In the Head of Hannie: February 16, 2015

Hermana Sellers. My new companera :)

This week has been so CrAzY. I honestly cannot believe it was just Tuesday that I was saying goodbye to everyone in North Sac. It seriously breaks my heart to be away from them. But I love it here in Galt so far.

Galt is was different than North Sac in a lot of ways.

1. We live in a house.

Yes. Me and Hermana Sellers live in a house all to our selves. What I have learned from this experience is that I never want a house. The upkeep is terrible. Okay, not really because I also LOVE all the space we have. But is a lot to remember to do. I have my own bathroom here in Galt which is great, especially when the stomach attacks hit. :) We used to live with English Sister but they got shot-gunned out last transfer so now we just live all by our lonesome. It is weird going from 4 in an apt. to 2. Kind of lonely.

2. THERE ARE COWS EVERYWHERE.

The smell of cow is thick in the air. Yeah. that is it.

3. Everything is not crammed together.

So Galt is a tiny town and it is really beautiful. I will have to change some of the ways I did missionary work because it isn't the same. We bike quite a bit here because there are always people walking on the streets. There are a lot of neighborhoods.

We also have to drive for about 30 minutes to get to our church building which is actually in Lodi. That is way different that North Sac. Galt is just the complete opposite of what I thought it was.

This week I met some people in Galt. It has been really crazy because I've been unpacking. Weekly Planning took us 2 days and we get lost a lot. (Hna Sellers isn't the best with directions. She has been here 2 transfers and can get hardly anywhere. It is quite the road trip every time we leave the house.) My first day here we had a lesson with a really awesome lady named Maricela who they actually just found a day or two before I came. We had one of the best lessons of my mission with her. We taught from the scriptures and we could all feel the spirit. Also, my Spanish wasn't too bad. She was so excited when we told her that we could come by more than once a week if she wanted. She was so happy. She said the rest of her week was really busy but she would have us over a lot the next week.

Aurelio. This man is amazing. He is Hna Cuesta's recent convert and he is so funny. He gave me a pair of sunglasses. Hna Sellers said that we get gifts from him all the time. This should be interesting. (Good thing I got sunglasses because someone stole the sunglasses I got in Nashville with Mom and Sharon :( ) He is really funny and he is so excited for me to be here with him. I think it is mostly because I knew Hna Cuesta. The ward LOVES Hna Cuesta.

Those were the really cool people I met this week.

My companion. Hermana Sarah Sellers.

She is an army brat. She is also pretty cool. She is from Dayton, Ohio. She has 3 brothers and is the 2nd oldest. She wants to be a writer and an artist when she grows up. She LOVES talking about story ideas and things such a that. My vocabulary is going to grow because she uses a lot of big words. We don't have a lot of the same interests but I like hearing about everything she has to say. Is a really good at drawing and is in the process of drawing me in pony form. She is really good at remembering small things which is helpful. We are having a bit of a learning curve with the area. We are excited for tomorrow to really get out and get working. We have had to travel to Galt every day that we've been here and that takes a really long time. But tomorrow should be amazing.

I love Galt so far and I think I am going to have to do a lot of growing this transfer. There is a lot of stuff that I am ready to learn and I think this is the transfer it is going to happen.

CHALLENGE TO ALL!!

1. Will you please send me your conversion story? Handwritten or email. I really would love to hear it. Especially Dad, Mom, Amanda, Casey, Sarah, Steven, Brad, Jessica, James, and then the kids if they are willing to participate.

2. Listen to The Missionary Next Door by Diana Hoelscher. You can find it on YouTube.

Will you do that.

Since I can see until next week I am going to assume everyone readying said yes.

Love you,

Hermana Porter.

PS Another challenge for mom and anyone else. I want to study a talk each week. Can we start with, His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox? You can write and tell me what you think of it.