Leaving for the New York New York South Mission

The day we got our travel plans was so exciting! But kinda scary. It was like knowing when we were going to leave made it so much more real. We left November 15th really early in the morning. I don't remember the time, but I think I woke up at about 2 am. Being tired and nervous don't make a good combination. Yes, I was super nervous.

The flight wasn't long enough for me, but you can't put off the inevitable. We arrived in NY at around 4:00 pm ET and were picked up by our mission president, President Morrow, and the APs. They said we looked like deer in headlights. I'm sure we did. We thought we were going straight to the mission home, but they had other plans for us. The following excerpt is from my journal because when I wrote it it was fresher on my mind so I think I describe it better than I could now:

"When we left the airport we drove to an area in Queens and they basically threw us right in. They call it a "street sweep". We got paired up with other missionaries who had already been there a while and kind of went at it. I watched my "companion" Hna Allred do it for a little while, and then I got on the Soap Box [yes we had a soap box. it was a crate that said "Soap Box"] and street preached about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. In Spanish of course. I actually kind of liked doing that. Then I ended up approaching a couple of people and I would get as far as introducing us and asking if they have ever heard of the church and then I would pull Hna Allred in to do the rest. It was the scariest night of my life! Afterwards it wasn't too bad, but while I was in the moment and doing it, I was terrified"

So that's how we were introduced to our mission. Most zones did street sweeps every Saturday, so that wasn't the last time I would be doing that. After about 1/2 hour of sweeping the streets, we were finally taken to the mission home, where Sister Morrow had a nice dinner waiting for us. Then we had a devotional, welcome to the mission kind of thing and went to bed. I think I had a hard time sleeping that night. Probably because I was super tired and wondering what the heck I was doing there.

The next day was transfer meeting, so after breakfast we left for the mission office to meet our trainers. My trainer was Sister Gines and she was amazing. I really believe she was the only one who could have trained me. She was so patient with me through our 2 transfers together as I tried to overcome homesickness, fear of talking to people, shyness, the list goes on. She was very positive and always looking for ways to help and serve others. She was a great example to me.


This was after transfer meeting, the last time our MTC district would be together. (We saw each other throughout our missions of course, but we were never alltogether again.) Yes, we're all smiling in the picture, but if you look closely you can tell we are all FREAKED OUT.


With President and Sister Morrow.