1st area, Madison

Hey! ya i've been here in Madison WI for about a week now. I guess a little less than a week. My trainer is so good, i'm her fourth person to train! Her name is sis. Vernon. she is really nice and very good at talking to people. we don't have a car so we either walk or ride the bus everywhere which is tiring and cold (yes I have brought out the big coat) but we are able to talk to a lot of people being on the busses and stuff. We kind of opened up an area, wich is pretty cool. sisters havent been here in 11 years and they split up one area so that there will be just us in the madison 1 ward and another set of elders in the singles ward on campus. Missionary work is hard! I knew it would be but man it is physically and emotionally taxing. But i'm sure i'll get used to it and I am already getting into the swing of things a little. there's is a lot to remember. but any who, I gave away my first Book of Mormon my second day out to a man who consideres himself a wicken and my second one to a guy who was so funny and pretty much mormon. I hope he calls soon!  I haven't gotten a door shut in my face yet :). we have an HOUR to work out in the mornings and sis. Vernon has P90X so we've been doing that every morning (except Sundays of course.) so needless to say, i'm not gaining any weight!  I will hopefully be trying some maple bacon and creamed corn ICE CREAM today. apperantly it's really good and at the institute they have a freezer of ice cream any one can eat anytime, mmmmm :). So this is the mildest winter that WI has had in  like forever so I feel super lucky but it's still pretty cold! thank goodness for that huge coat. and my boots. The members already love us and we are fed almost every day by them :). well that's about it, I love you!!  


I wanted to add in there that they have CHOCOLATE CHEESE here. Whaaaa??! I haven't tried it yet but they say it's super good and tastes like fudge... also, I am proud to say that I have eaten cheese everyday since i've been here. and there are much bigger sections of cheese product in the grocery stores here than in Texas or Utah. So I came out of the MTC so fired up and wanting to talk to EVERYONE I saw and tell them of the good news of the gospel and was so shocked when hardly ANYONE wan't to hear it!  :(. it was kind of a slap in the face. and I bet my companion was glad to see that I'm not always so energetic and talkative, lol. I still try to talk to people when I can but it is harder now that I have experienced rejection. well I got to go now, Love Lauren