Sister Katy Talbot: The USS Enterprise

So I will start by telling you about the cool P-Day we've had. We went to take a tour of the Enterprise! Yay! I've been wanting to do that forever. There is a member in the 1st Ward that asked us if we wanted to go and of course we say yes! You're all probably wondering what the Enterprise is and why it would be cool to tour. I've been hearing about the boat (yes, they call it a boat) practically my whole mission and have met so many people that are on it (they have 5000 assigned to it). It is an aircraft carrier and can hold 80 fighter jets on it. It also has 8 nuclear reactors. So it's a big deal. They leave tomorrow for a 45 day workup, so we got to go just in the nick of time. They are set to deploy in January. It's been in the shipyard for repairs for sooo long, so now that it's fixed, it's almost ready to go. I think some of you have heard that the Truman left in May and the Eisenhower just got back. We actually saw the Eisenhower from the Enterprise. They were parked right next to each other. Now if I can find a way to tour a sub...

Nope we didn't get to see the Eisenhower pull in. Yeah, I've heard it's pretty cool when they leave and come back. The Truman left shortly after I got here, so some of the wives showed us pictures of it. Quite the experience.

We are going to have a Sister's Meeting on the 10th, so that should be great. Last sister's meeting was really good and we always do a clothing exchange where we bring the clothes we are too fat for and the ones other sisters have left behind.

So I have forgotten to update you on my finger. Last week most of the nail seperated from the bottom and turned this weird green color. Gross! And then as I was knocking on the door of our lesson, I bumped it and it popped almost all the way off. I grabbed my finger just as she was opening the door and eventually I just had to tell her and take care of it. Not all the nail was dead, so we had to do some minor surgery on my nail. It actually was really good timing because she had lost a nail once and is really into nails, so she was really helpful. But now I have officially lost a fingernail. It was weird because there is a partial nail that was there when it fell off. It's pretty ugly right now.

Transfers were a success. Sister Vawdrey and I are having a lot of fun and it's been great to have her here. She is a very diligent missionary and we both just want to get out and work and do what the Lord wants us to. The area has already picked up so much since she got here. One thing President Perry said was that we are working towards the members doing all the finding and then never having a need to tract. Yesterday was a prime example. It started raining, so we decided not to tract on the road we had planned for. We had just received 2 member referrals, so decided to call them and see if they would want to learn more. So in a matter of a few minutes we set up 2 new lessons! Tracting has not been effective here at all. It was huge in Newport News, but I haven't had any luck with it here in Norfolk. This ward is so incredible at talking to people.

We just got a new Ward Mission Leader, Bro. Kreitzer. He and his wife are sooo excited about it and we are too. Sis. Kreitzer said that she was preparing for a mission when she met her husband, so she is excited to be a ward missionary. Another new couple, the Deitz, were also called to be ward missionaries and the wives already coordinated babysitting with each other so they can come out with us. It's a dream come true! We have 5 sisters who are ward missionaries. I love my life! And with Sis. Vawdrey here it's going to rock!

Sister Vawdrey is from Bluffdale, UT and went to Snow College before her mission. Then she did the dental assisting program at SLCC. She is just cute and little. I had 4 tall comps in a row, so it's a fun change.