First Email from New York

Dear Family,

Well, This is the first E-mail from New York. I miss you all like crazy and think about you all everyday. You should all write me letters :c)

Here is the scoop of all the great news since I haven't talked with you for like two weeks! CRAZY! Anyways, We flew from Utah to Chicago on June 22, 2010 and had to leave from the MTC at 4:00 am. Sorry Dad that I couldn't get a hold of you to call. I tried 4 times and ran out of money. Hopefully the messages were enough for you. I wish I could have talked but oh well. :( So, we flew to Chicago and then had a one and a half hour layover in Chicago where we ate lunch and got to where we needed to be. Then we flew from Chicago to Syracus where we were greeted by the Mission President and his wife. President and Sister Bulloch. They are two of the nicest and funniest people I have met. Once we got our luggage, we went straight for Pizza! But not just any pizza. Really NY Style Pizza. MMMMM it was DELICIOUS! Loaded with CHEEZZZE :c) After this we went to the Mission home, which is amazing, and started our training right then and there. They just through us right into it. After that we ate dessert which everyone knows is my favorite meal, and then just relaxed, talked, and had fun. 4 elders and I made music. One elder played the piano magnificentally and the 4 of us sang Hymns. I LOVE HARMONIZING! it was way fun getting a chance to just sing for fun. After that we got ready for bed.

When we woke up, we got ready and had AMAZING breakfast just waiting for us. Sister Bulloch is an amazing cook! We had Scrambled eggs, French Toast and Bacon. But with her eggs she puts butter in them!!! YUP BUTTER. MMMMMMM. We also had REAL MAPLE SYRUP. Oh my goodness. Real maple syrup is so SO SOOO Delicious.

After breakfast we went to the church to do more training and.... wait for it :c) Meet our companions and find out where we were going to be sent. So, here is the news you have all been waiting for. My companion is Sister Despain and I am up in the Ogdensburg area. All the way at the top of New York. Where we live, we can see CANADA! my backyard is the Saint Lawrence River. Cool huh?!? I can see the bridge to Canada too. It's pretty cool. So this is where I am. Up here, it is completely opposite of Utah. Completely! First of all, it is totally green, and trees everywhere. Utah really is a dessert! it has rained every other day here. I really like it actually. It's not too hot up here since we are so far north. What's the temperature like in Utah? Next part of how it is completely opposite is there are only about 20 active members in the branch! That's including all the kids. It is tiny. I think there were only 7 Ladies plus the 2 of us sisters in relief society. So it is way different! There are so many different churches up here. There are like 5 on every street. It's insane.

Anyways. our area is pretty big. I think the furthest part away from where we live is about an hour and 15 minutes. So we have a car and definitely do a lot of driving. We drive on long country roads with nothing in sight. It is so pretty out here just driving. Yesterday, we decided we were going to tract a road. We thought there some houses on it. It turned out that for the hour we were walking, we only tracted 4 houses. I think I figured out we walked down about a mile and a quarter of road and only went to 4 houses. At least we got our exercise right?

Okay, my favorite part of north country are the Amish people :c) There are so many Amish up here riding around in their horse drawn buggies! It's fun! And they are so friendly. We are going to meet with one amish family this week somtime. They have 10 kids. Wouldn't that be awesome if we converted their whole family?!?! My companion said the percent chance of us converting this is about the same percent chance of us becoming amish. it could happen though! Other than that, this place needs a lot of help. People are so confused up here. Also, we will definitely be teaching the Word of Wisdom to a lot of people. Almost every house we have gone to, someone is smoking or drinking a beer.

The Mission President told my companion that this is one of the hardest areas in New York to work, so I don't know why they put a newbie here, but it is WAY hard up here. People don't even give us a chance to share our message. I need to remember not to turn disappointment into discouragement. Which is definitely one of my weak points. But I am working on it.

I am trying my best to do the things I need to do to be a good missionary, but this is hard work. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I am still trying to come out of my shell and just accept people for who they are, Children of God. It is hard to love everyone, when no one loves you because they think we are just trying to get them into our church for numbers. I just need to remember that this is the Lord's work and we are possibly planting seeds. We will not see the fruit of our labors completely. I am working on putting my full trust in the Lord that everything will work out for the better. I just need to work on my confidence in what I know I can do, and then rely on the Lord for what I can't do. I am learning a lot, but have a lot more learning to do. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Simmons

p.s. thank you for the prayers. I need all the prayers I can get!

