May 25, 2015
At the Anchorage Airport...with a bear!

I'm here in Alaska and safe! It's really pretty, there's no bricks in the houses, and everybody's really friendly!

May 22, 2015

Sister Rollins and Sister Branch

Everything is going so well! I leave here on Monday, early in the

morning, and so I'll be in Anchorage in three days! Crazy crazy.

I actually met someone here who's from Alaska, and she told me lots of

great things! Like that Fairbanks, since it's away from the ocean,

gets actually hot in the summers (like 80 or 90 I think she said?) and

is really buggy, and then in the winter gets to like 50 below!!! But

then places like Juneau, where she's from, are much more temperate and

range from like 70s in the summer to like 0 in the winter (which

doesn't sound too bad!)

Also, sorry for any mistakes/weird things in my writing, typing on an

iPad is hard! And for some reason the computer won't log me in to my

email.

I'm seriously learning SO MUCH here. And not only just intellectually

understanding knowledge, but really internalizing it--that's hard! For

instance, I've learned really well that baptism is super important

because it's essentially what people need in order to really covenant

with God and come closer to Him, but actually asking people to be

baptized is super hard! I want to do it my way, which is not the way

God wants it to be done. So I'm working on that.

My district (basically our class of 9 people) has become so close,

it's crazy! Since we're not all going to the same place, I'm really

sad not to see most of them... Probably like ever again! And it's hard

to believe I met Sister Branch eight days ago... And since we met I

haven't been more than 50 feet away from her! Sooooo crazy. Ima send a

selfie of us, because I can't connect my camera to this iPad... But

really all I have is pictures of my district, so you're not missing a

ton.

Anyway, love you all lots! Life is the hizzle.

Love,

Sister Rollins

Made it to the MTC!

Everything is going great here! A lot of people find the MTC super busy and overwhelming, but honestly it's not that bad. I suppose I'm used to long days and waking up early from high school, and Provo is still Provo, so nothing's terribly new. My companion, Sister Branch, is adorable! I seriously love her so much. She's from Mesa and going to the Utica, NY mission. She's turning 22 on Saturday and went to BYU-I for a few years before she came here. No other sisters are currently at the MTC going to Alaska, but there are three elders that are going. Our district (group of missionaries who have class and meals together) has 9 people - three sisters going to Utica, two sisters going to Colombia, SC, and me and the three elders going to Alaska. Everybody's great!

                                   

Usually there's more than one district in a zone, but this is a low-number time for the MTC (probably because it's before the summer rush? not sure) and so our district is our zone, which is also our branch! So for our Sunday meetings we'll have a large branch of 15! Our branch presidency is AWESOME--we met with them yesterday, and it was definitely my favorite part here so far. They were just so loving and knowledgeable and awesome and it was just fabulous.

The food here is good! I know a lot of people don't like it... but it's not bad. Oh, and somebody ask Scott if he drank the orange juice and that's why he had problems. There's some rumors floating around about it...

I love the schedule here! We have classes and lots of things to keep us busy, but also time for personal reflection. I'm learning so much!

Anyway, have a wonderful week! I love you all! Remember Jesus loves you!

Sister Rollins

Four Days More...

Friends, countrymen, and lovers,

I'm leaving in FOUR DAYS to go on a mission to Alaska! I'll be flying to Utah, be in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) for about a week and a half learning my responsibilities and getting used to missionary life, and then on to Alaska! Once in Alaska, I'll be serving, proselyting, teaching, and ultimately bringing people to Christ for the next eighteen months. I couldn't be more excited!

I can email once a week, and so I'll be sending out a general email with updates on my adventures. My mom will upload them to this blog for all to see, so come back every week!

I can't wait to go and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I'm so grateful for all of the support I've received in preparation for this amazing opportunity, and I'll see ya'll in eighteen!

Lots of love,

(almost) Sister Rollins