February 10, 2014

Wow. North Carolina is BEAUTIFUL! It reminds me a little of when I first went to Jamestown a year ago - so many trees! Nothing like Virginia Beach at all.

I have to say, I cried a lot when I drove away from the beach. I am so sad to leave Tidewater behind. I can't even explain what it feels like. My mission president said it really well at transfer meeting. I can't remember it word for word, but basically he said that only the Savior can really understand the trials we experience on our mission. We just can't put our experiences into words. I kind of feel the same way. I feel like my heart broken into tiny little pieces, floating out to all the people that I love there, but even that can't adequately describe the way I feel. North Carolina is really different. I'm still adjusting. Greenville is a relatively decent-sized city - nothing like Virginia Beach, but a good size. But the rest of our area is wide open spaces and tiny little towns. It'll take some getting used to.

We moved into the old apartment of a senior couple that just went home. The work is exploding here. I haven't even unpacked yet, that's how busy we've been. I don't even know what makes us that busy, but I feel like I'm scrambling around to figure out what's going on. The ward is really Southern and really friendly. It's fun :)

We already have some fantastic investigators! I don't have enough time to tell you about all of them, so I'll just pick one. Her name is Sandra. She's going to be baptized in a few weeks. She's so eager to learn about the gospel. We had a great lesson on Thursday evening with her about scripture study. I'm excited to keep working with her.

It's incredible to see the hastening of the work almost literally here. The ward and stake leaders have taken the counsel from the prophet very seriously, and because of all their efforts, the missionaries are so so so busy! This is exactly the way it should be! We have 77 member referrals we're struggling to contact. It's truly amazing. (In stake conference in November, the stake president asked every member to write down names that could use the gospel and give them to the missionaries. There were about 2000 referrals total.) To kind of put that in perspective for you, in the last 13 months of my mission I've only had 108 referrals. So 77 at once is absolutely unheard of. The member support is wonderful.

I'm grateful to be here. My companion is sweet. She just turned 19 in December. She's from Tooele, UT. It's strange to think about how young she is. When I left on my mission, she was still in high school....But I'm grateful to be serving with her. She's very dedicated and eager to learn.

I love you all! Have a great week!

With love,

Sister Jasperson

 

Bethel - this little tiny community at the top of our area