Week 57 - We are never answering the phone when President calls us, ever again.

HI EVERYONE.

So I apologize that no one but my mom got emailed last week. That was so long ago. Let me tell you about it!

So we actually hung out with the hermanas and they are a blaaaaaaaaaaaaaast! We heart attacked the elders' apartments. The ZLs were pretty normal, we just taped up all the hearts and ran, but then we remembered at the espanol elders apartment that the elders had mentioned that they don't lock their apartments. So we heart attacked the door of the Spanish elders...but on the inside. They felt so violated. It was pretty funny because the next day at DDM they were like, "Man oh man that was weird" and we just like, shrugged. After the heart attacks we went to the Spartanburg building to hang out with the rest of the sisters. I read their fortunes in cards. It was pretty entertaining. That night we saw D & P which was bomb. 

The next day we had DDM and we mostly just discussed our investigators. That day we had to go it alone on Golden Age because the other missionaries got out of one of their meetings late, and so we went by ourselves, which was a good thing because we ended up giving the zone leaders a referral for a guy we met there named T. T is a pretty nice guy who was just visiting his mother in law. So that was pretty cool. Then we went to see B and that night we had dinner at a members' house, the Es. They are awesome and fed us probably the best steak I have had ever my whole life. I'm serious, guys. It was delicious. And Brother E used to be less active and Sister E has only been a member for 2 years, so it was really cool to get to know them and their faith journey a little better.

Two Wednesdays ago I really don't know what happened very well. I remember I practiced with Sister S for a musical number for our regional conference we had that Sunday. We also had Book of Mormon class and the zone leaders taught about Isaiah. It was quite the lesson.

That next day, J forgot about MMA. I was really sad. Also we tried to take the elders to see Sister M because she loves her some elders, but she wasn't there, and I was really sad about that too. But it did rain which was good, but that day just sort of kind of...stank a lot. We did get to see P that night and she gave us both pep talks, which was really great, that woman is a better Mormon than I am and she's only been one for like a month and a half. Aaaaand then that night we got a terrible phone call from President telling us Sister Larsen's aunt had unexpectedly passed away. This is twice in the 2 transfers we've been together. She joked that by the end of this whole mission thing she won't have any family left. She's handling it like a pro. You'd never know. And she is so faithful that something wonderful is about to happen. I just am so proud of her. You guys don't understand. She is so strong and talented and wonderful. So we just decided to not answer next time President calls us.

The next day we got to see President Monson's funeral. It was so great. I got a selfie with my daddy, first one in a long while too! And then we practiced my musical number for Sunday again, and then we went to have dinner at the Suns' house. It was awesome. And then we got home to find that the other missionaries in our district had heart attacked our door. It really helped Sister Larsen to feel the love. Man, our district is the greatest.

Saturday we mostly did service. We went to see S and baby C it was a great time. We also dropped off a birthday gift for Sister A, who is the best human on the whole planet. That night we had an appointment with S and ward coord with the very bests, the Rs.

Sunday we had a regional broadcast for the North America Southeast region. It was so awesome! Elder Bednar spoke and just roasted us all for not repenting correctly. I definitely needed to hear that! Also, I got to sing the musical number for the local portion of the meeting, and survey says it was good. I'll hopefully send it on down. We also went to the Hs for lunch, and then to try to deliver a Bible to a house in a town five miles away from the North Carolina border. The guy wasn't there, but his weird roommate was. It was pretty interesting. Then we went to see J & K. They mostly just pep talked us as well. We had multiple good pep talks this week.

The next Monday we hung out with the hermanas again, this time at the home of la familia H. J, M and T H were all recently baptized, and they are working with A and G H to hopefully get them baptized as well. (Their boy T is too young to be baptized, but he wants to when he's 8.) G pays his tithing, has a testimony of church attendance, but doesn't understand why he needs to be baptized again because he was baptized as a baby. A is on date, so hopefully soon their whole family will be members! But they are the very best, a super duper awesome, family oriented group. T gave Hermana Crofts and Sister Larsen trims on their hair and we talked to the girls. It was just so fun.

Tuesday we had our last DDM before transfers. We watched President Nelson's address and had tacos. It was pretty good. We also went to Golden Age with the hermanas, saw Sister M, and tried to deliver a Bible but ended up knocking like the whole street and not finding the person, but running into a couple of good potentials. Snow was in the forecast, so people kept telling us to be careful and stuff. That night we went to D & Ps and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with them. They were impressed with the story of the early church.  They just love it so much, and I love them so much. We talked about prophets and priesthood, and the spirit was so strong! And they fed us pizza, so that was wonderful also.

