Week 27: Sister Poo

Hey y'all!

Literally this week was the most insane week of my whole entire freakin mission. So much craziness. So many weird things. 

This week for some reason a billion people wanted to express their verbal appreciation for me. Here are some highlights:

"You know, I thank God for you, Sister Pew." -R

"If I was a few years younger I'd marry you in a heartbeat." -R (...creepy? Yeah, maybe a lil bit--he's an older man)

"Sister Pew, just so you know, you are my favorite

sister missionary." -O, the cutest seven year old on the planet.

It's nice to be appreciated.

Monday: Monday we spent getting ready for our new companion. I got my hair cut also, and for Elder D's last p-day in the corner and Elder K's last p-day EVER we made tacos for the elders. They enjoyed them and we enjoyed them and it was all a very good time. That night we went over to R's and talked to her about baptism (again). She's a little nervous but said she was just going to go ahead and join the church, so we scheduled her baptismal interview for Thursday so Elder W could help her feel like she's ready.

Tuesday we went to see S and R. R said she doesn't feel like this is her time yet. Whatever man! But she says it's still a goal of hers to get baptized, so there is lots of hope. S also expressed for the first time how much R means to him and I think that meant a lot to her. Then we went home and did some more transfer stuff, and then we went over and taught P. He is so nice. Afterwards, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant called Cinco de Mayo. It was actually pretty good. I was surprised. 

Wednesday was transfers! Sister Kniffen and I were able to see Sister Goettsche, Sister Roberts (Sister Kniffen's trainee who was companions with Sister Goettsche), Sister Cordon, Sister Janke, Elder M, Elder D, Elder K, and all of our friends basically. It was sad to say goodbye to Elder D and Elder K. Elder D and I made a bet that if I never train or become an STL on my mission, he has to buy me a ticket to Disneyland so I can go with my friends, but if I do, I have to buy him a ticket to Disneyland. So please pray for me to win the bet because I don't have that kind of money. LOL. But anyways, the new companion's name is Sister Haws! She is from Rexburg Idaho, but she is actually from Ethiopia. This is not a joke. She was baptized when she was 14 and moved to America after being adopted. She is so cool. She half-trained Sister Janke (one of my two MTC companions_. She has only been literate (and speaking English) for six years, but she does such a good job. Except when she can't pronounce my name, and she calls me Sister Poo. It's actually so freakin funny. I just laugh every time. She's super mischievous but a super hard working missionary. She's been out a year. I'm worried she might make me run (because Ethiopia). The new elder is Elder W from Panguitch! He's super nice and kind of sounds like the rednecks that sit behind us at BYU football games, but smarter. And less old. That night we went finding and taught this lady named M sort of on accident, but we got a return appointment which is always good. 

Thursday is when things get crazy. So we went to Mepkin like normal, and the family history booth like normal. And then it started POURING RAIN on us. Literally we were soaked. And then, President called us. And he was like "so one of the sister missionaries tore her achilles tendon and has to go home for surgery, so we have to ET Sister Kniffen to the YSA ward in Charleston so Sister Mock can train her new missionary." And we were like...what? They told us to be prepared for Sister Kniffen to leave on Saturday. It was super weird. Also, upsetting. But she's still in our district, so all is well. That night R had her baptismal interview, which she passed, but she asked for her baptism to be pushed back a week. Please continue to pray for her. She just needs confidence. 

Friday we weekly planned. Y'all. Sister Haws can read minds. It must be some African voodoo or something. Because she totally told me everything I was feeling and everything Sister Kniffen was feeling and we worked out all the stress from Sister Kniffen having to leave us. It was awesome! And then we went finding with Sister C who is amazing. She took us out to the boonies and we found this cute lady named D and she was awesome. She totally told us we could come back so that was awesome.

Saturday we dropped off Sister Kniffen at the YSA sisters' apartment. It was very sad. Good thing Sister Haws is awesome. We went intense finding that afternoon. We met this little girl named C who gave us cupcakes and begged us to come back the next day, which we did but she wasn't home. We also got yelled at by this lady who told us not to solicit and when we told her we weren't selling anything she said "I DON'T WANT YOU ON MY LAWN" and we were like, okay lady just tryna give you some salvation here but that's fine. Sister Haws doesn't even get mad at those people. I am not that Christlike. #prayforcharity

Sunday was awesome! The sacrament, you guys. And the Sabbath day. It's just a good feeling. R came and stayed all 3 hours even though she was in lots of pain from her fibromyalgia. And there was a potluck afterwards that she came to as well. After church we went to see R. He was doing poorly. Please pray for the poor man. He needs help. But he did make us laugh a fair bit, and Sister Haws made him laugh a fair bit, and it was good. Laughter is good for stress, folks. 

Today I was mowing Brother D's lawn and I stepped in my first ant bed. If you didn't know, there are tiny little Satan ants all over South Carolina that make big nests and sometimes they're so well disguised that you can't even see them until you feel the ants biting you. They are called South Carolina fire ants and I was bitten a good 15 times. They itch. But you aren't serving a mission here unless you've stepped in one. So, I'm officially initiated! :)

Don't let the muggles get you down!

-Sister Poo

Sidenote Sister Pew wrote in a separate email that  loves Sister Haws and says they can share clothes so that is super fun for them.

Threesome before Sister Kniffen left

Sister Haws and Sister Pew a picture texted to us