July 26, 2011

Hola, from Phoenix!

Well it's blazing hot down here right now.  It's 90 degrees and 70% humidity!  They're telling us its nicest days so far this Summer.  I was very surprised to get off the plane, get in the van, and look out to see green grass!  Which I later found out is lovely to look at, but crackles underfoot and you can see millions of black beetles jumping around.  I think I won't be sitting on it anytime soon.

It's beautiful down here! All brown with splashes of color from cactus, these old trees, and tons of red, orange, and pink flowers.  Some of the big cactus are around 10-15 feet high!  I'm at the mission home right now and in the front yard they have a gigantic queen palm tree (look them up, they're really cool!).  Proportion-wise, it's a bit like this. <picture>  We all thought they'd planted a pineapple in the yard.

It really feels like a different country here with all the plaster (?).  Houses with red tiled roofs and giant plants everywhere.  Although when we stepped outside for the first time in the heat, I just stopped to catch my breath.  Quite a shock after the nice cool airport.

We got delayed by a few hours.  They found a problem with the plane we were going to be on.   They fixed it and found another problem.  I guess it was pretty serious because they announced we would have to wait for a new plane to arrive that could take us to Phoenix.

Thanks dad for always fasting for me and thanks for all of you for your prayers!!

We got here safely and were met right away by some Elders who were heading home.  Then they whisked us off.

It was so good to hear you all today!  I was so excited to have the chance to call.  Now I just need to count down the days til Christmas until I can call again.

Dad, just wanted to share that while we were all introducing ourselves a bit ago, I told all the Elders that a thing I like to do was go shooting with my dad.  Made a few of them grin, and surprised a few more.

I love it here already and I"m so excited to get to work tomorrow at noon.  There are amazing things happening (I swear the Spanish is messing me up down here right now).  They're almost up to 100 baptisms a month here.  With the temple being built, interest is being sparked and God really is preparing these people  to hear His words and to know of His love for them.  The work here is booming and the church has some great plans for this area.

Well, I don't have much more to say at this moment except to say that I"m so glad I did this.  I love this work, I love my mission president.  I'm excited and I so look forward to spreading to others what I know to be true so that they can feel the joy this knowledge brings and how it can change lives and families.

I love you all so much.  I'll write you more on P-Day after my first official week as a missionary!!

Les Amo,

Hna Watson

P.S:  P-Day is Monday.