Enduring to the End

Dear Family,

Things are going good here! They sure love there football here!!
My comp. is from Tremonton. She is 24 years old and she will be going home a few months, but she loves the work and does not want to leave.

We got a new investigator from a ward member so we start this week. We don't tract because we have so many referrals and investigators, so that keeps us very busy!!

We drive a Subaru 2013, it is really nice. My comp. gets to drive because she is the senior comp..

So our study this month is on the Book of Mormon our mission pres. says its because the Book of Mormon the musical is coming out and he said its a musical that pretty much makes fun of the church.
So they want us to study up on the book of Mormon like crazy...

They said 48% of the missionaries have been out here less then 6 months.
We have these things in our car called TiWi and they tell us to slow down if we are speeding and they text warnings to the mission house if we don't slow down or if we are driving past 9:30 pm and we have a card we have to put on it so it know who the driver is. And there are only a dozen missions who have them. They said that we are the 2nd mission who has the most cars.

They also said that between January and May in Omaha Nebraska there were no pros-lighting  areas for sisters, and they all worked in the trail center, and they only had 20 sisters. Now they have 60 sisters, and tons of areas opened up. So they said that because of all the new young missionaries a lot of them have been struggling and a have been close  to going home. So this month our president has been focusing on enduring to the end and staying strong through the trial. I get to go to the mission leadership training which are for the zone leaders and sisters training leaders because my companion is a training leader.

SO last night we drove to Omaha and we stayed in an apartment with the trail center sisters.
Then when we woke up we walked over to the trail center we went in winter quarters and they turned music on and we got to run or walk around, and it was fun. I hope that I might be able to serve there during my mission.

Can you guys google ways to prevent bed bugs because I don't want to get them. All the Big Bugs are gross here!!

I love you so much and I miss everyone so much Love sister Sommers. :)

Here In Lincoln Nebraska!!

Well, I'm finally in Nebraska! 

The people here are really nice, and friendly. My mission president is also really nice; they really are all so sweet! We have also been super busy so the days go by so fast.

It's hot and humid here so there are a lot of huge bugs, and it's kinda strange because a lot of people are missing teeth.

Oh! And Nebraska is the 7th in the nation for bed bugs. So when me and my comp. get home at night we have to spray all of our clothes, us, and our stuff down with alcohol, to prevent are apartment from getting them.

It's soooo gross!!!!!

My first area is the Trendwood ward which is in Lincoln Nebraska.  My companion right now is Sister Vance and she has two more month until she goes home. We actually have two set of missionaries over our ward, because the ward is so big, they have us and a pair of Elders. They split the ward up half and half, so we get half the area and they get the other. We also have people who have us for dinner at least  three times a week. It is a really nice ward.

I love you tons!! I can only write on Monday, so you will only receive letters from me once a week. I really enjoyed talking to you guys on the phone though at the airport. Have you been getting my letters? I can only write on Monday because my mission president says he does not want us getting distracted. He says that if we get lost in the work and only write on Mondays than time will fly by and we'll be home in a blink of an eye.

Right now we have about nine investigators, and we have one with a baptismal date on October 12th.

We also have had to give up two of our investigators recently. We had to give one of our investigators to the University Elders today, and we are turning another investigator named Chris over to the Elders in our Ward.

There was a bit of confusion with the Elder missionaries in our ward and us because we were both told that we were going to be teaching Chris, even though only one of us can. We ended up deciding to let the Elders teach Chris to cheer them up, because they have been feeling down lately, and most of their investigators end up having us teach them because they prefer Sister missionaries. :)

We also recently went to Winter-quarters, and it was really cool. I hope for part of my mission I can serve there, it is a really neat and spiritual place. 

I love you all so much and miss you tons!! Make sure to tell everyone to write!!

              Write back soon,

               Sister Sommers

Miranda's First Letter From the MTC!

The MTC has been a lot of fun, it reminds me of EFY! The spirit is so strong here and I feel my testimony growing everyday. The first day I got here was so hard that when I left you guys I started to cry, but I ran into Tasha Scheffler and she has really helped me.

My companion is from Ogden she went to Northridge, and she is so nice.  So far I was made a senior companion, and my companion and I were also called to be the music coordinators. It should be a lot of fun, even though I am not very musical. :)

I know this is where I a suppose to be! I love what I am doing, although I have to admit that the food here is not very good. Everyone else love it, but I think I just miss your cooking Mom.

When people ask me where I am from my district always says, "Don't let her skin tone trick you!" We have people here in our district from Hawaii and Arizona, but I am tanner then all of them!

The teachers here are the best, I am learning so much! They are tutoring all the missionaries to  understand the Book of Mormon easier.  We also taught our first real investigator as a district yesterday, it went really well.

I love everyone in my district! They are all so smart and the sprit is so strong with them. And something really cool is that when we fly out to Nebraska we will have 21 missionaries coming.

Well, I got to go!
I love you tons,
Sister Sommers

Fun Facts About Nebraska!

Alrighty! Who wants to learn a little bit about the wonderful state Miranda will be living in...anyone...?

Well you don't have a choice! So here we go! :)

Nebraska!

1. Its state capital is Lincoln, although its largest city is Omaha.

Here's some pictures of the state:

As you can tell it's pretty flat... :)

2. Their major industries lie in farming corn, wheat, soybeans, and sorghum (whatever that is).

3. The residents are referred to as Nebraskans, and their state's nickname is the Cornhusker State.

4. Their state motto is "Equality before the law. " Very inspiring.

5. Beautiful Nebraska is their state song:

Beautiful indeed. :)

6. The state bird is the Western Meadowlark:

Cute! :)

7. And their state animal is a White-tailed Deer:

Also known as Bambi!!! :D

8. The Goldenrod is their state flower:

9. And the state tree is the Cottonwood:

Cool huh? 

Some interesting facts:

10. The Lied Jungle in Omaha is the world's largest indoor rain forest. 

11. Nebraska is the birthplace of the Reuben sandwich, and Kool-Aid.

12. And lastly, Nebraska is located in a place in the U.S. called Tornado Valley, where a very high number of tornadoes take place. So...

That girl might end up being Miranda...  ;)