Welcome to Davis, California!

Hey fam bam!

You probably thought I was dead :) haha, that was a long time between
p-days! Hopefully now I'm back on a regular schedule. So I guess we
should start at the beginning, eh?

So getting to the airport was crazy, but Heavenly Father watches His
babies and we made it. The plane ride was awesome! I actually really
loved it. We got there super early, but it was so streamlined and I
got from Salt Lake to Oakland in an hour and 20 minutes, so who's the
real winner here?

We got off the plane and you could smell the ocean immediately after
stepping out of the airport. It was incredible. Sister Jensen and I
joked about how there was actually water in this air. Our president
and the aps picked us up and I got to talk to Sister Wright while we
walked back to the cars. She knew who I was from the letters we sent.
It was really impressive! They are the nicest people, so don't worry,
I am in good hands!

The drive was an hour and forty five minutes to the mission home. We
drove passed San Fransisco and I saw Alcatraz and the Golden Gate
Bridge from my window and it was the coolest thing of my life.

After orientation at the mission office, I met my trainer! Her name is
Sister Ngawharau. >:) take a guess on that one.

So who do you give a tiny, greenie from Idaho? A 6'2", national
kickboxing, shark-killing, Poly from New Zealand of course!

She legit killed a shark and it's the funniest thing I've ever heard,
so I will tell you the story. She loves the ocean and she was standing
in the water and she felt something nibble her heels. She looked and
saw this baby shark ("oh it was little, only about your length" she
tells me) and she saw it was just kind of floating there so she
thought it was super cool. Her friend who was in the beach hadn't seen
once, so Sister N decided to show her. So she grabbed the shark by its
tail and dragged it out of the water and up onto the beach to show her
friend. Well the shark stopped moving and she realized that she
probably killed it. Sharks can't move backwards and there is a nerve
in their tail that if you pull it hard enough, it will die. So, she
killed a shark. She said it was a baby bull shark. Nothing crazy ;)

After meeting my comp we went out to the parking lot to get the car
and head to the mission presidents house for dinner. She tossed me the
keys and said to take care of them because I was the designated
driver! Welcome to Cali. The drivers in Northern Cali are the most
chill drivers I've ever met. My eyes were quickly opened to how poorly
Idahoans actually drive, and Utahans are homicidal and certifiably
insane. Also the roads in Utah are atrocious. I'm glad I took those
trips because driving was no adjustment. After dinner we hopped in the
car and buckled down for the two hour drive to our area!

I've never felt sincere when I tell people I'm an Idaho girl, because I
fell that's not super accurate. I love the mountains and everything,
but I've always just kind of felt out of place in Idaho even though I
love it. Well, as it turns out, I'm a Northern Cali girl in my soul. I
loved everything for, the rolling green everything, to the bay,to the
mountains here, to the vineyards, to the trees, to the citrus,
everything. It is absolutely beautiful here. Sadly, I don't miss Idaho
or Utah one bit and kind of sad that eventually I will have to go back
some day. At least for now. Dad, I must be your baby girl. I love it
here and it reminds me of Oregon.

So we are in Davis! It's a city about two hours east of Santa Rosa and
25 minutes east of Sacramento! I'm one area away from the edge of the
mission which is West Sacramento. Jensen stayed in Santa Rosa. Davis
is beautiful. It's a college town, home of the UCDavis....Aggies!
There are college kids everywhere and it's a biking town! Everyone and
their dog rids a bike and it's the most amazing thing ever. Everyone
here is super fit and super chill. I love it. I also love it because
I'm a missionary and have been bestowed the gift of seeing people and
things as they really are. If I were to come back and actually live
here as a citizen without the protection of legions of angels, I know
it would be different, so I'm enjoying it while I can.

Sister Free was the Sister before me. She moved to Vacaville to serve
in the YSA ward. It's like 20 minutes down the road. Anyway, she and
my trainer were bestest friends forever and always and so they are
both hurting a lot right now. Also, everyone here, the ward and the
investigators absolutely ADORED Sister Free, so they are hurting too.
I have big shoes to fill, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.
I've met Sister Free twice, and I actually get along quite well with
her comp Sister Neilson. I guess Sister Free cried for days after the
transfer.... It's been really hard for her. Plus this is Sister N's
last transfer. Makes it interesting. My comp is super cool, and we are
super different. She's patient and chill and so so nice. I'm still
struggling with it still, but that's the only part of the mission.

