From Sister Park 6-28-2013

I love the cookies!  Thank you so much.  To answer all of your questions:  President and Sister Smart met us all at the airport and my companion from the MTC and I rode with them to the Mission Home.  (Btw, they're not related to Don and Geniel).  My P-Days are going to be on Tuesdays starting next week.  I'm living in a member's home which is nice because then there's a full kitchen and a washer and dryer.  They (the members) don't have any kids but they have a little dog which is basically the equivalent.  They spoil her!  My day starts at 6:30 a.m. and ends around 10 or 10:30 p.m., depending on how much we have to do.  6:30 we exercise, then we get ready for the day from 7-8:15.  From 8:15-10:15 we're doing personal and companion study.  At least, that's what we usually try for, sometimes appointments or meetings throw it off. Lunch is at 11 or 12, depending on the day, and it's an hour.  Usually I nap after a quick lunch.  Once lunch is over we go to appointments to try to meet with less-active or part-member families.  Along the way we talk to 20 people.  Then there's dinner at roughly 5:30 or 6, and then we can't return to the Home Stay until 9.  that's when we polan our next day, and it could take forever or it could take no time at all.  We have a car so that we can get all around our area resonably.  Our area looks like (she had a diagram, but I can't reproduce it with type so I'll just say.... It's like a trangle without the bottom, or a C standing on it's open part.) There's lots of stuff inbetween each point which makes a car a blessing. 

My companion, Sr. Grover, is great!  She's half Italian so she has mood swings, but she's an awesome trainer.  I'm not sure what she likes to do.  She's not one to share a lot and I don't pry.  She did come he from Sweden though, that's cool.  All of the missions are getting smaller so the Carlsbad Mission isn't too big, but I don't know its boundaries yet.  I do know that Murrieta is as far inland as it goes so it's mostly ocean front property :-)  Depending on where I go for my next area I could even go running by the beach for my morning exercise.  Murriet's a tough area.  Tracting is difficult with all the Christians and Catholics and our ward members are less than helpful with referrals.  All of the other missionaries in our zone say they get all of their investigators and baptisms from the members.  I don't know how they do it.  but I do love murrieta, and I'm glad I'm here.  I love you and I miss you!

Love, Sister Amanda Park