It is scary for a Colorado girl to learn to drive in Queens!

Hello family! It sounds like you are having a lot of fun on your vacation, wherever you are in Colorado at this point :). Mom, you are still the best vacation and party planner I know! I am beginning to start to tread some water with my new calling and situation. I am learning how it all works out here on the island. We also got to do 3 exchanges this week and had a lot of fun. My first exchange was on wed in Jamaica Queens (yes I am learning how to drive around queens!) It was nice to be back in the city and in the middle of the craziness again. The second was on friday in Terryville (or more correctly Port Jefferson). And the third, I dropped my companion off, and picked up Sister Marin in Richmond Hill and we worked in Plainview.  Its a huge blessing to be able to be a sister training leader.  For each exchange, I pray to know what the sisters need and that my "tounge will be loosed" and that the sisters will hear answers to their prayers. I am by no means perfect at it, but it has been quite special to share seemingly random thoughts, or personal experiences that have been exactly what they needed to hear exactly when they needed to hear it. I really enjoy helping and strengthening the sisters and it is neat to be in a position and to be given authority to do it. We have a lot of new sisters serving in difficult circumstances, which interesting enough, a lot of which I have experienced before. It is interesting to see His hand in preparing me for to help these sisters. I am learning that a difficult trial is all made worthwhile if through my struggle, God is able to help someone else.  All in all, I have only been in the calling for a couple weeks, and I am so grateful it and the neat oppurtunities and experiences it is giving me. As far as our own proselyting area goes, its a struggle, but that is kind of to be expected when you start with nothing. The last two times I have been blinded in, it was really hard on me to have to report zeros week after week. Thankfully I am learning that it is all in the Lord's time, and it doesn't come all at once, and it isn't my fault that we don't have investigators yet (look how far I am coming!! haha).  We were given over 800 names of singles that should be going to the singles branch that arent't. Sis Neilsen and I are working hard and trying to get all the information organized and usable . We have been trying to look-up and contact the names that the branch leaders have given us, but no one has been home, picked up or even has still lived in the area.....its all part of it. Todavia is probably my favorite word is spanish, it means still or yet. And so we haven't found anyone YET :). We did get to finally go to church and meet the branch which was really good. It is a really good group, and many of them are returned missionaries who are excited to help us out. Kind of interesting, we essentially have increased Relief Society attendence by over 30% by just being there. (with us two sisters there are now 6 active sisters in the Relief Society!) Odds are definitley in the girls favor in this ward....funny how my only singles ward with more guys than girls is when I am a missionary (just my luck haha! ). As you can probably tell, our focus is the Relief Society at this point, and it's no wonder the elders quorum is eager to help. The sisters I have met are INCREDIBLE and I am just all around grateful and excited to be given the opportunity to be here in this branch. Also the island is growing on me. It is SO beautiful, lush and green and there are a lot of pretty neighborhoods and shops. We also have been able to work down by the water a little and the views are breathtaking. I also love the Long Island way of life, and it is kind of nice to be called "sweetheart" (or should I say sweethawt :)) everywhere I go. ( Better than being called mamicita by men on the street in Corona....blech!) I am still getting used to driving here. Came about Saturday when I noticed my right hand was in a lot of pain and really sore. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what in the world I had been doing to cause it....I mean I don't write THAT many notes during studies haha. Then I got in the car and realized that I have been white- knuckling the steering wheel EVERYTIME I drive (It's scary here!). I have been praying a lot with help and confidence so I can focus less on driving and put that energy to better use and one day during studies the clear thought popped in my mind and heart, "You know, you can ask for a preisthood blessing for that." I hadn't thought about that as being something I could ask for a blessing for. I knew I had asked for blessings to help me with running, or school, piano and learning spanish. I just saw driving as just one of my many silly insecurities and something I never really got that good at. But the idea gave me a lot of comfort, and I knew the Lord would make me equal to my task, even in something as seemingly silly and common as driving. I followed the prompting and asked one of the senior couple missionaries in my district for the blessing. He gave me a beautiful blessing and even the next day, driving became a much more enjoyable experience for me. Again, I have been reminded that I know God lives and really is concerned about the little details of our lives and that the purpose of the Atonement (or sacrifice, death and ressurection) of Jesus Christ is to strengthen and heal ANY weakness, even a seemingly silly one like a Colorado girl trying to drive on the east coast. You asked about Memorial Day. We had P-day still and the Plainview family ward invited us to come to their picnic. It was a lot of really good food, fun sports, hot sun, and it was fun to get to know the ward members. It was nice and actually felt like memorial day :) I love and miss you and hope you enjoy the rest of your trip! I am sorry I only got a letter written to Stephen before P-day finished this week :/ but he is the one leaving anyway haha. And good luck with your last week steve! Enjoy your time with Mom, Dad and Allie, you won't believe how much you are going to miss them. Love, Megan NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.