Sister Jamie Szabo

FAMILY!

I love you guys so so much. I can't believe that I've only been here for not even 3 weeks yet. I feel like I haven't seen for FOREVER. but it's good and I get to be with you for eternity.

In the MTC I wondered what had happened to me because I was never sad or anything close to it. I loved every second of it and I hardly even cried (which we all know is the weirdest thing ever) and I thought it was great but as soon as I got to Virginia the crying came back. I am SO homesick and every day Satan asks me why I'm here and not at home but I have THE BEST trainer in the world. She is seriously the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Her name is Sister Caldwell. She is from Kaysville and she's 21. She has been out for 5 months. OH and I'm in the Chesapeake mission. I tried to come out with no expectations and just be happy with whatever but Sister Romney is on the Richmond side and Richmond is literally the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Like I was shocked that Mom had never told me how beautiful it was. You know how I love the houses that are far off the road and surrounded by trees? Well that's basically all of Richmond and I fell in love right away. And I wanted to meet President and Sister Wilson BUT it's okay because I love Sister Caldwell and I love my mission and being a missionary. We are serving in Kempsville. It's in Virginia Beach. It's SO humid. We had weekly planning outside (oh because we're homeless right now.) and our pages were wrinkled and wet by the time we were done. My hair is the worst thing EVER but I'll figure out how to do it soon enough. For me the humidity isn't so sticky yet but it feels like when you first get out of the shower and the mirrors are all foggy and you just want to open the door and open a window. Yeah that's how it is everywhere outside. But it's all good. I'll figure it out soon enough. I have to keep reminding myself that I haven't even been here for a week yet.

So yeah we don't have an apartment because we're shotgunning the area which just means that we're opening it up for Sisters so we came knowing nothing and having no one to teach. We do have Elders here though so they've been a ton of help and at first we lived with the Salem sisters and right now we're living with the Bayside Sisters and hopefully they'll have an apartment for us soon. We did get a BRAND NEW Chevy Cruze though and it's the best. It's so much fun. It's literally brand new. Like we're only at like 600 miles right now.

Sister Caldwell had kind of the worst trainer actually so she's been the best trainer for me so far. She is seriously the best. So happy and enthusiastic and so much fun. We get along really well and she's taught me so much already. I'm terrified everytime we knock on a door but the Lord has blessed me so much and I just move right past the fear and we do it. The members in this ward are the best too. They love having sister missionaries and they are so ready to do missionary work.

So far we've gone tracting and mostly just contacted part member families and less actives.

We had dinner at the Relief Society President's house last night, Sister Six, she's the best. She sat with us for I don't know how long going through the ward list with us helping us get to know everyone. Her daughter leaves in 2 weeks for Panama City on her mission.

We had dinner one night at the Pola's house. They both served missions so they LOVE the missionaries and they have the two cutest girls. We had Thai food and they made us try hot sauce so I tried Dave's Insanity sauce and I thought I was going to die. The Elder's tried this sauce that was only ghost peppers and they were crying it was so hot. It was the best thing ever. Sister Caldwell and I were just laughing. We've had so much fun already. The Elders in our area are Elder Gremmert and Elder Krump, both from Washington. Elder Gremmert is training Elder Krump too so it's lots of fun with two new missionaries here. They're both super great though.

On Saturday we went to the Ward BBQ and got to know a lot of the members and it was lots of fun. It's exhausting always meeting new people and always smiling and being on the go but in the last 2 1/2 weeks I have learned so much about myself and the gospel and others and I'm so excited for the next 18 months to keep learning more.

Also  we had a baptism. (I think I even beat Molly at that.) but really it was just the Elders baptism so we  got to go since they're in our ward and it was really good. Whenever something doesn't go as planned they just call on the missionaries literally at the last second so Sister Caldwell led the music and I said a prayer. They didn't come to church though so they weren't confirmed which is SUCH a bummer. We saw the little kids at the park yesterday though and they're so excited about church so hopefully the mom will still motivated.

And yesterday at church Sister Caldwell and I taught Primary (at the last second again) and it was lots of fun. The little kids here are the best. There are so many strong families in our ward.

Sorry my emails are always so random but I'll have to get better about writing things down during the week that I want to tell you. I LOVE YOU ALL SO SO MUCH and I miss you more than ever but thank you so much for making it possible for me to go on a mission and for having me grow up in a family that has always been strong in the church. I love you!

Love, Sister Szabo

Transfer pictures

 Sister Caldwell, my trainer

 Sister Romney (who went to the Richmond side)

I love them both!