Wednesday we woke up in the morning to snow. Everywhere. It was nuts. This is the second time this has happened, and I was equally excited. That morning all work at the soup kitchen was cancelled, but we showed up anyway, and the pastor and his wife made us sort out moldy potatoes from good ones. IT WAS AWFUL. Mom, Sister Goettsche, EVERYONE WHO KNOWS ME SUPER WELL, remember my mold problem? Imagine. 3 hours. Of touching. Moldy. Hairy. Potatoes. And you could smell them. Ugh, I feel sick thinking about it. EWWW. It was terrible. But anyways, in the middle of our moldy potato adventure, the zone leaders sent a text to the zone being like, "please stay productive but don't drive your cars" and we were like, well shoot we have no bikes so I guess we're walking five miles on the main highway with no shoulder or sidewalk because we don't live close to anyone. And Sister R was like, Nah, I got you. So we went to the R's (Sister R drove us) house and Sister Larsen finished all her online stuff for training. We had planned to shovel people's driveways but they all froze because the temperature dropped once it stopped snowing, so we decided to go out. Sister R took us to see a recent convert, and S. She was doing well, and baby C looked better. He had been pretty sick when we went to see them before and her doctor keeps telling her not to feed him because he's too big. ...can you just stop feeding a baby? I feel like that's not a good thing to do. I'm not a mom, but it sounds like a bad idea. Anyways, it was a good day. We were as productive as we could be and had fun in the snow along the way.

The next day we had MMA at 1. The no car rule was lifted at 12. So we went to MMA and it was great. That night we had a meal with the W. They taught me how to play 5 crowns, which is a very fun game that I am also excited to beat Carol Rice in. ;) All this trash talking is going to cost me, I'm sure of it!

Friday was...so strange. We went finding most of the day, but we also had a bomb dinner with the Kennedies and went with the YSA elders to have them give S and C blessing.  Afterwards, we were on the phone with the Spanish elders for some reason I have definitely forgotten, and whilst on the phone with them, they asked if we'd received a call from President about transfers. We scoffed, knowing that we wouldn't be notified of transfers until the next day. And then like 3 minutes later, literally, we were still on the phone with Spanish, and Sister Larsen looks at the phone and goes, "NEVER MIND PRESIDENT IS CALLING US BYE" and she answers the call. It went like this:

President: Hi! Don't worry Sister Larsen, no bad news this time. This is a good phone call.

Sister Larsen: Oh good!

President: Sister Pew, are you there?

Me: Yeah President, what can I do for you?

President: I hope you enjoyed your time in Inman.

Me: Oh no, President!

President: I want you to be a sister training leader, and help the sisters in your zone to reach your level.

Me: (outside) Oh.

Me: (inside) kjsngirjnfgkjdbauhakdjnroisuerngkdjfngjdsbfgisrngdsjfnlkjhbdsikfnglkjdnfoigudsnrwekfldskjnkdsjnfgkdsjfngkdsjfngiudsrsierjnfskfdnkjnfksjfnhldjfpodsngkfsnhlskjd

President: Will you do it?

Me: Yeah.

And then we exchanged a few more words, none of which I remember very well. And then I hung up and cried. I may have also called the zone leaders and cried, the Spanish elders and cried, and the hermanas and cried. It was just very overwhelming and unexpected. For those of you unfamiliar with the mission lyfe, sister training leaders are like the female versions of a zone leader, responsible for all the sisters in the zone. They train at zone conferences, conduct exchanges, and attend missionary leadership conference (council? I don't know. Some word with a c that means a group that meets together to talk about stuff). Anyways. My mom knows, but President made me promise not to tell anyone where I'm going. I'm excited though! It should be a fun adventure. But I'm also ultra sad because I'm leaving. I love the Inman ward. I have changed so much here. I'll miss it for sure. 

Saturday was full of weirdness. We didn't get to weekly planning on Friday because of some stuff that came up, so we did it, and then we went to a baptism for a cute lil 8 year old named A, and then we got the zone leaders airplane journals (that is a mission yearbook, in case you were wondering. Everyone writes nice things in them when you leave your area.) Then we saw a couple members and stuff.

