Hola familia y amigos!
This last week was insane, and I have a bit to share so BUCKLE UP!
The last week of the MTC was just like the rest of all of the weeks that I have had thus far, except that we had all of our goodbyes and our traveling. (Duh).
We got to hear stories from my Maestros in the MTC about their missions, and the cool stuff that they got to do while there.
Then, half of my district left for their reassignments and their actual mission. I was pretty sad because I was close to several of them, but happy to see them off on their adventures. I had to say good bye to my first companion :( and had my whole room to myself to pack and get ready.
Packing took forever, but I was 97.32 percent sure that my suitcases were both below the 50 pound mark for plane travel.
I had to wake up at the terrible hour of 2 AM to prepare, and I headed down to the travel office at 3 in the morning. I then got to travel to my mission!
That travel time was about 14 to 17 hours of travel, and was incredably brutal. I traveled on 1 bus, 3 trains, and 2 planes. And a car. Can't forget the car.
On our second flight, we were boarded and sat in the plane to wait for it to take off. But it didn't. For THREE HOURS. It was abysmal. Turns out, the rear of the plane had some chipped paint and they needed to go through a stack of paperwork inorder to fly. No fun.
Because of that, we arrived in Tucson to late to receive orientation, so the Senior missionaries that met us at the airport rushed us over to the stake center for us to meet our Companions.
My first companions in the Field! I was placed in a trio with Elder Smith and Elder Knight, who also happen to be my Zone Leaders as well, which is really cool as I get to watch them deal with the zone. It's really cool.
While I've been in Tucson for 4 days, we have gone to buffalo wild wings twice, which my comps call B-Dubs for some reason.
For conference, we jumped between members houses and got to witness the cool traditions they do during conference. It was also really cool because we were in a different house for each session, so I got to meet a lot of different people.
Conference itself was, of course, seriously fuego. I enjoyed both President Nelsons talk and Elder Pingree Juniors talk. Both answered questions I was having, and one itself was answered by the prophet, who really shouldn't have been in conference, so that was a major testimony builder for me. (If you haven't seen these 2 talks, I highly recommend them! They are AWESOME)
After Conference, we went and contacted a family and had dinner with them (they gave us Ice cream! Picture below), which was my first real discussion as a missionary, which was awesome. It was crazy, because I kinda expected we were going to be giving a message, but my companions didn't tell me the game plan, so they dealt their message then looked at me to finish it off, which was really terrifying, but also really cool because I felt that my voice was guided by the spirit to teach those people, so that was amazing.
After that, we met with a non member in her home, and we got to share a conference talk with her. It was amazing because the Spirit was so strong in that house when we listened to Elder Holland's talk: Fear not, and Believe only. After words, she thanked us and we went on our way.
Today we went on a hike, where I took a lot of cool photos which are at the bottom of this email.
All of the photos are from my time here in Tucson. Look forward to more Missionary work!
Also, real quick, if you haven't had the opportunity to watch conference, I highly recommend listening to at least a few of the talks. If time is whats holding back, I recommend listening to them while on commute or during a quiet moment. I testify that the speakers that speak during conference are directed so by God, and the messages they share are meant for us, God's children. If you are struggling with a problem or an issue, listen to a couple. The talks seem like they were written specifically for you. I have experienced it, and I encourage you to do so as well.
Sincerely,
Elder Bahnmiller
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