2nd Email from the MTC

Dear Everyone,

Wow! This week flew by! okay, so funny story for the day.So, I am sick for the first time on my mission. Don't worry, nothing too big. Just a head cold. So, because of this head cold, I have had many... I'll call them, "Blonde Missionary Moments." I will tell you just one of them. We were in a Large Group Meeting and I was so out of it! I was taking notes to try to stay awake, but I was still dozing off. I kept falling asleep. It was probably funny watching me bob my head up and down. Anyways, like I said, I was taking notes. I read my notes later and they were really sloppy, and didn't make any sense. Here is the last sentence of my notes. Let me know if you know what it means. "Every minute member less 1 minute time teaching spent is is." there you go! There is "Blonde Missionary Moment" For the week. so, could you send my my pink lemonade emergen-c please? I don't want to get sick again :c)

Okay, so exciting news. We are allowed to call home while we are at the airports! (If we have time) so, here are my travel plans. We leave on June 22. We leave from the SLC Airport at 7:10 AM. so you may get a call around 6:00am, if that's okay with you. Then we fly to chicago and have a layover. We arrive at 11:10 chicago time and leave from the airport at 12:40 chicago time. So, you may also get a call between 9:00 and 10:30ish your time... maybe. Calling home all depends on if we have time. so don't expect the phone calls, but they are a possibility. I sure hope we have time to call!

Since we are leaving on the 22nd, can you tell people not to send a letters to the MTC after the 18th. Have them send it to my Mission Home Address.

well, the MTC really is a roller coaster. There are so many ups and downs! This week has been hard, just as last week. But there have also been some very rewarding experiences.It is kinda hard being with a companion 24/7. I miss riding my bike on long bike rides by myself. I miss my alone time. The only time I get alone is in the shower or in the bathroom just like Sister Weber said. I cherish my shower time :c) but I will get used to it I think. It is nice when we are lost being lost together though. I love my companion. She is amazing!
Last tuesday Robert D. Hales came and spoke at the Devotional. It was a wonderful devotional and the spirit was so strong. He talked about the light of Christ. My favorite line he said was, "Jesus came to bring light to those who sit in darkness." then I was thinking, us as missionaries are doing the same thing.

Keep Sending letters!!!!
Love,
Sister Simmons

P.S. Thank you for the 5lbs of Gummie Bears. They have been put to good use. They are good bribery for the elders. :c) I am now sister gummie bear. My watch broke the other day and I told the elders whoever could fix it would get a whole bag of gummie bears. I didn't think it would be possible to fix, but guess what? they fixed it! It is as good as new! The miss Vickies Chips are gone too! Thanks for those. They were delicious!

First email from the MTC!

Dear everyone,

you probably weren't expecting this email, but here is my first one from the MTC!!! First, I want to thank those of you who have written me. Letters really do make the day so much better. This first week has been really REALLY HARD!!! this is the hardest thing i have ever done in my life! I feel like I don't know anything. there is a lot to learn! This past week has been really overwhelming! I have felt very incapable of doing this and kept wondering what I got myself into. but I do know that this church is true. i have learned that testimony is the biggest part of teaching. If I don't know what to say, i just testify. I know that i am not perfect, and that with the Lords help, i can learn alot. and i am learning a lot here. It is amazing how strong the spirit is and how much a person can learn in one day. I have also learned that I need to put myself in my Heavenly Father's Hands. I cannot do this on my own. I NEED Him every step of the way! I found a really good scripture that has helped me a lot while being here when i get discouraged about everything. The scripture is Alma 17:11... yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and i will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the savation of many souls. It is amazing how the scriptures can tell you exactly what you need to hear and when.

anyways, my companion is Sister Cox. yup that's right! Sister Cox and I knew eachother in Jr. high school. it has been kind of nice being here with a familiar face. Sister cox is so strong in the gospel and knows a lot! I am grateful she knows a lot about the doctrine and how to teach it because that is one of my weaknesses. but, i am learning A LOT and improving on my teaching. (I still have a really long ways to go though :D ).

Tomorrow will be the one week mark! woot woot!!! Everyday, it gets better here. I am excited to see how much more I learn.

I have met so many AMAZING people here. Especially the sisters. I am in a room with 5 other sisters who are all amazing. We clicked right away. one of the sisters is going to Cambodia in mid July( her name is Sister Robertson), and the other three are going to Thailand today!!!(Sister Harris, Sister Chambers, and Sister Jensen) I am going to miss them so much even though we only knew eachother for a week.

We are really busy here and everything is so organized! (Which is also one of my weaknesses.) We plan out every minute of everyday and use our time very wisely. It is amazing how much you can get done when you use your time wisely. SO, I am very busy here. and by very I mean VERY!!! When i go to bed, and pretty much hit my pillow and I am out for the rest of the night. We have gym everyday which is so SO NICE!!! I love it. and to let you all know, I have not gained weight yet :c) I will be in the 1% of sisters that do not gain weight on my mission :c)

The food is so good here!!! They have dessert with every single meal pretty much. Ice cream sundae Sunday's are amazing also. And i am eating quite healthy. I have made sure to eat a fruit or vegetable with every single meal :c) are you proud of me mom?

Well, I gotta go, my time is ticking a way and it will close out and delete the message if i don't send it now. But send me letters and I can reply to those :c)

Well, I hope all is well at home!

luv you,

Sister Simmons

p.s. Send Me Letters!!!! PLEASE!!!!

MTC

Sister Simmons entered the MTC today at 1:30!