Yesterday was hard. Saying goodbye to the people I couldn't visit personally was rough. I also sang my last musical number in the Inman ward, with one of my 4 or 5 newly adopted fathers. I will hopefully send that one on down too.  I also bid farewell to the Ss, J & K

I'm just really really really glad I know that God knows everything. He is in charge. Here in Inman I have learned that for sure. I have learned that even if things don't work out how you hope, they always help you somehow. I have let go of a lot of worries, a lot of negative thinking, and a lot of self-doubt here. I feel like I'm becoming the queen I was meant to be -- slowly for sure, and with a lot of trial and error, and I'm definitely nowhere close, but I'm moving forward and it has been transcendent and joyful for me to feel that change taking place. Inman will always have a special place in my heart because here I learned how to really give of myself -- and see how God gives back when you do.

I love y'all, and I'll email from somewhere new next week!

Don't let the muggles get you down!

All my love,

Sister Pew

Snow in South Carolina!

Lady who has a beautiful singing voice

Saying good bye to this fun family

Saying goodbye to another family

Week 56 - oh dear I lost everyone's emails

Hi mom!

I'm mostly just writing you to let you know I didn't die. We don't have a lot of time and I have to write off my tablet because the libraries are closed for MLK day. But I'll send pictures. And I'll write more next week about this week. So sorry.

Just an update - Sister Larsens aunt passed away. My poor baby is just going through a whole fetching lot and is handling it very well. But please pray for her.

I know that God is real and He's looking out for us. Keep the faith, be strong, and read your scriptures. He will take care of you.

I love you.

Don't let the muggles get you down. 

Love,

Sister Pew

This is a picture of Sister Pew holding a picture of her dad in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing in the funeral of Thomas S. Monson, Her district behind her.

Looks like they got heart attacked.

Sister Pew's companion and a local kid repping different universities

A lady and her cute baby, someone they must have visited

Week 55 - Seatbelt Sniffers

Hi everyone!

This week was a really weird awesome week. 

Really not a lot happened as far as the work. A blow-by-blow recap would just not do anything for you. It'd be super boring, trust me. So let's do some highlights. 

-Those closest to me are in uproar because I won't tell them my favorite sports teams, mainly because I get made fun of. So this week D bet me that if he beat me in skip-bo, I had to tell him. But if I won, he had to bear his testimony. And I won. So, wahoo.

-We had our first and last district meeting with Elder K, who just left halfway through the transfer to go to BYU I. It was awesome. I gave a training and so did Elder H, and I got to role play with Elder C. He told me I was the most genuinely loving person. That helped me a lot!!!

-We got to drive Hermanas and the Greenville 5th sisters to Columbia in the zone leaders minivan. THAT was a party. I told them all how they're going to meet their future husbands. Apparently I will meet mine shopping for Timo's birthday present in sportsmans warehouse. So next November I get to meet my husband. HAHAHAHAHA.

-Elder G, Elder W and I sang When He Comes Again. It was wonderful to see them both again.

-Mission tour was just the greatest. We got to hear from President Innes and his wife, and Elder Wilford Anderson of the Seventy and his wife. There was so much spiritual knowledge gained. Probably the coolest thing that happened was to literally feel my desires change. I didn't realize I could be more committed to the gospel, but I came away from that meeting a better missionary for sure.

-Sister Anderson is a crazy good piano player and she had us all stand and sing "We Thank Thee, Oh God, for a Prophet" and it was super powerful.

-I GOT TO SEE SISTER GOETTSCHE AND SISTER JULANDER AND SISTER KNIFFEN. I need to stop having lots of companions. I love them all. It was seriously so good to see Sister Goettsche and Sister Julander because they were there during my childhood. I just really love them both. They are my sister soldiers. 🥇🥇🥇 And Sister Kniffen is momming everyone as usual. She does so good.

-our vehicle coordinator hugged me. I'm his favorite. It's fine.

-Yesterday everyone LOVED us. Seriously, the ward was so nice to us. Brother A bore his testimony about us and that was nice...but then everyone else was trying to get us to come to dinner and hug us and stuff. It was awesome.

Guys, this is the Lord's work. I love it.

Don't let the muggles get you down! 

Love, 

Sister Pew

Forgot to mention that the zone leaders told us their car smells like girl now,  specifically the seatbelts. So now we lovingly refer to them as the seatbelt sniffers. 

