nice because we can call people whenever we need to. That is also how I'll be calling home on Christmas. But, due to it being a cell phone and not wanting to use our precious minutes, I'll have to call after 7 pm. We are having a mission conference on Christmas Day so I'll be busy during the day any way. But, just so that you are aware, I will be calling sometime after 7:00 pm on Christmas Day. And, we only get 30-40 minutes. The First Presidency says so. I'm glad the basketball season is off to such a good start. Knowing that my sister is the star of the team is exciting. And, from the other emails I didn't get, I'm just assuming everyone is really busy doing their own missionary work that they couldn't find time to send me an email ;). Life is good and the work keeps moving forward. I love you all, or as they would say here, I love y'all! Joanna

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was great. Sister Chadwick and I were hoping for snow and imagining that the fog we were engulfed in the past couple of days was snow, but it is about 65 degrees today. It looks like there will be no snow. Thanksgiving was so good. People are so good to the missionaries! We ate two dinners and then had dessert later that evening. Of course, I ate way too much! The thing that was the most unique was that they eat cornbread dressing here and don't really do pies for dessert. However, there are some people from New York that live here so we got our fill of pie. I am in the process of collecting some good recipes to share with y'all.

This past week we truly saw the blessings that come from fasting and paying fast offerings. Last week we drained our funds for the month of December and we had two weeks left to go before we got more money. We were worried about what we would do especially with food and with toilet paper. All throughout last week, people kept giving us food-leftovers, dinner in their homes and dinners for us to take and cook for ourselves, etc. However, our need for toilet paper still hadn't been fulfilled. We didn't know what we would do! We kept devising ways to get toilet paper so we would last through this next week, but nothing was happening for us. The blessings of heaven were opened yesterday as a family who spends part of the year in Destin and the other part of the year in Ohio came though Andalusia and gave us the rest of their supplies that they wouldn't need anymore. What happened to be the majority of the stuff they gave us? Yes, toilet paper. The Lord really does keep his promises for paying tithing and fast offerings. This Church really is true!

The high school football team lost its playoff game. And Alabama lost to Auburn. However, the most glorious news came when we found out that BYU beat Utah again. We had a moment of rejoicing and then sang the fight song. Then we got back to work.

Thank you to everyone who sent letters this week. They always help motivate and pick up my spirits. I love you all! Love, Joanna

Dear Family and Friends,
Things in Andalusia are still going very well. Our new companion, Sister Mickelson is great. I don't understand why people dread trios. We love it! We can get so much more work done while we are in a trio.

The Lord really does bless His missionaries while they are doing His work. Even though we don't do a lot of tracting and contacting, we got four, possibly five, new investigators this week. And, they are sincere people. I feel great about all of them. And, the best part is they all came when we were visiting members or from member referrals. This work isn't just for the full-time missionaries. We get our best results from the members who invite their friends to learn more. I hope you are all taking the advice from General Conference. It was great to have those inspired messages about sharing the gospel. This work is true!

Well, a little more worldly news. Andalusia is in the third round of the football playoffs. Apparently they have a really good team. Next week is the big Alabama Auburn game. We'll see if we have any success next Saturday. We have two dinner appointments from Thanksgiving. I am excited. Oh, we also had Thanksgiving last week at the place where we do service on Fridays. They love us there and we love them. We are going to be going there on Wednesday this week since they will be closed on Friday. People have picked up on the fact that I am a yankee and apparently it is quite endearing. Two people this past week have called me something along the lines of their little yankee.

Well, I hope all is well with everyone. Thanks to everyone for their support and letters and emails. It makes the hard times easier to handle. I love you all!
Love, Joanna

Dear Family,
We don't have much time this week, so this will just be to tell you that things are good here. I'm excited for Sarah's call to the Peru Lima East mission. She goes in on my 6-month mark!

We had a pretty good week, even though it didn't feel like it during the week. We were able to get two of our investigators to set a baptism date! And, two of our three progressing investigators were at Sacrament meeting! It was great. I'm pretty sure I'm staying here in Andalusia. We can't get the transfer information yet, but I think we are getting a third sister. President told us that last week at Stake Conference.

I don't know if there is anything new. I've been learning how to work through disappointment as the non-member YW president told us she didn't want us to teach her the lessons. It was hard to hear that and to know what she is missing out on having the gospel in her life. We love her to pieces, but she just doesn't want to overcome her concerns.

Do you think you could send some piano music from the music binder. Each week we sing at a nursing home, so we need more music to sing.

