Our Friendly Neighborhood district leader!

Hello everyone! 

It's been another wonderful week here in State College, Pennsylvania! 

We certainly got a lot done, that's for sure, haha. We had transfers this week which was super duper wonderful! I spent the day with Sister Draper while she waited to meet her new companion. I got to lead out for that whole day and it was so good for me. Leading out basically means that I took charge for the day. Scheduled where we went, how we would get there, and other things. It was super great! Sister Draper is so sweet and I love her a lot. 

I got to see Sister Hill, Sister Willes, Sister Peterson, and Sister Green this transfer! Sister Green is in my district now I will get to see her a whole lot more often and I am so pumped! I still have yet to see my sweet MTC companion Sister Skinner, but the day will come. It will indeed!

Also, Oregon has failed me when it comes to pumping gas.. Jessica made me pump gas in her car this week because she thought it would be hilarious. Well, it most definitely was. I am super pathetic, haha! 

We had our last district meeting of the transfer with Elder Wang as our district leader on Wednesday. Elder Wang wanted to have a bit of a party so he asked us all to bring food for lunch AND to dress up. Like, cosplay? Yes, like cosplay. 

So, Sister Cutler and I did what is called, "Disney bounding." Basically, we dressed up a like Elsa and Rapunzel (casually and in a mission appropriate way) and took pictures. 

Elder Wang had another plan though. He wanted to go all out. So, he dressed up In a full on Spiderman suit. YUP. He brought his costume with him out on his mission! He wore it underneath his missionary attire, but after the meeting was over, he took his mission attire off and BECAME Spiderman. We got some great pictures, I'll make sure to attach one. 

I've learned a lot this week. 

I think often we set a pretty high bar for ourselves, both as missionaries and as children of God. I found this week that I was slipping into old habits of expecting so much of myself that I simply cannot EVER succeed. When the bar is too high, you'll never reach it. Therefore, in my mind, I failed a lot this week. 

It's important to remember that we are not called because we are qualified. We become qualified through our callings. If God only called the qualified to complete his tasks, the unqualified would never learn, grow, or experience the opposition necessary to bring us joy. 

So, my weekly goal is to rejoice when I fail. To be proud of my insecurities. I have a lot of them, but if I dwell on all that I lack, I will never be effective. We should think God every day that he gives us weaknesses. 

Ether 12:27 is a popular verse in the Book of Mormon, and for good reason. We are given weakness for specific purposes. 

May we be humble and accepting of the refining that is taking place when we make mistakes. 

I love you all so very much. 

Talk to you next week! (Thanks for the love and the emails!)

Sister Westover 

10 Vairo Blvd #32B

State College, PA 16803

 

The Good, The Bad and the Spicy

Okay so... 

I already composed a really detailed weekly email for all of you and somehow it deleted I think. I hit send, double checked that it did send, and now it is nowhere to be found. So, if it did send. Great!

Otherwise, here is a short concise version because I'm lazy..

Happy Monday!!

We had a wonderful week this week. So many amazing things happened and we are so blessed to be here in this area at this time! Missionary work isn't easy at all, but there were so many moments this week that makes it all worth it. 

One of our investigators is getting baptized!! We are so so excited for her! 

We also had our branch activity this saturday! 

 We have been planning this event for over a month now and as missionaries, we really wanted to get as many investigators there as possible. 

Our event was called, "The battle at Cumorah, " haha. It was a series of competitions and games split between two different teams.  The Sisters had a team, and the Elders had a team as well. We had so many awesome activities. 

We got so many phone calls this morning from members that had to cancel on us and couldn't come. The YSA branch is super tiny anyways so if too many people said they couldn't make it, no one was going to be there. Almost all of our investigators told us they couldn't come which was really worrisome. After having put in so much effort and time into this project, it would be really difficult if the turnout wasn't very good. 

We got there and it was a really small group. It was a little disappointing at first but, we started to play the games and everyone had a blast. The games were hilarious. We played a game called Egg roulette ( taking turns smashing hard boiled eggs on your opponents head until one person smashes the only egg that isn't hard boiled, LOL ), Wiggle worm racing ( inching across a field being encased in a sleeping bag, So funny!), Balloon hugging relay ( popping a certain number of balloons with your teammates by hugging people with the Ballon in between you ), Spicy pepper eating contest (Elder Lu, Elder Wang, Ethan, and Christine volunteered. Every participant was in tears by the end of this one. The peppers were so hot they were all sobbing hysterically...like, rolling around on the ground. It was SOOO funny.  The last game was finding a quarter in a pie tin filled with whipped cream using only your face ( This one is self explanatory. I was nominated for this one, simply because I am the recipient of the quarter curse and the whole branch knows it. As I was doing this one, Jessica kept adding quarters to my pie tin! What a mess it was. Got some good pictures though, haha)

It was a really wonderful evening. We had so much fun!

