Simona, Sister George and Sister England--looks like this was her first weekend when they did the hike for girls' camp at High Bridge Trail

Have you seen this serious, studious Moni?

 

Simona said she found this orange flower, and it made her happy.

 

I don't like all the bugs here... They're creepy lookin!! :) The cicadas sound really cool, but they are freaky when they fly into your face!!!

 

Please send me recipes with only a few ingredients! 

 

There are about 3-4 companionships with 3 sisters in our mission because it's easier for outlying areas to have 3 sisters because then we can go and visit guys who are alone without taking someone with us. It makes lessons easier.

My apartment is nice. My bed is comfy. We have 2 bathrooms. We gave our neighbors downstairs a BOM and we will send them missionaries to their home in Florida which they're going back to :) It's nice here.



So my stomach has been getting upset every single day and I have thrown up a few times, so I decided that I am going to try 2 things. This week I am going without dairy to see if that helps. If it does, I will continue. If it doesn't, next week I will try going gluten-free. Hopefully something will help!!! :)  I don't know why I keep getting sick, but I'm having a hard time waking up in the morning and falling asleep at night. So I prayed and explained the situation to Heavenly Father. I was able to wake up this morning and I'm not really tired. :) It's good :)

 

Were you able to watch the worldwide broadcast yesterday?? Crazy stuff is afoot.....  Anyway, it was really good. Missionaries are now going to use Facebook in like every mission now instead of like 3. Also we are going to be using other websites to help spread the gospel so we can stay caught up with technology. We are also going to be giving more tours at church buildings... well we might not because we don't have a church building in Farmville haha. But the broadcast was really good because it lays out exactly what members need to do in order to have the missionaries be more effective. I hope the members take it to heart and help us find people to teach and come with us so we can have more member-present lessons!!

 

So in my branch here in Farmville there is a family who have an almost missionary. He got called to the Salt Lake West mission.  If you meet him, feed him because his family feeds me :)

 

In the High School where I am, there are 2 LDS members I think. 

O

h and I forgot. We had 4 tornado warning and hurricane warnings. It pours constantly. I saw two old Camaros this week. It was cool :)

Life is good.

 

Well, as we say, The church is true, the book is blue, and we are humble Mormons.... hahhahahahahahaaha :)

 

Love,

Sister Moni

Sister Moni didn't send an actual "blog" letter this week, so I pieced together some things she said.  We also got a picture of Simona with her mission president and his wife--I'll have to see if I can scan it and post it here.  She looked happy!

Does that look like a tired face, or what?

I totally love the nametag!!

She wanted everyone to see the bruise from the IV.

Two companions--Sister Thompson and Sister Lund.

Going. . .

going. . .

gone!

 

We've had like 5 tornado/hurricane warnings. and yeah it's pretty normal.

I keep trying to send pictures, but it's not working!! Maybe I'll just have to print some at Walmart and send them :(

We've been fed twice!! We got spaghetti once and breakfast casserole once. I got promised squirrel if I stay here long enough :) I guess it's not squirrel season.... :) haha

I'm in  a branch with like 30 active members. We meet in a strip mall because we don't have a building. :) We can get contacts from members, but we don't so far. And no one answers their doors. But it's ok. All of our appointments fall through too... But that's ok.

Sorry I kinda forgot to tell you about actual mission stuff :) Haha. The plane trip here was good. I sat between a missionary and an uninterested guy on the first plane to Georgia. Oh and while we were in the SLC airport, some guy bought us breakfast at McDonald's. It was really cool. Georgia was cool. And we flew over like 12 different states in order to get there :) Then on the second plane, I sat next to a member, so that was cool. The mission home was really cool.

But before we went to the mission home, we stopped at a church and they fed us dinner and we had our interviews with President. Then we went to the mission home and we didn't get to bed until like 12:30, so Sister Perry let us sleep in until almost 8. It was cool :) Oh and the mission home is a mansion next to a bunch of other mansions where a bunch of rich people live. It was cool :)

Then the next day we went to a meeting where President announced who our trainers were and they described the places we were going and told who they were training. Then we left with our trainers for our areas. When we got to our apartment, I unpacked and then we went knocking doors. No one answered. We were supposed to have a few appointments, but those people weren't home either. We visited a less-active member, but nothing came of that. Then we were supposed to have a dinner appointment, but everything kept falling through. It was good though :)

Oh and ya know how I told you I was sick, well I kept getting worse every day until Friday when I so exhausted and sick that it was hard to get up. So my comps called Sister Perry and she told us to drive to Richmond and I went and saw a doctor. It was good that I went when I did because the doc said that I had a severe sinus infection and if I hadn't come in, it would've turned into Pneumonia. That would've been bad. So he gave me some antibiotics and stuff so I can sleep (codeine haha) and I'm starting to feel better. I'm really glad that I was able to go to a doctor and get it figured out. So I am about an hour drive from Richmond in case you were wondering.

