The Utah Salt Lake City Mission!
It was a total surprise. I did not expect to go to Utah. But a few days later I got to meet my mission president on a Zoom session he did and I fell in love with my new mission. It covers the airport, Temple Square (but obvi that's it's own mission), Murray, Holladay, Park City, and the southwestern corner of Wyoming. It's an incredibly diverse mission. It's got 4 official languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese and Tongan as well as a bunch of Language programs, like South Sudanese, Chinese, Korean, Swahili, and Burmese. It's so cool. I was ecstatic to find out I had been assigned to the only Portuguese area in the mission. My mission president called me up one day when I was home to tell me that AND that I'll be training a Sister who was serving in Brazil!! I was so so happy.
I got to the mission on Tuesday and we spent the day in driving and phone trainings. Most of which I had already done before coming. I got to travel with Brynn (Sister Almond) from my stake which was fun! A group of 47 missionaries arrived with me on Tuesday but because of COVID, we had to be kept separate so I didn't see most of them. I was in a group of 6 sisters, 4 who were reassigned, and 2 who were just getting out to the field (this was their original assignment). We spent the day with 2 Sister leaders who were just the sweetest and I love so much. We all spent the night at their apt so it was blast. We shared lots of mission stories because our experiences have all been so unique. Brynn was in the Philippines, S. Uda was in Argentina, and S. Brown did MTC online so it was all super cool to hear about.
On Wednesday we got to our area. I'm in the Murray Zone, in the Winder Stake, in Winder 17th ward. The area had been closed for about 2 months because the elders who were here got sent home and transferred. What's it like opening an area while training in a mission you just got to?? It's a good time, that's all I'm gonna say. There's a lot of stuff we had to catch up on, like being in a car mission, and using the Area Book App. Plus, this mission has a lot of extra rules because we're surrounded by members and literally the prophet and apostles so we've gotta be on our best behavior 24/7. We basically made a list of all our questions and would ask our STLs (sister training leaders) and district leader. We had a lot to learn but I think we're doing a pretty good job.
My companion is Sister Davidson from Sandpoint, Idaho. She was in the São Paulo Interlagos Mission for 3 months (or 1 transfer + MTC). She is awesome and I love her so much. She went to Utah State before the mission and ran there. We've been running every morning (she kicks my butt) but we have a super pretty park near our house so I love it. She's super on top of things and her Portuguese is amazing. It's so fun figuring everything out with her.
Our area is amazing. The ward is HUGE, like 500 members. The members are AWESOME. They give referrals left and right and are the sweetest. When we arrived, we called and met the bishop, ward mission leader and RS president. And like 20 members texted us, welcoming us, saying how excited they are to have sisters (bc sisters are just better), and offering to help. They're incredible.
We exercise for an hour in the morning and have 2 hours of "outside time" aside from that where we can walk or just sit outside. We do everything missionary-work-related through our phone just from our apartment. Having smart phones is the best and makes things so much easier. Also, the area book app is like my favorite thing ever. I don't know how I survived having a paper one. Also, we have a car because our "area" literally covers anyone who speaks Portuguese in the mission. Or we can even go outside the mission if we get permission. It's wild.
We've been getting in touch with referrals from members and had some awesome lessons this week. On Wednesday, we met Mauricio, who's from Recife and is an exchange student here. His host family are members and he's been meeting with the missionaries. He is AWESOME. He really wants to get baptized, but can't as part of the exchange program rules, so he will be in June when he goes back. He even wants to serve a mission!! Then, we've got Michael, and like most of his friends are members and returned missionaries. He's been to church a few times and liked it, but still has some doubts. We had a super awesome lesson with him today about recognizing the Spirit and how we can receive answers to our questions. He's super open and TOTALLY felt the spirit in the lesson. When he prayed at the end, he thanked God for sending us to help him open his "olhos espirituais" (spiritual eyes). Guys, it's the best.
We've had little miracles each day and it makes me so happy. I'm glad to be back in the swing of things. I'm so glad to be teaching again. That's what I missed most about the mission. I'm excited for what the future holds. I don't know how much longer until we'll return to normal proselyting. I don't know when or if I'll return to Brazil. But I do know that, for now, I'm supposed to be here and that there is a purpose for me here and there are people for me to find here.
Here are some pictures of us with our car, in front of our apartment, is having some outside time at the church, and a fun hike we went on today with 2 sisters in our district. S. Spencer is from Gilbert, AZ and S. Tupou is from Tonga.
Beijos,
Sister Dobbs
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