The Adventures of Sister Pew(ny): Week 58

HI !!!

Yep, I'm back in the southern part of the mission! I'm SO PUMPED. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.

So my new companion is Sister Hamilton. She might be the funniest human bean ever in the whole universe. My abs are actually sore because I have just laughed so hard. Oh my goodness. It's been so fun.

So, most of Monday-Wednesday was spent saying goodbye to people. I LOVE the INMAN WARD. OH MY GOODNESS. And my district -- that was rough. And then we got to sleep at the Hermanas because Sister Larsen was staying with them while Sister R and I went down to transfers. So we had a really fun sleepover, briefly interrupted Elder E and Elder B while Elder B packed, got a plant, told a bedtime story, and didn't really sleep all night because I was FREAKING OUT.

So the next morning was uuuuuber sad. We got all my stuff out of the car and just waited outside for Sister R for a little bit. The saddest thing in the world was watching Elder E and Elder B say goodbye to each other. I couldn't even. It was too much. It was also hard hugging Sister Larsen goodbye. That little missionary is going places. As we were leaving Inman I said a little prayer of thanks that I got to serve in that beautiful place. Oh my goodness. Sister R and I talked the whole way and I'm glad she was there or I'd probably have just cried for the whole 1.5 hours it took to get to the Irmo building.

So I showed up to transfers and we had a new STL and ZL meeting with the assistants. They were basically like, "be obedient, be cheerful, have faith and baptize everybody" and we were like, "alrighty sounds like a plan stan" and then they let us go into transfer meeting. I slowly watched while everyone got their transfer calls. They did my zone last. So I was like, one of the last people called. And it was pretty anti-climactic because my companion wasn't even there. But it took me forever to get out of transfers, because 1) SISTER HAWS WAS GOING HOME AND I HAD TO LOVE ON HER 2) so was Elder R and I had to say goodbye, 3) SISTER GOETTSCHE WAS THERE AND GOING TO TRAIN IN SENECA 4) I just know this whole freaking mission now because I GO TO ALL THE TRANSFER MEETINGS and 5) there were 2 of us riding home in a tiny little Sonata with 6 suitcases between the 2 of us and 4 people in the car. Our ride home was one of my new investigators, K, and her member RM husband T, who are the cutest ever. Yep. So then I got down here and it's just been hectic and wonderful since then. A couple of things I felt like I should note:

-one of our sisters got put in the hospital. What a great way to start my new assignment. She had a kidney stone. Which she passed. With no pain meds. We went to see her in the hospital and it's a good thing she's fetching hilarious or I probably would have started crying.

-I BROKE SISTER HAMILTON'S GLASSES IN HALF ON ACCIDENT. I was trying to look at her pictures by her bed and did not notice that she had put them down there...

-We have been listening religiously to Hank Smith, who always says the word "okay" really funny.

-Sister Hamilton LAUGHS AT EVERYTHING. I feel like I'm really hilarious. It's great.

-Sister Hamilton is additionally my soulmate and everything I've ever wanted in a companion, so that's the best.

-I have been taking pictures of trucks and stuff like crazy. Shoutout to Sister Larsen and Elder H and Elder C

-I met a dude yesterday at church who knows Sister Larsen's sister because they served in the same mission. I don't remember his name but I'll take a picture with him the next time I see him.

-We got to go to R and E's baptism, who are Portuguese investigators that the hermanas down here have been working with. In fact, when I met E and showed him a picture of Hermana Crofts, he said, "SHE IS MY DAUGHTER IN THE HOLY SPIRIT." He was so excited and it was adorable. He also saw Elder C in the same photo and said, "C!" really loud. He then proceeded to add me to the legendary Language Class group chat on Facebook. Also, apparently my last name in Portuguese means "shut up" or something, and E tried to tell me this soooo many times and I couldn't even understand. And I haven't stopped laughing about it.

-Also, there is this LEGENDARY member of the Spanish branch down here named J. Everyone who has served in the zone knows J because J is the best. I'm serious. I love this guy. I got to meet him at the baptism and I showed him a picture of Hna. Crofts and Hna. Jensen and he went, "ah yes, Seester Crofts and Seester Jensen." I used some of my paltry Spanish to somewhat communicate and he got really excited for me, but I had to explain that I'm not actually a hermana and I can't really speak Spanish, and Sister Hamilton just thought the entire conversation was hilarious. It was a really great experience. Man, I love these Spanish people, and I can see what the Spartanburg hermanas were talking about when they said it was the promised land!

-We had a couple really good lessons this week. I found my new 5 or 6 year old boyfriend (I have at least one, maybe more in every area). His name is A and he is A's son.

-THIS WARD IS GREAT TOO. I am just blessed I swear.

This is kind of a weird email because I don't know enough about this place or my job to tell y'all all about it, but I promise when I get more in the swing of things these emails will get better. We did have call-ins with the zone leaders, call-ins with President and the APs, and call-ins with the sisters in the zone. We'll have missionary leadership conference (MLC) tomorrow, I'm totally singing for it. And I go on my first exchange next week after zone conference!

I love my life, I love the gospel, I love being a missionary, and most of all I love my Savior!

As a last, quick note -- I was sad to hear that my good friend Cameron Keetch's dad, Von Keetch (who was a general authority) passed away this week. Cam is still on his mission in South Africa and I know he would appreciate your prayers for his family as he is trying to help his family come closer to Christ during this difficult time.

ALL THE LOVES.

Don't let the muggles get you down!

Love,

Sister Pew