I love you all and appreciate your prayers!
Love, Joanna

Dear Family,
Things are still good here in Andalusia. We had lots of meetings this past week so we were not in our area and couldn't get nearly as much as we wanted done. But, things are still going well. I love having meetings with other missionaries! There is such strength that can be gained from being around one another. I also love Pres. and Sis. Summerhays. They are great and I wish I could spend all my time working with them.

We are still working with our family of investigators. We got a little scared last night when the mom didn't greet us at the door like she had the past couple of times. Luckily, we were able to bring the Spirit and get her to hear the lesson. She really could tell that what we were teaching about the Plan of Salvation was true. Hopefully, she will keep praying to know that the Book of Mormon is true as well. We still aren't sure what to do with the part member family, but we are working on that. It is hard to know.

The work keeps on going. Nothing really exciting is happening. Oh, there is a new couple in our district and she is related to Scoresbys. It sure is a small world.

This Church is true! You can see it change people's lives. Even as we have been working with members, there is a change in them. We are gaining great inspiration as to help our branch grow. Keep praying for me because I am going to need it as we start working out our plan to find and invite others to this gospel. I love this work! Love, Joanna

Okay, I know I haven't been answering questions lately, but I keep forgetting. The weather switches between cool and warm about every three or four days. It is nice when the weather is cool, because I keep thinking that fall might be coming. We have seen some of the leaves change color, but things are still mostly green. They are in the middle of a drought. It doesn't really look like it, though.

Transfers are coming in a week and a half. There will be some changes, but I should be staying here. I'll tell you more about it next week when I learn more about what is happening.
I think Sarah will go to the Philippines or Taiwan. I will try and send more pictures next week. And, Melissa has a different email address since she got home from her mission, but I think you might have noticed that. Oh, because it does get a little cool, I might need some tights. I will let you know what I decide about that. I need to go email my mission president. I love you! Oh, I got the chocolate covered cinnamon bears and the the pictures from the wedding. They were both great!

I love you, again! Love, Joanna

Dear Family,

Things here in Andalusia are going great! I think this week I will start with Sunday and work my way back to last Monday. Yesterday we got to have our first Sunday in Primary and Young Women. It was a little rough. We do singing time in primary, which is tough because there are only two kids that really participate and sing. It was fun to sing primary songs again! Young Women was great. We taught about the Theme. The YW President is great. I really like her a lot. Oh, I took the fabulous wedding picture and people loved it. However, they did ask the old question: if Sarah was older than me :) People here are really excited for us to be here. We didn't quite realize that until after Testimony Meeting. After Church we went and had dinner with a member and then we met a less-active family. We don't know why they don't come to Church, but they are pretty set on not coming back. They were really friendly and told us to come back. We can help on their farm.

Saturday, we ventured out to the 'country'. There we learned a sad thing that is tearing this branch apart. There was an old Church built a long while ago which had a cemetery next to it where members used to be buried. About thirty years ago, they built the building we have now in town. The other building just sat in the country. A few years ago (I think about 7), they sold the old building. This caused a huge uproar and division between the people that live out by the old Church whose families did so much to get the Church. Most of the people who live out in that area have just stopped coming to Church because they are upset that it was sold. They are so bitter and can't forgive anyone. The saddest thing is that they still believe and know the Church is true, but because the man who sold it is active and goes to Church every Sunday, they refuse to go. Instead they go to the Baptist Church just up the road from the old Church building. It is like Thomas Marsh and the milk skimmings. How sad that they will give up all the blessings of the gospel and coming to Church just because their feelings were hurt years ago. We also had a great lesson that evening with our investigators about the Atonement. They still haven't come to Church because one is scared about making the decision to join. That is perfectly understandable. She wants to know for herself that this really is the true Church of Jesus Christ. We have a member that goes with us to those teaching appointments. She and her family are great! Friday, we did service serving lunch at an adult center. It was fun. We also went out into town to talk to people. It was your typical missionary day.Thursday we had our appointment fall through. It was disappointing, but it happens. Wednesday, we tried to meet some more less-active members and check up on some referrals. We also had Enrichment meeting and another lesson with our investigators. It was good as always. They are so eager to learn more. Tuesday, we had our district meeting. They are great! We said goodbye to a senior couple who are moving areas. They actually will only be a few miles from us and said they would see if we can get together for Thanksgiving. We also did some more service at a nursing home in Opp and ran into two members from Dothan, AL. One of them gave us two referrals to work on. And that brings us back to Monday. We chilled and then had dinner with a member family and met their neighbor who had a few discussions a while back when there were missionaries here before.

