Week 3: First Week in the Field (Laguna Beach Ward)

Family and Friends!

I made it to California this week! I love everything here. It's so beautiful, the people are lovely, the weather is perfect, and I have no excuses not to work as hard as I can.

A little bit about where I'm at- I'm in Laguna Beach right now (I lucked out) and my companion is named Sister Fetui. She's a Polynesian goddess basically. She's Samoan but born and raised in Hawaii. I love her! We get along so well. She's kind and funny and very relaxed but still wants to work hard. The ward I'm in is just called the Laguna Beach ward and it's awesome. We've been getting to know people and everyone is so cool! I mean that like they're great and also they're all stunning and hip too...haha Sister Fetui and I sometimes feel out of place but we love it. The people in the ward also absolutely love us! There haven't been sisters in this ward for a while and they're so excited to have us around. It's kind of crazy how generous people have been to us. We live about ten miles outside of our area which makes for a long commute (the drive is great actually, we take the PCH and get to look out at the ocean and the beaches) in the morning and night and we don't go back home during the day but people in the ward tell us just to go to their houses and use anything or eat anything even if they aren't home. We get fed very well (almost too well...S. Fetui and I are going to get on a program soon so we don't gain 50 pounds..) and ward members want to help us in any way they can.

As far as missionary work goes, we're mostly working on getting to know people since we're both new to the area. We have done a little contacting on the street, and that's fun because there are so many people out and about especially near the beach that we can talk to but so far it hasn't been particularly effective. People lots of the time see our nametags and turn the other way or look down really fast...haha we're like hey we're just tryin to be nice! So anyway our main focus has been visiting people in the ward and getting to know them. We've gotten to know lots of active members as well as some inactive members. I think there's a lot of potential here with less active folks. It's been great so far! S. Fetui and I are going to learn some songs together so maybe more people will be let us in if we ask if we can sing for them.

I don't want to say too much because time is escaping me but I'm so happy and doing great! I love this area so much already. It's going to be awesome.

Love, Sister Wimmer

We stopped for lunch one day and ate on some benches with an awesome view

S. Fetui and I

Outside our apartment

Bishop Galland sent this picture to Sister Wimmer's mom when she was at his house for dinner.