1st Email from Indiana

{Ayrika's sister Alyse is posting her letters on her blog while she is gone.}

October 15th, 2013

Well hello everybody! 

Sorry that I wasn't able to email yesterday. Apparently the library was closed because of Columbus Day. Who even celebrates that?! Haha. I was pretty sad we weren't going to be able to email, but we had a little bit of time today, so we took a second to email! Thank goodness.

There is so much to say! So much has happened in the last little while! My stay at the MTC was pretty great! My teachers were awesome, and I did learn a lot. Conference was great! I think that was the first time I stayed awake for every session! Sitting in really uncomfortable chairs seems to do the trick. ;) I think they do that on purpose! On Sunday night, we got to see Vocal Point for our devotional! They were sooo good! It was a nice way to end our stay there. 

On Tuesday morning we had to get up super early to clean and get everything packed and ready to go for our flight. I think I got like 2 hours of sleep that night. Not enough at all! Our flight was supposed to leave SLC airport around like 8:30 or so, but through a series of unfortunate events, we left really late for our flight to Colorado, and almost missed our connecting flight to Indiana! It was seriously a blessing that we made it. When we touched down in Indy, President Cleveland and his wife were there to greet us! They are the nicest people ever. We drove to the Mission Home which is in Carmel (yes, you do say it like the candy) and we ate dinner and had interviews. The Elders slept downstairs on mattresses, and the sisters slept upstairs in the bedrooms on the nice comfy beds! We are so spoiled. :) The next morning we had breakfast, and then we went to the transfers meeting where we all met our trainers! They had us sit up on the stage, and called us down one by one, and guess who was last? Me! Haha I was so nervous to find out who my trainer would be. But she is so AWESOME! Her name is Sister Niemann (knee-man) and she is from Richfield, Utah. We are so much alike, it's really crazy. We get along really well, and she is such a good trainer. She is very patient with me, and that has been super helpful, because I am not very patient with myself. 

Our area is called Terre Haute. They call it 'The City of 7 Smells' and I figured out why very quickly. Ha. It smells awful here like 24/7. We are campus missionaries on ISU campus! It is a really small campus, which can make it tough, because we see like the same people every day. This area is new for sisters! It was only opened 6 weeks ago, so the work is moving pretty slowly at this point. We talk to a lot of people and set up a lot of appointments, but they cancel on us all of the time. It's really frustrating when that happens. I want to be a better teacher, but it's hard to learn how to do that when we can't teach very often! Hopefully things will get better soon. :)

There are 4 Elders in our district, and they are all pretty cool! Elder Pendlton, Elder Rhoton, Elder Smith, and Elder Greenberg! Apparently before I got here, the district didn't get along very well, but since I've been here we have had a lot of good times, and we all are getting along. They were telling me that it has been such a difference, so I'm glad that I could help that happen, even though I don't know how I did!

This is seriously the hardest thing I have ever done. I didn't realize how crazy mission life is. I don't really like waking up early, and it's kinda weird being with someone all of the time, but I am sure that I will learn to love it as the time goes on. I am super grateful for all of your support, and for all of your prayers. If it wasn't for you all, I wouldn't be out here. 

Keep moving forward! Heavenly Father loves you!

Love, Sister Hales