Week 1: Off to a Running Start

05/15/2016 -- Well, it has been a busy, busy week. From the second we got on the bus at the St. Louis airport, we were hard at work. One of the main things we did on the bus was learn a song called Invocation. This song is based around the verses in the Bible that say where two or three are gathered in His name, He will also be there.  It is a truly beautiful song. We sing it nightly as a group in front of the Christus statue in the Visitors' Center here before kneeling together for "family prayer."  Doing this nightly has become one of my favorite things about being here.  This year, there are 4 tech missionaries & we are all sister missionaries.  We are living in the Hatch House with the 11 band sisters, which is nice since we do not otherwise have much of a chance to interact with them as we are usually with the stage missionaries.  The 4 of us have the basement to ourselves with one bedroom containing 2 bunk beds and a large walk-in closet.  Despite initially having ice cold water due to a broken water heaters (that thankfully was quickly repaired), living in the Hatch House has been great.  My companion is Sister Young, and she is amazing. I cannot imagine a better companion.  We have a lot of fun together!  Sisters Robinson & Harmer are the other techs and are also great.   Elder Murset (male missionaries are referred to as Elders) asked me to be the driver for the techs.  Thankfully, we have a normal car not a van, so I am not too nervous about the assignment anymore.  It has actually been a real blessing that I am driving since I am the only one who is experienced in the heavy rainstorms we get here.  I love being in a place that gets real storms! This week, we have been working almost non-stop from 8 AM until 10 PM daily but have accomplished so much!  At first, we did a lot of heavy lifting bringing out all the props and set pieces, and later, I did a lot of sewing to mend set pieces.  Elder & Sister Camp (the directors) are in awe at all the techs & stage missionaries have accomplished.  The stage set record time for finishing blocking the shows -- exactly one week from the time we got on the bus.  They are already so amazing too, and Elder Camp cannot believe it (though there is always room to improve).  We are apparently the best group of techs ever, so there will be some changes to give us more responsibility. Each companionship will be either part of A or B cast and will help with the children's show in the morning so that props and puppets from the pre-show are taken care of. The 3 off-days for  our cast, we will do tours of sites as initially planned.  They are also requesting permission from Salt Lake (Church HQ) for us to train under the pageant techs so that we can help run that too and fill in if anyone is sick.  I am in awe that they want us to do that to the point that they are getting special permission. (So I may get to climb up those big light towers after all, mom.... with safety cables, of course).  We also got assignments for shows figured out.  I will be doing lights for our main stage musical, The Promise.  For out outdoor variety show, Sunset on the Mississippi, I will be backstage.  I also got to choose my historical dresses this week! I have 2 blue dresses and a green apron that I always wear with the dresses.  I cannot wait to start wearing them! Monday, we got a little time off to see Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo, the senior missionary show.  I love that show so much & the senior missionaries were so excited for us to come watch that they had a lottery to determine which cast would get to perform.  They are so cute & sweet! This week has just been amazing!  There are 25 sisters and 17 elders in the YPM group & we all get along so well.  It is awesome how well we all get along with 15 girls in one house, especially considering how diverse we all are.  It just shows how capable of getting along in harmony we are when our focus is on the Lord not ourselves.  Despite only knowing each other for a week, we all feel as if we know each other so well.  It just reinforces what Elder Camp always says about our audition for this mission happening long before we submitted our packets.... it happened before this life.  It is no accident or coincidence that we are all here together.  I love what amazing friends we all are. So, the funny thing about being in a small place is how little there is.  The gas station, Caseys, also doubles as a place to get a bite to eat... and the food is actually really good.  This week, we got donuts there one day and had a taco pizza from there another (which sounds sketchy but was amazing)! Thank you all for your emails! I am sorry I am not able to respond to all of them every week. --- Sister Sylvestre