Friday, September 29, 2017

Week 40 - "Elephants are the Mormons of the Animal Kingdom"

HELLO EVERYONE!!!
I just want you all to know, I am the most blessed person. Because I get to serve with Sister Graves. It's the best time!
So, this week has been wild, as you can probably imagine, what with being transferred and such, so let's get right into it!
Monday was such a great time. Most of the day we spent packing/cleaning, and that night we said goodbye to R, which was the most difficult of the goodbyes I actually had to say. I love that lady so much. I know the ward will take care of her though; that's the nice thing about leaving is that you know the ward is strong and will help your little convert babies to continue to progress in the gospel.
Tuesday was so crazy! I was all packed by then, but we had a lot of stuff to do and a lot of people to see. We dropped off a Bible to a referral real quick and then we went out to eat with U. It wasn't easy to say goodbye to her either. But I know I will see her again :) Then we went to the Ss' house and learned to make bread. Sister J then took us out to see P. P just makes me so happy. He is doing so well! They are thinking about giving him the priesthood soon so that is wonderful. That night we visited the S family and they were very sad I was being transferred, which was not fun, but they all signed my journal, so that was good. Then we went to the church and Sister P shared a very special experience with me. It was amazing. Then we played games with the Ss for the last time. It was so fun.
Wednesday was transfers. Holy cow, everyone was there! Sister Julander got transferred. Elder D got transferred to be the new Florence zone leader. Sister Goettsche was whitewashing into a new area (but still is an STL so wow shoutout to her for being the greatest of all time). Elder G is bluewashing (whitewashing a sisters' area) into Orangeburg. We met all the greenies and that was good, and then we found out where I was going, with Sister Graves. It is all the way upstate. Our ward boundary on one side is the North Carolina border!!! So I'm a little bit far from my lowcountry, but it's sure beautiful here. Sister Graves is wonderful. She is quaint and quirky and funny and I like her a lot. She is from West Jordan. Sister Haws got Sister Fausett from Irmo, which is way funny because we stayed with them for the hurricane! Hahaha. It was great. But anyways, after we got my suitcases all packed in Sister R (our ride) car, we were on the road...and then we received a call from Sister Haws saying she was holding my blanket and stuffed animals. So that was funny, driving back to the parking lot to pick up my blankie and my teddy bear and my stuffed turtle. Am I almost 20? Yes. Do I still sleep with a teddy bear? Absolutely. So, we got to our area and immediately realized that the sister who left the area took the keys to the apartment and the car with her to Charleston...luckily we had a spare apartment key but we were stuck inside until Book of Mormon class at 6:30. Sister R was kind enough to drive us there. It was so funny. We got to meet the zone leaders, who serve in the neighboring ward. They were teaching Book of Mormon class, which went well. Not a ton of people came, but it was still a good discussion. Then we had ward coordination, and we currently have no ward mission leader so we coordinate with the 2nd councilor in the bishopric, Brother A. He is super funny and his wife just had twin girls who are in the NICU still. But he was kind enough to still coordinate with us. It was a great meeting.
Thursday our spare car key came in the mail so we could do stuff. Most notably, we have a member of our ward who teaches mixed martial arts. And he gives us and the elders a free lesson every week in exchange for being spiritually uplifted. So on my second day with Sister Graves, we wrestled. It was way fun! I feel a new hobby coming on. Seriously, I had the funnest time. It was the best. He is the greatest ever. He's super short. He had us all share what we learned in personal studies that morning and then shared what he learned in his personal studies. He is the best human. Seriously. The actual best. That afternoon we went tracting and accidentally scared this  lady and she swore at us. She apologized quickly and shut the door and Sister Graves and I could not even because we were laughing so hard. Poor little lady. We also saw a  member and his friend. They are pretty chill. G is going to be a dad soon and wants to start coming back to church. T is interested in learning about the gospel. Both of them are younger than me, which tripped me out majorly. But it's fine. We also got to meet this lady named Sister M and she is hilarious. She lives in a nursing home. She's actually really coherent and knows what's happening. Which made it even funnier when she told us about how she likes to squeeze her doctor's biceps. She is delighted by the fact that it makes him turn bright red. Also, she is the one who said the subject of today's email. Her reasoning is that elephants are also very family oriented. Not bad logic. We're all elephants here.
Friday we went out with Sister F. Actually, one of two Sister F in the ward. But she is very sweet and recently had a heart attack, so it was quite low key but very fun. We got to see T and G again this day, and also a recent convert named B, who really loves Moses and the Old Testament. A lot. He is the best and we read the Book of Mormon with him. ALSO BIG NEWS: One of the people in my area that I'm working with is a lady, who happens to be my trainer, Sister Hansen's convert from Spartanburg! I found out because she looked super familiar and so I asked her about the missionaries who baptized her and she told me one of them had really long hair and pretty eyelashes. I was like, "No. Way." And I asked her if it was Sister Hansen, and she was like, "Yes! That is her!" And it was cute. We took a picture. I'll attach it. Then we went to see an investigator family, the As. And somewhere between the As and our next appointment with another recent convert named L, we lost our phone. So we spent the remainder of the evening attempting to find it, but to no avail. So we've been phoneless for a good 3 days now *eye twitch*. So first it was the keys, now the phone, next is my marbles. Maybe those are already lost...
Saturday we planned for the week. It was hard without a phone. We then made cupcakes for Women's Conference at the church. We had a fabulous time doing so, especially because we have no electric mixer. We got pretty creative when it came time to make frosting...After that we went to see 2 members, the Ks and the Ds, both of whom just randomly gave us referrals, which was awesome. They are both sweet families. Then we had dinner with the Relief Society people before Women's Conference - it was a potluck and we had like 11 different kinds of soup. Also, there was a bunch of drunk people in a limousine when we got there, so that was exciting. Women's conference itself was SO AWESOME. The first talk by Sister Eubank was just the greatest. I wanted to go, like, baptize everyone basically after she spoke. It was just so good! I love this church!
Sunday was awesome. We had ward council, and they are all funny. So, so funny. It was great. Also, we taught gospel principles. Also, the ward music specialist played the piano for Relief Society and I sat on the front row and during the opening song she kept looking at me. After the meeting she pulled me aside and was like, "So, you sing? Good, we'll be having a special musical number from you on the 22nd of October. Perfect. Good to meet you." And I was like, "oh. Okay." Also, I hear this ward likes to make missionaries talk a lot and I do not love that. But other than that this is a great place and a great ward. After church we got to see the Ps, a really nice investigator couple and went to a member's house to borrow their phone. They are the Cs and they live in our complex. They are brilliant and made us eat roast. Which was a good time. Unfortunately, though, the aforementioned Ps have like 4 cats. So when we got home I almost died because I COULD NOT BREATHE (there were many dramatic pictures taken of this event, featuring the homeless elf sweater). But I did get a really cute video of one of the cats. 
I love it here! I love my life! I love being a missionary!
Don't let the muggles get you down!
All my love,
Sister Pew

Cute Sister Haws

With Sister Graves

Sister Graves


Allergy attack


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