Pink Washing

Here I am in the Oregon Eugene Mission!  President Y and Sister Y are the missionaries who are in charge of the missionary work in this area.

I am so happy that I finally get the chance to write you again.  It has been awesome here.  I see sooo many miracles and most of them I don't even realize as miracles at the time.  We had 26 referrals given to us in the last week!  Sister R (my companion) says it is a good week if you get like 5.  I have not been too phreaked out and haven’t acted like a newbie too badly.  It is kind of funny to see people's responses when I tell them that I have only been on my mission for like 6 days.  I should probably stop telling people even though I think it is fun.  People just want to tell me all of the pranks that they have played on greenies (brand new missionaries).  Sister W told me that President Y said he would send any one home that played a trick on a greenie so, I am safe. 

So, Sister R is amazing!  She is stellar, she has only been out about 4 months and we are white-washing, I guess it is technically pink-washing because we are sister missionaries.  White-washing is when the missionaries who have been in the area are both replaced.  So, there is a lot of work to be done.  I think that we are showing the people here we are really going to work hard.  The area is so grateful to have sister missionaries.  We are fed every night.

Back to Sister R, my missionary companion.  Sister R is from Utah.  She is a niece of one of our Texas friends.  She says to tell you that she is BOMB.  (Bomb means super awesome here.)  I have never really heard this term until I got here.  She has 6 siblings; 5 sisters and 1 brother.  She worked in a hospital as a CNA (Certified Nurse's Assistant) in the NICU (Newborn intensive care unit) at a huge hospital.  She is going to be going back to school to get a nursing degree.  We love laughing together.  I sometimes think that we are having too much fun while we are on our missions, but we are working really hard.  She keeps saying that I don't need any training.  Usually for the first 12 weeks a new missionary sticks with the same companion (aka "trainer") in the same area.  I get an hour of training time each day.  I guess I am keeping afloat pretty well.    So, don't worry about me.  We joke that pretty soon we won't know who the senior companion is, but I still get to back out the car.  I am not that good yet, but just give me four months.

The weather has been super sunny here.  I keep thinking this isn't Oregon, because it is so sunny.  I guess in the "winter" (or the rainy season, November to March) it is either raining or foggy because of all of the hills.  I hear it is drizzle rain, so I am thinking it must be kind of like Germany.  I thought it would be like a rain forest here but maybe that happens in the rain.  There are lots of spiders here.  Eww.  Luckily it is mostly spider webs, instead of spiders.

I just wanted to let you know that I know this church is true and that it can benefit everyone.  I wish more people would be willing to listen, but I am grateful for the chance to state my testimony with boldness.  I love wearing my black name tag.  It reminds me of who I am and why I am here.  <3 Sister Cluff