April 22

Hey!!!!!!

I have been thinking allllll week about what I wanted to say to you guys! it's been crazy out here but I am LOVING it! :) My companion's name is Sister Ransom she is from Orem Utah and we get along really really well. Lot's of laughter in this companionship. She is 22 and has been serving for 9 months now. We are opening a new area in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It's up in the right hand corner of the state, about an hour north of Fargo. It's actually right on the boarder of Minnesota. In fact the East Grand Forks is the part of the city that is in Minnesota. (well it's a different city but really the same city if that makes any sense) They just split the ward here so that there are two wards now. There is a set of Elders who are serve on the second ward and we serve in the first. Our ward covers the west half of the city and like a zillion little towns in the surrounding area. Some of the active church memebers drive over 80 miles to church each sunday. and I used to complain about having to drive 45 min. to the St. George temple when I was in college! It's given me a bit of perspective :)

Because we are opening this new area a lot of our work this past week has been planning and planning and planning. We got a list of the member from the bishop and like half of the people on the list he didn't even know who they were so we have been trying to track a few of them down. We had over 25 of the phone numbers we tried to call come back as disconnected. But we also met a lot of the members here in Grand Forks. The ward here is amazing. They are super helpful and way friendly. The YSA's for the area are assigned to be in our area. North Dakota University is here as well (at least I think that is the one.....) They are a part of SUU's conference! We our area actually covers the University so that should be cool. We also have an air force base as a part of our area. We went out last Thursday and had dinner with one of the families there. We actually have a few part memeber and less active families who live on base that we will get to work with, so that has been cool. We actually have dinner out there tomorrow night!

My companion (whom I for reals get along with amazingly!) is a Sister Training leader which is a brand new calling that just got announced. It's kinda like a female zone leader I guess. she is over all of the sisters in our zone. Which means that once a month she has to go back to Rapid city to got to a big important meeting. There is another Sister Traingin Leader in Bismark so this coming week when they go to this meeting I will be getting left in Bismark with the other sister's companion for a few days. So maybe I will get to see the temple!

Oh my goodness I almost forgot to tell you about the transfer train! So because the mission is in fact soooo massivly HUGE they do this thing called the transfer train. And because they have had such an increase in missionaries they actually have to have 2 of them now. They are 15 passenger vans. The one I was in started in Rapid City and went from there across the Sioux Falls, and then up into North Dakota to Fargo (that is where I got dropped off) and across the Bismark (they stayed the night there) and then back down into Rapid City again. We then drove up to Grand Forks from Fargo. In all it was about a 12 hour long car drive. Oh and half of the mission is in a different time zone. So I am an hour later than you guys. It was really funny because it would have taken me the same amount of time to drive from Rapid City back home to American Fork as it did to get out to my first area :) The second transfer train does the exact same route just in the opposite direction. And all along the way they drop people off and pick people up. and to make it even better that is only the North and South Dakota transfer trains. They also have one that goes around Wyoming the day before the new missionaries come to pick up all the people getting transfered to the Dakota's and then it goes out again the day after the Dakota's transfer train to drop off all the people who had been in the dakota's that got transfered over to wyoming. It's pretty complicated and I just hope I get to stay up here for a while so I don't have to get back onto that van :)

You will all be pleased to know that Grand Forks is supposibly the second coldest city in the United States. It snowed twice since we have been here. People keep telling us that spring is supposed to be here but we don't know if we believe them or not :) but it's actually supposed to be an incredibly pretty city once spring does finally come. There has been a bit of snow melt but they are pretty prepared for it up here so we shouldn't expect flooding. Oh and our apartment is REALLY nice. It's big enough that they could put a second set of missionaries in it if they wanted or needed to. We actually have two bathrooms so we each get our own :) Sister Ransom told me that basically nothing else the rest of my mission will compare to this apartment.

Well I don't know what else to write about! I feel like I just wrote you all a novel anyway :) I love and miss you all! Oh and we got a new investigator this past Satruday so I will keep you all updatedon that I guess as the weeks go on. Tell everyone (ward, basketball girls, friends, family etc) that I say HI and that I am doing great out here!!! I know for a fact that this is exactly where Heavenly Father wants me to be right now. My companion and I have been talking a lot recently and just talking about how this age change is not only helping move the work forward but that it is creating almost a new standard where many children will be able to grow up in families where both the mother and the father served missions. and how much of a strength that will be to the home in this on going battle against Satan and the world. I know this church is true with ALL of my heart and I know that Heavenly Father is watching over me and He is watching over all of you as well!!!!! I feel as if our family is the greatest blessing Heavenly Father has given me up to this point in my life and I want you all to know how much I love you!!! Don't forget your favorite baby sister, your crazy Aunt Nae, or the coolest smartest Child of the Boudreaux Home! :) Because I am thinking about and praying for the guys everyday!

love you all!!!!!!!!

Love your favorite Sister Missionary,

Sister Boudreaux