Samuel John Arkoudas, Illinois,Chicago Spanish speaking Mission: First week in the Mission Field

I don't even know where to begin! This whole week has been one crazy roller coaster and so I'll try to give as many details as I can but the days have kind of started to blur together.
Monday, we woke up at 3 in the morning and headed for the airport. By 3 in the afternoon we were in O' Hare International Airport getting our bags and meeting our Mission President. There were 14 of us new missionaries so we all hopped in a couple of vans and headed for the Mission home--about 30 minutes away.

There, we sat and we're able to relax for about an hour or so while President and Sister Griffin bought us Chicago style deep dish pizza! All I can say is that I think I'm going to like it here...
We had some in field orientation that night and then spent the night at the mission home.
The next morning we got up, had breakfast and then headed over to the Stake Center to meet out trainers and be assigned to our first area. My trainer's name is Elder Fong, and we are assigned to labor in a new Spanish area in a town called Shaumburg which means that we have no contacts, no area book, no nothing... so all week we've been tracting trying to find some people to teach. One day we actually biked 25 miles (how cool is that!?) And we've been walking about 5 miles everyday. This week we get a car so that will be really nice.

On Thursday, we went to the library to do our weekly planning and we sat down and immediately I got this sick feeling. We kept planning until it got the point where I told my companion that I did not feel comfortable and that we needed to leave immediately. So we packed up and started to head for the elevator when we just so happened to bump into a less active lady named Hermana Lucy and her non member friend Isabel. We got return appointments for both of them this coming week! The Spirit truly does work in strange ways! A few days later we were out biking and we didn't know where to go. So we said a prayer and my companion looked at me and said he felt like we were going to find someone near a busy intersection by a lot of stores. We determined that must be downtown so we started biking but soon I got that sick feeling again and felt like we needed to head home. My companion agreed and so we started home. On the way, while stopped at a busy intersection with lots of stores, we met this kid named Kiwante who seemed generally interested in the Book of Mormon! How awesome is the Spirit!!

I'll try to keep my emails brief while still including as much information as possible but I hope you all know how much I love you. Honestly, I struggled this week. I miss all of you so much and it's been really hard trying to share with people something that you know will make them happy and have them shove it in your face. It's disheartening. But with the support of all of you, and my companion, I've been making great progress. Like they said in the MTC, "There is little growth in a comfort zone, and there is little comfort in a growth zone"

I know Christ lives and stands at the head of this church and I know that with his power, we can do all things. You're all always in my prayers. Thanks for the support,

Elder Arkoudas.

I know this is a lame picture but it's the best I've got for now. I'm figuring out my camera and then I'll get good pictures, I promise!