I know this is a short email, but again, I already typed one up and I really want to take a nap, HAHA. Napping on a mission?? Who does that? 

.. I do. 

I love you all so very very much!

Send me emails! I love hearing from you!

The gospel Is true brothers and Sisters. I LOVE my savior so much. God is so good to all of us. What miracles have you seen today?

Sister Westover 

Never leave your apartment unlocked....

Hi everyone! It's hot hot hot here in State College, but we are somehow still alive! Seriously, humidity is not my thing. 90 degrees outside with 100% humidity is really just not a great combo. BUT, our sunburns will surely heal. And then we will get new sunburns. 

This week has been crazy!!!! 

First of all, I managed to get a sty in my eyelid. OOUCHHHHH. It's a whole lot better now, but for a while there I was walking around blind! I also looked like I had been punched in the face. My eyelid was so swollen. So so fun.

 

Sister Cutler and I went and exercised one morning and we always leave our apartment unlocked for those short 25 minutes and, Jessica, who always comes to work out with us, wasn't there today. She texted us and told us she was going to the temple, but when we got back to the apartment, there were quarters EVERYWHERE. The curse rages on!!! 

She put 10 dollars worth of quarters in our apartment and we have only found 7.25 so far. There were quarters in the shower, the fridge, in my dress pockets, in my bed, pillowcase, scriptures, and in my shoes. we are still finding quarters everywhere. I'm truly amazed. 

This week, we experienced a pretty amazing miracle! Sister Cutler knew more about it because she was the one who could see, so I will include her journal excerpt with her permission. So much fun! 

She says, "We had a lesson scheduled with an investigator named Chris who lives in an apartment complex down the street from ours, but he wasn't responding to our texts or calls, so we decided to walk over anyway and pray we find him. Before we left, I was filling my bag with copies of the Book of Mormon. I felt like I should take the last copy of El Libro de Mormón in our apartment that I had miraculously noticed half hidden on the bottom shelf of one of the bookshelves in our study room earlier that morning. I thought that idea was odd since-- if I was going to bring something besides English--it would make more sense to take a Chinese Book of Mormon, but I grabbed it anyway. 

We prayed we would be led to find him and headed out! Poor Sister Westover had a sty on her eyelid and couldn't see anything because it hurt to open her eyes. She was wearing sunglasses so it wouldn't look too weird, and I led the way (only once I forgot to warn her about a low hanging branch, haha. Other than that it was fine). When we reached the complex, I was hoping and praying Heavenly Father would lead me, even though I couldn't feel anything. I remembered an experience my friend I met in the branch who is now at BYU told me about her mission. She'd been led to a house with someone who was just waiting for the missionaries, but she felt like she had been wandering completely aimlessly the whole time! I trusted that was what would happen to me.

We had the hope he would be out walking his dog, so I decided to look for big fields (even though he chose his apartment before he got his dog, so that didn't really indiate anything). I saw one field, and thought, "Perfect!" Then the words of our wise prophet came into my head, that "inspiration is based off of good information," which made me pause and look around, where I saw a better looking field. Both sides of the field had dog bag dispensers (another thing I decided would be an indicator), but one side was crowded by a tennis court, so I chose the other side.

We got to the bag dispenser and looked at all the apartments surrounding the field. I had a good feeling about the biggest one right in front of me, but I didn't know if that was too obvious. I asked Sister Westover if she had any good feelings about any of the apartment buildings. Just now as I write this again, her predicament reminds me of the (my favorite) part in "Rogue One" when the blind guy responds to having a bag put over his head, "Are you kidding me? I'm blind!" Since she couldn't see anything, I decided yes, let's just go to the big one in the center because, "Why not?" We'll just knock some doors either way.

On the first floor, we knocked on a door and no one answered. We walked away, and Sister Westover heard the door open! She must have had a heightened sense of hearing compensating for her lack of sight, I'm sure. We hopped back around the corner and talked to the student who opened the door to get the card after we left. He wasn't interested, but he was nice. We went across to his neighbor, and a lady from Venezuela who was only there for 5 days answered! 

I really love the question, ¿Habla español?

