1st week in South Carolina!

Oi family!

I don't even know where to start! This has been the craziest and the longest week of my life. Those first two days in the mission were ROUGH. I came home and for the first time, since I left on my mission I had thoughts like, "I don't want to be here," and "I can't do this. I am wasting my time here." I was just so bitterly disappointed that I cried myself to sleep the first night. I can't remember ever crying myself to sleep! When people talk about their missions, they talk about all these amazing people that they taught and baptized, these great stalwart families who were trying to go to the temple. And I had a very rude awakening. I just didn't realize that this wouldn't happen every week! We have visited so many less actives this week and it breaks my heart to know that they were baptized and just left. I got so discouraged. What was the point of baptizing all these people if they were just going to fall away from the church? They didn't seem to change. They still smoked and broke the law of chastity. I came here to change myself and others as we all grow closer to Christ and it hurt so much to see that people would change just to get baptized and then go back to the person they were before! But I am learning that there are people out there whose lives arechanged after hearing the gospel and being baptized. We have two recent converts, KK and Chyna, who are just solid. You can just see it in their eyes and feel it when they speak. They will not fall away and they give me hope. I have also learned to look for the little miracles, and there are so many! God's timing is perfect and we have met so many people that it would seem we found only be happenstance. But it was not a coincidence! God is guiding us to people who are ready, and I just hope I am worthy and obedient enough to follow his promptings!

Things have gotten a lot better! My trainer is Sister Houston. She's a visa waiter, too! She is supposed to go to Curitiba, Brazil as well, but has  been in South Carolina for 6 months! So it looks like I might be here for awhile :) She is very blunt and straight-forward. She doesn't beat around the bush or sugarcoat ANYTHING. This surprised me at first! I expected a sweet-tempered, soft-spoken missionary to be the trainers, but that is just not Sister Houston. She is exactly what I needed though. She forces me to be bold and to do things that are way out of my comfort zone. I have another companion, too! All visa waiters start out in a three-some. I don't know why! But my other companion is Sister Jackson. She is the cutest and sweetest person I have ever met! Seriously. I want to be Sister Jackson when I grow up! She has such a special spirit about her, and when she bears her testimony it feels as if I am being hit with the Holy Ghost: it comes on that fast and that powerful! She really takes care of me, so don't worry on that end Mom :)

I am in the city of Florence, South Carolina! I love this place so much, and God has really blessed me with charity and love for the people. I don't know what has changed! I didn't know my heart could hold so much love, let alone for people I do not know! But it does. I walk into the most appalling of circumstances. We have visited the projects and places that should have been condemned a LONG time ago. I have grown accustomed to the smell of smoke and to the sight of tobacco, and yet I love these people so much! My heart aches for them, for the people that in another life I would not have bothered to associate with and in fact would probably have gone out of my way to avoid. I can see them as children of God. I can see them as the people they could become. And that makes all the difference! I think people can sense it. I think they can sense the love and the Spirit we have with us.Within just a few minutes after we meet them they just open up. They tell us all about their lives and their problems. They ask us to pray for them. I noticed this first in the airport and on the airplane to South Carolina. We were instructed to pass out pass-along-cards and we did. We met a guy on the airplane who literally after we just introduced ourselves as missionaries told us so much about his life. About his father passing away and his funeral. About his kids and their most recent vacation. He even pulled out his Iphone and showed us about 20 pictures of his kids at the beach! I was shocked. This happens daily! I really think people can sense the truth and can sense that we have it. They do not want us to leave their houses. One of our investigators even said that he felt a void when we left! AHH! I just pray constantly that people will feel and recognize the Spirit we have! That is they only way we are going to convert anyone, including ourselves!

Sorry this letter was so crazy and sporadic. I want to write for hours about my investigators, that incredible trip in the woods, the miracles I see daily, and the change I feel inside me, but I do not have the time! I'll just have to let you read my journal when I get back! I bet Mom will just love that :) Anyway they don't want us giving you our address, since it changes so frequently. They want you to send all packages and letters to the mission home and they will forward it to me! You can also still use DearElder, but I only get them once a week instead of daily! It will probably save money on postage though :) Oh and if you can tell people to write me letter and not emails, I would really appreciate it! I had about 20 emails today-which I loved!- but I used up most of my letter writing time just reading them! So if you could send them via snail-mail that would be awesome!

I love you guys so much! I love being a missionary and I love South Carolina!

Love, Sister Daniels