***Sister Pew shared that it was 10 degrees on January 2nd!!! Colder weather than her home state of Utah

First time in camo--helping on the farm

This is from Christmas Day, forgot to post bishop has baby goats

Sister Pew driving the sisters down to mission tour

Trampoline park with other sister missionaries on P-day

A flower arrangement Sister Pew made

Sister Pew and a donkey

Her companion, Sister Larsen with the donkey

Heart attacking

Sister Pew, her companion and the Hermanas
(Sisters who teach Spanish investigators)

With the Hermanas 

Week 54 - we have been deceived.

Because it's sunny! Not a cloud in the sky! Aaaaaand it's colder than the 9th circle of hell. But happy new year everyone!

I seriously cannot believe I was a missionary for the entirety of 2017. It was legit the hardest, most heart breaking, funniest, happiest, best year of my entire life. It's just blowing my mind that it's over, and I come home 5 months from TODAY (June 1st). Life just zooms on by. It's crazy stuff.

Anyways, steering sharply away from my imminent mortality...

MONDAY! Was Christmas. Best day ever. Got to see my cute fam and my nephew. He's the most adorable human. Ugh. And also, they sang for me. My family is so cute. We also saw the Bishop and his family and held their baby goats in the morning (even though it was also VERY cold that day), had lunch and Christmas stories with the F family, hung with the Ss (which is where we skyped) and arrived at the S's house in time to take their family pictures for them. It was fun, exhausting and a great day.

Tuesday we had p day. We went to the mall and got some fabric to make a tie for the new elder, Elder C. We also ate at Papas and Beer (restaurant), and then I went on exchanges in S with Sister Jensen. This was round 3 with her. We're basically companions. We went to the ghetto at night. It was great! I missed the smell of marijuana (not). It reminded me of W (shout out to Mrs. P over there). Ah, good times.

Wednesday was a great day. Sister Jensen and I got to plan with President. It was definitely inspired because I was wondering how to plan better for the people we have to work with. It helped tons. We attempted to contact some people and had a boss comp study, and then it was back to the promised land for me. I love my area. That night we had Book of Mormon class. 

Thursday we helped the Ws cut down a tree. It was pretty scary because Brother W lopped off a lot of the branches before we brought the tree all the way down, so he climbed a tree holding a chainsaw. #sketchy anyways, I also got to wear camouflage for the very first time and it made me a happy lil redneck. Afterwards we did MMA with the zone leaders. We actually committed J to do something and that was good. He came to church Sunday so we hopefully can get him rebaptized soon. Everyone pray for him.

Friday we had interviews with President in which he told me that he thinks I am a great missionary because he is President and he is the best. I also got a blessing in which Heavenly Father told me that he thinks I am a great missionary because He is Heavenly Father and He is the best. And then we went out with Sister F (hygienist's mom--note our dental hygienist here in Utah parents are in Sister Pew's ward) and set up 2 return appointments and taught a lesson. So you could say that it was a pretty good day.

Saturday was good. I don't remember much but I do remember one thing: we received a call from the man, the myth, the legend Elder G, who said, "so y'all are coming down for the mission tour next week, and I was asked to put together a musical number,  and the first person I thought of was you." And I am pretty sure that I cried a little bit. So next week I get to perform with Elder G again, and I just want y'all to know that God answers prayers. 

Yesterday for New Years we got to go to a member of the stake presidency's house with the hermanas, los elderes, and the zone leaders. His name is President F and he is pretty nice, except he's a Utah fan. He tried to get me to wrap myself up in a Utah flag so he could take a picture and send it home, but I figured that y'all are already on the brink of disowning me because of the country music thing, and that might just have tipped things over the edge. So I wouldn't even touch it. We played corn hole, which I am definitely getting better at, and it's also Sister Larsen's family game. We took second place, losing only to the zone leaders. We even beat President F! PS - It's so fun hanging out with other sisters. I haven't had that my whole mission. We're grateful for the hermanas. Also I found out that I get to drive the zone leaders' minivan down to Columbia with 2 other sets of sisters. Repeat: I GET TO DRIVE THE MOM WAGON. I have never been so excited to drive a minivan.

Well, that's all for this week! Tune in next time to see ...welll.... something, probably.

Don't let the muggles get you down! 

All my love, 

Sister Pew

Pictures from Christmas that we didn't post last week!

The moose and the yeti

Opening Christmas Eve jammies

Wonder Woman jammies because they are Wonder Women!

Opening gifts on Christmas

Sister Pew Week 53-Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

Well, if you're a family member and you're reading this, I just talked to you yesterday. If you're not, here's a few highlights from the week:

-last Monday we got 2 new investigators who both came to church #Christmasmiracle

-Tuesday we had zone conference. We watched the Christmas videos we all made as districts, and watched Moana. 