As I was giving her el Libro de Mormón I felt prompted to bring, wouldn't you know it, Chris walked down the stairs with his dog to take him on a walk! We were able to meet with him after all. :) He said he was surprised to see us but half expected it to happen somehow, haha."

Such an amazing miracle!! During the lesson, it was really awkward because I couldn't look Chris in the eyes and I didn't want to be rude and leave my sunglasses on! But also, I couldn't take them off because one, I couldn't see, and two, I looked gross and very contagious! I just very quickly explained and he hadn't even noticed, haha. Go figure. 

Otherwise, this week was pretty normal! I love the gospel so very much. There were a lot of really funny things that happened this week and Sister Cutler did a really good job of documenting them so I will again, copy and paste her notes, haha. Glad she wrote them down. 

FUNNY THINGS FROM SISTER CUTLER 

Sister Westover wasn't holding a Book of Mormon at forums because we didn't want to contaminate it with her eye. Elder Lu noticed her empty hands.

"What are you doing? Sister Cutler, tell your trainee to pick up a Book of Mormon! (back to Sis W) I'm not paying you to watch!"

The brother who drives one of the busses drove by us at forums. He honked and yelled out his window, "FIND A JOB!"

Zone Leader giving a training: "It would be pretty discouraging to be cast into prison as a missionary! Elder Lu could probably handle it." 

Elder Lu: "Yeah, well, that's life."

Elder Lu giving a training: "List five things you are grateful for, like my mother, my mother, my mother. My mother. . .and my mother."

Sister Westover wants to learn Chinese, and Elder Lu was showing her something and she asked if it was like the Alphabet. He said, "Yeah, you use it to kill the white person accent."

Our branch mission leader borrowed his pen, which is blue but writes black. He was confused and asked Elder Lu why it did that and without missing a beat Elder Lu goes, 

"Because I am a liar!"

He also has been calling me a jellyfish because they don't have brains. "Golden haired... jelly fish...95% water..."

Our Brazilian mission leader tried to make it better by reminding me that jellyfish are very graceful and they create their own light! Sister Westover contributed that they're painful to be around, hahaha.

Elder Wang reminded me that the first characteristic of charity is that charity "suffereth long". "So you're on your way, Sister Cutler!"

Because we sometimes have funny moments that don't involve Elder Lu:

Wondering about the reccomended lifespan of a toothbrush, I asked Sister Westover,

"How long should you use a toothbrush for?"

Her response: "Well, I heard from someone who thinks they know that you should use it for 2 minutes."

". . .What??"

Clearly there was a misinterpretation of the question asked, hahaha.

"I thought I realized something, but I didn't." --Sister Westover

Sis W: Question for you.

Sis Me: Sure!

Sis W: Are your eyes connected to the rest of your face?

Sis Me: . . .

Sis Me: What??

Sis W: Wait--that's not how I meant to ask it!

Brothers and Sisters, I love you!!! I know that God lives and loves you so much. 

I know that this work is so important and I know that the Book of Mormon is true. 

Sister Westover 

Houston, We have a problem!

Hi everyone! This email is gonna be short, time is very very limited today. Yesterday at church, my eye started to get really irritated and swollen and now, we are headed to the doctor because the mission nurse thinks it's a sty. It hurts!!!! But, thank goodness for modern medicine, haha.

This week was Insane! I had my first zone conference this week! It was so amazing and I saw Sister Green!!!!! Now I just need to see my MTC companion, Sister Skinner.

We saw lots of miracles this week!

I love being a missionary. This week was really hard for different reasons, but I'm grateful for those experiences. I think this week, it finally feels like home here.

Oh! I ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes on Friday!! I was so proud of myself.

We needed to call the Elders for something this week and Elder Lu said, "Next time you have a problem, call me Houston." Will do Elder Lu. Will do. 

We were about to go to forums on Tuesday when we got a text from President Bednar telling the State College area to stay inside. There was a series of severe thunder storms rolling through and we were to get to shelter and stay there immediately. We were at the branch building and it was clear, hot, and humid outside. Not 20 minutes later were we experiencing crazy winds, lightning, and sheets of rain. The power in the building kept coming on and going out. SO FUN!

The English class sign was destroyed by the storm!

Well, I gotta go get my eye checked. Talk to you next week!

Oh, congratulations to my bestest friend in the world, Kayla Lightheart! She's getting married to the marvelous Garett Poncho this Saturday and I couldn't be happier for both of them. Love you!

Free food from a really nice lady!

Mother's day, exchanges and the curse of the quarter

Hi everyone! 