In the mission, your trainer is your mom and your second comp is your
dad. A missionary who is on their last transfer is 'dying' and one who
has left is 'dead'. So if you look at it that way, my mom is dying and
only has five weeks left to live. Training is twelve weeks though, so
I will be getting a step mom or my dad will be training me for six
weeks and I will also be leading the area. 😱 so fun.

We live in a two woman apartment which I can't think of the address
right now....we live on covell blvd in a place called meadow ridge?
Apt 75 I think? Idk. I'll find out. There is a lemon tree that grows
on the corner. So cool!

Also, there are huge snails everywhere! You'll be walking and you'll
feel something explode under your shoe and you know it's a snail.
Grossest thing ever. I've killed one so far. Sorry little guy.

This week was so good! It was warm! High 70s and sunny! I have a
darker tan after being in the sun for an hour than I would have gotten
all summer in Idaho. And it was an accident. It was instant too. I
came inside and I could see a huge difference. Kind of funny. Because
there is water in the air, my hair is curly!! Really curly. My first
day here I had a legit Afro. It was sweet.

So we have quite the teaching pool! Mostly less actives but a few
aren't. I'll tell you more about them over time, but one we are
working with is 33, former drug addict, and she is all cleaned up! She
loves loves loves the church and is set to be baptized this Saturday,
however we aren't sure if she will be able too because the drugs
damaged her brain so much her mental capacity is like talking to a
child at times and her speech is very bogged down so she might not be
accountable. My comp is going to fight for it! Her name is Rachel and
I already love her.


Friday's are actually really fun too. We plan for five hours straight!
We plan our whole week. This last Friday we put on our basketball
shorts and planned by the pool. Then when we needed a break, we went
and shot some hoops for ten minutes before getting back to work. Then
we went out and worked again. So yeah. Stateside, English. Pray for it
boys!

(Um, I don't think Jessica could have gotten any luckeir with this one!)
Also, Disney music is approved in my mission. So.....yeah.

Our mission goes to the temple every six months and lucky for me, we
have a trip next month! Since I'm in the eastern part of the mission,
I will go to the Sacramento temple! Will yall send me some pics of it?
I don't have google and that's the one thing I miss desperately. I
don't know what that temple looks like inside or out. The southern
part of the mission will go to Oakland (jealous) and the northern will
go to Medford! Your stomping grounds, Dad! (Also jealous). I'm so
excited though! Also Elder Bednar is coming to our stake conference
and then to talk to our mission in two weeks. Road trip to Santa Rosa!
 Life is so rough ;)

Anyway, there's something to get you started :)

Eric, I'm sorry about your letter. I'm working on it still. I thought
telling you over the phone, telling mom over the phone, and writing a
note at the top of the family letter would tip you all off ;) my bad.
Ethan's letter should definitely be there though. I wrote them in
order. If Rachel and Sam got theirs, Ethan's should definitely be in
there, I even checked my notebook. If not, I'll write you another.
Sorry buddy.

I met the other Julander! It was super funny.

We went to a members house for dinner last night and.....

There is so much more to say, but hopefully that gets you started.
Thanks for all of your Dear Elders! Even though I can't get them
anymore, you can still email me! Also, I checked. October 3 2017 is a
transfer day, so that's probably my release date. If I go the transfer
before its August 22. So yeah. :) there you go Rach! That's for your
calendar.

Oh yeah, and I wrote this on my iPad. It's an iPad mini 4? Eric. Is
that a thing? Anyway, it's the newest model. I have a nice case and
screen protector and when I go to the church I have wifi and I
download my emails! So it's really nice to read those.

Sorry if I missed anything. Now that you know about where I am at,
I'll tell you about the work in my following emails!

Your chill missionary,

Sister Julander