My New Area

I was asked a lot of questions about my new area and my companion so I am going to try to answer them. 

It is very green here and smells like pine trees.  It also smells smoky due to the forest fire nearby.  So, every time I go outside I feel like I am going camping.  Some of the homes also feel cabin-y, at least from the outside.  I hear there are a lot of mountains but I haven't really seen them due to the smoke. It is a high desert area.  It reminds me of camping in the mountains of Arizona, except with rivers.  I hear there is not too much rain here.  I just keep hearing about the snow.  Some years I guess it snows 3 feet and other years it snows maybe once.  I hear it is usually above freezing and then drops below (lowest is the high teens) during the night.  Right now it is hovering in between the 60-80's where a sweater is starting to sound like a good idea outside.

My new companion is Sister N, she is from Ivans, UT (near St. George).  She has been out 3 months and had 2 transfers.  I am her first companion after her trainer.  I think she is figuring out how I am different and similar to Sister K (her trainer).  Sister N hasn't told me how I measure up yet.  I think she is still calculating.  She is great!  She was really quiet with Sister K but has had to speak up since I have been here, because I know nothing about the area.  I don't know if I could even make it home without the GPS yet. 

The ward is great out here.  This area hasn't had sister missionaries in a really long time.  Sister missionaries just came in about 6 months ago, so we are novelties still.  It is fun and they treat us well.  The ward boundaries are bigger here.  It is quieter during sacrament meeting, because there are not as many children.  In my last area, there were a lot of children, so it is different.  I also have found some "family" here.  There are some Laytons here, and yes they are descendants of Christopher Layton.  They have the book and everything.  I also found someone who is related to the 2nd president of BYU (Benjamin Cluff, I believe).  There are also a couple of others who have the Cluff name in our ward.  I think they are less-active but I want to meet them.

The work is going good here, it can always be better but there is a lot of hope.  It is starting to get dark earlier and people don't really like strangers knocking on their door after dark.  Right now we are trying to schedule appointments at that time, and meet with people who just moved in to the ward, and hopefully start teaching more people during that hour.

I love you all!  Thank you for all you do!!!  And I love your letters!  Love, Sister Cluff