Learning to Love Schedules

As you can imagine, I am not a schedule kind of a person.  So, it is kind of tough for me now but it is and will continue to get better.  I am probably going to be lost without a planner when I get back.

Here’s my daily schedule:

  6:29am - Wake-up.  Roll out of bed onto my knees in prayer position. 

                        Then I exercise for 1/2 an hour and get ready for the day. 

  8:00am - Personal study time.

  9:00am - Companion study.

10:00am - My training (which will happen for 12 weeks).

11:00am - We begin teaching others or looking for people who are interested

                         in learning more about The Church. 

12:00pm - We have an hour break for lunch. 

  5:00pm - We eat dinner with a member family from church.

  9:00pm - We have 30 minutes of daily planning for the next day.

10:30pm - In bed, with the lights out. 

Once a week, I have P-day (short for preparation day).  This is the day missionaries take care of all their personal needs like shopping, laundry, letter writing, and so on.  Most P-days I have from 10am-5pm as P-day.  On Halloween we had to be in by 7pm (no dressing up or holiday parties!) so our P-day was mixed around and it was from 1pm to 7pm.

The church members are taking care of us well here.  They are so excited to have sister missionaries.  We have had reports that they haven't had sister missionaries in this area for the last 41 years, but then we had reports of some sister missionaries…but not for a long time.

One of the hardest parts of the mission right now is knocking on doors.  Sister R says that that is her favorite part.  After knowing that, I have an even harder time doing it.  We made a goal that I would do it every other time.  (I came up with that goal.) 

The rainy season is kind of starting.  It is often foggy in the morning and the rain is really light.  It is like when you sit at Grandma Layton's house and the swamp cooler is spitting on you a little bit.  That is how the rain is.  Or at least the rain I have been in.  The misters at Six Flags have more water coming out of them than the rain I’ve been experiencing so far.

Here are some random facts (based on my limited experience) about Oregon:

There are hardly any sidewalks in neighborhoods. 

Lots of houses just have car-ports. 

There are tons of cats and almost every house we knock at has 1+ dogs. 

I want to finish by sharing my testimony.  I know this church is true.  I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that through him we can return and live in the best way possible with our Heavenly Father.  I love the Atonement; it is the best thing ever.  I know and can recognize how the gospel can help everyone I talk to.  As a missionary, I meet many people who have been humbled or have had hard lives.  While people have their own agency to decide what they believe, I want to share my testimony that Jesus Christ can help them.  I am grateful I get the chance to do this.  <3 Sister Cluff