- We gave away lots of gifts

-I now destroy at skip-bo so my family and the Rices better look out

-We played several good games of picture telephone

-the musical numbers were good

-Thursday the hermanas came to MMA with us and that was a good time

-the zone leaders scared us by running at us in snowman onesies at 8:45 at night (side note: 8:45pm as a missionary feels like 11:45pm)

-we saw 6 members of ward council on Christmas eve and Christmas day

-all in all, should be a great week full of fun!

Love y'all! Don't let the muggles get you down!

Sister Pew

Tidbits from her skype:

We asked about what her college plans were since deadlines are approaching. She doesn't know. She is very conflicted about what to do. She doesn't have much time to figure it out! 

She doesn't think she will stay in that area the next transfer. She loves this area and doesn't want to leave. She loves her companion, she is very funny. 

She got to meet Timo's wife Megan's family, they were here at the beginning of the call. She was excited about that. 

She got to meet her nephew Adrian. She's seen pictures but it was fun to see him live! 

All the boys and Tim sang, "He is Born" to her which she loved.

She said a family prayer at the end. 

It was super fun to talk to her.

She filled this stocking and gave it to someone in need.

A gift from a family they saw on Christmas

Sister Larsen's stocking she filled for someone

Christmas jammies from Sister Larsen's family.

Opening presents

Clemson shirt her siblings sent her

South Carolina bracelet she got from a family

Fuzzy socks

Week 52- Year with a Yeti

Hello all!

This week's subject line is a clever, clever joke, not least because it is the title of a Gilderoy Lockhart book (which I think I deserve some MAJOR awards for remembering) and I hit my year marker this week. I also happen to now be the proud owner of a yeti union suit, courtesy of my firstborn in the wilderness. I got her a moose one. Merry Christmas to us.

This week was a week full of awesome! I'm serious. It was really good.

Monday we went to go see D & P. That was a good time. We read out of the Book of Mormon with them and helped them understand what we were reading. We read Alma 36 and near the end we just felt inspired to tell them about chiasmus, because that chapter is written in chiasmus. Go look it up if you don't know what it is. And P was like, "THAT IS LITERALLY THE BEST THING IVE EVER HEARD. I HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE BOOK OF MORMON LIKE THAT." Oh, have we mentioned yet that P has been telling everyone she got baptized into the Mormon church, and sharing the gospel with all her friends? It's rocking our socks off, yo. I'm serious. And so anyways, P was really excited about chiasmus, Dan liked our union suits, it was a really good time. We also heart attacked the Rs.

Tuesday we did NOT have DDM, because transfers...:( You guys, do you ever meet folks where you're like, "MAN, I needed that person"? This district has been that way for me. It was pretty sad to see some of them go. We spent the morning making a tie and doing Mormon.org time, and then we went to a nursing home. IT WAS NUTS. Please, please remind me, family dear, to tell you face-to-face what happened the day we went to see B. And probably don't eat before I tell you. Oh my goodness. And then, we gave Elder H his airplane journal back and got Elder P's. (Airplane journals are like missionary yearbooks that you write nice things about people in. You're supposed to read it on the airplane.) Then we went to see Sister M in her nursing home. Please pray for her. She has no family so the holidays are always super hard on her. Then, we went to...ANOTHER nursing home. Luckily the Spanish South elders are really sweet and willing to come with us. That night we found out Elder C was also getting transferred, which was very unexpected.

Wednesday we did the soup kitchen, which was nuts! It was super busy. The ladies there gave us Christmas presents, which was cute. I have a new cup. It says some bible scripture on it. I like it. We also got my airplane journal back from the elders. Elder P STILL has Sister Larsen's. But luckily, he's in Greenville as one of their zone leaders over there, so we'll see him again this Tuesday and hopefully he has it then. We also went to see Sister B, who should be paying the fam a visit. We also were able to go to Book of Mormon class, which was taught by D. It was pretty good. P declared very excitedly her testimony of the Restoration, so that was a definite high point. We got to play some basketball after the class and also wrote in Elder C's airplane journal so we could get it back to him before he was transferred the next morning.

