From letter of Aug. 18, 2008:
We were met at the Connecticut airport about 3:45 p.m. [Aug. 11] by the mission pres. & his wife. They're great! As soon as we walked outside it was pouring rain! My umbrella has become my best friend! Sisters Baird & Jones picked me up & we did a bit of street contacting before heading to the mission home. There we had a very yummy dinner & a brief testimony meeting. I got a nice big room to myself & the bed was so comfy, especially since I'd been up since 1:15 a.m. & hadn't slept a bit on the plane.
Tuesday we had breakfast & lunch at the mission home with orientation smashed in between. Elder Carr (Sr. Missionary) made sure Elder Taylor [Shey Taylor of Declo just completing mission there] & I got a picture together. Then we met our trainers. Mine is Sister Wilson. She's a military child so she's not from any particular place. I like her work ethic--it really pushes me to be doing missionary work all of the time. I was terrified to knock on doors & wait those few, agonizing seconds before they would answer. But I'm over that now. I'm used to their rejection & them saying, "I'm all set" because they're Catholic. Tracting here doesn't yield much. We've given away only 1 Book of Mormon all week.
Wednesday all of our appointments fell through so we did some street contacting in Winsted, the most "city" part of our area, yet it is the poorest & kind of scary. We met a Catholic guy who really questions whether that religion is true. He had a definite interest in the BofM, but he lives out of our area in Torrington. Hopefully the Elders there will pick him up soon. That experience really lifted my spirits after such a sucky day.
Thursday was district meeting. There are 4 Elders in our district. I can't remember their names but 2 are from Canada. We had a couple of appointments, but the investigators don't seem to be progressing much. They like the company more than they have the desire to change. But Thursdays are amazing because of Hal & Jan, a part-member family. He joined 2 yrs. ago after investigating for 20 years. She still hasn't joined. But they always have the Sisters over on Thursdays for dinner. I get to practice the lessons on them. It's like a home away from home.
Friday we tracted in the rain. Once again, people don't wanna hear about Mormons. But we did give away a Bof M at the last house we stopped at. Elder & Sister Carr took us out to a really good Chinese restaurant. I got to hear her conversion story & how they met.
Saturday we did service for about 7 hours: painting the living room of a lady in the ward. It worked out to our advantage because we have to have another female with us to teach single men & she agreed to come with us that night. It was really good because she could give insights that hit home with the investigator.
Sunday we didn't have meetings with the bishop so we had a yummy breakfast with a member couple who are from Italy. Church was a bit different because it was so small. There are more people at the singles' branch [at home]. It's hard to remember everyone's names because I've never heard them before! Lots of people are converts who have come from other countries. The ward is great, but they have no desire to do missionary work. Any ideas how to motivate them? There hasn't been a baptism here in years. I guess that comes with being in a wealthy ward. We have lots of investigators but they aren't progressing. This used to be an Elders' area, but they moved Sisters in & they have worked super hard to get it where it is. Hopefully I can help in some way. This is definitely hard work, but I've never grown so much! I'm very happy to be here in Connecticut. It's a whole new world, but I'm slowly getting used to it.
