Week 43--Transfer News! Six Months in White Salmon!

Look what Hermana Hull got in the mail! It's so beautiful!

We got our transfer calls Saturday night and we're both staying! That means I will be here for at least six months! WOW. That's a third of my mission. I can't believe how lucky I am to get to serve in this awesome ward for so long. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye! It actually feels a little like a death sentence, because it's extremely rare that someone ever stays in an area more than three transfers and pretty much zero chance of staying 5. I better make the next six weeks count! 

The best news of the week:

Tyler got baptized! It was awesome! We are so proud of him for finally making this decision. It was a great service. Every active family in the ward was represented! We had people sitting out in the hall because there wasn't enough room! It was so cool and so sweet to see the support of the members here these days. I was just thinking the other day about how it was when I first got here 4 months ago, and how much of a culture change there has been in the White Salmon ward. I'm so proud of everyone for all the hard work they are doing. Also, Tyler's parents, sister, and grandma came! It was actually a pretty big deal because they haven't been the most supportive or comfortable with all of this. They asked a lot of really good questions, and our member missionaries were on it! The members had a great time getting to have missionary experiences, I could tell!

 Tyler's baptism!

Sis. Hull and I got to sing a musical number at the baptism. We sang "Brightly Beams our Father's mercy". Ever since we sang at Romero's baptism, it's spread like wildfire that we love to sing and we keep getting asked to do musical numbers all over the place! District meeting, zone meeting, baptisms, sacrament meeting. It's really fun and so special to have a companion who is such a good singer! She's amazing. 

Wednesday and Thursday were both fun days because we got to have a Mini- Missionary working with us, her name is Britney. She is so sweet! She is actually in the Dalles 1st ward, but she came and stayed with us for 2 days to experience what real missionary life is like. It was great, except of course no one was home when they were supposed to be. Ha ha! We were like, "We promise this usually doesn't happen! It's just because you're here watching us!" The first day was a little overwhelming for me because, as a trainer I already feel like everything I do (especially my mistakes) are under a magnifying glass! So it felt doubly strong there for the first half of the first day or so, but soon I got over it and remembered I'm not perfect and I'm not supposed to be.

On Thursday night before she left she thanked us for helping her to see that missionary life can be fun too, it made 18 months seem not so long and scary anymore. She said she wishes she could go on a mission tomorrow! 

Us and our mini-missionary, Britney

We had a phone lesson this week. Those don't happen too often, because we usually prefer to talk to people face-to -face. But on Thursday we had 30 extra minutes pop up all of the sudden, and had a strong feeling to call one of our former investigators, Lisa. She lives like 45 minutes away, so we had to call instead of stop by. It ended up being perfect, because she's 77 and her husband passed away last year. She said when we called that she had been just sitting there missing her husband and feeling lonely and wishing she had someone to talk to. INSPIRED. We talked a lot about the Plan of Happiness and what happens after we die. Families can be together forever!

Max and Jane are doing well this week! Jane's warehouse is finally all finished and put together. It looks so cute! It's really satisfying walking in there and knowing that we helped! Also, Max had his baptismal interview yesterday and passed!! Things are lining up for them. Max is so smart! Lately for our lessons, since he already knows all the material, but we have to go over the lessons to make sure he understands everything, he's been actually teaching us! It always just ends up that way. He is so prepared and thinking so deeply about his baptism. It's cool to watch his testimony grow as he gets closer to this important step! I'm so glad I'm staying and get to watch him get baptized. It's been a looong road with this one!

Jane's "woman cave" is finished!

The other day we went over to see Jane for a bit to introduce her to another lady from church (she's been wanting to make some more friends in White Salmon since she's still kind of new here,) and they hit it off right away! It was awesome, and then a mini-miracle happened. We've never mentioned going to church to Jane yet, because in the past, we've pushed her too much and freaked her out a little, so we're taking it slow and gentle and she brought it up herself! She said, "I can't go to church this week, but I'm thinking I'll probably go next week" WHAT? Cool! We were so happy to see that just the fact that she will have friends there is already helping her feel more comfortable. Again, I'm so grateful for the members here!

Thursday night we had a RS activity about health and fitness that was really fun. We did some exercising and had smoothies! A member offered to give us massages any time we need them for free because she knows how important backs are to missionaries, ha ha! It was pretty funny to see all the women's faces when we walked in in sweats, too. Missionaries own sweats?!

Yesterday Hna. Palsson went home, so now Hna. Andrews is with us until Wednesday when her GREENIE gets here. We are so excited for her. She'll be a great "mom"! It's fun being in a trio, and nice to finally touch base about a few of our shared less-active members (we work in the same Spanish group). Last night we all went over to visit a sister at church and see how she is doing. She had been having a lot of back pain for years and finally the doctors did an ultrasound and found a huge tumor in her uterus! It was pressing against her lower back and making her back hurt, and her legs and feet go numb at times. She just had a hysterectomy about 10 days ago, and when they took the tumor out it was 5 lbs! Wow! She is doing so great though, so we are so happy. And so glad the tumor wasn't cancerous.

It's been a good week!

 The Goodriches got new puppies!

 My comp is so adorable!

Comp unity!