Week 49--Goodbye Goldsalmon!

This is going to be a quickie this week because the computers are broken! Hopefully more next week. 

False Prophecies

Biggest and most important news as you can probably tell is that I'm being transferred! I leave early Wednesday morning to drive to Ellensburg! They have recently started a new Ellensburg Spanish group. So I'll be transferring there and becoming a "Dad"! AKA “Greenie Busting”, or in other words, being Hermana Shewell's first companion after her trainer! 

Okay so now a quick run-down of my week. 

Monday was awesome as usual! P-day fun! Volleyball, soccer, etc. Elder Watt's last P-day!

 Hermana Hull 

AKA "Lonestar"

Tuesday we had the BEST District Council ever. We roleplayed for some specific investigators who are having some really tough problems. Brainstorming together for people with big hurdles. It was a truly revelatory experience. Everyone was joking about me leaving, too which was funny, and when we did transfer predictions, or "false prophecies" as we call it, three people actually guessed correctly that I would go to Ellensburg!

District Council

Wednesday we met a cool family named the Greens. They have a lot of interesting animals they have rescued! two baby deer, a skunk, and a tiny baby squirrel! We got to pet and hold them. Then they told us all about their house's crazy back story. It used to be owned by this crazy Nazi/KKK guy and they keep finding old letters written in German all around the house and property. So crazy! We had an AWESOME lesson with a member, Megan, that night. She shared with us her conversion story and all about how the Book of Mormon changed her life. She showed us a bunch of dark poetry she had written in the past, and then related the Book of Mormon as her "Flashlight". She said "No matter how dark it gets I will always have the Book of Mormon to light the way back up for me."

 Lilly the Skunk

Willow the Deer

Baby squirrel (She doesn't have a name yet.)

 Cool old stuff at the Greens' house

Old German letters found on their property

Thursday we had a great lesson with Raul and one of the youth in the ward, Courtney. It was awesome. We went super deep into the Restoration. 

Friday we found a new Hispanic hub in White Salmon which had previously gone undiscovered by the missionaries! Woohoo!

Saturday we taught Raul again and prepared him for his confirmation on Sunday, which happened by the way. Good thing! Saturday evening, we had a potluck at the church and then got to watch the women's conference with the other Relief Society sisters. It was AWESOME. I love going into Conference with specific questions and then seeing how Heavenly Father will help me to answer and understand them through the sessions. President Uchdorf's talk was perfect for me! 

Saturday night we got TRANSFER CALLS. I got a little bit of anxiety just because it's a change, and I've gotten so used to being here. But it didn't last long because I've had six weeks to prepare myself mentally and ,emotionally for this! I was pretty much expecting it. I've met my new companion a couple of times very briefly and she seems really sweet. So I'm excited. It's going to be SO hard to say goodbye to Herman Hullheart though!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH. 

Goodbye White Salmon building!

Yesterday at church was a little bittersweet I can't believe it was my last week in the White Salmon Ward! I've been here SO LONG. Some funnies from yesterday:

Brother R was teaching Sunday School this week, and we were talking about some chapters in the scriptures where these lawyers are tricking everyone, and Brother M in the class is a lawyer! So of course he was getting a lot of teasing. Then Brother M raised his hand randomly after we had gotten to a different part of the lesson and said "Elder Holland and Elder Oaks are lawyers, I just wanted to point that out!"

Also, at dinner last night we were at the Taylor's house, their four-year-old son would not eat any of his food, because he "didn't like it" even though he hadn't tried it yet. So his dad was like "You are being a fibber when you don't try your food but then tell people you don't like it! Do you want to be called Pinnochio?" Then the little boy was like "*Gasp!* No I don't, Daddy!" Then the dad was like, "Well then try your food before you tell people you don’t like it." Then about a minute of silence went by as we all continued eating. Then the little boy said, "Did you know that (insert politician's name here) is also called a Pinocchio?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! We died laughing! The mom was laughing so hard she cried. The dad was like, "I swear I did not teach him that!" Kids are so funny and so smart!

Goodbye Goldsalmon Members!

Well that's gonna have to be it this week. Sorry it's a shorty! Hope you all have an amazing week! I love you!

My cute companion

#goldsalmon

OKAY THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME. Hermana Hullheart and I keep telling each other that if we had one wish it would be to live this week over again at least three times! SO GOOD!

