Christiansburg, VA

"FANTASTIC week here in Christiansburg Virginia! It is greener and more beautiful than my last area. It's a little more "mountainous" where there are mountains, but it seems to be more flat than WV. It is a wealthier area - Christiansburg is a large college town. Virginia Tech is in Blacksburg, which is not even 10 minutes from our apartment. Our apartment is brand-spankin new! It is SO NICE. It's a basement apartment. Everything is definitely closer and shorter distances which is nice. We have a couple of investigators that live less than a mile away, so we walk to their house when we have them. Our brand new car is just like the one we had in Teays Valley, but its a 2013, and it's a bright sparkly shiny red. We named her Lucy. We get 1100 miles a month, and since we walk everywhere, miles aren't really a problem for us. YAY! (: our area is quite small...we split it with the zone leaders, who also share our ward."

"My new companion is Sister H.  She is pretty much like me...She is SO funny. She is studying musical theater, and Shower/bath nights at our house are Broadway musicals, and should require tickets. She is an INCREDIBLE singer! She played the oldest daughter in a production of the Sound of Music last summer.  She was in the process of auditioning to be the singing parade Belle at Walt Disney World before her mission.  It's not terribly difficult to live with a companion that sings as much as you."

"So there is a less active sister in our ward that has a MASSIVE GARDEN! She loves getting the sisters help with it, so we get to go over weekly to help her weed and plant - reminds me SO much of home, it is the BEST! We do our service with her at night, so the first night we went over there, we were out saying goodbye, packing up the tools and such, and she pointed over to an open area in her yard, and said "watch"...and there were FIREFLIES! It's firefly season, which makes me SOOOO SO SO happy! They are so magical - so I look forward to gardening with her every week. Pictures of the Garden to come! 

That's all - I have been noticing so many tender mercies in my life right now - my companion is amazing, we have a dishwasher and a washer and dryer in our apartment, and everything is so close to us. It is truly Zion here in Christiansburg."

 Elizabeth, her trainer (left) and her new missionary (right) on transfer day.

The family in her first area that introduced her to strum sticks gave her one. She is so excited. Her aunts think she is having way too much fun but that is Elizabeth. She just loves life.