In the land of potatoes‏

I MADE IT!! I'm alive! So we got to Pocatello on Tuesday and met with the mission president and were assigned our areas and our trainers. I was assigned to Idaho Falls (Eagle Rock Stake) and my trainer's name is Sister Latu. She is from Tonga originally, but she moved to New Zealand when she was 16. She is so awesome and she has such a powerful testimony of the gospel. Its hard though because I felt like Sister Tenney and I really connected and became fast friends but I feel like its harder to connect with Sister Latu. Her English is pretty good but I still have a hard time understanding her sometimes. She is so sweet though and I think we will also grow to be really close friends. 

My mission president is great. He is brand new, like me, and he's from a small town in Northern Arizona. He and his wife are both super humble and sweet. I didn't talk much with President Hancock but Sister Hancock came and talked to the Sisters for a while and she is so great.

We live in a members basement. Her name is Sister Andres and she is seriously the most amazing woman I have ever met. Her husband died a few years ago and she has 13 kids and like 50 grandkids! Sister Latu and I have the basement to ourselves and I get my own bathroom! Whoo! Also I get to sleep in the most comfortable bed known to man. 

We don't have IPads yet but we might be getting them soon? Not sure though. 

Missionary life is not what I expected. It's really hard! I thought we would just be teaching people non-stop and have appointment after appointment lined up, but that is not how it is at all. Mostly we are knocking on peoples doors trying to find someone who is interested. The hard thing is every single person we've talked to is either already a member of the church or they know about the church and are not interested. I thought we would be able to find so many people who were searching for the gospel in their life but so far we haven't had much luck. Its been kind of discouraging. Buuuuut, I'm trying to keep my spirits up and have faith that we'll find someone to teach. 

Basically the majority of people we teach are less actives (people who don't come to church and stuff) and part-member families. We teach a lot of over-age youth as well. Over-age youth are kids over the age of eight that are not baptized. Their parents are usually less active members. We're teaching a little boy named Dawson who is nine. His dad is an active member but his mom is like anti-Mormon. So if she gives permission Dawson can be baptized. We're also teaching a twelve year old boy named Tanner. His mom is less active but she lets us come and teach Tanner. Its frustrating because Tanner lets us teach him but he never follows up on the commitments we give him to go to church or read his scriptures. 

I had a really hard day on Friday. We spent like the whole day knocking on doors and getting the same result: "Not interested sorry". Then we got to one ladies house and we were trying to talk to her and she was just being really rude but of course we have to be nice, smiling missionaries and try to keep the conversation going until we get shut down completely. Finally she was like, "I'm a busy person and you are wasting my time. Goodbye." *door slam in face*. And then I just broke down. I was so tired of getting rejected again and again and all I wanted was to go home and give my mom a hug. But you can't do that on a mission. So I hugged Sister Latu, said a silent prayer, and knocked on the next door. That day wasn't fun but it taught me a lot about myself. I'm stronger than I think I am. I can get through the hard times with trust in the Lord and in my companion. This mission won't be easy but it will be worth it. 

I love you all and miss you. I love my Savior and his sacrifice for me. I love the Book of Mormon and the solace I'm able to find in it. I love how patient the Lord is with me, even when I may not be the best missionary in the world. The message of the gospel brings happiness. 

Until next time,

Sister Park