Oh and I'm in the Richmond mission. I can't remember if I told you that or not. :)

Sister Moni

She's in Farmville! 

One thing Simona mentioned was that in her mission, the newbies are not called greenies--they are Goldens.  So this is where Moni is a Golden.

Why did the turtle cross the road?

I don't know, but we almost hit it!! So I got out of the car and picked it up and put it on the other side haha :)

So Farmville is great!! This is way more country than I have ever lived in!! How y'all doin back in Utah??
Yes, the town I live in is called Farmville. Oh my goodness it is way more country than I have ever even seen. I've been on a couple farms and let me tell you, it is crazy! Personally, I think I'm more of a city girl. There are a bunch of hicks though :) I'm learning to speak the language pretty well. "How y'all doin?" "Well, I'll be John Hancocked!" "He's gonna get a hurtin!" Lots of southern accents. If I'm here for long enough, I will get to try fried squirrel and fried 'possum as well!! Super duper excited!! I don't like cicadas. Fireflies are probably the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life!! Frogs sound cool at night too :)

So on Friday and Saturday my companions (Sisters George and England) and I got to go to Mini Girls Camp. We got to teach the girls about plants and Orienteering and we made pizzas on Friday. Then we got to go to the hike with them on Saturday. The Hike was the historical place called High Bridge Trail. It was used in the Civil War I think to transport something somewhere. I forgot my camera cord, so I'll send pictures next time!!

Well, Virginia is hot and humid and green!! I miss the mountains, but the trees are nice :)

I love ya!!

Sister Moni

MTC, Doctors and MRIs

Thursday night (May 30, 2013) my arms and legs went numb and then I couldn't walk very well.  They took me to the MTC health clinic and that doctor said to go directly to the ER at the hospital.  I had to have an MRI.  That was no fun and I felt so alone laying there.  You have to hold completely still.  The worst part was before that they tried to put an IV in my arm and failed, so my arm really hurts.  I was crying and hollering pretty loud. I hollered real loud. But then they took it out and started over. But it's ok. They found a small cyst on my pineal gland--that's in my brain.  Yuck!

When I was in the ER and they took me to do the MRI (about midnight) I got scared. I told Satan to back off and he did, but I got a thought in my head. The Spirit told me this: It's ok. Your mom prayed for you. I know that because she prayed for me, everything was ok.
 

I went in Saturday morning  to get another MRI just to find out exactly what's going on with the cyst. The Dr. said they find them all the time and they're almost always benign, but they just want to make sure. And I got another IV. YAY!! Not excited. But that's ok.

 

Life is good though. I'm not worried. I told the nurses that I'm going to Virginia next week no matter what. My comp Sis Thompson and my Sister Training Leader Sis Lund came with me and my entire district and my teachers prayed for me.

Friday night Elder Krump gave me a blessing.  It was really nice, and part of what he said was that I would make life-long friends in the MTC and out in the field.  That was nice to hear.

The MRI on Saturday was with contrast, that means with dye so they can see better.  It also made me kind of loopy and I wasn't giving much information to my parents when I got to talk to them.  I just wanted to sleep.  Sunday was good.

Monday I got the results from the second MRI--nothing, nada, zip.  But, I am officially delayed because they want me to see a neurologist and when that doctor says I can go, I can go.  But not until then.  They called around and some people said, oh yeah, we can work her in--in about two months!  But luckily they kept calling and found an appointment for Tuesday.  Love that doctor!  She asked me if I knew what was wrong.  I said no, and she said she didn't either.  She thinks it's stress.  Hmm.  Just what my mom said.  She also asked me if I felt forced to go on a mission.  My answer:  No, I've been planning this since I was 5.

Well, the neurologist said I can leave with my group on Wednesday morning!  Our plane leaves at 7:30 a.m., which means we have to leave the MTC at 4:00--IN THE MORNING!!

Now, I have to pack. . .