First Week in the Mish' Field!

Herro!
Wouldn't you know it, the first area I get called to is the Port Angeles Zone! I'm 20 minutes away from Port Angeles but have yet to see any werewolves. The area is beautiful though so I have a hard time being disappointed. I am over two wards in Sequim, Washington! Pronounced Squim.
The work here in WA-TAC is so great! I am so excited to be here. There are currently 21 missionaries in the WA-TAC mission, so alas, I have been put in the one companionship with 3 missionaries, just like in the MTC. My trainer is Sister Gainer and everyone I talk to says she is the best sister in the mission, so it's kind of an honor :) She and I get along real well. It has been determined that if we had ever met outside the mission field, we probably wouldn't be friends, so what a blessing it is to have met her in the mission field! She sets a really good example for me and our other companion Sis. Luke. Both Sis. Luke and I came into the mission field from the MTC at the same time. Sis. Luke was in the district next to me and we were in the same zone. I was totally fine with her then, but now that I am with her 24/7 and am really getting to know her, I realize now that she has a few habits and personality traits that bother me. But, a wise person once told me that if there is something I don't like about someone, it's a problem I have inside of myself. So, I've really been praying to be able to serve her and have love toward her. It requires a lot of prayer though.
When we got to the field, we went to a part member family's house and started to teach them. There are two unbaptized children that we have been trying to put on a date all week. But the dad, who is the member, really wants his children to know for themselves before they decide to get baptized so that they are less likely to become rebellious later on. Anyway, we had a breakthrough in teaching them, though! On Sunday, Ed, the dad, met with the bishop who challenged him to stop smoking and be ready to babtize his two children in 3 weeks! The mission president stresses urgency here so everything moves really fast. So, he accepted the challenge and we have them on date for April 11. Yay! I really feel confident it will happen.
Then yesterday we started teaching a guy named Israel who lives with his girlfriend and they have a baby girl. He is searching for something that will make his lil' family stronger and really feels like the LDS church has something that will really make them happy. He was a really neat guy. We are supposed to commit a person on the first time we meet with them, but we didn't with him. I feel like he is ready to receive the gospel in his life and am really excited to teach him. . . We get to teach him again on Wednesday. Yay!
Well, as a mission, we are reading a packet of talks by the General Authorities all about the atonement. I have learned so much about the sacrifice Christ made for me! I love it! I still feel as though I am learning for the benefit of my own growth and learning, but I know that eventually I will be able to read things and know how to apply them to my investigators. It's exciting and I just can't wait until I get to that point of progression as a missionary. Pres. Bowen said we aren't here to BE missionaries, we are here to learn how to BECOME missionaries. I think that's so true. I keep thinking of the ways all I am learning as a missionary can be applied to my life when I get home.
I had an epiphony that the work I have to put into the relationship I have with my Heavenly Father is like the work I have to put into a marriage; it's hard and there has to be complete honesty, but in the end, the feelings and blessings that come from a good relationship outweigh the hard stuff.
Boy, the things you learn and how you can change in such a short amount of time!
Anyway, I love you!

-LOVE EMILY