The next day we did not go to Brother W's or MMA which was sad, but we did get to talk to our WHOLE NEW DISTRICT over the phone. President moved the Gaffney elders into our district and made one of them our district leader. The thing is, he goes home in literally 17 days because he needs to get back for BYU-Idaho semesters, so we will not have a district leader for the last 3 weeks of the transfer. So since the zone leaders are zone leaders and never come to district meeting anyway, and the two other elders in the district JUST GOT HERE and also JUST GOT OUT OF TRAINING, I'm the district leader for the last three weeks of the transfer. HAHAHAHAHAHA JUST KIDDING. I'm really not sure what we're gonna do, but I KNOW it's not gonna be that.  We also went out with Sister F and had a short visit with Sister M where we helped her start her family history with Sister R, which was a great idea. Sister R took us up to see K and the baby after, and we helped K decorate for Christmas. It was fun, except they have cats, so I was dying a little bit. Also we had a lesson with a family named the Hs, which DAD is a Finnish surname, by the way. Brother H is half Finnish. He is pretty different. He wants to be a knight. And Sister H is from Cambodia. They fed us pasta and gave us a referral so I'm happy. And they came to church on Sunday also! So that was great too.

Friday we went to another nursing home to sing. I love nursing homes because everyone there tells you you're pretty even when you look like you just drove a semi-truck through a nitroglycerin plant. And that is about how I felt after K's house because I was sneezing and coughing and altogether slightly ill.  Anyway, then we planned for our week, had apartment inspections, and tried to go see people, to no avail.

Saturday we got to go to another baptism for M. She was not able to get baptized last week. But she was so excited for this week! We also got to meet the hermanas, and they are super cute! So that is really exciting. Also, the Spanish South elders came...and GET THIS. Awhile back, I sent Taran a song by an elder in my mission who was in a mariachi band before his mission. His name is Elder G, and his voice is so beautiful. Like, so beautiful, guys, you don't even know. I get emotional about it. And so Elders H and C come around the corner ... followed by Elder G. And I think I about lost my cool there. Also, Elder P got to come back and baptize her, and Elder H got to Skype in, so we got to see them again after they left, which was good. AND THEN. After the baptism was over, Elder G turns to me and is like, "Sister Pew, are you doing a musical number for zone conference?" And I was like, "No." (Because at that point I wasn't. I totally am now. They told me last night at 10:25. Zone conference is tomorrow. If I didn't love the zone leaders, I'd probably kill them.) But anyways, he was like, "Dang! I would love to hear you sing." And you don't understand. This was like, imagine Michael Jordan telling you he's seen you dunk a basketball. This was like Michaelangelo telling you he likes your artwork. Firstly, I had no idea how Elder G even knew I sang, except I figured it out real quick -- he served awhile around Sister Goettsche. That would be why. Anyways, yeah, so I was dying. And Sister Larsen, knowing, because I have told her, that my mission bucket list, which I was certain I would never ever achieve, is to sing with Elder G, says, "HEY, YOU SHOULD SING TOGETHER." And he was like, YES. GOOD. I WILL DO IT. And you guys. You don't even understand. Elder G. He GOES HOME IN 5 WEEKS. And he's only up here in the upstate until Tuesday to help the elders. There was no way this was ever happening! And it happened. We sang Child's Prayer together. I am so happy right now typing this. You don't even know. I can't believe it. Such a tender mercy. God just loves me so much. I'm serious. Ugh, so awesome.

Yesterday we had choir practice again. Sister Larsen hates it. It's hilarious.

Well, I'm super out of time. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but there should be videos coming in later today!!! And family, talk to y'all Monday!

Don't let the muggles get you down!

Love,

Sister Pew

One of their soup kitchen friends

Sister Pew week 51: The weather outside is frightful.

HEY, BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE IS SAID I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT SOUTH CAROLINA SAW SNOW THIS WEEKEND. IT WAS GLORIOUS.

Aaaaand I now have 2 weeks to tell you about. And an hour to do it. OH HEAVENS. I better get started.

2 Mondays ago. We went to the R's house to have dinner. We had Little Caesar's pizza. it was a good time. We like them. (They're members.) We showed them the #lighttheworld video. If y'all have not seen that video, repent and look it up and do all the things! It's so much fun, you guys. Seriously. After that we got invited to go to empty nesters' family home evening with D & P. So we went. We are technically empty nesters. But for a very different reason. Anyways, we had lots of fun and shared a message with the Ss afterwards. Gosh, the Ss are so awesome.