This week we were planning on having a district P-day but unfortunately it fell through. We were a little bummed because we live in the sticks and never get to see any other missionaries. But, we have new missionary orientation tomorrow, so we get to meet with missionaries and with President and Sister Summerhays. We are excited! I love President and Sister Summerhays. They are great! Then we get to have district meeting on Wednesday because three of the four companionships will be at new missionary orientation tomorrow and will be unable to go to the regularly scheduled district meeting. I'm excited. And, Wednesday is Halloween. We have an appointment with our YW president and family. I'm excited. It will be good to be with her.

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well with everyone. I was so excited to know that people are keeping me updated on their blogs. I feel like I am almost up to date on everyone's lives. People here are preparing for the Alabama-Auburn game. I am still deciding what side I want to join. We got a great vocabulary lesson yesterday day. I'm going to write a book so we can all practice when I get home. Be prepared for some good language:) Oh, here are some pictures. They are of the cemetery and the old Church.It is now part of a house. There are some more as well. I can't remember what ones I have sent you, but I hope you enjoy them! Have a great week! I love you all and am grateful for your support!

Love, Joanna

Dear Family,
This week was an adventure! Tuesday, we had Zone Conference. It was great. Pres. and Sis. Summerhays were there. I really like them. President is really determined to make the south rise again, this time in membership in the Church. He is working really hard to implement "The Better Way", having the members get more involved with the missionary work. They also really care about each one of us. We have two Elders in our Zone who are plagued with health problems. President Summerhays gave them special blessings during Zone Conference. The Spirit was so strong!
Wednesday was just the normal ho-hum until an appointment we had that evening to teach a family. One of the sons through a previous marriage is a less active member. As we went to met him, we got talking to his father. His father had invited us back for another lesson and we taught him the first lesson. We committed him to be baptized, but his "wife" wasn't very happy about having us there. When we called him the night before to make sure we were still on for Wednesday night, he said his "wife" didn't want us coming back. He wanted to hear another lesson, but didn't know if it would be a good idea. We told him to talk with her and then let us know Wednesday before we went over there. We heard nothing until we called him right before. She said she didn't want another lesson taught, but would be okay with us teaching her what the basic beliefs of the Church are and answering any questions. We took a sister from the Branch with us and headed over not knowing what to expect. Our investigator's brother and girlfriend were there as well so we ended up teaching the first lesson; since that is our basic beliefs to 5 people (they have another son who is 9). It was amazing. You could see the people change as we taught them and bore our testimonies about the gospel. The member was very helpful. She is a convert, so she could relate with their fears. Everyone accepted a Book of Mormon and we are going back this week. It was amazing to see the fear she had disappear as she just listened. She told us she had her doubts and originally didn't want us coming back to her house, but she told us she felt peaceful and not afraid about anything. As long as she holds onto those feelings, she will be fine. We are happy for them and hope things work out with them.
Thursday we tried teaching more lessons. One of them wouldn't listen to a word we said. She kept contradicting herself and saying how she didn't need anything that came after 33 AD. It definitely was not the most spiritual lesson ever. We keep praying that her heart will be softened and will understand that we have so much more that we can offer her. We also visited a media referral and had a good talk with him. He has invited us to come back this week and that he would try and have his brother there as well. It would be great if that happened.
Friday was when the real fun started. It rained all day Thursday and Thursday night and Friday morning, so things here were kind of soggy. Sister Chadwick and I have been working on a booth for the county fair that is going on this next week. We were working hard on it, and as we were out Friday afternoon, we decided that we would see some less active members who lived somewhat near us. They weren't home, and I started to navigate us home. I found a shortcut that would allow us to see a new area that we hadn't been to yet. Now, they have a lot of dirt roads here and it isn't the normal dirt. It is a sandy red dirt. As there are so many dirt roads, you can only imagine what things are like here. And they are within city limits, as well! With no clear differentiation between paved and dirt roads, we headed down this one particular road that just so happened to be dirt. We had no problem until we got far enough along to not be able to turn around. The dirt road was so muddy and unstable to drive on. We were just hoping that we could make it. We ended up running across a guy whose car had gone into the ditch and there was no way we could get around him. We couldn't turn around either so we backed all the way down the dirt road. He was kind and helped us so we wouldn't go in the ditch either, then we walked all the way back down the road in our skirts and dress shoes to help him get out of the ditch. It was a great experience! Mission life is great. I do feel that the Lord did want us to go down that road so we could meet him and help him get unstuck.
Saturday, we worked on our fair booth and tried to find less active members. We met a really sweet old guy at Wal-Mart. Some of our best conversations happen at Wal-Mart and we almost always leave feeling good about the time we spent there talking with people.
Sunday was Church. It is strange because we don't have any investigators who have come to Church yet, so we just go about regular old Sunday School and Relief Society. We did get a major wake-up call yesterday. We are now the Young Women and the primary counselors! There are only two kids in each who come, so it will be a struggle. The Primary President doesn't know what to do with the Primary program. One of the girls is 4 and the other is 7. The two young women are 12 and 13 so as we were talking last night trying to figure out what we can do to help them, we had a hard time remembering what it was like to be that old. Also, the Young Women President isn't even a member. She was just given a special assignment to work with the young women. It is great for us because we can work with her and hopefully help her understand that she needs to be baptized. We are also trying to help some of the members overcome their prejudices about how no missionary work can be done here in "the South".
That pretty much sums up my week. It is raining again. It has been nice to see rain so frequently. They are in a pretty severe drought. Sounds like life in the world seems to be going like it always has been. This week I got great letters from the family (okay, it was only Mom and Grandma this week, but I did get one from Emily the week before and an email from Ben and Sarah last week, too) and from my friends. It is great to feel your love and support!
I can see this work changing people's lives here. I know it is true. As we studied this morning, we talked about the Atonement and how perfect Heavenly Father's plan is. I'm so grateful I was raised knowing this. It has made my life so much better.
I love you all!
Joanna

