I arrived safely in my first official area Wednesday morning and was welcomed at the airport by not just 1 but 2 companions! Yep, there's 3 of us!! My companions are Sister Dial (Idaho) and Sister Hiatt (Washington, near Moses Lake area). They took me to our flat, a cute little 2 story apartment in the city of Riccarton. We have a nice little kitchen, 1 bathroom, and a little bedroom with 3 beds jammed in there! HA!
After unpacking a bit and grabbing some lunch we went out to work! We used the car that day since my bike wasn't yet set up, it's so crazy to drive on the other side of the road! they're having me sit shotgun so I can get to know the area! Our area is right in the city, so I have yet to see the Christchurch that everyone raves about when visiting new Zealand.
Thursday Friday and Saturday were days packed with work! We don't have alot of investigators, mostly less active members that we are working with to get them back to church. Everyone is so nice here! We've met a few sour apples while street contacting and tracting but we brush those off and continue forward. I got a hole in one of my skirts my first day biking which was a bummer, but biking around here is pretty nice! It's flat which helps alot!
This week has been one of the hottest weeks in history, apparently they were one day short of breaking a record heat streak, so I sweat alot! haha!
Everyone here likes to pick on the new missionary; I've said the prayer at EVERY house we've been to. Yesterday (Sunday) I was getting ready around 7:30 and our phone rang, it was the second counselor calling to ask if "the new missionary would give a talk at church" and church was going to start at 9!!! So I quickly wrote a talk, then we went to grab Pooja, our investigator and went to church! It ended up being a really awesome meeting and I got to meet alot of awesome members!
After church we went home and were doing some studying and then our district leaders called, as we were talking to them, the GROUND STARTED TO SHAKE!!! Some books started falling off shelves and we all dove under the table! The earthquake lasted for about 25-30 seconds and we later found out it was a 5.9!!!! So crazy! Later that day there were a few more after shocks which were scary. Earthquakes are big here in Christchurch, they had a biiiig one like 7.8 about 5 years ago with alot of damage so everyone is pretty nervous about that happening again! We were all safe and there was no damage to the apartment! Thank goodness!
This whole week has been a pretty hard one for me emotionally... Homesickness sometimes hits you really hard out of nowhere. Little things bring back thoughts or memories, and people remind you of family and friends. I crave hugs from my parents and cracking jokes with my siblings and friends. Sometimes the pain of it is physical for me, it makes me sick. But as I think about home I say a prayer and instead of missing things, it turns into a happy feeling of knowing how blessed I am to have such wonderful parents, loving siblings, and amazing friends. It makes me look forward to the day when I can return home and create more memories. The love I feel in my heart from my Savior can take away any pain or homesickness. When this happens I look at the tag I get to wear over my heart these 18 months. I remind myself that I need to wear it everyday, as if its my last day wearing it, because there will come a day when I have to take it off for good and I will never be able to wear Sister Golden over my heart again.
Being a missionary is so indescribable. You have so much strength knowing how many people all over the world are praying for you. I LOVE this work and I love being a part of it. sometimes I remind myself that I'm not only doing this for my Heavenly Father, but also my future family, and that really keeps me going.
Thank you everyone for all the thoughts and prayers! I love you all! Until next week!
-Sister Golden
PS ~ these are pictures from when I was at the MTC
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| My companions Sisters Wilcox and Aperaamo |
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| Love her! |
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| View from the MTC |
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| My District |
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| Hamilton Temple |
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