Dubuque, IA with Sister Whipple

What a crazy week!  The last couple of days in Carthage were great.  I was able to say my goodbyes to some wonderful people as well as try to cram as much information that I needed to know to be a trainer. On Tuesday we spent the afternoon and evening visiting the homes of former investigators and others in Warsaw which actually went really well.  And guess what, the other night I was talking to Sister Thompson and she said she received a phone call from an unknown number around like 11:00 p.m. and so she silenced it and they left a voicemail.  She decided to wait until the morning to listen to it, but the number called back and left a second voicemail.  So she listened to the voicemails and at one of the homes we stopped by the night in Warsaw, no one was home so we left a mormon.org card with our number and a brief note.  This guy found the card and was way interested, so Sister Thompson and her new companion were able to go and teach him the other night! Wednesday was a great day, it was our p-day and so we spent the day getting ready for transfers and then had lunch at some members home and spent the afternoon in Nauvoo.  We had dinner at a members home in Nauvoo, and then were able to work pageant one last time before I was transferred.   

Before I knew it Thursday was there and we were loading my suitcases into the car and heading towards Iowa City.  We arrived around 8:30 and had a trainer's meeting before transfer meeting. There were 34 missionaries who came out this transfer!!  We had brief trainings and then it was time to find out the "transfer doctrine."  There were only 5 new sister areas opening up this transfer so we were able to limit my options to these 5 areas.  I was assigned to be companions with Sister Hannah Whipple from Mesa, AZ!!! And we are assigned to serve in the Dubuque, IA 2nd West area.  There have been elders here for a while, but both wards in Dubuque were getting sisters this transfer.  

Once transfer meeting was over the Assistants took our picture together and then we grabbed our stuff to head to Dubuque.  There were 7 missionaries heading to Dubuque that had been at transfer meeting so members from Dubuque 1st Ward came and took us all back.  Currently there are 9 missionaries in Dubuque and each ward has a car, so we are in a car share with the Elders. (Five elders, four sisters, a senior couple, and we found out Saturday that two Marshallese speaking elders will be coming in two weeks, so it is crazy.  We will have 11 young missionaries and 2 cars.)  There are 2 wards in Dubuque; they were split last year, so I think we average about 160 people at church each week.  It has been very interesting trying to figure out all the little details of opening a new area.  So we've had to spend a lot of time creating our area book, and finding out what families/members/investigators are in our area.  But slowly and surely we are getting there.  

As of right now we are living with ward members, but we will only be in this home until Aug. 1st where we will then move into another members home for 3 months.  Yesterday was wonderful we were able to meet more of the ward members and we had an investigator at Sacrament Meeting.  After church we had a meeting with Bishop and I guess the Davenport Stake does a program titled "Called to Serve"  where priest and laurel aged youth sign up to go on a three day mission within the stake boundaries.  So starting Friday morning we will have  a young woman with us until Sunday evening.  Hopefully we will help her have a wonderful experience and are really going to rely on help from the members since we do not have the car this week.  

One of the many tender mercies of the Lord this week has been that I was assigned to an area that Sister Thompson is the Sister Training Leader over, so whenever I've needed help or had questions I've been able to call her.  Also last night when we were tracting we found an awesome potential investigator!  So we are praying that we can teach him and his wife sometime this week!

One of the best parts about this week and being a little overwhelmed about all that is happening is that it has allowed me to put my trust in my Savior and allow Him to help because I cannot do it without His help.  

Love you all!

Sister Call

P.S.  since my address will be changing a lot the best thing to do is send it to the mission home and they make sure it gets forwarded to wherever I am at.  

Hey guess what?  Today marks exactly 2 months since I entered the MTC!  haha who would have guessed all that has happened?  Anyways I really do love being a missionary despite not always sounding positive in my letters!  So I will work on that!  

Love You

Sister Call

 Editors Note:
Dubuque, Iowa borders the Mississippi River where Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin meet.  It is a town with about 60,000 people and has two wards in it.  It must be part of the Davenport, Iowa stake.