Hello everyone! So I've been in the field for 6 days already and they have flown by! I'm in one of the stakes in Layton, UT and the adjustment has been quite smooth from the MTC to real life, surprisingly. I made it a goal in the MTC to learn and practice as much as I possibly could so I'd be prepared to work with real people. My trainer, Sister Wright, is amazing! She is from England so she has the British accent and I feel like I'm in a Jane Austen movie every day. She's only been out 3 months and she's already training. I have a feeling I'll be training someone too when my 12 weeks training is up. I'm adjusting to the schedule quite well. I am the designated driver for our car because Sister Wright doesn't have an American drivers license so it's been quite an experience getting thrown into it! And I drive like, all day from appointment to appointment, so thank you to everyone who let me drive their cars before my mission; the practice really did help! Sister Wright thanks you as well. The only thing about driving in Utah is that the roads aren't flat, especially in Layton, and if you don't look out, the transition from parkinglot to road has a huge dip in it and my car will scrape the ground. I already got two aggressive driving warnings from my little GPS monitor that reports to the mission office if I'm speeding or doing anything wrong. My district leader tells me it's a rite of passage for every missionary when they get their first aggressive driving, so I guess I nailed that the 2nd day! My first day the new missionaries were able to go see Temple Square for a special mission tour before we met our trainers, and the Sisters that took us around were so wonderful and helped us feel the Spirit. I am so grateful we have this resource to bring our Investigators to! We saw a movie called "God's plan" and it was amazing and made me think about my family and how grateful I am that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, and the knowledge that we can be with our family members forever through the blessings of the temple. Also, one of the Temple Square Sisters told us how hard it was on her first week being a missionary, and mentioned that she missed her twin sister at BYU. I went up to her later and we talked about how we both have twins at BYU that we miss, and she gave me some really comforting words and advice.
Miracles are already happening in Layton since I arrived! Although it's been slightly overwhelming to memorize the 5 Wards that we cover, as well as the 5 Bishops, 5 WML's, and of course all the less active, nonmember, recent converts and potential and current investigators each ward has to offer, I'm learning day by day and Sister Wright knows all these people and doesn't expect me to know it all right away. Thank goodness names and faces have always been easy for me to remember! I invited an investigator to be baptized on Friday night! I felt the Spirit so strong as I invited her using the exact wording from Preach My Gospel and she said yes because she finally was in the right circumstances to be qualified for baptism. If everything goes right, we will have our first baptism this Saturday the 2nd!
Also, I had an inspiring experience Wednesday night at our first dinner appointment (we had roast and potatoes and carrots and rolls--thanks for the head's up Dad). I was still kind of in shock processing everything that had happened--I'm in Layton, I'm a missionary, this is for real--and I went to the bathroom and just prayed that I'd be able to be a good missionary and that I'd feel welcome here and be able to help these people. Then halfway through the dinner appointment, the Brother says, "So Elder Nelson said a year ago to 'ask the missionaries' if you ever need help with something. So I figured I'd ask you how I can get the people in our ward more excited about family history and temple work." Sister Wright just turned to me like "It's all yours". He is trying to get old people who are really into genealogy to not be afraid of computers and to learn how to use familysearch.org, and some of them are less actives we can help reactivate in the process! We are going to organize a family history fireside, and the Sisters, (so basically me) are going to run it and teach these old people how to transfer their genealogy from paper to online. I really do feel needed here, not just in family history work, but that certainly is helping and is a strength to our companionship. I hope you are all doing well, thank you for the emails and letters, they keep me going! I love Layton and being a missionary, it's the best decision I've ever made.
-Sister Fluegel
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