Sister Jazmyn Card: October 2013

What a day! It was so incredible to talk with Jazzy. She had a tracphone we sent to her to use at the airport with 250 minutes talk time, and yes, we used every minute! She left Tupelo early this morning, drove to Birmingham and the AP’s took her to the Birmingham airport. She flew to Miami with a very long layover before her Sao Paulo flight. After two more flights tomorrow (to Puerto Alegro and then to Santa Maria), she should arrive in Santa Maria Tuesday at 1:50 p.m. (9:50 a.m. MST). Luckily, she did meet up with two additional missionaries headed to Santa Maria – Sister Williams from Texas (visa waiting for 6 weeks in Montana) and Elder Rogers from Boston (coming directly from the Provo MTC).

She was out of minutes on her phone, but had enough to send this final text messages to share:

On the plane! I can’t believe I’m outta here. Oh my word I’m already loving this. So incredible! :) People totally think I’m Brazilian and keep speaking to me in Portuguese. Wish me luck! I love y’all and will see you before you know it. The Church is true. Brazil has no idea what’s about to hit them. I’m ready to go out and change the world! Lhes amo :)

I hope to hear that she arrived safely tomorrow, but we may not get anything from her until next Monday on her p-day. I’ll let you know. The next 11 months are going to be incredibly hard, but such an adventure. She’s really had the best of both worlds with a stateside and a foreign mission. Thanks for all your love and support for Jazzy.

Diane

Hey y'all!

(Last time I'll be saying that!)

How is everything going? This week has been one of the very best weeks of my entire mission. I have had such a great time here in Tupelo! I can't believe how short my time is here. I'm definitely making the most of it.

So my new companion is probably my favorite person in the entire world. Not kidding. (Well, next to Sister Jensen!) Her name is Sister Murray and we are like best friends. She knows pretty much my entire life story and we've only been together for like three days total. I love her so much! She's from Pittsburg and has been on her mission for about 10 months. I absolutely adore her.

I survived my first exchange as a Sister Training Leader and it was a BLAST. I love that I get to work all these Sisters in this area. We are over two zones, so we end up doing two to three exchanges per week. It's insane, but so much fun. We have three planned for this week, and since I don't know Tupelo at all, I'm going to all the new areas to work! It'll be such a fun week. Crazy, but so fun! I can't imagine an entire transfer like this haha. Two weeks is insane already, but Sister Murray has got it down. She's been doing this for a while, so she's a pro. I'm so lucky to have her as a companion to show me the ropes! But I feel so blessed to be where I'm at right now. I feel like I've learned so much about myself over the last few days because I've been put in this position. At first, I felt completely inadequate, but Heavenly Father is helping me out so much, and I got over that one very quickly. I am so grateful for that help so that I can fulfill my calling. I am so blessed!

I think that this week has been the funniest week ever. Sister Murray and I just die laughing all the time. Yesterday, coming home from church, Sister Murray said, "My face hurts from laughing so much, ever since you got here." Hahaha. I love her. Probably our best memory from this week is when our GPS broke. So a lady in our ward, Sister Thorderson (who is related to the Pedersen's - SUCH a small world!), gave us this GPS that is like 10 years old. Pretty sure I've never seen a GPS that size in my life. It got us around for like two days, but then it started getting very temperamental. So naturally we named our GPS Olga, and with Olga, it's like her way, or no way. If we make a single wrong turn or anything, she'll just shut off and we'll be stranded wherever we are at. So yesterday, we were in Pontotoc, which is about thirty minutes outside of Tupelo, visiting some less-actives. Then, Olga shuts off. We're out in the middle of the country, with no idea where we are, or what to do. Hahaha we were dying. And then, to make matters worse, we had hardly any gas. 1/8 of a tank, and it was Sunday. It was so pitiful. We were laughing so hard, just because it didn't seem like real life. Luckily, Olga started working again, and we made it home safely, with two miles to spare with gas. It was a miracle, but really, it was so dang funny.

The things that I'm going to miss the most about being a missionary the South:

1. Southern accents ):

2. Everyone talking about Jesus all the time

3. President and Sister Hanks

4. The missionaries here

5. Saying y'all

6. That Southern hospitality - everyone is SO nice here

7. All the yummy treats

8. People thinking we're Jehovah's Witnesses

9. Biking!

10. Tracting in trailer parks and never knowing what's going to be on the other side of the door

I can't believe that this is the very last email I'll be sending from the US. AH! It's so hard to believe that I'm going to Brazil, finally. It still doesn't seem real to me, but I am so excited to get there. This time that I've spent here has by far been the greatest time of my life. My mission has changed me, completely. I will never forget all the lessons I have learned while serving in the Alabama Birmingham mission. Heavenly Father knew exactly what He was doing when He sent me here for the last six months. A lot of people have asked me if I've been frustrated with the time I've spent here, waiting for my visa, but honestly, I wouldn't have done it any other way. I know that I was needed here for this time. Serving in Alabama and Mississippi has been everything I could have ever hoped for as a missionary. It is truly the greatest blessing of my life. But, of course, I'm excited to see what lies ahead in Brazil (:

I am so grateful that I am serving as a missionary. I am grateful for my Savior and for the sacrifices that He made so that I could change my life around and serve a mission. I love this gospel. I love the Book of Mormon. How lucky are we to have the word of God that we can read every single day? I know that this church is true and I will never be able to express how much I love it. It has made the biggest impact on my life, and I am so grateful for it.

I love y'all so much. I really do. I am so grateful for all you do for me. Keep praying for me! This week is going to be insane, with all the exchanges, and trying to get ready to go to Brazil, and actually going to Brazil, but it will be awesome. I love you!

Sister Card

xoxo