"The Field is White Already to Harvest" -WISCONSIN!!

Well everybody, I have officially arrived in Wisconsin!  But let me put to words the trip over here...  :)

Last week was awesome!  :)  So, on Tuesday, Elder Stringham and I woke up at 1:00 AM and got ready for the day, putting the final things into our luggage and doing everything we needed to do to be ready to go to the field.  So, we got over to Reception at 1:30, and left the place at 2:00.  It was crazy to pull out of the CCM, knowing that I would never be back as a missionary...  Though I do hope to come back someday.  :D  But we drove over to the airport which took us probably 20 minutes because the roads were empty, as surprising as that was!  Then, we had to separate from Elder Nistler, Johnson, and Hermana Millett - all of whom were going to Arizona.  So, Elder Stringham, Hermana Goodman and I all went forward and waited at our gate for about an hour and a half before we boarded.  But when we got on the plane, I thought that I had left me journal at the gate, because I couldn't find it anywhere!

The flight was about 2 hours long and then we arrived at Dallas/Ft. Worth airport.  We had to go through Immigration, Customs, and Security once again, which probably took nearly an hour, which was cutting it really close because I started boarding an hour after we had landed!  But I did all of that stuff by myself, waited for Elder Stringham for one last photo as a companionship, and then I left to go to my gate.  I got there with a little bit of time to spare, so I ate the first food of the day...  Then, I still wasn't able to find my journal!  So, I prayed and opened my bags one last time before I boarded, and the first thing I saw was my journal!  The church is true everybody, and prayer really does work!  :D

The flight was about another 2 hours to Wisconsin, and as we were flying over the city of Milwaukee, I kept on thinking of the scripture in D&C 4, "The Field is White Already to Harvest..."  I was so excited to get down!  But when we landed, I walked right through everything and got my bags, waiting for somebody to come and find me...  I wandered for 20 minutes downstairs, and then went upstairs for another 20 minutes, when the Assistants came and found me.  :)  Finally!  We loaded my bags up and drove to the mission home, where I met Hermana Cutler and got to eat a delectable Sloppy Joe.  I filled out some papers and we were then briefed on safety things for cars and cell phones, how to use our church debit card, and then I got an interview with the President before going to a church for a testimony meeting.

That night, I just stayed at the Mission Home with some other missioanries that came in from Provo.  Then the next morning, after a quick time of getting ready, we went to the church to get our new companions.  Sooner or later, I was assigned to Elder Shipp - a missionary from Lehi, UT.

So, after all of that, we loaded my bags up and drove to Madison, WI, which was to be my first area!  We got there about 3 hours later because we got lost, and met our Zone Leaders - super cool guys.  But they gave us a ride to our apartment (we don't have a car - we get around by bus) and I put my stuff away, grabbed my bag, and we went to teach an English class at our church building.  After that, we played soccer for an hour, and then after that we went to a dinner appointment for a recently baptized family.  It was so strange to just be thrust into the midst of everything!  :D

The next day, I got situated a lot in the morning, and then after studying and doing things like that - getting into the mission schedule - we went out to go tracting.  When we decided on a place to go tracting, he had me decide on where to go, but when I asked him where he was thinking on going, it was the exact same place that I thought I should go!  Talk about crazy!  So, we went over there, but everybody that we went to see was not at home.  But, we did talk to a nice homeless Latino guy who we gave a Libro de Mormon and prayed with, and then a man we met in a park who gave us his address and told us to come back on Saturday.  But we walked a lot and talked to some people, but those were the only return appointments we had.  (Sorry for being brief - I'm short on time).

The next day, we went to a different area and did the same thing, and basically the same thing happened, but we talked to several less active members and tried to get them to come back and got several return appointments.  We also got taken out to lunch and got an amazing tour of the UofW Football Stadium, which was AMAZING!  That night, we went to a BYU Football Fireside which I thought was cool too.  :)  Then, on Saturday, we talked to Oscar, a man who was baptized but never confirmed that we're trying to explain baptism to.  We also went back to the first family that we met in a park, but they forgot about it.

Sunday, there was a marathon so the bus didn't go by our church building, so we ended up walking 3 miles or more to our church building, though thick city and dense forest - Madison is a weird city...  :P  I also got to meet tons of members so I hope it continues this way!  :D

-- Elder Hubert