Missionary thought for this month

I remembered that this next Sunday might be the missionary report so here is something you might be able to use. We taught the teenager Sunday school class. There is one young man who is 18 and preparing to go on his mission (he is still in high school). The rest were 14-15 year old boys. As we taught the lesson you could tell that the one who is preparing for his mission really wanted to learn and know all that he could so he could be prepared to serve the Lord. Shouldn't we all be like him? We all have been called to share the gospel, as we were reminded in conference last week, so shouldn't we all be preparing ourselves by studying the Lord's words? As I have spent time each day studying the scriptures I learn more and more things that will help me as I go out to teach. There is such power in the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. By knowing that it teaches about Christ and has answers to questions that people are asking we can help them come to know Christ. Chapter 5 in Preach my Gospel is amazing and I suggest everyone reads it so they know how to better use the Book of Mormon when sharing the gospel. I love you again! Joanna

Dear Family,
Things here in Andalusia get better and better every day. I am excited to see the work progress. The members are excited for us to be here and are ready to have us teach their friends.

This past week I felt more like a missionary. We went contacting and tracting and checked up on media referrals and taught lessons. It has been great. I have really seen how we can be strengthened to meet the goals we have set. We taught the first lesson to a man whose son is a member. We have some follow-up appointments this week. As we have met the active and less active members, it is amazing to see how they all agree and know that the things that we have taught them are true. If we could only work on getting those less active members to be active.

We had some fun this week. We went to get a feel for a little town in our area and got to go into a cotton field. I picked some cotton and also a pecan! I just picked it up off of the ground, but it was cool. I never really thought that pecan trees would be so prevalent, but they are. We have quite a few in our neighbor hood. Andalusia is not pronounced like it would be in Spanish. Imagine a southerner pronouncing it. It is great to hear that southern accent. I have not had tons of southern food, but I am sure it will be coming.

Things are going great. I have to write a letter to President Summerhays, so I should finish with this. I loved the letters and emails that I got this week. They had very good advice in them, and I thank you all for them. Thank you for your love and prayers. I can feel them for me everyday! I love you all!
Joanna

