Charlottesville!

I always knew I would go to Charlottesville, from the very first transfer of my mission. It seems like it has just been a reoccurring theme. Charlottesville, Charlottesville, Charlottesville. On of the most obvious signs happened right from the beginning, though.

Throughout my mission, I have had many experiences where I will have had a dream, just a random dream, and think it is nothing and forget about it and move on. Then, I will see the people in the dream and/or the place where the dream happened in real life. One of the most distinct of these experiences was a very vivid dream I had before my mission, about a zombie apocalypse and we took shelter in this huge white farmhouse sort of thing in the middle of a big open field surrounded by thick trees and stuff. There was a river between the house and the road that curved around to the right and surrounded the house on one side. In the dream it started around sunset but continued on through the night on til dawn, us just protecting ourselves from the zombies and making plans and stuff and occasionally leaving to make different excursions.
Then, in my first area, when I was with Hermana Brown and Hermana Williams, who were the Sister Training Leaders, we took Hermana Brown up to Charlottesville and picked up Hermana Hiebert. It was about an hour and a half drive, or maybe a bit more on the way back because we went the less miles way on the way back rather than on the highway, so we went through some neighborhoods and such. Well, on the way back, around sunset, we drove past the exact house I had seen in my dream, framed against the sunset just as I'd seen it in my dream. The field was there, every detail was exactly the same except I couldn't see the river. Right after that thought crossed my mind, the road went up a little bit so we were on higher ground, and I saw the river, in a little bit of a depression in the ground, so it hadn't been visible before! It was EXACTLY like my dream, minus the zombies and stuff. But the place, which I had never seen before, was the same!

It is so crazy how revelation works. And that is not the only time, at all. Just yesterday as we were going to contact a referral up in the hills (they call them mountains) and it was getting dark and the trees were WAY thick, and the branches covered the sky, but light still filtered through, so it looked kind of mystical. Well, I'd had a dream a few months ago (a pretty vague one, but a picture-memory of the place was the main focus of the dream) where there was this little pasture just off a road with a white-painted wooden fence around it that looked a bit broken down, but it was all still standing, and I wondered why there wasn't a pony inside. In my dream, there may have been unicorns in it, or I may have been thinking there should be unicorns. I walked a bit further down the road and there were a bunch of exotic animals! I saw an elephant, a lion, and some others that weren't as distinct.

Then in real life, as we went to go contact a referral yesterday, we drove past that place! With the same mystical looking lighting and everything. Except there were no unicorns, and the exotic animals were just statues. But they were there, in the same places I remember!

And so on and so forth. This has happened to me in every single area I have been in. It is, to me, a confirmation from Heavenly Father that I am where I am supposed to be. It is really crazy though.

Anyways. Yup, I'm in Charlottesville.

My companion is Hermana Gonzalez-Herrera (Or just Hermana Gonzalez). Yesterday we went to church and it was way good. It is a group, so there are only a couple Hispanic members that are active and the rest are American. Everyone is way nice though, super welcoming and sweet, which I appreciate, because I've been missing my peeps. We've had a lot of dinners with people, and everyone is very nice. I already love it here.

Oh, we sang in Sacrament Meeting yesterday, also. We sang "Senor, Te Necesito," or "I Need Thee Every Hour," for those that don't have the Spanish Hymns memorized. It was us, the Spanish Elders, and Hermana Malchor. Hermano Malchor played the piano for us. It turned out pretty nice. I might want to have us sing in Sacrament Meeting for my homecoming talk, like we did for my farewell talk. That would be good, I think. Who's in?

So, in this ward there is one set of English Elders, one set of Hermanas, one set of Spanish Elders, and one set of Mandarin/English Elders. So, quite the mix. I guess the M/E elders teach in Mandarin when they can and English whenever else. So yep.

Ummmm..... Transfer meeting was good. I was really sad to say goodbye to Hermana Kingsley, but it happens. While she was in trainer's meeting for like 6 hours I just sat around with some other Hermanas/Sisters and chatted. One of the Hermanas had come from way up North with a member ride. The member took us all out to lunch at the mall food court, which was way nice. Guess what I had? Panda Express!! :) Whilst there, decided what to get, me and Hermana De Leon (the member, the other missionaries went somewhere else), the waitress heard us talking in Spanish and told us (in Spanish) she was from Columbia and we talked to her for a while because there was no one behind us and we were waiting for Chow mein. We talked to her about how when people don't have religion and especially Jesus Christ in there lives, they are lost and the world as a whole is a lot worse. And how a lot of the problems in the world originally are coming from that. We got her number and gave her a pass along card, and she is way sweet! We gave her number to the missionaries in that area, hopefully good things come of it!

Well, enjoy it! Have a wonderful week! Love you!

Love,
Hermana Emily Pratt

Ps my new address is:

736 Squire Hill Ct
Charlottesville, VA 22901

Anyone that wants to send me letters/food/money/gift cards is welcome! ;)

OH I almost forgot!! Hermana Kingsley emailed me and told me that E is finally getting baptized this Sunday! She came to church and everything! I am SO excited! I am just praying that I can find a ride down there!