It has been a splendid week here in State College, Pennsylvania! I hope you are all doing well and have had a fantastic week! 

This week I am just going to include excerpts from my journal because I don't really wanna write it all down again to be honest, haha. But, I still wanted to include the amazing things that happened this week! Honestly, this wee was filled with a lot of laughter and a lot of crying so it's been really good. 

Here it goes! Love you all so very much! 

EXCHANGES:

Exchanges were so much fun. I got to go to Lock Haven for 24 hours with Sister Anderson! Sister Anderson is the Sister that trained Sister Green (MTC) when she first made it out to the mission field. She was so sweet and so in tune with the spirit! Love her so much. She and I were able to talk a lot about the things that were difficult as missionaries and it helped me to feel more confident and ready to do this. I didn't realize how badly I needed it, haha. Lock Haven Is a marvelous area. Seriously, it is simply stunning. I loved being there and couldn't believe this little town could be such a wonderful place. I miss it already!

After exchanges, Sister Cutler, Sister Anderson, Sister Smoot, and myself went to a 50's style diner called, "Baby's" to close the exchange. We talked about our goals, what we learned, and what our companions did really well. It was great to just laugh and eat burgers! I have only had salad wraps and asian food since I have been here so eating a burger was amazing

THE CURSE OF THE QUARTER:

After our STL's left, Sister Cutler and I went to a service project called, "Trash to treasure." It"s an organization that takes anything that college students dont want or need anymore after the term is over. They then organize it all and donate it to people that are less fortunate and need essential items. Our branch was in charge of folding and sorting comforters, blankets, sheets, towels, and pillowcases.

At one point, I found a quarter in one of the bins and tried to give it away saying it was lucky. Elder Lu refused to take it which was annoying. He kept saying, "Just because I'm asian doesn't mean I'm poor..." He is so funny, haha. But then nobody would take it from me! I kept trying to give it to my companion or a recent convert, Christine,  but then it became a game. It started showing up near me EVERYWHERE. In the pillowcases, on the table,  in my messenger bag, etc. At one point, Christine snuck up on me and put it down the back of my shirt! Honestly, I wasn't able to find it until the next morning when I was taking a shower!!! What the heck!!

Elder Lu and I were talking while folding and he was struggling to fold the fitted sheets so he started to give all of them to me. I wasn't good at it either and he was just being lazy. Well, it turned into a huge game where everyone in the branch gave me the fitted sheets. EVERYONE threw fitted sheets at me! Sister Cutler managed to land one of them on my head so I threw it back at her and we became a tangled mess, haha.

Christine took so many pictures of us goofing off and I'm pretty sure she sent all of them to my Mom.

Christine is awesome. She stalks the missionaries and takes ridiculous photos of us and sends them to our Mom's and posts them on facebook. She is the best, I love her.

The theme of the evening was, " I didn't choose the fitted sheet life. The fitted sheet life chose me."

PRESIDENT BEDNAR GETS ME:

Today was quite the day.  We had district meeting today which was great because the Bednar's came and spent one on one time with our tiny little district. It was super amazing. We each got to have an interview with President as well which was super amazing. This was my first interview with him ever because I flew into the mission at midnight and we skipped the first interview in order to get some much needed rest.

I told President Bednar about everything and how I was really feeling. It was really good for me to just let it all out. He was totally understanding and helped me to feel as though I wasn't the only one experiencing such intense stress and emotion. He also gave me great advice about my testimony. He said that I am promised to never fall away from what I know as long I consistently study in the Book of Mormon every day. Not just any of the scriptures, the Book of Mormon. I realized that I had been testifying of the Book of Mormon all day long, but during my personal studies, I haven't really taken the time to read and study it for my own benefit. I am always studying for the lessons we would be teaching investigators, which is great, but the Book of Mormon is for everyone. Not just a tool to be used in preaching the gospel, but a tool to be applied. 

President Bednar is just the coolest. 

THE RETURN OF THE QUARTER:

The curse has returned!!! After our service project on Tuesday night, Sister Cutler has been hiding quarters EVERYWHERE.  Yesterday, during personal study, she hid a quarter in my Preach my gospel. When I had finished praying, I picked it up and it was like a quarter fell out of the sky. I was amazed that this quarter was following me! Today, while we were packing a lunch, I found the quarter sitting on top of the Tupperware filled with rice. I turned it Sister Cutler and told her that I was truly amazed.

