Being a greenie on St. Patrick's day was as unusual as it sounds‏

Wow do I have a lot to catch up on! Well first off, let me say that as odd and hilarious as I thought it was that I became a greenie on green day, it was even more weird than that. If that even makes sense. Let me back up to the day before, when I had to say goodbye to the people who had become my family the past six weeks. Oh my goodness was that hard. I never realized how much the spirit and struggling through the insanity of the mtc can bring people so close together. But we survived! And now I officially live in the lovely state of California. Getting here was a bit rough, and despite how hard I tried to place a Book of Mormon in the airport, everyone was mormon. Shocker. I also had quite an ordeal with my luggage because when you pack your life away into 3 little suitcases, they're going to be overweight. Hindsight, I probably should have thrown away my 3 pound jar of nutella instead of my towel.. but hey, priorities. Nutella is far more valuable.

Anyways, finally I arrived in California and got to meet my amazing mission president and his wife! They were waiting for us at baggage with all the AP's which was super nice to get to meet them all there. President Alba and his wife are SO amazing and hilarious! So then we drove to the mission office/church cause it was transfer day and basically the entire mission was there to welcome us which was suuuuper weird. But nice I guess. So then we all went into a devotional and the rest of the day us newbies did training. We ate dinner at the Alba's that night and then they took us to a hotel super early so we could sleep and it truly was the best night of my life! Hermana Burton and I shared a room and it had two huge beds and a balcony and I was so happy I instantly threw myself on the bed and cried tears of joy. I have never slept so well in my entire life!

The next day, we got our new companions! My trainer is amazing. Her name is sister nimmer, she's from orem, and we actually knew each other before cause we were in the same freshman ward! She is super athletic so we run for 40 minutes in the mornings which is a struggle but I need it! She's an amazing missionary and talks to everyone. No joke. We went to the store when I first got here and she talked to every single person in that store! She truly knows the meaning of being a missionary 24/7.

So our area is Sonoma, which is just 30 minutes away from Santa Rosa. Sonoma is SO beautiful and the people here are amazing. there's the two of us in one apartment, and then next door is the elders in our district which is super fun. They're all really nice and fun to talk with. One of them is actually Elder Tooley from bountiful and I knew him before too, so it's fun being neighbors! I love our district so much! And the members here are really good about feeding us so we all get to eat dinner together every night.
So as far as investigators, we don't have tons right now but we have some amazing potentials that I can't wait to teach. There's an awesome guy named Geremias and his wife is a member and they have an adorable little girl named Ashley. He's been praying about a baptismal date so we're really hoping he can be baptized this transfer! There's also the Garcia family who all have baptismal dates already but I haven't gotten to meet them yet. I'll definitely have better updates next week once I've gotten to know people better!

Anyways, sorry this email is so scattered but I just want you all to know that I truly do love being a missionary! There's nothing I love more than walking up to someone's door who we've never met before and the spirit can hit you like a wall in an instant. This has been hands down the most exhausting week of my entire life, but I've already grown to love these people so much and I am so excited for the incredible experiences I have in front of me. I love and miss you all!! Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Lewis

P.S. My address is:
 888 W Verano Ave.

Sonoma, California 95476

I'd love to hear from you all!!