E-mail - May 3, 2008 Tallahassee Florida!

I'm here! I made it, been here three, nearly four days. On Tuesday the 29th Sister Hartman and I were up at 2 am to finish packing and catch a 4 am bus to SLC. I got to see my dad at the airport in SLC it was wonderful to see him. We (four Elders and two sisters) boarded the plane for Atlanta Georgia. It was fun to see the Rockies, the flat, flatty, flatness of Kansas, the Mississippi, the greens of Tennessee and Georgia. While crossing Tennessee I waved to Craig and Lisa, but they didn't wave back. Sigh.

Anyway we had a two hour layover in Atlanta and I got to call home. Yippie! Unfortunately the connection was terrible, Mom and I could barley hear and understand one another but it was great to hear (what I could) her voice. The plane trip to Tallahassee was very short only about 1/2 hour. We got off, headed to the luggage carousel, hadn't been there for more than a minute when President and Sister Summerhays marched up to us. Yes they marched, there was no walking going on. We were greeted with handshakes and Bear hugs. Sister Summerhays growls when she hugs you. Loaded up a massive van and trailer with all our junk and headed to the mission home to find out where we were going next. We'd all had somewhere between two and four hours of sleep and were dead on our feet, but we still had several hours of orientation and dinner to get through. You know if people weren't stupid there would be no need for orientation which was us being told how previous missionaries had been stupid and not to do what they had done or come up with something equally stupid to do.

President took us all into his office for interviews to get to know us and see if the spirit directed him to send us somewhere other than where he had previously planned. I really enjoyed that meeting. President is a loving, generous man with a kind of giggle chuckle. I was a short meeting but I felt like I knew him and he knew me. Wow. We got our assignment, drum roll please... I am staying in Tallahassee to work/serve on the 3 different campuses here. We are right next to FSU (Florida State University) and have long walks, we don't have cars, to TCC (Tallahassee Community College) and FAMU (Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University). We will go there next Friday, they have stomp competitions on campus and it's a great time to talk to people. It's really slow right now, it's between Winter and Spring semester, the campus is deserted. Classes start Tuesday, it will pick up again then. Even without students we are very busy. I'm in a trio companionship with Sisters Smith and Benfield. We have a lot in common including love of musicals, but getting ready in the morning is a bit of a party. Weird, I'm older than both of them and Sister Smith goes home in 5 weeks. But they have so much to teach me and I'm excited to learn. We had an appointment yesterday at TCC, it's about a 45 minute walk there, but she forgot and we rescheduled for Tuesday.

We have a baptism today, it was a bit of a mess getting ready for that, but I think it will all work out. I have counted 9 blisters on my feet and have been promised I will get more. Momma Mia. That's me. What's going on with you?

Natalie, I can't believe I forgot to wish you a Happy Birthday! What was the theme? Any cool presents? All of a sudden I realized the date and went, (think Brian Reagan) "Oh no, that's due today, I had 3 months to work on it and I did nothing!" But know that I love you very much and feel confident that his will be an awesome year for you. Love your guts! And thanks for the quote.

Becky, I can't believe little Johnny's engaged! I know he's not so little now, but I still see him as a lost boy in Peter Pan. It's crazy, I say absolutely crazy. Congratulations to Matt and I hope having Sarah with you will be a good experience, but ya' all are so close I think it will be fine.

Karmen, thanks for your kind words, it always helps to be boosted up like that.

Grandma Maloney, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, I know they have helped me. It's always good to hear from you. Marilyn sent me a really nice note last week, I'm going to reply soon, but it was good to hear from her.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilcox, I hope you are both doing better and I appreciate your kind thoughts and good advice. I love you both! *throws hugs and kisses in general direction*

Mom and Dad it was wonderful to talk to you, I miss you both, but at the same time kind of not. I'm having a great time here, and talk about ironic - my area is over the Singles Ward here and we have to (get to) go to all FHE activities TNT (Thursday Night Thing) Firesides and so on. Talk about a message from the heavens. Thursday night we played Ultimate Frisbee, I had a lot of fun. I'm turning to the Dark Side! I don't know what to do! I liked it. AHHH! Who will I be in a year and 1/2 - it's a little scary. I love you all and hope you have the best day ever.

The church is true, the book is blue, write Kelli letters and have a nice day.

Love, Sister Kelli Wilcox

P.S. If you do desire to send me mail, send it to the mission home. We move so often it's better to send it there and have it forwarded to me.

P.P.S. I thought I'd miss the mountains, but the trees are so high that I just assume they are there and I don't feel like I'm on a flat stretch of land. With all the walking we do, I wish it was flat.