This morning, I was getting ready to take a shower and had turned the water on and everything, right? I pull back the curtain and step into the shower to see a FROG in the middle of the shower. I was like a deer caught in the headlights. I was paralyzed and didn't dare to  even move. I was so freaked out by it that I sat and stared at it for three minutes. I'm not even fully into the shower at this point, I just have one foot in.
I slowly move my foot out and take deep breaths. I really didn't want it to jump out at me or to move, plus it was giant.

Then I thought, wait.. What if it is fake?? There is a member of our branch who is notorious for pranking the sister missionaries and that was my first thought. How on earth did she get in here?? Well, I then noticed that there was a direct stream of water from the shower pelting it and it wasn't moving still... Also it wasn't breathing.. I turned the water off and it still didn't even flinch. Okay, Its gotta be fake right? Then I thought, well wait a minute. Aren't there frogs that can be frozen and don't have to breathe but as soon as the spring thaws them they keep living like normal? What if frogs just don't always breathe?

I had so many conflicting thoughts and there was NO WAY that I was going to touch it to find out.

I pulled the shower curtain around me for protection and I grabbed the toilet scrubber and slowly inched it close to the unknown amphibian.. It slid across the slick floor. It was clearly plastic and a QUARTER SLID OUT FROM UNDERNEATH IT.

"You're the worst!" 

She was laughing so hard.

Anyways. I'm paranoid about frogs now.

QUARTERS KEEP COMING: 

We had Correlation, then university meeting, then we went to lunch at a waffle place with Christine. She is a nut. She and Sister Cutler were secretly passing quarters under the table and across the table underneath syrup bottles so Sister Cutler could hide them in places I would see them. I don't know how she did it, but we were later doing companionship Study and we knelt do close with a prayer, and when I got back up, there was a quarter sitting right on top of my tablet. When?????

This evening I set my messenger bag on my bed and a quarter slid out of the side pocket. It freaks me out every time I see a quarter, because every time I look up at her, she has this mischievous grin. It's terrifying! I might have start hiding pennies or something for her to find.

This evening we did weekly planning which was really good. We made some awesome goals for next week and are committed to working extra hard to reach them. We want to put two of our investigators on date for baptism this week. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store.

Tomorrow is mother's day and I am super excited! I get to video chat with my family for 40 minutes and it is going to be so great to see them and talk to them. I will definitely have to make the most of that short amount of time. But I am so excited to hear their voices again.

Also, this just in... Sister Cutler was in the bathroom washing her face and was getting ready for bed and we had this experience.. She shared her journal entry with me.

Sister Cutler wrote,  "Sister Nelson, the companion Sister Johnston had before me, left behind a toy frog in my dresser drawer for me to find on my first day. I had put it in a closet and forgot about it, but I found it the other day. Sister Westover always showers first, so I put it on top of a quarter in our bathtub one night for her to find in the morning! The next morning I had completely forgot about it. I was reading my Book of Mormon while eating my breakfast when after quite a few minutes of being in the bathroom I heard Sister Westover call out, "Sister Cutler?"

Wondering what she could need, I answered, "Yeah?"

Her response: "You're the WORST!"

I just start dying because I had totally forgot that I did that! I feel slightly bad--I may have caused her a bit of emotional trauma-- but I didn't realize how realiztic the frog must have looked, haha.

Perhaps I'll include her thought process and 3 minutes of panic a little bit later because when she told me what was going through her head, it was the FUNNIEST thing!

All this to explain the second scare:

I was brushing my teeth last night, and Sister Westover had noticed that 2 of the quarters from the pile she'd been making on her dresser were gone. I knew exactly where they were, of course, and I was confident she wouldn't find them til tomorrow or later. As I was brushing my teeth though, I heard her going back and forth with it seemed like stomping, purposeful steps, in the hallway. I thought to myself, she wouldn't be walking like that unless she found another quarter, but she can't have found the quarter yet, because she has no reason to have looked in the box of hard caramels she sucks on sometimes in studies to stay awake. Having thus convinced myself and finished washing my face, I turned around to dry it on a towel and Sister Westover was standing RIGHT BEHIND ME holding the quarter! I screamed because I was so surprised and then we both just died laughing because a scream was not what she was expecting."

Well. It's been a good week. I will send pictures in a separate email. Love ya! Thanks for sending me emails throughout the week! It keeps me motivated!

I LOVE care packages!

We made Wraps!

Sweatin' Like a Sinner In Church!

Its been another successful week in State College Pennsylvania!!

