September 6th, 2016

OH my gosh... Where do I even begin with this letter...

So two weeks ago I packed up everything I owned (gave more than half of it away) and said goodbye to K-Zoo and hello to East Lansing and Michigan State Uuniversity. That was quite the emotional goodbye. Everyone tells you it's the people you will love the most, but no one talks about how emotional it always is to leave the people you become so close with.  My first couple of days spent in East Lansing I stayed with the other set of STL's that I will be partnering with (if that's what you can call it). We three worked campus all day every day until the new missionaries came in Wednesday night.  I forgot how big MSU was.  That place is literally gigantic.  50,000+ students.  So many foreigners too.  My first day on campus was two days before school officially started, but all the students from out of the country come early to get situated. I felt like I was serving in Hong Kong for a bit.  Wednesday night rolled around and it was super fun going to the airport, I haven't been inside one since I came out, and welcoming all the new missionaries.  We thought it best that I didn't tell any of them that I was also a trainer, so I was able to get to know them all pretty well.  There's only one way to explain them all, "wide eyed and bushy tailed."  They have no idea what they are getting themselves into :)

   Thursday morning I had to head to the Stake center early with Sister Jacobsen (my temporary companion) because I was asked by President Jacobsen to train all the trainers on training.  Did all that make sense?  I trained for about 40 minutes until it was time to go meet the greenies!  President J lined us all up and gave the big count down.  My new comps are Sister Hymas, from Pleasant Grove Utah, and Sister Dehl, from Burlington Wyoming.  Both of them are super different and had super different upbringings, but I am excited to be with both.  They were shocked when they found out we were in charge of an area on campus and very scared. As soon as we got all their luggage together I took them straight to campus and gave them the real experience.  Hahaha, the poor things, they had no idea what to do or what was going on.  In fact I have been talking so much that my voice is practically gone this morning.

    I knew double training (two greenies) was going to be tough, along with being an STL, but I had no idea what to expect and I definitely didn't expect what it's like.  All my time, focus, and attention is completely on other people right now.  If I am not talking to the greenies, I am on the phone with the assistants, if not the assistants, the ZL's, if not the ZL's other missionaries in the Lansing Zone. The Lansing Zone had to open a bunch of new areas because of all the new missionaries that came in, so we are now the biggest zone in the mission. Yikes! Life is sooo busy!

    MSU had it's first home game on Friday, and that was a real treat. People were going crazy. The frat houses were OUT OF CONTROL.  I thought movies exaggerated those things, but they definitely do not.  Sooo many people were all over campus and we for sure took advantage of it all.  Sister Dehl and Sister Hymas both come from pretty sheltered backgrounds and I don't think they are used to this type of crazy campus lifestyle.  Sister Hymas came from Happy Valley, Utah and Sister Dehl grew up in a town with a population of 250.  Haha!!  PRAY FOR ALL OF US PLEASE. 

One last thing, please pray for our area, we need investigators.

I love you all and have no time to think about you, but I STILL pray for you every night :)

Sister Viehweg