Dear Family,
Well, I am now in the mission field and doing missionary things. I will start from the beginning, which is from when I talked with Mom and Dad on Tuesday morning.
The flight to Atlanta was good, but long. All the missionaries, there were about 25, sat together in the back of the plane. One of the passengers, most likely a member, told us that he felt really safe having all of us missionaries on the plane with him and his family. The landing was rough, though. It made me a little nervous about flying into Tallahassee because I would be on a smaller plane, but everything was fine. We got to go outside to board the plane to Tallahassee! I have always enjoyed doing that. The flight to Tallahassee was shorter, thankfully, and I didn't sit next to any other missionaries. However, the man I did sit next too went right to sleep as soon as he sat down. I guess the elders who are in Tallahassee will have to find him and teach him the gospel. Once we got to the airport, we met President and Sister Summerhays and the APs, got our luggage and went to the mission home. Because Sister Carpenter and I were the only sisters, we got special privileges and rode with President and Sister Summerhays to the mission home in their car. It was nice to have that extra time to get to know them. They are very nice people. Sister Summerhays took us right up to our bedroom right when we got there and we got to take a nap until dinner. It was great, but I couldn't fall asleep in that short of time. We had dinner and then we started in with the new missionary training and interviews with President Summerhays. When I had my interview he told me that I would be going to Andalusia, Alabama and Sister Chadwick would be my new companion. I will have to admit, I was disappointed that I would be starting in Alabama. President Summerhays also informed me that Andalusia was an area where there hasn't been missionaries for over a year and only about 40-50 members out of 160+ attend each Sunday! What a way to start your mission! He said that he had confidence in me that I could handle it and that as long as I loved the people everything would be okay. He also told me that the Branch President, who is retired, had promised that if President Summerhays sent missionaries he would find investigators to teach.
Wednesday morning, we packed everything up and headed along I-10 to start dropping missionaries off at the transfer spots. There are three spots and then the missionaries go to their respective areas from those three spots. I met my companion Sis. Chadwick. She is great! I am so blessed to have such a great companion as my trainer. She is from Ririe, ID and goes to BYU. It is nice to have someone who knows what it is like to be at BYU. She actually lived in the condos across the street from Heather Heights. We get along well and have been able to learn from each other everyday. It will be a good companionship. After we met up, we loaded out car with our luggage and bikes and drove to Andalusia. We didn't know where we were going, but there was another companionship of sisters who are in the area next to us, so we followed them to their apartment and then on to our own little town. When we got to Andalusia, we got to meet up with the Branch President and set up the utilities and our rental agreement. We ran to the store to get a little bit of food and some cleaning supplies and began setting up what we could of our apartment. We had no furniture, but the Branch Presidency got us furniture and other things from an apartment that Elders in a different area had moved out of.
Thursday we still didn't know anything about members/investigators/referrals anything, so we continued to get the apartment set up and met with President Newton to discuss the branch and how to go about missionary work here. This area has started having wards and branches collect the same information about missionary work as we do and the pass it on up through stakes and area authorities until it reaches the Quorum of the Twelve. It is great to have the members involved in missionary work. It should help out greatly to find people and truly convert them to the gospel. After that we did more to get situated-got maps of Andalusia and Covington County and marked all members, found out where people who wanted referrals lived, etc. Friday we finally got out and started visiting people. It was hard because we didn't know exactly where to begin, but we got in the car and headed out. We met a very active family that night, which really lifted our spirits after we had found no one else.
Saturday we enjoyed conference. We watched it at the chapel. The chapel is very unusual. It is so tiny, even smaller than the Marysville building was! There is one central room with a couple of rooms and offices coming off of it. It is cute though and we know where all of the classrooms are after only being for a few hours. Conference was excellent! It is great to seeing continuing revelation in action as President Eyring was called to the First Presidency and Elder Cook was called into the Quorum of the Twelve. The talks Saturday were excellent as well. Everyone said that Conference was good as a missionary, but I never believed it. It was amazing to see that everything spoken about was related directly to the gospel that we are to preach to all the world. The afternoon session was amazing, and provided great stuff on missionary work. I hope all of you are doing your part to be missionaries, because I am doing all that I can! Member missionary work is one of the greatest things to help further the Lord's work. We visited more members Saturday evening.
Sunday we met with President Newton again to go over more missionary/member stuff. Conference was great again! Sunday morning there were more members and we got to meet some great families. We visited some more members and have started setting up appointments to meet with members to teach them lessons(and have dinner :) ), and help them get involved in missionary work. We also have been trying to see less-active members. That is where most of our work will be focusing right at the beginning, but we need to make sure we have that solid foundation to bring investigators into. What President Summerhays told me about love has really made a difference. Even though it isn't the strongest ward in the Church, the branch here in Andalusia has people that are trying to do their best to live the gospel and build the branch. I really admire them and love them for the effort they are putting into the work. Everyone here, member and non-member, is so nice and there isn't any reason to not love them.
There are a lot of older members here. I feel like I am in Mt. Vernon back in the day a long time ago. Heavenly Father must know that I have lived in this type of situation so I should be able to do me part to help build up the area. The town is really cute. They have the greatest homes here. Unfortunately, our apartment isn't on of the beautiful homes, but it is nice. The weather hasn't been unbearable, and it really hasn't been raining at all. They say they are in a drought, but it is a lot greener than Utah. My address here if 132 Captain's Quarters, Andalusia, AL. I can't remember my zip code. Sorry!
We have been able to go out contacting (meeting people where ever, like Wal-Mart, and then introducing ourselves and inviting them to listen to our message, etc), and it has been a good experience. I have really been forced to break out of my comfort zone and actually talk to people, but I imagine that this is a good thing. Heavenly Father has blessed me to be able to handle it and not have any problems. It is scary, but teaching the gospel has made it better.
Love, Joanna

