First Week in Virginia

hey ya'll!!!
well i'm here in virginia!! pretty crazy! i love it ... it is so gorgeous and soo green!! It's awesome. i'm serving in Charlottesville, VA in a singles ward! Haha it is awesome. We have an activity almost every night with the singles ward and its fun hanging with people my own age. its very different than i expected but i love it it's awesome. i will also be doing things at the university in charlottesville which is a way sweet campus.i have two companions again.... Sister Tanner from Idaho and Sister Allan from St George. They are awesome and i am definitely in good hands with them. Sister Tanner also has a boyfriend on a mission and guess what his name is.... yep... JARED. haha things get pretty confusing during our conversations but its way funny. There are six of us in our tiny apartment, us three and three hermanas. we all get along great and its way fun. so my first night in the mission was spent at the mission home. the mission pres and his wife are super nice and i look forward to getting to know them better even though they leave soon. it was very hard saying goodbye to my last comp and district ha but i will definitely see them again. i think the hardest was after i got my new comps and i started to follow my old comp. i just wasnt used to being with someone new! on friday we painted a members house most of the day. i didn't even have to get in a dress the first day in the field. holla thats whats up. saturday we went to downtown charlottesville which is the cutest place on the earth and we had a stand set up with free lemonade and bom, pamphlets, etc and we just talk to people as they walk by and it was way fun. it really hit me how there really are people out there looking for something more! There are people who are prepared everywhere and who need to hear the gospel. in the mtc, teaching fake investigators... it was really hard to get into it and feel like it was for real but it's so crazy how real it actually is and its just so important to talk to everyone cuz each person is a child of our heavenly father and this is their salvation that is at stake. it's scary... but each person is of worth and whether or not they choose to accept this gospel i will be doing all i can to open my mouth and to just love everyone. saturday night i taught my first lesson to anthony. haha he is such an awesome kid. he is 23 and... black. i love him he is so cool and we have a lot of work to do with him. right now he is so focused on how the bom and bible relate .... he is having a hard time understanding that he doesn't have to know every little thing. he doesn't understand that through prayer he can come to know for himself and then all those little facts he is trying to gather wont matter. but he will get there for sure. he is so awesome. yesterday at church wasn't as overwhelming as i thought it would be. the singles ward is pretty small and will get smaller when summer comes around haha so it's pretty different but i'm excited to get to know everyone and i'm excited to get to work on the less actives and inactives.we have lots of work to do and lots of people to find but i know we will find those the lord has prepared for us. i know i am here in charlottesville for a reason and i can't wait to find out why. im very excited to be serving here. they call charlottesville the "mountains" ha but no it's not really mountains especially coming from utah.... they are just tiny green hills. i love it. its so pretty. so i just have to let everyone know that the first thing me and my comps did when we got to my area on thursday was go to chic-fil-a hahaha thats for you melanie. they have them here thank the heavens. i think i will be able to survive now! last night we had a contada which was basically a choir and someone narratting about christ and his life. it was so amazing and the spirit was so strong. i spent a lot of the time reflecting on what i learned in the MTC which was a ton.... but mainly i learned the importance of loving everyone! and loving everyone as christ would. we are all sons and daughters of our heavenly father. he has a plan for each of us and wants us all to return home to him. he loves us so much and just looks forward to hearing from us everyday. i'm so grateful for the opportunity i have to show that christlike love to the people of virginia and give them the opportunity to feel of our heavenly father's love so they may return to his presence. i also learned how important it is to have a positive attitude and to look for the good in EVERYTHING. there is something good in each day as long as we will embrace it and cherish it. No matter how hard of day... there is still something to learn and grow from it. when i got here the mission pres said to my comp sis hurley "do you ever have a down day?!" haha and her response was the best she said "no not really!" that is so awesome. i would love to be able to answer that question in that way and i'm going to do my very best from now on to be able to live my life in such a way and i challenge you all to do the same! This gospel is so amazing and so true. i couldnt be happier to be representing jesus christ and teaching this gospel 24/7. i love being a missionary! Thanks for all the love and support.! I miss you all so much! This is where i'm supposed to be! No doubt! I LOVE YOU ALL. XOXO

Sister Roosendaal





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Michele Roosendaal
"Have a GREAT Day"