Well, the mission is fully underway now, and things have been.....interesting, to say the least. To get the preliminary details started: my area is called Noble, which covers about five or six towns (Noble, Lexington, Slaughterville, Purcell, and probably some others), and my apartment is in Purcell. My area is south of Norman, which is south of Moore, which is south of OKC. Elder Hoddy I believe is in "the Village" which is in OKC. Speaking of which, I had to let go of Elder Hoddy as my companion, which was hard... but my new companion is Elder Evans from Santaquin, Utah. He's almost 21, and he's been out for 15 months. We drive a 2011 Chevy Malibu, and we even have a CELLPHONE! I'm thinking iPhones and new cars will come when I'm in the latter half of my mission!
So let's start with everything that's happened since I left the MTC:
So let's start with everything that's happened since I left the MTC:
Tuesday: I woke up and 5:00 in the morning, got all my stuff together, said goodbye to Utah. THAT was sad... Not a day goes by where I don't think about the mountains... We all flew to OKC, landed on FLATNESS, and soon met our mission president and his wife! They seem nice, but we'll be getting the Walkenhorsts in July. To sum up Oklahoma, it's basically a southern version of Idaho except its really muggy and humid. Whenever I walk outside my hands instantly become sweaty and they always feel grimy! My towels are always damp, and all my papers and anything cardboard is crinkled because of how humid it is. It really makes me realize how dry Utah is. Lots of people live in trailer parks, and tons of people live on social security--at least in the area I'm at. License plates here are WEIRD. I'm not used to it!!! I've actually seen a couple Utah license plates already, and whenever I do I get this little heart palpitation inside me!!!! Man I miss Utah... Nothing here is white. The cement is an off-white that almost looks brown, and everyone has a tan--I already have somewhat of a tan from all the cleanup we've done. Grass and weeds are one in the same here in Oklahoma, they basically look the same. The sidewalk will end in random places, and Oklahoma doesn't seen to know what a curb is, because most asphalt roads will touch the grass without a curb. It's really easy to drive onto the grass. Walmart is the most normal place here. My apartment is all right (better than Heritage). EVERYONE here drives a Silverado... Everybody smokes here, too, ... My ward covers like five or six towns, and the stake covers about three or four counties. A lot of people here belong to the Baptist church or the Church of Christ.
Anyways, just some fun facts. We didn't have an orientation with all the new missionaries because of all the tornado stuff going on. We got put straight to work, got our bikes, got our stuff all put together, got our new companions, and we went straight to our areas. I miss Elder Hoddy tons... It's crazy how much I love that guy in the twelve days we were together in the MTC. My new companion is training me AND District Leader, both of which he's never done. We do things according to what the mission president says, which is different from the MTC. Not just that, but all that info could easily become irrelevant when we get a new mission president... I don't even know the ward members, or the investigators, or the area, or how to be a missionary... Being thrown into the mix has been difficult--my companion's had to explain EVERYTHING to me since the mission president didn't give us an orientation. So right now I'm just taking things one day at a time. It's getting better :) In any case, I'm not here to complain.
Wednesday:
I basically spent all day unpacking since I couldn't do it on Tuesday. My companion wanted to work, but he knew I couldn't live out of my suitcase. I really felt unproductive that day, but all things considered...
Thursday:
Today was the first time I got to witness a tornado. We were just biking in our town in the afternoon when it started raining slightly. People driving their cars pulled over to tell us that a tornado was coming! I met the Wintertons, a family with seven kids that live out in Lexington in the middle of nowhere. Their four oldest kids have iPhones. EVERYONE is OKC has an iPhone (hint hint). We went over to their house, which has a storm shelter, and watched a wall cloud head towards us!!!!! I literally got to see clouds swirling in the sky in. a. CIRCLE. Luckily the storm wasn't that bad, and we mostly just watched it pass by. It never touched the ground, so nothing bad happened as far as I know.
Friday:
Friday was a crazy day. First thing that happened was that this lady in our apartment building ran up to us and asked for sex! We kindly told her that we weren't allowed to do that and that we work professionally. She asked for our number and wanted to be friends (and by "friends" I'm sure she wanted to take it to the next level), but we still said no. My companion of 15 months told me that that's never happened to him before. Okay, he's been here 15 months. I've was here four days. Oh, and we had another tornado today, but this one was much worse. We drove to our storm shelter again, and the family was freaking out and said that this was the worst storm they'd ever witnessed. My companion agreed with them. These tornadoes actually touched the ground and killed some storm chasers. Again, the tornado didn't actually hit us, but we were all pretty scared. You know what I kept thinking? WELCOME TO OKLAHOMA.
Saturday and Sunday:
We spent all day with tornado cleanup from the one that occurred on May 20th. I forgot to take pictures, but the devastation is unreal. You will see cars on the ground like a little kid picking up a handful of Hot Wheel cars and throwing them everywhere. The frames of trailers will be pulled off and wrapped around a pole like a pretzel. The lay of the land looks completely different, and the trees look unnaturally bare. We were really able to help out some people that had lost everything. We dug through garbage and found old possessions, and we really made an impact on these people. That was the best part. I already have a tan!
That's life right now. I really got blindsided with all that's happened, but slowly but surely I'll get the hang of this mission thing, and I am thoroughly determined to stick it out these next two years!
Hope life is going well, I wish I could tell you more, but I REALLY must go. We only get an hour to email!
Elder Garnikins :)
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