Thursday, January 31, 2013

Amanda's first letter!


Dear Family,
Wow, what an adventure. First off, I made it here safely but I am SO excited to go to bed tonight! The trip here was absolutely crazy-- every flight was delayed at least an hour so we ran from flight to flight even while we missed our flight to London. Mom- if you thought I looked tired the morning you dropped me off, you should see me now. I met up with an Elder from Lindon, UT and I call him 'Hey Elder' since I can't remember his last name, and in London we met up with two elders-- 1 from Chile and 1 from Belgium. You guys would be proud though, I had multiple missionary experiences on the plane (offered a Book of Mormon but was rejected- but that is just being a missionary.) I even taught someone the plan of Salvation, the only problem is I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working on paper... after finishing the conversation I realized I forgot to add the Resurrection and Christ coming to the earth again, so that was a little awkward, but hey- you have to start somewhere! I was honestly very surprised at how easy it came to openly talk about the Book of Mormon and the church. I can already feel the blessings of being a missionary. Dad, you were right, everyone looks at you and asks you questions. I even met someone from our Stake at the SLC airport who asked if I was the missionary referred to in Stake Conference. *side note*--I apologize for any typing errors, the keyboard is different in England!
 
The MTC is really neat here, it is small and the main goal of the MTC president is to put out the best missionaries through loving them.  Plus, he is from Vegas so I am his 'Dixie Girl'. Also, who spilled the beans on my piano and organ? The first thing he said when he saw my nametag was, 'Aw yes, the organist has arrived!'. Apparently MTC Presidents just know things??
 
I can't tell you really what England looks like since I have taken every opportunity to sleep, but as the Hafens said, there is A LOT of sheep and in my opinion the fields look just like Downton Abbey (But I am a missionary so I won't elaborate there).
 
I love you all and hope everything is going well. Sorry this is so short! :)
 
Love,
 
Sister Leslie
 
PS- Pdays are Wednesdays.



In case anyone didn't hear the story Amanda's original letter said she was to leave on Thursday the 31st. They told her she would receive her passport and visa the week before she would leave. On Monday she still had not received it. My mom called her mission travel agent and they found out the intern had accidentally overnight-ed it to her old BYU address instead of to St. George. My dad felt strongly Amanda needed to actually go up and get it instead of just having Miquelle overnight it. As she was driving up her travel agent called to make sure they had tracked it down and apologized and asked if she was ready to leave tomorrow (being Wed). She said no I don't leave till Thursday. Her updated itinerary with the new date was in with her passport. So she got the passport turned around and came home around 5 pm got set apart and packed and left at 6 am the next morning. It is a good thing my dad had her drive up or she would have got the passport and already missed her flight! 

2 comments:

  1. So happy to finally hear from her! I sent her and email today...so hopefully she got it! Is it amanda.leslie@myldsmail.org

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    1. Yes that is her address! I am sure she will be thrilled to get it!

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