The Adventures of Sister Pew(ny): Week 5 ...lots of pictures!

Hello, my dear ones!
Here's a new thing I decided that I'm going to do in these here emails. I'm going to include a ''just southern things'' segment every week where I will detail things that happen to me in good ol' SCCM.
So, for this week's installment of ''just southern things'' I:
-Tried grits and I really liked them!
-learned about the law in Winnsboro where it's a $25 fine to sag your pants
-learnt that everyone here is related, but they don't say ''related'' here, they're all ''kin''.
-Taught a guy named Booger (not a lie or joke, that is his name) and he kept calling the Book of Mormon the Book of Norman.
-had a dude tell us all about cussing out his Mormon boss's wife
-along with many other interesting experiences

Mooooooving right along.
This week was really crazy! Monday we got to play tennis, because one of our ward members is really rich and has a tennis court and the elders have tennis things. We also were supposed to see V, but she was having a bad day and told us to come on Tuesday, which thing we did.
Tuesday we had my first ever District Meeting! I got to meet the Ridgeway elders, Elder O and Elder D, and Sister Hansen gave a training on teaching by the spirit. It was really good. Also, a side note - Elder O is straight up, word for word, everything he says and does and in every way JUST EXACTLY LIKE Jacob Arnold. It freaks me out every time he does anything. He was pretty offended when I told him he was just like my little brother's friend, but less offended when I told him he was a cool kid. Another side note - Izak, you looked beautiful at Preference. Later that night we saw V and talked to her. A miracle occurred, as miracles so often do. F her boyfriend marched in and said that he is quitting smoking. Outta nowhere. It was awesome.
Wednesday we had no appointments planned at all. BUUUUUUT that is totally okay because we spent all day finding people to teach. We got zero return appointments, but we taught like 10 lessons, and a seed was planted in every single one. Also, we got six referrals because Sister Hansen followed the Spirit. We were on our way to C's house to drop him because he's not making any progress, mostly probably because he doesn't understand our English and refuses to be taught in Spanish. We were headed down one road and Sister Hansen just happened to turn down a road she'd never been. We passed a lady raking leaves and stopped to ask if we should help, and she said we could. Sister Hansen had gloves and we borrowed a rake from her neighbor. Her name was M and she was super not interested because her husband is a pastor, but we helped her rake leaves for like 1.5 hours and she was really impressed with our honest desire to follow God, especially given that we are so young. (Most people here think I am 16. *sigh*) So we asked if there was anyone else we could go help and she told us like 4 of her neighbors and their addresses, including the one we borrowed the rake from. All in all, it was a fun day full of hard work.
Thursday we were meant to see V again, but she rescheduled again...because she was looking for A BABYSITTER SO SHE COULD GO BACK TO WORK!!!! I am serious, fam, this woman is so ready to be baptized. ALERT: IF YOU ARE READING THIS, SAY A QUICK PRAYER THAT V WILL BE ABLE TO BE BAPTIZED FEB. 4TH. We taught D and her kids and she prayed and expressed a desire to come to church in her prayer. It was sweet. We also saw a member, who basically told us he's going inactive because he doesn't get invited to things. Pray for him though. He was not at church yesterday.
Friday we went to V's again!!! We taught her about prophets. She was a little skeptical at first about living prophets today, but then we showed her a video about Thomas S Monson and she said, ''there's something about his voice when he talks. I like that.'' Ugh, I have never seen someone so willing to just believe and change and do things. PLEASE PRAY FOR HER. She's the best. We also had ward coordination and Brother T wanted me to let my parents know that he is looking out for us with his NEW ATTACK DOG, Dieks. He's *huge*.
Saturday we also did not have anything planned so we went and found people all day. No return appointments, but 4 referrals. Again.
Yesterday V didn't come to church because she was laid up with a toothache, so again, PRAYERS because SATAN KNOWS THAT IF V GOES TO CHURCH SHE WILL LITERALLY HOP INTO THE BAPTISMAL FONT IN HER STREET CLOTHES. It was really good though. We had ward council before church and the bishop is so awesome. He is doing great work with us.

I got pretty discouraged today. I feel like we're doing a lot, but nothing's happening. Satan is real! He keeps trying to tell me that I'm not making any difference with the people here. But in reality, I am learning so much. I am learning to surrender my will to God's, and give everything I have to Him. I am exhausted every night when I go to bed. But this work is so worth it. These people are incredible - they are so stubborn, but they love so fiercely and feel everything so deeply. They are funny and loud and sweet. They are honest and kind to their very bones; they protect each other. I love them more and more every day and can only hope to shed a little light into their lives. There's nothing like hearing their stories, colorful though they may be, and coming to understand them. Missionary work is a little like being a mom, or a shepherd, and these cute people are my little flock. I adore them, and I hope the Lord blesses me to be able to keep them safe.
I love y'all! Don't let the muggles get you down!
All my love,
Sister Pew