Just as a heads up, I created a new facebook account as a missionary! You can request to be my friend if you want to see my posts and missionary activity! However, I cant talk to you through messenger at all. Emailing me is still the most effective way to get a hold of me. 

OKAY. Lets start.. 

This week was super great. We saw so many miracles this week and I am super duper greatful. 

On Thursday night we were scrambing to accomplish our daily goal by the end of the night! Our goal was to get three lesson appointments for next week by 9:00 pm. It was 9:00 and we only had two confirmed appointments!!!! EEK. I kept calling people even though we were cutting into our journaling time, and we said a quick prayer. After we said the prayer, we made a phone call to this guy named Vinnie and he said that he was interested! God is so good you guys. 

Its hot here. Like, REAL hot. Humidty is gross and I just wanna shower all of the time, so yeah... Thankfully, it was a miserable, rainy, disgusting, and cold day on Sunday, and I had never been happier. I told Sister Cutler that I missed the rain and she said, "I miss my desert.." WHAT?? 

Shes from Utah. What can I say?

Anyways, we are always running into the bathroom in the Branch building because we are COVERED in sweat. We felt like Charlotte from "Princess and the Frog." When she gets nervouse she shoves tissues in her clothing because she said she is "Sweatin' like a sinner in Church!" 

It's so hot!  Ice cream hits the spot

Im going on exchanges tonight!!!!! Im so excited. Sister Anderson is picking me up and we are going to Lockhaven. I wont be back until tomorrow night. 

We had some awesome lessons this week though. We taught our investigators and the spirit was really strong.  We taught David who has some really deep conversations about Book of Mormon verses. Hes really great, but he is leaving because he just graduated from Penn State. 

Its been rough because we have lost a lot of our investigators this week. Everyone is graduating and leaving for home. Some are coming back next summer, but we still have to transfer their records to the missionaries where they will be moving and get them back later. Its  lot of work, haha. 

But, now that graduation is finally over, we can actually get things done. Last Friday and Saturday, with gradution, there were SO many families and parents here for the students. The buses were packed! We are in charge of the YSA age students on campus, not the adults, so it made it difficult to talk to anyone. 

We are really looking forward to this week though because campus will be quieter and the people we talk to will most likely be here over the summer! 

I am so greatful for my Heavenly Father. He has truly blessed us this week. I love him so much. 

Faith is amazing Brothers and Sisters. TRUE faith, brings about miracles and I have seen that so evident this week. 

I cant remember what else I should mention so I will wrap this up. 

Also, I didnt throw up this week! Now thats improvement. 

 Love you all. Hope you are having a wonderful week! 

(Take time to tell your mom you love her. Mothers day is coming up!) 

Talk to you soon. 

Sister Westover 

Reunited with my Mission!

I have officially been a missionary for four-ish days!

Its so weird honestly. I was telling my family before I left that it didnt even feel real yet. And now that I am here, it still doesnt! It all feels like a dream, everytime I wake up I think I am still dreaming, haha. Its good though. 

Just as a warning, this is going to b a crazy long email. Read at your own risk, haha. Feel free to skip around if you want!

Okay, so here's the deal. 

If you are deciding to serve a mission, don't come home early right after being in the MTC. The transition from being at home, to going full force, 24/7, in the field, is easily the hardest thing I have ever done. The other missionaries that were coming in with me had just come from the MTC where they were accustomed to living as a missionary, which makes things a little bit easier. HOLY COW THIS WAS SO HARD. But of course, Heavenly Father had a plan and I am already seeing it come to pass. 

Let me just start from the beginning. 

On April 25th, I woke up at 2:00am to get ready to leave for the airport. My flight left at 5:00am and I had said goodbye to my sisters the night before. Needless to say, I didnt get much sleep that night. I think my Mother has already explained a little bit about the chaos of the day on Facebook, but Ill summarize here for you. I said goodbye to my parents and went through security to make the 5:15 flight. I get up there and they tell me that the flight is taking off. I was too late. Which makes no sense because I was on time and they left a bunch of people behind who were also on time. 

I waited in line for an hour to see if they could reroute me and they finally said that the earliest flight they could get me on  was at 7:00 pm from Eugene to LA, LA to Chicago, and Chicago to Pittsburgh. It was a red eye flight and I wouldnt arrive until 7amthe next morning. I discovered that my parents were trying to get a hold of me and I left the gate and went back to the bag check area. I used one of the phones there to call my parents and they came back to see what could be done. I was so tired and discouraged because I felt like I had fought so hard to make it to my mission. Cant I just leave already??