Hi Family,
So, today is my last day here in the MTC. It seems crazy, like I just got here. Now all of a sudden I am leaving. I got your pictures and don't really like any of them. And, I don't care for the pic on my plaque. If you could find another one where I look good, could you change it? It is just a thought.
We fly out of Salt Lake City at 6:30 on Delta. It gets in at Atlanta at 12:05 or 12:30. Then we have about a two hour layover before we fly to Tallahassee, once again on Delta. I'm not really sure of the flight numbers. Maybe the one to Atlanta is 1793. It's a good guess. I think I am going to try to call home tomorrow between 5:30 and 6:00 your time. I figure you will be awake getting janet ready for school and seminary. I'll use my change. And, I can let you know what my flight numbers are so you can track them, Mom :)
Classes are good. We have our last class tonight. Elder Vaughn J Featherstone came to our Tuesday devotional tonight. It was really good. Last night's fireside was also really good. We listened to a mission department person. He spoke about our names and that we are representing our families and Christ. I'm grateful that I come from such a great family.
The temple was great this last time that we went. It is sad to think that I won't be able to go for 18 months. I will, however, remember how great it is to be in the temple.
It has been great teaching "investigators". It is a great experience teaching the gospel and bearing testimony about it. Even though everyone here knows the gospel, you can always share your testimony and maybe you will teach them something they didn't know.
I'm not sure what else to write. Things are the same everyday in the MTC. Oh, there is an elder in my branch who is from Fargo. He is really good friends with Aunt Becky and Uncle Todd's family. Garrett actually dropped him off here at the MTC. His last name is Brayton and he said his family has been there. Do you remember any Braytons?
I'm glad everything is going well with the fam. Congrats to Ben on passing boards! I'm glad you felt you did well on the LSAT, Preston. I am also happy to know that both the grand puppy and the grand kitty are doing well. They were both mentioned in letters from Shannon and Tracy.
I guess that will be all since I'll be calling home tomorrow. I am going to send some stuff for my scrapbook home today.
I love you all! Thanks for your love and support!
Joanna

Week 2

Dear Family,

Thanks for all the emails and letters! I was super surprised and impressed my district leader when I got 4 letters at once-one from each of my sisters and then from Mom. I really appreciate hearing what is going on outside of the MTC.

We get to email for half an hour on p-day. This might be a little shorter because I had to read all the emails.

We got our flight plans. We fly out on Tuesday the 2nd at 6:30 AM and go to Atlanta and then on to Tallahassee. We get to meet at the travel office at 3:00 that morning, so I'm sure everyone will be super cheerful. There will be 16 missionaries going to Tallahassee, so hopefully we will have the whole plane converted by the time we land. I received a postcard from some sisters in Mobile saying they were excited for me to come. I also received a letter from the Murrays and the newsletter from Sister Noble. Thanks to everyone for the letters. It is nice to feel loved by so many people.

Last Tuesday Elder Ballard spoke at the devotional. It was really good. He spoke about how we need to connect with the people we teach so that they can truly understand the message that we are sharing with them. It had a lot of great things that have helped me to teach better and relate more with those we teach.

We have gone to the TRC twice and taught the first lesson twice. Both times were incredible, and Sister Carpenter and I have really felt the spirit guide us in teaching the people there. We actually committed two to be baptized, but unfortunately it was just make believe. It was a really amazing experience to follow the Spirit to ask her to be baptized, though.

I have been working hard to be humble. I have seen how pride can really get in the way of the work, not just between the teacher and student, but also between teacher and teacher. I hope that I can really be humble so that I can have the Spirit tell me what to do.

My district is now the oldest district in our zone. That is what happens when your entire zone is English speaking. The new sisters are great! Three are from Utah and one is from Nebraska. They are going to Canada Toronto East and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They have been really easy to work with.

I'm happy things with the baby are going well. I guess having a big head will be alright. Hopefully, by the time I get home it will have grown into it's head :)

I have seen several friends from BYU here. One of the new elders was in my ward last summer a year ago. he is the one that kicked my foot when we were playing soccer. Remember that? I have also seen Elder Brereton (is that how you spell his name, Ben?), a Sister Putnam, who knows Ben and Shannon and the other BYU-I cousins, and Sarah's friend Brother Menasco watched me teach the other day. I hope he had good things to say about it.

