Hola everyone! I get a quick chance to update on the last few days and my experience now that I have officially arrived in Texas! SEP.1 - Woke up at 1:50am to say goodbye to our districts elders and then left for our own plane at 3am which was a good time to start the day after going to sleep at midnight. Our traveling was wonderful and we made it to McAllen by 4pm. Also on the plane I casually talked to the man next to me for 2 hours, his name was Dallin and he had a 5 year old daughter Elliot, I ended up giving him a book of mormon once off the plane and a pass along card for mormon.org. Once at the mission home I was the first person out of all 23 of us to get my interview with Presidente Maluenda - it went well but was nerve racking. They fed us croissant ham and cheese sandwhiches and then we went to Presidente's house for a second dinner of lasagna, I thought I was going to explode. Somethings I learned on my first day: ** McAllen missionaries gain an average of 40 pounds on their mission though I have now met 2 elders and one sister who have all gained over 80 pounds - they say the best way to get connected with the members is schedule 2 or 3 dinner appointments each night. Wait what? ** 99% of the people that I will be teaching in my area will be illegals and yet half of the already members of the ward are border patrol so you are not allowed to talk about someone's citizenship ever during your mission The mission president likes to speak in only spanish yet for my interview he had to revert to english because the language barrier was just a little too high. I stayed with all 7 other sisters in a sister missionary apartment and one of the sisters was going home today, holy cow I have another 1.5 years in front of me. But I really am excited. SEP. 2 - Woke up and ate breakfast at the mission president's home, then we found out our areas, I am serving in the EDINGBURG CENTRAL zone. Then we all went to the church for transfers and to find out who we would be serving with. All the missionaries were already there and I saw Eliza Bentz and we got to give each other a quick hug. All of us greenies were sitting in the front and I was the 2nd last Hermana to be called up to find out my companion. H Bentz got called up for Edingburg Central and they announced me and I seriously had to control a freak out and so did she. We went and sat by each other and thought they would have to change it but nope, Presidente Maluenda said it must be inspired. Amazing. The rest of the day has been spent unpacking, shopping, going over lesson plans for later today and adjusting to the area. So now I am officially a missionary chika in the field. I am so excited and yet so nervous. I cant wait to meet the families and the members, I already love it here. Presidente Maluenda talked to the sisters for a minute yesterday and stressed the significance of being called here as a girl. He said that he was told of our importance by Elder Holland when he was set apart, Elder Holland explained that girls have a special way of teaching and touching certain people and girls are not called to the northern mexico mission bordering Texas because it is too dangerous so all the girls in McAllen are special spirits that are sent to McAllen to teach key people who otherwise wouldnt be taught in northern mexico because of the number of illegals that we have. Overall just a cool concept. Thanks again for all the support and love, god bless america and texas. Here we go, H Boo Crawford