Priscilla Preaches: Am I Old?

Sister Ritchie and Sister Wright

Hello friends and family from the wonderful east coast, in the beautiful Saco, ME area. Yes, I am now in Saco, the Augusta Stake, which means I have officially served in four out of the five stakes in the NHMM. I would definitely call that a level up. I can also tell you I have already seen the Atlantic Ocean in my time here (granted, it was from the car as we were trying to contact a member in Old Orchard) and still have had no lobsters. The chances of me actually having fish within the next five weeks is slim because Sister Ritchie is allergic but maybe she'll make an exception for my birthday. You can only hope, right?

So I guess I will give a brief follow up of this last week and what being in Saco is like. Last Monday Sister DeWidt and I had our/her last P-Day together. The highlight was probably the member meal with Chinese food. Chinese food is always a plus, especially with crab rangoons. The landlord also sent us $30 in credit to Walmart to make up for the plumbing madness, which turned into money we spent on food for the new sisters coming in. Hopefully they like frozen chicken and coconut milk.

Tuesday was transfer day. Sister DeWidt and I packed up the car and cleaned up before we left. We made it to Manchester (my beloved Manchester chapel) and I was pulled into the new trainers meeting with all the actual trainers. That was as cool experience to have President quickly train us on how to be a trainer. While in Manchester I got to see Sister Harward and Sister Daughety! I love them both so much! And while I was sad I was losing three great companions I didn't cry like I expected too.

Once I said goodbye for like the tenth time I piled into a van that would take me to Portland from there I would meet Sister Ritchie and go to Saco. In the van I slowly started realizing I was the oldest one there mission-wise... And they were all talking about missionaries I hadn't met yet... And I was realizing I was there WHEN we first got the Tiwis. Basically, overnight I went from being a baby junior companion to this old senior companion who was surrounded by baby missionaries. That really threw me off, especially when I realized Sister Ritchie was basically brand new and things I was telling her to her seemed really old. So yeah, that was my minor crisis of the week.

Wednesday was District Meeting in Cornish which took us an hour to get there. It was then I realized I was no longer in the city anymore. Sister Banda would be so proud to see me in the boons. But my district is pretty much the best, not going to lie. For all you RM NHMM peeps we have Elders Urry and Benson, Elders Sanders and Hannig, and Sister Jensen and Whitney. To finish off the Saco Squad we have Elders Rappleye and everyone' so favorite, Elder J. Williams. Yes, I already have my commemorative Elder Rappleye Dragon Drawings and Elder Williams.... He is still Elder Williams. Serving in the same unit with him twice had already been interesting, but at least he gets to help me follow up on Brewer.

Well, Sister Ritchie is my new trainee. She has been in Saco for six weeks so I'm calling her the bravest missionary ever. You can tell she loves the work and as I'm sure every sister missionary has ever said, she is teaching me a lot. I can't believe how much she already knows about how to be a missionary but she does!

The Saco ward actually celebrated its 20 year birthday since it has become branch this weekend. Saco is a ward but the chapel is half of the chapel back home. The ward membership is small too but they are the coolest saints ever. One member we had dinner with is 107! I have already enjoyed getting to know the members up here and getting to work with them! Saco is so cool.

Besides being a flat lander by mispronouncing city/town names out here (town of Arundel, you would think would be pounced like the setting of Frozen but is really pronounced "a-run-dell"), Sister Ritchie and I have been hitting the pavement hard trying to contact people. Sad news: The sisters don't cover Old Orchard Beach, that's Elder's territory (and what P-Day is for *wink wink*) but you can feel in the breeze from Biddeford (pronounced Bid-duh-ford) that you are near the coast. But I better same time to write everyone else. I trust you all continue to enjoy anticipating summer! I love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister Wright

"Had to say goodbye to this one"