Anyways, we called the missionary department and the travel office, trying to explain the situation while they rerouted me. It was either fly out today, fly out Monday, or wait for the next transfer. Yikes!!!! It had to be today. 

They got me on flights that will get me into Pittsburgh around 8:30 but I would have to switch from Alaska to Delta once I made it to Portland. It was just insanity. 

Anyways, I finally get tickets, say goodbye to my parents once again, and sit in the gate heading to Portland. Almost immediately, we hear over the intercom that the flight was delayed an hour. Which would mean I was going to miss my connecting flights. 

So, again I left the gate and saw my parents. We called and worked with the people in the airport and tried to get things sorted out. It turns out, that the church had only funded my ticket to Portland! So even if I had made that flight, I wouldve been stranded there and they wouldnt have let me get on another plane. The next hour and a half was filled with refunding, rerouting, and trying to fix tickets with errors written in them. 

Finally, by 11:30, I go through security for the THIRD time and head to a get that would get me to Seattle. I said goodbye once again, and FINALLY,  I made it onto my flight. 

NOT TODAY SATAN!!!

Anyways, by the time I got into Pittsburgh, it was 11:30pm and I finally fell asleep at around 3:00am. I had been awake for almost 22 plus hours. And then I had to wake up at 6:00 am, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Hilarious. 

The nice thing about it though, was that on my flight from Minneapolis to Pittsburgh, I sat next to a man named John and he and I had an awesome conversation about the restoration of the church. He was a Catholic and was very receptive. I only wish I had a Book of Mormon to give him at the time! When we landed, President and Sister Bednar were sweet enough to pick me up personally after such a long day. They are the BEST. They are so sweet and hilarious. I cant wait to get to know them better. 

The mission home smelled like Grandma and Grandpa Millar's house which was really awesome. Made it feel more like home. 

As soon as my head hit the pillow though, I panicked SO much. I was really struggling and didn't know what to do. I guess I just convinced myself that I had made the biggest mistake of my life and now I was not able to turn back. I was sobbing and I wanted to go home so bad. I hadnt even started yet but my anxiety was SO over the top bad. 

I woke up exhausted and felt sick to my stomach due to stress. I didnt know any of these missionaries and I didnt want to do this anymore. I cant do this! I tried to eat just so no one would ask me why I wasnt eating.. but I really just wanted to throw up. It was miserable. 

We drove to the Green Tree Branch just outside of Pittsburgh and started training. It took quite a while that morning, but slowly the day got less painful to bear.. 

There were three sisters who came in as our trainers and we anxiously anticipated where we would serve and who would be our companion. These three sisters had only been out in the field for three months. They started training, finished, and now they are training us! 

I was the very first missionary to be assigned and I learned that I was going to be serving in State College, PA. We are serving on Campus at Penn State University and are in charge of the students. This area is different from every other area because of the school schedule and also the campus layout. We are in a walking area and we take the buses everywhere. We also dont have a washer, dryer, or dishwasher, haha. Its pretty fun!

Sister Cutler is my trainer and let me just say, that there is no coincidence that we were assigned as companions. We are the SAME person. If I had a clone it would actually be her. We may not look completely the same, but we are no different when it comes to interests. 

Let me just explain why. 

Sister Cutler and I both have blonde hair and blue eyes. Okay, simple enough. We both like the EXACT same foods. Okay. Sister Cutler and I were both very much involved in Theatre in High School. Okay, better. We both criticize the acting in the training videos put out by the church. We both SING. 

In fact, she went to one semester at BYU Provo and is studying vocal performance so shes really good. She has an effortless soprano voice so we have been harmonizing because I am more of a mezzo soprano. 

We talk about broadway shows and our favorites all the time.. She has seen a lot more than I have but we have similar favorites. 

Before she left on her mission, she performed as a chorus member in the "Lamb of God Oratorio." I JUST DID THAT. CRAZY. We listen to the music and sing along. Its pretty swell. 

Also, you wont even believe it, BUT. She worked for an event company in Centerville Utah and played Princess Rapunzel and Princess Anna at... you guessed it. BIRTHDAY PARTIES. 

IM IN SHOCK. 

But wait theres more!!!

Two years ago, I went on a road trip with my Aunt, Charlotte Booren, her boys, and my sister Jillian. We went to Utah to go and see our uncle in "Shrek the musical." 

Sister Cutler played teenage fiona in the very same show that we went to.

WHATTTTTTTT. 

Isnt this insane?? Like what are the actual odds of this? There are none, thats why. True inspiration. President Bednar truly knows best. 

