Hermana Kelly Moberly...Washington DC South: Springfield, Virginia Week One

Well, it is official. I am a real missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints! How awesome is that? I'm serving in the Little River ward here. There is one Spanish ward in each Stake, so our area covers about half of the Stake...it’s pretty big. There are 5 hermanas and 4 elders in our ward as well. As far as good news goes, my Spanish isn't too bad. I can understand most people really, it’s the speaking part that is a little bit harder for me.

By the end of the day I am so exhausted and I sleep real well, it’s fantastic. And my companion, Hermana Haubner sleeps silently, so I don't have to worry about that either :) The only thing is, at night there are so many bugs out and they are LOUD. So loud it’s incredible! They are also very big and scary and I do not enjoy that.

So last Wednesday I got to wake up at 1 AM so I could get to my 6AM flight. Who knows why we are supposed to leave so early. But we got to Texas and oh my goodness it is completely different. It was my first time in that state and all of the people working there were wearing cowboy hats and had those strong southern accents. Also, I was really struggling with saying simple things in English like sorry and thank you because it’s been 6 weeks of Spanish. I got some really weird looks from people. Also, while we were there, we got Taco Bell and it was delicious! Best food besides pizza in a while. And then when we got to DC, our bags hadn't come on our same flight. They didn't leave Texas until the next flight to DC, so we went out and did some work with the Hermanas in Old Town. It was super cool. One person we tried to talk to and he said he didn't want to come to church, so I settled with giving him a Mormon.org card and explained what it was and he said he would check it out. So that was a cool experience! Then we went and got our bags and went to the mission home. We had the best dinner I think I've ever had...it was lasagna. And I loved it. We were so exhausted so we were allowed to go to bed early. The next morning, we had pancakes for breakfast :) And then we went to some meetings and got our iPads and signed papers and stuff. Then we met our companions! I was first, of course and my companion is super awesome and I love her! :) She entered the MTC the week after Cory, so I will be her last companion on the mission. I hope I can be good enough for her.

My ward is huge and it is already super hard to remember all of their names. So there's that and I have to speak in Spanish. It’s not very easy.

Lessons with investigators have gone much better than I thought because I can understand almost everything the people say, as long as they aren't speaking too fast. Also, there are a ton of different accents here, so hopefully everyone can understand me when I speak.

The best part of being out here is that I get to study the gospel for hours every morning to prepare before I go out and teach. I have learned so much already and I am really excited to continue. I never knew it was possible to receive so much revelation. Most of the time what I study doesn't seem very relevant until I'm in a lesson and I can either find a scripture, or remember what I had learned about it. It’s really cool.

So, Saturday here was super, super hot, but today looks like it is going to rain and I can't figure out the weather because it’s kind of cold.

Last night, we were going to teach a lesson to one of our investigators, but he wasn't home, so we planned to knock some doors. We said a quick prayer to know where to go in the building, and then a Latino man came walking down the stairs. His name is Hector and we started talking about the Gospel. The good thing about Latinos is they always have a strong belief in Christ. We ended up getting his address to visit him later. Then we felt impressed to go downstairs and knock, but again a man came down the stairs and we talked to him as well. He was even more interested. His name is Raul and he wants to come to our ward's Family Home Evening activity on Thursday night. It was a really great night because we found 2 people in a row who we surprised with our Spanish and were interested in the church. I'm so glad we had the inspiration that we had, because that was really great.

Today we went to Panera to sync our iPads to get our emails and we ended up talking to Chileans for 1 1/2 hours and we're going to go see them again later on this week. Seriously, I just can't get over how amazing my life is. No wonder Cory kept telling me she wanted me to go on a mission. Definitely the best decision I have ever made.

So this Sunday I shared my testimony in sacrament meeting and directed singing time in Primary...all in Spanish. It was really fun, but I was so nervous! I know I had the Lord's help in all of these things this week and I will have it constantly for the rest of my time here. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve and I know this church is true.

Love you and miss you all!