Life in Fallon!

Last Tuesday I arrived in Fallon, my new home! This tiny town is definitely a big change from life in Reno! Just about all the members here are related, and they are all named Brother/ Sister Sorensen. Everyone here either owns or works on a dairy (So it smells like cows everywhere. Hermana Gatten said that someday I am going to love the smell... someday haha) There used to be a Spanish branch here, but too many members became less active so now we are just over a Spanish group in an English ward. It is amazing to see how the English and Spanish members work together though. There is a translator every week for sacrament meeting, and the Spanish members have their own classes. Some of the English members come to the Spanish classes, and they try really hard to use the Spanish that they know to communicate with the Spanish members. I love how much of an effort all the members make to include one another! 

My favorite thing about Fallon so far: The stars!!! There is hardly any light pollution so I can actually see the stars at night. I never really thought about it, but I don't think I ever saw stars in Reno.

Other favorite thing about Fallon: We have a tradition of eating breakfast with one of the families here every Monday morning. Today it was biscuits and gravy. I could have been back in the South!

My new companion is Hermana Escobar!!! She is amazing. She came to the mission a transfer after I did (so I am senior companion and I have to drive even though I still feel like I just got here). Hermana Escobar is from Guatemala, and she is working on learning English. She is so diligent in speaking English at every opportunity (I don't speak Spanish nearly as much as I should...) but it's awesome because we are able to help each other a ton during language study. Hermana Escobar is so sweet, she is always serving me! She makes my bed in the morning before I even have a chance to do it, and last Friday she wouldn't let me make breakfast for myself haha. 

It's been a great first week in Fallon, full of of miracles! Last Wednesday we were walking down a street, and we saw a woman and her two young kids struggling to get a refrigerator out of the house. We were able to help her get it out the front door and down the steps, and of course we had a great conversation with her about the gospel! She speaks English though, so we won't be teaching her. 

I found a really cool scripture in personal study this morning: 1 Kings 6:7. This scripture helps us understand how sacred the temples are. It made me think about how construction workers who work on the modern temples aren't allowed to swear or smoke on temple grounds, which is so cool.

I'm definitely excited to be serving here in Fallon! Have a great week everyone!

-- Hermana Nielsen