Adventures from West Virginia: Happy 4th of July from Kentucky

Hello my friends,

I AM IN KENTUCKY. I don' think many people know this but my mission covers parts of 6 states: West Virginia, about half of Virginia, and little parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. So I am here in Flatwoods, Kentucky!

It is SO GREEN here. I have never seen so many trees before.

A road in Kentucky

It is very pretty and the people here are crazy (in the best way) They are so friendly and they will just talk and talk to you for hours. They love pet names too, I have been here for 5 days and already I have been called angel, baby, sweetie, sugar and some other ones I just can't remember. We were in Walmart and there was this old guy just playing this Harmonica and just having a grand old time!

There are also churches on every corner, but instead of Mormon Churches like there is in Utah, they are all these crazy random churches! It is weird to me. The roads also throw me off because they just kind of go where ever, there are so many twists and turns and I get so confused! I am too used to Utah's grid system. Almost every house here has a huge porch on it, because I guess they like to sit outside and talk, but its so humid and there are so many mosquitoes I don't get it. My legs are so ugly from mosquito bites, and they are so itchy! If anybody has a magic remedy to keep the bugs away from me please tell me!!

When we left the MTC we had to wake up at 2:30 in the Morning! It was bad because we were up until 12:30 packing. I have never been up so much in my life! It was hard, we all got onto a bus and then onto the front runner and then we were at the airport.

On front runner to airport

We had a layover in Atlanta and then our plane got delayed. When we finally got on the plane it got delayed even more because somebody passed out and one of the seats were broken. We finally got to West Virginia and our Mission President was there waiting for us.

First view from airport

Bridge in WV

I don't have a picture of him yet but he totally looks like an older version of Hawkeye from the Avengers!! I didn't realize it until I saw him in person but he is totally a Hawkeye look-alike!

We went to the presidents home and had a really yummy dinner and had interviews with the president, then we went to bed. We stayed with some sister missionaries in Charleston. The next day we went to this museum in Charleston that has tons of information of West Virginia! It was huge and it was so cool! Then we just did some training for the rest of the day.

Museum in WV

With comps in the museum

President Salisbury (my mission president) and Sister Salisbury are THE BEST!! They gave us each a temple recommend holder with a picture that they took from the sacred grove. It says West Virginia Charleston Mission on it. It is so cool! They also gave each new missionary a hard copy of the Book of Mormon, and it has our names engraved in. It says Sister Willis, and it is so cool! They challenged us to read through it and to mark every time it references Christ. I have started to do it and it is so cool!

Book of Mormon from President "Hawkeye"

The next day was transfers, so all the missionaries who were transferring, or having their companions transferred met in the church building. Then all the new missionaries had to stand up and say where they were from, and if they could have a super power, what would it be. I said that I would want the power to grow. Everyone laughed. Then I found out I would be serving in Kentucky!

My companion who is also my trainer, is Sister Ferrio-Livley, but she just goes by Sister Lively. She is from Mesa, Arizona and she has been our here for 6 months. She is so funny and we have a lot in common. We get along really well, and she has been trying to teach me so much! Before we go to bed, we each say one reason why we loved each other today and one way our testimony's grew. I love doing this it is so cute! One night she said, "I just love how happy you are, like this morning when we woke up, you just woke up with a smile on your face and I don't know anybody who can do that." She is so sweet!

Sister Lively and I

For the past couple of days we have just been going around meeting with investigators and members of the ward. I love talking to them and hearing the stories they have to share! We went to visit an investigator couple, their names are Kevin and Sabrina. They are so funny, and when we went to leave Kevin hugged us! I looked at Sister Lively, because I didn't know what to do. We are trying to figure out a way to tell him that we aren't supposed to hug him without offending him.

We visited a woman who we call Granny June. She is a Christian but she loves the Sister Missionaries and so we come over and do service for her every week. She calls us her angels and holds our hands and guides us through her house. She was very excited when I told her that I used to have a grandma named June and a little sister whose middle name is June. I didn't have my photo album with me but she insisted that when I come back that I have it so she can see my family. June has a typewriter, it is so cool! She let us play with it and we typed up some letters.

I want to tell you about ever single person that we have met and talked to but I can't! But I wanted to tell you all about a funny thing that happened yesterday. We went to a members house after church to eat and visit. Her name is Sister Hannah. After we ate dinner, she said "Take off your shoes" so I did. Then she got Coconut Oil out and started to rub my feet! It was so funny because I loved it and Sister Lively didn't want to do it. My legs and feet were so smooth though, and she massaged my feet and it was so nice! I was just laughing at Sister Lively because she reminded me of Keltsey and how she doesn't like people to touch her feet! It was funny.

I am so excited to be a missionary at this time, The Lord is hastening the work. I know that there are people here who The Lord has prepared to be taught and I am so excited to see the change the gospel can make in their lives.

WITH LOVE FROM FLATWOODS KENTUCKY

-Sister Willis

P.S. Missionaries LOVE mail!

You can mail letters me directly to my house here:

Sister Kayla Willis

1508 Luci Mae Drive

Flatwoods, KY 41139

If you send packages it has to be priority mail :)