Two weeks ago Tuesday was the day we took Elder E (one of the zone leaders) and Elder P (our district leader) to see Sister M while they were on exchanges. She asked Elder P to marry her because he said he loves animals. Little does she know that what he meant by that was that he owns a guiding company and so he loves finding and murdering animals so he can eat them. He didn't tell her, because he's nice. But that was funny. Everyone there who wasn't Elder P was dying of laughter. He was super uncomfortable. (Have I mentioned that she is an older lady with many health problems?) Anyway, I can't remember what else happened that day because it's all a blur after that.

Wednesday we went to the soup kitchen, and Elder McCloud of Greater St. James Temple Baptist Church invited us to go Christmas caroling with him at an old folks' home. When I talk about Monday, you'll hear all about it. We also practiced music with Sister S and Sister S and Sister A. Have I mentioned I'm singing in 2 trios and singing a little solo part in another number? It is a REALLY good thing for Sister S that I didn't get transferred. She is the one who is helping me to exercise my talents.

Thursday I know we went to the Ws' farm. No pigs tackled me this week, but we did wrap some electric fence wire and stuff. They kept trying to get me to "test the electric fence." I don't know why I end up being the butt of all these jokes, but it's all good. After that I really don't remember what we did, besides see Sister A. She is cute.

Friday we went to Chesnee with Sister F. We also went to a lady's house who is moving out of our ward with all 6 elders. We were helping her to move. Sister Larsen and I were in charge of wrapping her paintings, of which she had many. And you want to know the very best part? She had cats. And I didn't know about it. So we got about an hour into this many-hour move, and I could no longer breathe, and I started coughing really bad. Luckily a lady in our ward had a dust mask and Brother F brought some Benadryl or else I might not have made it. After that we went to make sure everything was okay for the baptism.

We were at the church about 9:30 on Saturday. I can't even describe how happy I was. Here are some highlights from the baptism:

-D's leg can't get wet, so we had to wrap it with a plastic bag. You can't even tell in the photos. So all is well. But it was an adventure.

-P telling us, "I couldn't sleep all last night because I was so excited."

-Both of them telling us that this is where they know they need to be

-Brother S's talk about how we're all pickles (like David A Bednar's talk a little bit) and how delighted D & P were by that -- followed by the giving of a pickle-colored green tie to Dan (ISN'T THAT THE CUTEST THING EVER????)

-Brother F weeping after my musical number and telling me I'm never allowed to leave the ward

-Getting ROASTED by Sister S for my subpar conducting and piano-playing skills ;) "I just want you to be as excellent as you are capable of being" is what she said I believe. Sharp lady.

-I LITERALLY COULD NOT STOP SMILING AND SKIPPING AND I WAS JUST SO HAPPY. D and P are my folks. Some of the people I know I was called to South Carolina for. Man. Golly. I just love them so much. And I know for them it so doesn't end at baptism. They are already talking about their family history work and taking their mother and father's names to the temple. Oh my goodness. My happy heart.

Later that evening, we went to an event called Light Up I. We were trying to just be seen in public and be normal. That's the new proselyting approach we're taking as a mission is to just be friendly, happy, and have the Spirit to be with us. No one would talk to us at first, but then I started dancing in public and people were a little nicer after that. Maybe just because they wanted to be nice to the rhythmically challenged lady. But if it gets us talking to people, then I will dance! Poorly! For anyone! We also ran into Elder P and Elder H and their recent convert Sister P.

Sunday D & P took us to stake conference. That night we watched the devotional with the Rubows. I totally saw Dad. It was bomb.com.

AND NOW WE GET TO TALK ABOUT THIS WEEK.

Monday! We filmed our Christmas video. It's going to be...probably somewhat funny...and apostate...and ridiculous. I don't know if I want to show it to you. It's really weird. But hey, we had fun, it was a good time, memories were made. And then we went back to work. We went to follow up with the Rs about how they were lighting the world, and that was fun. Then we went to Sister R's house and she and her children went with us to the nursing home where Sister M lives to Christmas carol...or so we thought. You see, when Elder McCloud invited us to sing, he was actually not inviting us to simply Christmas carol, he was inviting us to his Monday evening church services. So we got there, and this preacher dude was ranting about how we need to bring God back into America, and lots of people were yelling and raising their hands above their heads and saying "PRAISE JESUS" really loud. They invited us up to sing a couple songs, and we were able to bear our testimonies. It was really interesting -- when we started to speak, the room went so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Nobody interrupted us with a "hallelujah" or an "amen". And the Spirit was there. It was definitely nothing to do with us! That's not what I'm trying to say -- I'm trying to say that the Spirit is a soft, gentle thing, and you cannot feel it if you're not being reverent. Also, the Spirit testifies of truth, and when we talked about Jesus Christ, and about the sacrifice He made, and about remembering Him during the holidays, the Spirit was felt in abundance. I am sure the residents felt the difference. That was probably the first and last time I'll experience a different church on my mission, and wow did I learn a lot. There is a significant difference between worshipping and attending a service. Whew. 

