June 6, City Lyfe

Leo!

Our sleepover apartment

Hey Family!

Wow. I feel like there's so much to say. First off, I already love St. Paul and it's only been like 5 days. I had 

forgotten what living in the city was like haha. It's been too long since I've been in Minneapolis. There's a lot 

of traffic, a lot of people, a lot of noise, a lot of apartments instead of trailer parks, and a lot of sirens. It's fun,

it's exciting to live in the middle of all of it again. Leaving Lakeville was sad, but I was excited too. I think Leo 

was the most sad to see me go. The Jensen's were really sweet and made me homemade bread and a pillowcase

to take with me. They're so sweet. Hna H was sick the day of transfers, and puked in the car on the way to 

rendezvous with the other sisters. Don't worry, we were prepared haha gotta love that mission life.

 To kick off my time in the city, one night this week we were parked right across the street from our apartment, 

and this lady comes and taps on my window. Hna Chavez was on the phone, so I had to deal with it for a second. 

She goes on to tell us that she has to get to the hospital in downtown Minneapolis because her friend just got 

shot (don't worry, in Minneapolis, not here...). She's borderline hysterical and is crying. She's also drunk by the 

way. She tells us her bus is coming in ~15 minutes, but she cant wait that long. We told her we can't really help 

her, because we can't give her a ride, and we don't have money for a taxi or something. We offered to say a 

prayer with her. So she puts her purse and phone inside our car on the dashboard leans all the way through 

my window to grab Hna C's hand and she prays. Her prayer was actually really sweet and it calmed her down

I think, but I could smell alcohol and cigarettes for the rest of the night. She did say that she felt like God 

directed us to her, so that was kind of cool. So that was a nice intro back into the cities. 

Our zone here in St Paul is completely language speaking missionaries. There is one companionship that teaches 

in English. There are 2-3 sets each of Spanish, Hmong, and Karen (pronounced kuh-Ran) missionaries. It's neat to 

see the diversity and makes me appreciate the fact that I didn't have to learn an Asian language. We share an 

apartment with the Hmong sisters, Sister Brett and Sister Xiong. Sister Xiong was my RA my spring term at BYU. 

Small world. Our apartment is surprisingly nice. There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a washer and 

dryer, which is more than any missionary could ask for. We use the bedrooms as study rooms and all our beds 

are in the living room. It's really fun, like a sleepover every night:) 

Being an STL is interesting. It's a lot of extra phone calls and a lot of extra planning. We spent waaaay too long 

weekly planning this week. I like getting to know the sisters better though. One of our companionships got 

rear-ended by a truck last night, so their car is pretty crunched. They are fine, but we called them to make sure 

they were doing ok and stuff. It's kind of like being an RA again except we all live in different places. I like it, I'm 

looking forward to the challenge of keeping our area progressing and in order while helping all the other sisters.

We had to hit the ground running my first Sunday here. We translated in sacrament meeting which is the first 

time I've done it since I left Minneapolis, I also translated in Relief Society for a sister, and played the piano. That 

night, we had to send our car report, do a training evaluation for the other Spanish sisters, and call the other 

sisters about the crash. No rest for the weary. Missionary work is way more enjoyable when you're busy. 

I met some cool people this week too. We met this guy named Domingo that Hna C has been trying to get in 

contact with for weeks. He has a tumor on his brain and was telling us about how the missionaries changed his

 life and how he would be baptized in a second if his wife?, we're not actually sure if they're married, would be 

supportive. He is someone that the gospel has changed his life even though he hasn't been baptized and 

doesn't attend church. I want to work more with him. There are a LOT of less-actives in this area. I've met a few 

of them, but there is a lot of work to be done. We have set good goals and are ready to work. One of our goals 

is to use the Book of Mormon more and encourage everyone to read it! I mean we do that anyway but more

intense. There is a lot of power that comes from the Book of Mormon. I love reading it with others so they can 

feel that too. 

I love you guys! Send me graduation pictures!!

Emily