I had a little bit of a cold, and two of the Elders have been sick-one has bronchitis and the other has pink-eye. I am trying to stay away from all real sickness as much as I can. This place in kind of like a big germ pool because you are stuck in classrooms with people all day. After next week I can at least get out more and enjoy the fresh air.

I'v heard about the BYU game. YEAH! I was way fully invested on Saturday wearing the DSORB and white dress.

The work keeps on going even if it is just converting ourselves and Sisters and Elders right now. Being in the MTC has been great. Hopefully next week I'll be able to email again. I am going to try to send pictures sometime as well. I love you all!

Joanna

Dear Family,
I get to start emailing herein the MTC! Isn't that wonderful? Mom, I sent this to both accounts just in case I got the Charter one wrong. Have you guys already received my letter letter? I hope so. I talked about my companion and getting settled. I won't spend too much time on that. SO,... Things here have been going very well. I was afraid that I would be very miserable, but it hasn't been bad at all! I have really enjoyed the experience I have been having. Classes are great! I have two really good teachers that really know what they are teaching us, and they have really helped us get in the mind set of being missionaries. Sarah, your apartment friend Sam is a teacher in my Zone. He teaches the district that came the week before mine. I have also seen Elizabeth Vernon and Rachel Blackmer, EMily and Preston.
My Branch President here got released on Sunday. Even though I had only known him since Wednesday, I felt that I got to know him very well and wish I could have continued to get to know him and serve under him the whole time I was here. The new Branch President is going to be a very good one. I was called as the Relief Society Coordinating Sister. It is pretty much the Relief Society President for the Branch. I get to make sure the sisters are happy, and that they are following the rules. It is kind of overwhelming to do that AND learn everything I need to learn, but it should be good. Right now, there are only me and my companion. We are getting four more sisters on Wednesday. My district has eight people in it. We are all going to Tallahassee. They are a good group of guys. The Branch presidency has asked Sis. Carpenter and I too look out for them and to not intimidate them. They are a lot of fun, so it has been good being with them. It is kind of strange to be around 19 year old boys all day. They sure act like it, but I have seen that even in the few days we have been here they have grown immensley. Hopefully, I have also grown that much as well.
I have really seen how the Lord has blessed me being here and my willingness to serve a mission. I think that He has made being here at the MTC a great experience so that I know He is happy with my decision to serve. I am grateful that I have come. I have also had some good practice at patience. It is hard to have to always be with a comp who doesn't have the same beliefs about being on time to meetings and keeping focused during study time. I kind of feel out of place because I haven't met anyone here who is a college graduate-especially from BYU. The time that I have had learning how to study somewhat effectively while I was at BYU really shows as I am ready to move on to different things while others are still trying to get through the begninning material. It is hard, but it will help me a lot. We had our temple day and it was good. It is different renting clothes, but we get them for free. I accidently put the dress on backwards. I thought all dresses were supposed to zip in the back, not in the front. The nice lady helped me put it on the right way-dumb zipper in the front.
Here a few things you might find interesting. They provide sheets. There were hangers in the closet. We get to do our laundry for free (unlike the good old dorms). We have an allowance each week of $8.00. The food is BYU food. Yep, the same stuff I made for the last two years! It is free though so I have eaten. I don't think Ihave gained any weight yet. Good. Hopefully I have lost some. I don't think I have gain You get one free haircut and style while you are here, so I guess it was kind of pointless to get my hair cut before I came! Oh well. We only have half an hour to get ready in the morning. That has been a huge adjustment. There really isn't enough time to do everything that you have to do, even if you do stuff the night before. Sisters don't always follow the clothing rules, but so far I haven't had much of a problem. Remember how we were going to make that other skirt? It would be great if I could get that and a jumper. It doesn't have to be while I am here in the MTC, but sometime during the next 18 months it could come in handy. Also, I feel I need more sweater vests. Almost everyone wears them all the time. I have yet to wear one though. And, I think I might invest in some trouser socks instead of knee-his. Wearing nylon fabric on my toes for 15 hours is kind of bothersome, but I can live until I can get some of my own. Thanks for the package, and the letters you have sent. I got them today. I was so excited! I get to do laundry later and then I think I will take a quick nap. I need to get some things ready for the new sisters, and I need to do some letter writing and some studying. Well, my time is almost over. You can email people this email address so they can email me. Also for posting, everything should be fine to post.
Love, Joanna

Dear Family,

I am writing my first letter from the MTC! Things aren't as bad as I thought they would be. Once I got going on all the paperwork, it felt like the same old stuff I've been doing. There really was nothing to be nervous about.