Tuesday, we had our last DDM as a district before transfers. It was a good one. Then, you want to know what the elders gave me for Christmas? They went to Golden Age. And it was their idea. <3 aren't they the best?? So, a bit of a wild story: There was this one lady there who had no teeth and is mostly blind, and she was crying because she felt lost. She was holding Elder P's hand but then he had to use his hand for something, so I went over there and held her hand, and she was so grateful. She kept kissing my hand, and kissing up my arm, and it was ... kind of sweet, but also really weird. ESPECIALLY when she started gnawing on my arm. I could not stop laughing. It tickled. She got mad at me for laughing. It was a good time. But she was a sweet lady. She and Elder P sang a song called "Jesus Loves Me" together and it was adorable. That night we went to see D & P, and they taught me! I have been struggling with the fact that I have to go back to Utah. I have never really felt like I fit in there, but out here they need me. I know that's mainly because I'm a missionary, but still -- it's nice. And then D and P slapped a map on their kitchen table and said, "show us where you live." And I got to point at Pleasant Grove on a map because this map was old and had no Cedar Hills, and I just felt a fondness for Utah that I have not felt in a good long while. So that was really positive. It was a good thing for me.

Wednesday we went to the soup kitchen and then went on exchanges with the STLs. I stayed in our area with Sister Jensen! She is super cute. We got into some homes and taught some actual lessons. That was awesome. We also went to the church to use the restroom, and the H family happened to be doing their baptismal interviews, so the elders and the zone leaders were also there. They were all in the gym or in rooms doing the interviews, so Sister Jensen and I took selfies on their iPads and put passalong cards on their car without them even knowing we were there. We almost got caught too! Later at Book of Mormon class they were really really impressed with us. The elders taught class and Dan & P and D and Sister S came. We asked D to teach next week. :)

Thursday Sister Jensen and I went to Brother Ws' farm and she loved it. We re-exchanged at MMA with my cute trainee and Sister Hamilton, and all 4 of the Spanish elders were there, so that was a pretty packed MMA class. But since I am the most advanced female in that class J taught me to do a scissor sweep. I felt pretty accomplished because J had us all grapple with each other and I was able to pin every single one of the other girls there, even though I am the smallest and quite possibly the weakest. I was also able to get out of being pinned every single time and it was sick. I used to make fun of women's wrestling all the time. So of course it would be the only thing I'm actually good at. That is my luck.

Friday IT SNOWED AND WE GOT LOCKED IN!!! So Sister Larsen and I got to know each other. REALLY well. Probably too well. Don't worry, nothing you need to write my mission president about ... but we had some deep talks. It was pretty fun. Lame that we got locked in, but awesome also because it snowed and it was so pretty and so cute and fun and I was really excited.

Saturday was THE BAPTISM OF J AND T and that was happy. But we also found out they're pinkwashing the elders and that's sad. Those two are the greatest. I have learned a lot from them. Luckily, the rest of our district is staying, and we're adding a companionship of elders as well as getting Hermanas! So we're going to have people to hang out with on p-day now! That will be awesome. I haven't had that my whole mission. Also we had a snowball fight, there is a video and it is narrated by Elder B who sounds like the rednecks who sit behind us at BYU games. (He comes from the sparkling metropolis of Bicknell, Utah. I challenge thee to find that one on a map.) I will be sure to send that home.

Yesterday we were able to see D, P and the H girls get confirmed. It was the best. We also taught Gospel Principles, had a very nice meeting with bishop, saw G and T, and had ward coord with Brother R. It was a great day. I tried to be grateful after studying Alma 36 and it changed my life. I applied the scriptures because of yesterday's #lighttheworld activity, search the scriptures. It was wonderful! I'm so glad I did that. Everyone please participate in the Light the World initiative. IT IS WORTH IT I PROMISE.

So that is the end of this fetching long email. 

Don't let the muggles get you down!

All my love, Sister Pew

Exchanges

The Light up the Town Celebration

Ward Christmas Party and this elder is her 4th cousin

Snowed one day!

Snow means: snow ball fight!

Snowball fight!

Awkward

Sister Pew has the force