Carmichael

Well, I've been in Carmichael about...five days now.  It's a pretty good place!  I finally feel like I'm in California.  There is traffic and palm trees which is about what I expect haha.  It's quite the adjustment because this zone is where the mission office is so that is where we play zone sports and email and everything.  It's also super leadership dense.  Our zone is: the AP's, zone leaders, district leader, office elders, sister training leaders, and then about three companionship's of just plain missionaries.  Also we have ASL sisters in our zone, one of which is actually deaf and she is SO sweet.  The ASL sisters actually share our ward with us because about a third of our ward is deaf.  It makes for an interesting dynamic.  There is always an interpreter up front and yesterday when deaf people wanted to bear their testimony one of the ASL sisters would say the words they were signing.  We also share a lot of dinner appointments with the ASL sisters so that is kind of fun.  It appears that I have been transferred to yet another slow area but I feel a lot of potential.  We added an investigator since I've been here and I think she is really promising.  Her name is Anne and she grew up Lutheran but she wants to learn about our church and says that if she were to ever switch it would be to Mormonism.  Weird thing to say kind of but anyway she has had good experiences with the LDS people she knows and so she wants to check it out.  I am hoping we can go watch a session of conference with her.  We have an appointment with her on Wednesday.  We've talked to several other people that seem like they could really go somewhere so I am excited to see what happens in the next while.

We bike in this area, but we have a car that we can use, just very few miles.  That is probably going to change because I can now definitely tell that biking makes my headaches way worse.  That makes me sad because I REALLY prefer biking.  It makes it easier to contact people and it makes me feel healthier and more productive.  I really hope this headache thing gets worked out soon.  Been saying that for a while but...it's going to happen!

My companion is Sister Josie Naylor, and she just finished training so I have only been out one transfer longer than her.  She's a pro at street contacting so that's a bonus for me!  Because it still terrifies me to approach people but she has no problem with it at all so it works out nicely.  She is from Florida but has lived in Utah as well.

On Saturday there were about 3 zones of missionaries (probably close to 60) that did service at the California Expo.  It was this big thing where a bunch of dentists and hygienists volunteer to do dental work for people that can't afford it.  We were there emptying trash and being escorts for patients to take them from the waiting place to the chair and from the chair to the exit interview.  It was pretty cool.  I got to talk religion a little bit with some of the other non-missionary volunteers and it was just cool to see people noticing the missionaries and asking questions.  At these just serve things we can't proselyte so we can only really talk about the church if they ask questions or it comes up naturally, which happens pretty often when you wear a name tag and dress clothes. :)

So that's what's new with me.  Love you guys!  Have a great week!

Sister Robinson