Family and friends! 

I have arrived! It has been a crazy and hectic week to say the least but it has been great! On tuesday we left the MTC at 3:30 a.m.! It was insane! Saying goodbye to my beloved Sister Sanders and Frederick was really hard! I didn't like it at all! But they are where they need to be! All the new missionaries stayed at the mission home the first night and it was kinda weird but good. I was so tired that I don't remember much about that night. The next day we went to transfer meeting. I was so nervous to find out who my trainer was going to be! We had a little meeting before about what they expect out of us concerning our apartments and cars and such. Then they started to tell us who our trainers were....I was nervous, sweaty, and my heart was pounding! When President Griffin called my name I went and stood by him. He said Sister Draney, you will be serving in the Whitley Kentucky area and your companion will be Sister McDermott! I was so excied as Sis McDermott stood up and hugged me! She is absolutely amazing! I love her! We get along so well and I just love her to bits! The first few days were awkward but as we got to know each other we just grew to love each other even more! She calls me baby and I call her mom cause she is like my mommy out here and I am the first sister she has trained. We always joke that I will give her grandbabies soon! haha! Its so great! We also serve with a senior couple and they are great! President Funk is the president of our little branch and Sister Funk reminds me so much or Grandma Becky! I love it! They are so fun and we love them because they feed us and drive us to district meeting! haha Which by the way it takes us TWO HOURS to get to district meeting! Its crazy! My district is so awesome too! the Elders are so funny! Another exciting thing! I had my first baptism on Saturday!! It was so awesome! I loved it! Jayden is 9 and so cute! When he walked into the water, he had the biggest smile on his face! It was so cute! And when he came up out of the water, he started swimming around and saying, IM SWIMMIN IN HERE! It was so cute! I have so much to tell you all! But I never have enough time! So I will do my best to fit it all in! The other night mom and I woke up to an INSANE wind and thunder and lightning storm! And aparently they have tornados here and there is always a storm before, so thats comforting to know. but it wasnt a tornado luckily. 

Funny story: So we were going out to visit some less actives and they ended up not being home so we decided to go and knock on the door across the street. One thing you have to understand is that people out here in the south are very trusting people. Anyways back to my story. So we knock on the door and we hear someone inside yell "come in!" and we just look at each other like what the heck? We then proceeded to open the door and walk into the strange house. Then when we were in the house, we had find the person in the house which was awkward cause we were like going down the hall and couldn't find them... When we finally found them, they were in a dark room watching Pitch Perfect. There were two teenage couples on the couches cuddling...... IT WAS SO AWKWARD!!!!! So we gave them a pass along card and left as fast as possible! Then we laughed all the way to the car! ALSO WE SAW A BEAVER NEXT TO THE HOUSE! That was cool. Kinda freaky, but cool. 

Another fun fact about the south is that it is humid. Most of you know that but when I say humid, I mean like get out of the shower, blow dry your hair and ten minutes later your hair is wet again, humid. Its insane! I don't even bother doing my hair anymore! Its useless. and its just going to get worse! Thats a thing. I don't like it. At all! 

Now onto the people I have met:

Jeff: He is a recent convert and is AWESOME! We went and visited him my second day here in Kentucky. He is such a stellar guy! Jeff was just called to teach the gospel principles class and he is terrified! He will be so great! Its hard to explain how amazing he is! Just know he is like the golden recent convert.

Sister Pennington: She is a less active member. We had a lesson with her on Friday and it was amazing! She had so many excuses and it was so cool cause for every excuse she had, me and mom had a scripture for her. It was such a great lesson! She cried and we REJOICED! Not becuase she was crying but because we knew that we had reached her! It was so so cool! We were on cloud 9 all night. 

Jayden: He is the one who just got baptized on Saturday! He is the sweetest kid! Before he could get baptized he had to give up sweet tea. It was really hard for him but he did it! Such a great little kid! He's awesome! 

We have so many more people but I haven't met them yet.

It is such a humbling experience being here. Everyone is pretty poor and have very little. They are all so sweet and kind. Well most of them. We are very blessed to live in such a nice area and have the things we do! Remember always that you are very blessed! Most people here live in VERY run down houses/trailers and hardly have enough money to pay for food and clothing. They are all so giving and kind even they have nothing to give! A lot of people have other peoples kids that they are taking care of. They are all amazing people! 

There are so many stray dogs and cats here! Its crazy! You don't dare touch any animal becuase you can see the fleas and bugs on them and they look gross. Its sad but its how it is! Everyone here has at least 3 animals here. As a result, their houses smell so bad like urine and wet animal. So thats gross.

Anyways! Thats the gist of my week! I love my mom and Kentucky! Let the work move on! Love you all and miss you lots! Write to me! Read your scriptures and pray! The Lord is always on your side! 

Mosiah 7:33

Hola mi familia y amigos!

haha that is probably not even real spanish! But hello everyone! I have so much to tell you all this week but I am short on time so we will see how it goes! 

This week my companion and I received our TRC investigator. I'm not sure what TRC stands for but pretty much it is someone hired by the MTC to be an investigator. Some are actual investigators but some aren't and you have no idea which is which and they refuse to tell you. Anyways our TRC was Leah. She is so great! I love her to death! But to be honest, our first two meetings with her I walked out crying. She is very firm in her beliefs and isn't scared to tell you what she thinks. I didn't want to go back for our third lesson and considered pretending I was sick so I wouldn't have to go back haha. The third lesson was incredible! The spirit in that room was undeniable and not even Leah could say otherwise! I wish I could go into more detail but I love her and we had some pretty incredible spiritual experiences together! In our last meeting with Leah, she gave my companion and I a bent nail. She told us that the nail represented her. The nail was bent because we/she are not perfect. She continued by saying that when missionaries come in to teach her, she felt like they were trying to shove their beliefs down her throat and into her head and that was like hitting the bent nail on the head, which as we all know will just bend it more. Then she said that when we came to visit with her, she felt like we were patting her on the back and being real with her, which means that instead of hitting the nail on the head, we were tapping it on the bend and making it a little straighter. She said that we had helped her to come to know God better and to trust in Him more! I felt the spirit so strongly! It was awesome! I just wish I could tell the whole story! When I get home I will tell you all about Leah! I love her! Even though she made me cry! Anyways next on the agenda for this e-mail is a HILARIOUS story!!! So on Monday we as a district were sitting in class and all of the sudden, one of our Elders totally rips one! We tried so hard not to laugh, but when I looked over at Sister Frederick and busted up! We laughed so hard! Then to make it even better, we were talking about stress that day in class and at the end of the lesson Brother Roberts says "Sometimes you just need to release some gas" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!!!That started the laughing all over again!! Then, when he realized what he had done bro roberts said, its ok elder, it gets the best of us! haahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahaha! I just can't contain myself when I think about it! I love my district, teachers and just everything about this place (minus the food). I hope that you all had a great Easter weekend and that you remember what Easter is really about!

I am out of time but I hope you all enjoy that story! I love the MTC and General Conference was awesome! If you didnt watch it, go do it NOW. 

I love you all! Talk to you next week!!!

Sister Draney #2