Tengo gozo en mi alma hoy: A donde me mandes iré

Where to begin... This week I left my beloved Hermana Adams in Fallon, and I came to Tahoe with Hermana

Servin! We are basically opening the area, because Hermana Servin was technically covering both Reno and Tahoe for the past two transfers, but the snow has been so bad that they only ever went to Tahoe once a week at best. We went up to Tahoe on Wednesday (the snow was too bad on Tuesday, so we stayed the night in Reno!) and we arrived just after a record breaking snow storm. No one that we have talked to so far has ever remembered getting so much snow before, even in Tahoe. Luckily a member shoveled our driveway for us so that we were actually able to park when we got to our "house" (our house literally used to be a 2-car garage that they converted into a living space for the missionaries. Housing is very hard to find in Tahoe... I like our house though, it is actually really nice, just a little cozy...) Our driveway is super narrow right now, though, so it's basically a 7-point turn every time we park or leave... and poor Hermana Servin has to stand behind the car every time I back up.

The good news is that we have a car to drive through all the snow... the bad news is that the roads are surrounded by walls of snow on either side, and driveways usually don't have room for guests right now... so we end up walking a lot anyway because there is no where to park. The snow has some advantages for missionary work though: Wednesday afternoon when we arrived, we went around helping people shovel snow from their driveways for over an hour, and we were able to talk to so many people (i.e. potential investigators!) Also my arms are going to be huge by the end of this winter.

My new companion is Hermana Servin, and she is so sweet! She is from Puebla, Mexico, but she is basically fluent in English because she has lived in Utah the past couple years. We are almost the exact same height, and we are having tons of fun together!

This week, there was so much snow on the roof of our church building that they said it was unsafe to meet on Sunday... so we went with some members down to a ward in Reno. We didn't go to the Spanish branch, but it was cool because I was able to see Hermana Castiblanco and Hermana Fisk at the English ward! I haven't seen them since I was serving in Reno, so that was a tender mercy. Sunday was just a really awesome, special day for some reason...

Overall, though, Tahoe is an amazing area! There is beautiful scenery everywhere. We are the only missionaries anywhere to be found, so we teach both Spanish and English investigators (which makes things much less complicated). Next Sunday, when we actually meet in our ward, apparently I will be helping to translate Sacrament meeting into Spanish! I have already met so many awesome members, and we are teaching a family that wants to get baptized. This area is about as different from Fallon as it gets, but I'm excited to learn and grow here!

-- Hermana Nielsen

Pictures:

-Making tortillas with my fancy new tortilla press!