Hello all!
I absolutely LOVE Alpine! It is so beautiful here! I've taken so many pretty pictures :)
This week has definitely had it's ups and downs. First of all, since Sister Nicholson and I are pink-washing (yes, that is what they call it) we have been pretty stressed out. But, we have also seen lots of success in the area! The Elders left us with some people to see, but we had to completely organize the area book and meet with Brother Upshaw (The Elder's Quorum Prez) and get a branch directory with details on every person. That was very helpful! Our Branch Mission Leader is a recently returned missionary named Rene. He's the branch president Vargas' son. He's really cool!
Since Alpine is only 5 sq. miles, we have made a goal to visit everyone on the directory! The Alpine Branch also covers Marfa, Fort Davis, Marathon, Terligua, Presidio, and some other places, but as sisters, we can only visit Fort Davis, Marathon, and Marfa (Terlingua and Presidio are right on the border...).
We went to Fort Davis twice so far! There's like 2,000 or so people there! We went there Thursday to turn in a volunteer application to High Frontier, a boarding school for troubled teens or something like that. The missionaries have been helping out a lot there, but we need to turn in an application which processed for 2 weeks for a criminal background check and for fingerprints... haha fun stuff. Friday we also went to Fort Davis to help out at a food pantry. It was really cool :)
On Friday we contacted a former investigator named Holly. She's early 20's and SUPER interested!! She was so happy to invite us in and share a message with her. She is really smart in psychology, so she loves getting in touch with her feelings and with God. We've actually met with her twice so far, taught the Restoration and read Lehi's vision with her. She is so excited to read the Book of Mormon!
This Sunday we met the branch! Everyone is so awesome! I feel at home there :). The branch has been praying for sister missionaries for a long time and since they got us, they're soooo happy! It's amazing:). Little kids come up to us like we're celebrities or something :p. After church, President Heap and Sister Heap (The mission president and his wife) randomly popped in! They came all the way down here to check up on us :) They are soooo amazing! President Heap gave us a blessing so that we won't be over-stressed, and it's already helped a ton! We're doing great here in Alpine. I absolutely love it!
That's it for this week! Love you all!
Sister Kelsie Carter