Safe and Sound

Monday, September 15th - American Fork, UT to Kearney, NE - 778 miles
Tuesday, September 16th - Kearney, NE to Joliet, IL - 625 miles
Wednesday, September 17th - Joliet, IL to Carlisle, PA - 657 miles
Thursday, September 18th - Carlisle, PA to Philadelphia, PA - 124 miles

Mom & Joyce arrived in Philadelphia last Thursday morning and met with their Mission President. He talked with them for a while and then took them to lunch. They were originally told that they would be in Philadelphia their entire mission, but there has been a small change in plans. They are now going to be moving to the city of Chester. Chester is 10 miles south of where they are right now. They will stay in Philadelphia for a week and train with some other sister missionaries that are there now.

It has been a hard first week for mom. It was really hard for her to leave all of us(by all of us I mean Linda and fam!!!!). It was just a lot of adjusting to lots of new things, but she is doing better already! The apartment they are in for the week leaves a lot to be desired. Quote from Mom: "The Quality Inn we stayed at in Carlisle was very old and smelly. Our apartment makes that motel room look palatial." She has had some really neat and spiritual experiences. One of the things they did last week was to go to a sister's house in the ward who was just recently called to teach Relief Society. This sister doesn't read or write any English and even struggles to speak English. They went to her house to help her some with her lesson. Mom said she taught on Sunday and taught part of the lesson in very broken English and then would turn to the African sisters and teach them in their native language of Krahn. Remember the majority of this ward is made up of people from Liberia. After church mom and the other missionaries spent time dividing out bread and rolls that were donated. They distributed these to ward members. Mom says that was a very humbling experience.

As I was sitting here typing out this blog, mom called. It was great to talk to her. Let me give you another quick update of what she had to say. Mom and Joyce moved to Chester today. She is relieved that the apartment is much nicer than the other. She said that the area their apartment is in is much nicer than the last and it looks and feels more safe. She said that the city of Chester is another story. She said it looks like it was in the middle of a war zone. They received a call from the branch president and he said one of you will be the relief society president and one will be the primary president!!! AAAHHHHH!! Actually, I guess one of them will assist the RS President and one will assist the Primary President. He also warned them that neither one of the presidents would probably be very happy to have the assistance. On a positive note, the Branch President's wife told them that they were an answer to prayer.

Here is mom's new address:
1100 Albert Rd. Apt B4
Brookhaven, PA 19015

or you can email her at: patcantera@gmail.com

I know it would mean a lot to her to hear from everyone! Please keep her in your prayers!

LOVE YOU MOM

Philly...Here we come!

We said goodbye to Mom tonight as she and Joyce leave first thing in the morning for Philadelphia. They were told they needed a car while they are there, so they are driving and plan to arrive on Thursday or Friday. After talking with the Mission President, they know that they will be serving in a ward in Philadelphia with a high rate of poverty. Over 60% of the members are from Liberia, in Western Africa. It sounds like they will be serving the members of this ward with their needs, humanitarian efforts, and activation. From their understanding, they will be in the same apartment their entire mission. We know that this will be an amazing experience for her.
This last week has been a busy one as she has made final preparations to leave. It started last Sunday when she was set apart by President Goodsell as a full-time missionary. My family and Laura & Jon were able to attend and it was a wonderful blessing. She mentioned afterwards that it was exactly what she needed to hear.
She reported to the MTC on Monday morning and spent the rest of the week getting oriented and learning about being a missionary. It was a lot of information as they learned in four days what other missionaries learn in three weeks.

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the last week.

We know you will be a great missionary. We love you!