Dear Familia,
Greetings
from Auburn. This place is BEAUTIFUL! I love it here already. Sister Elliott is
an incredible companion and I love her to death. She reminds me a bit of Alicia
at times but then at others...she is completely different. She likes to dance,
and sing, play piano, and tell me I sing off key... What does a "key"
even mean? Haha. We get
along great and have been moving the work forward at an incredible speed. We
don't have any investigators. But have met some incredible people this week.
Sister Rupp
and I waited as long as we possibly could to show up at the mission office on
Tuesday to transfer companions. After I had said goodbye to her and pulled away
with Sister Elliott, I just kept wondering if I could really do this. If I
could really leave the people I have come to love and still be able to connect
with the people there in Auburn. Sister Elliott and I went straight to our
dinner appointment and on our way, we passed this one spot at the top of the
hill. Everything in Auburn is a hill. There is no flat land. There are TONS of
trees and breath taking scenary. I remembered this particular spot very
clearly. Exactly a year ago I had been on exchanges with Sister Carter and she
had pulled over at the top of this hill so that I could take a picture. I
didn't remember it until this very moment... but when I stood at the top of
that hill with Sister Carter, I thought to myself, "I'm going to serve
here." Later that night I looked back in my journal and I had written that
same thing down. I hadn't thought about that at all but I just felt like
everything was going to be okay. I know this is where I am supposed to be. I
still remember sitting in church with Cyd's family the Sunday before going into
the MTC and the closing hymn was, "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go."
The same stands true. I will go wherever it is He would have me go.
I know we
don't need that kind of "proof" to know that things are right. But I
feel like Heavenly Father has really blessed me with several "reminders"
that he is aware of me and wants me to feel of His love. That very same night I
was looking through the area book and found a name that the Bishop had JUST
given them the week before to go contact. It was a move-in from Loomis. Her
name was Sally High. She was a woman I was teaching in Loomis and our
investigator, Rhonda, used to go
and do service for her once a week. We went to visit Sister High and she told
us that Rhonda still comes to see her once a month! Then... as if that wasn't
enough... the very next day we went to a members home and something about her
voice was so familiar to me. I couldn't put my finger on it until I finally
asked and she is the sister to Lisa Ellis. Lisa was one of my FAVORITE people
from Loomis. She hasn't been to church since she was about 11 or 12. I always
felt such a close
connection with her. The day before I left Loomis she said a prayer and the
spirit was so strong. You could tell that she felt of His love for her. And
THEN if that wasn't enough... on Sunday at church there was a young couple with
a baby, Brother and Sister Madsen who were giving a talk. She looked SO
familiar to me and she later approached me. We were in the same ward down in
Tucson! Small world!
This change has been hard, but the period of time we have
to serve the
Lord with everything we have is so limited and I don't want to waste a single
second. There are... a lot of changes that need to be made here? So poor Sister
Elliott is newer to the mission and I think I am wearing her out a little bit.
But she is a trooper and I am so thankful for how diligent and willing to work
she is. When I first got here I was asking questions about the area and the
people and her response to one of my questions was, "Yeah... your going to
find that here in Auburn, we don't really teach. We more just visit and try to
spread a little good." A piece of my sunk in my stomach. There are
soooooooo many things that can be done here. We can do whatever the Lord asks
us to. The next day we had a few spare minutes before our Harvest Festival at
the church. We were just going to wait there but decided to go knock some doors
when we met Susan. Susan is friends with a member of the church who is... not
so active. When we got there she almost
shut the door in our face until her dog came running out to greet us. We got to
talking and eventually we were inside her house teaching the first lesson. Her
love for the Savior and her honest desire to want to follow Him was so
refreshing. She said that she has always thought of her body as a "temple"
and it didn't make sense that people would cuss, or drink or spend their free
time damaging themselves. She said she has always felt this way but has never
felt like she
could "fit in" anywhere. When we got out of that lesson Sister
Elliott looked at me with big eyes and an open jaw and said, "I haven't
taught like that since the MTC!" I had to giggle a little bit to myself.
We always undercut ourselves with low goals and expectations. I love this talk
called "O ye that embark." The Lord really does help us do more if we
are ready to do it. I love it here in Auburn and am so happy to have the
greatest family in the world! Keep us in your prayers while we find!
Love You,
Sister Mitchell
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