I will only tell you a little bit about the past few days, because this email is getting really long. SOOOOOO. 

I got my companion, my area, and I headed out the door. Through the glass window, I saw two sister missionaries in a crowd of a hundred missionaries chatting at transfers. As soon as they turned around the three of us ran. Yup, I saw Sister Willes and Sister Peterson. And yes, there were tears. 

Sister Willes got a video and took some pictures. I will try to attach them, but it might have to be next week when I get them from them, haha. 

It was so good to see them again and Sister Willes had a care package already to go for me!! She is just the sweetest. 

About an hour later we climbed into a tiny little car with other missionaries headed to State College and nearby areas. We were crammed together and our location was about three hours away without traffic or delays. Well, lets just say that we definitely had both traffic AND delays. 

I really started to panic BADLY while sitting in that car. I was ready to cry but there were so many sisters around me, how could I? Forget yourself, get to work. Forget yourself. Get to work. Forget yourself. 

I was in so much agony, I begged my heavenly father to take the burden away somehow. I told him that I wanted to be the best missionary I could, but this panic and anxiety was seriously overwhelming me. 

I finished my prayer and immediately needed some air. I was so claustrophobic all of a sudden and couldn't breathe. I rolled down the window and stuck my head out. For a second I thought I might throw up. How embarrassing would that be on my first day with these new sisters? I cant even imagine. 

Oh wait. I can. 

I totally threw up all over the outside of the car, on my dress, and on the inside of the door. 

It was so embarrassing. BUT. 

Let it not be forgotten that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. As soon as I had thrown up, I felt SO much better. The idea of serving a mission didnt seem so awful or intimidating. I could do this. 

We stopped at a gas station to clean up and I did my best to wipe up the puke from, well, basically everywhere. 

Three hours later we made it to State College and we pulled into a church parking lot. 

I saw Sister Hill and we both ran and hugged and cried a whole lot. I looked gross and smelled awful, and didnt even know what to say to her. But it was just what I needed because none of that even mattered. We were back together again as missionaries and that made it worth it. I cant wait to see Sister Green and Sister Skinner. I miss them so very much. 

I told Sister Cutler that I was really struggling that night. I was worried about falling asleep because I didnt want to wake up in Pennsylvania. I was afraid to wake up in Pennsylvania. 

She totally understood and suggested that we listen to a conference talk as we tried to fall asleep. We listened to a talk by Elder Holland and it was just what I needed. It filled my head with the spirit so it couldnt wander off into fear. 

On saturday I tried Thai food for the first time ever! It was DELICIOUS. That same night, Brother Owens, Austin, and a nonmember, Dimitri took us to dinner at a place called, "Golden Wok." It was a restaurant with authentic chinese cuisine and by the time we got there, they had already ordered for us. Sister Cutler and I dont really love fish, so when they brought out the SPICY shrimp with hot peppers, Talapia in Soy sauce, and Flounder (Pretty sure it was raw) we did our best to keep smiling. They later brought out Beef ligaments... Like legit tendons. And boiled bamboo root. How cute. 

Luckily, they had pot stickers and rice!!!!!! Man, it was a good thing that it was the kindof place where you dish up as much as you want so that no one really knows that you didnt eat very much. 

Dimitri really wanted us to try the beef tendons and we almost got away without doing it. I managed to scoop up some of the vegetables mixed in with it while he wasnt looking and ate those, but Im pretty sure Sister Cutler wasnt so lucky. 

Church Yesterday was super great. We are serving in the University 2nd Branch and it is SO tiny. There were probably around 35 to 40 people in sacrament meeting total. 

It was awesome though because one of our less active members, Bailey, was there! She said that she would only come if she could bring her cat Tabitha. So, she brought her cat to church. I told her that when I was at home, I knew a cat named Georgia and she even got baptized once. (Long story short Georgia jumped into a hot tub). 

Well, I am going to try to end this email now. For those of you who made it all the way through it, congrats. But honestly, my next emails will be shorter because now you know who my companion is, what my area is like, and that I am beginning to figure this whole thing out. 

I will leave my mailing address at the end of this email for you all. Please send me mail! I love hearing from all of you so very much. Also, email me whenever your heart desires. I promise I am reading your emails. I will even respond once a week. Isnt that kind of me? Haha, anyways...

Sure do love you!

The gospel is so true brothers and sisters. The spirit is strong and I know that this is where I am supposed to be right now. Its never easy, but always worth it. 

Talk to you in a week!

Sister Westover