I met a sister and her family who are from Mobile, Alabama. She told my companion and I about it and about the Mission President. She said when she left it was 100 degrees and 90% humidity. Her father said if I was ever in their ward, he'd make sure to feed us dinner.

In the "say goodbye to your family" meeting, the father sitting next to me told me that even after 43 years the feeling of that meeting is still the same.

My companion, Sister Carpenter, is nice. She is 22 years old as well. She is from Mesa, Arizona and the youngest of 10 kids. She is also going to Tallahassee. We are the only two in the room which is extra nice. There is room for two companionships in each room and they provide sheets, blankets, and pillows. There were also hangers waiting in the closet.

I was just made Senior Companion. I hope I can be a good leader. I'm sure it will be a good experience for being a "shining star". I have also met the Branch Presidency. They are good.

I hope this makes it home before Sunday so you can find something to share for the missionary report. I didn't give the pass along card away. I had a seat to myself from Detroit to Salt Lake.

My time has run out for this letter. I love you all a lot!

Love, Joanna

Memphis

Last weekend, we made a trip down to Memphis to spend Labor Day weekend with Ben, Shannon, and Tiger Kitty. I think my tolerance for car trips is quickly declining because it seemed like forever before we finally reached our final destination.

Even though it was long, the drive down was pretty fun. Janet and I played gummy bear football, jammed out to the cool music while trying to block out Mom and Dad's music, and fought over who got to sleep on the console in the middle. We also got to stop at Cahokia, one of the things I remember from all my history classes. It was fun to actually see my college experience paying off in the 'real' world. We also drove past the St. Louis Arch which I didn't remember seeing the last time we were there. After driving late into Thursday night and a quick scenic detour through Memphis, we finally made it to Ben and Shannon's.

Friday we went downtown the Mud Island where they have a model replica of the Mississippi River. We traced the river through the southern United States and got to wade in the river. Once we were back in the car we drove past Graceland. That was good enough for all of us, but Janet and I did reminisce about Uncle Jesse and his love for the King. We enjoyed a good southern barbeque. The food was great, but after working inVeg Prep and smelling barbeque chicken on Wednesdays, I couldn't eat as much as I would have liked. We finished the night off with a visit to the temple.

Saturday we fully invested ourselves in BYU football. Watching the game from a tv sure was different than being in Lavell Edwards Stadium. I'm confident that the Cougars can keep up the winning while I'm gone. That night we took a dip in the Meadows Pool. It was great, especially since the airconditioning went out earlier that day. Shannon, Janet, and I spent several hours talking that night catching up and just have sister bonding time.

Sunday we went to church, where I was as old or older than quite a few of the relief society sisters who had children! I felt just a little uncomfortable, but I managed to survive. The rest of the day followed the Scoresby tradition-games, games, and more games. Karaoke Revolution was the hit of the day.

Monday we drove home. I gave my services by sleeping most of the way home, but was saddened to think that Joleen had to suffer through the Cubs' loss.

It was a great weekend and a good way to end my summer and time at home before I leave for the mission!

the first journeys

Since this blog is called "Joanna's Journey's", I think I'll talk about my recent adventures. August 15th, I left Provo to go home to Wausau, Wisconsin. It was a great adventure traveling across the United States once again. However, this time Preston got to join in on the party! It was a lovely adventure with all the usual excitement-an ice cream stop at Little America, almost running out of gas, the fight to make sure that at least one person was awake enough to drive, the never ending fields of corn and soybeans, turning 19,000 miles in Preston's car. It was nice to finally arrive at home after the 22 hour drive.

The other fun trip I've been on since then was a trip to Aunt MaryAnn and Uncle Jim's this past weekend (8/24-8/25). It was fun to once again make the weekend trip that we always enjoyed growing up in Ohio. This was my first time at their new home in Minnesota, but everything was the same as always. Good food and good fun! This trip also served another purpose than just hanging out with family. I went through the temple for the first time. It was a great experience, and I can't wait to go again. As a hint-that next time will be next weekend, when we go down to visit Ben and Shannon in Memphis. It will also be the next time I post on this blog. How convenient!

Here it goes...

Well, here is my weblog. I don't think I'll be writing too much between now and when I leave for my mission. But, you never know. Maybe something super-dee-duperly exciting will happen between now and then. We'll just have to wait and see.