My new personal favorite hashtag that we've been adding to everything lately: #goldsalmon!

Monday was super, suuuuper fun at P-day. Turns out I'm actually really good at soccer now... who knew? Also we had a fun Family Home Evening with the Abkens and our new members, the Holdens. They loved it! It was especially sweet to see Bro. Holden so comfortable. He has early onset Alzheimer’s and usually has a hard time, but he did so well. And, of course, we just love the Abkens so, so, so much. We had a lesson about loving and serving each other in the church and talked about our past callings. Then we played “Two Truths and a Lie”. They really got a kick out of it. 

Tuesday we had dinner with one of our strongest and most golden member families. Everyone had a lot of activities to get to, so they all sort of ate and ran, and then it was just us and the mom. We were just like "SO, how are you?" and she just broke down crying! Wow! She has a lot of stress going on and some depression issues, and her kids just won’t stop fighting. She said one of the things stressing her out the most was her house, so we were like "Alright! We're coming over tomorrow to clean! What time works for you?" And she was like, "Oh…sisters, no you don't have to...." "NOPE WE'RE COMING. What time?" ha ha She said 9-11 am would work. After dinner we sang her a song because she said music always helps her feel better and, good news--we LOVE to sing! Then we gave her a nice long hug and had this beautiful moment of peace and spirit right before we left.

Then we opened the front door to see her DOG MURDERING A BABY BUNNY. It totally ruined the moment! Ha ha! But looking back it was a little funny. Hermana Hull started to cry! The member was like "I'm so sorry! Are you crying?" Hermana Hull was like "... *Sobs* No!" Then we heard this noise that sounded like a dog's squeeky toy, and Hermana Hull was like, "UH, WAS THAT THE BUNNY?" And the member was like "Uhh... no! That uh that was me!... No it wasnt, it was the bunny! I'm so sorry! Here, let me see if I can save it.... Nope it's, it's definitely too late, I'm so sorry!" I was like, "Stop watching Hermana!" Ugh it was equal parts hilarious and disturbing and sad. SO anyway, that happened. And now I know why they put those squeekers in dog toys..... It will never be the same to me again...

So after that we went to pick up the Sister Training Leaders, because EXCHANGES! Yes! It was cool, because the STLs right now are Hermana Luevano and Hermana Pons, and Hermana Luevano is my mom, and Hermana Pons is Hermana Andrews’ (in our district) mom, then I'm Hermana Hull’s mom and Hermana Andrews is Hermana Young's mom... SO hopefully that wasn't confusing, but pretty much we had double triple generations. We took a picture. Grandma, mom, daughter, and grandma, mom, daughter! 

Double triple generations! 

Me and Mommy--I love her!

Wednesday the STL's came with us to that member’s house, and we totally took down that house in only 2 hours! We even took Magic Erasers to the walls and doors and made that place shine! It was so fun and satisfying, and of course I love to clean! It was also really awesome, because while three of us were cleaning, Hermana Luevano actually went and started talking to the member for a bit. They ended up both getting a lot of answers they were needing. It was so cool to see how God perfectly placed them in each other's path just for the day at the exact right time! 

Thursday was ZONE CONFERENCE, AKA THE BEST DAY EVER. We love Zone Conference. My favorite way to describe it is a spiritual firehose! It's amazing! We all woke up at 4:30 in the morning and drove up to Yakima. Hermana Pons and Hermana Hull slept while I drove, and Hermana Luevano was my co-pilot. It was so good to have some one-on-one time with her. I love her and have missed her so much! Plus, we got to watch the sun rise, which was really cool! We dropped the STLs off at their apartment at eight so they could eat breakfast and then went to the church to practice our MUSICAL NUMBER with Elder Tiejan, who was accompanying us. We were a little nervous at first, but we sing together a lot so it wasn't bad. But then at 9am right before the meeting started, President came up to us and said, "I'm excited for your song, Sisters! we've already had two zone conferences this week and the musical numbers were amazing. You have big shoes to fill!" So then of course with that kind of pressure our nerves were through the roof! We could barely eat lunch! Ha ha! It was pretty funny, actually. Plus, we didn't know when we were supposed to sing, so it was like it could happen at any moment! Gah!

Zone Conference!

We ended up performing at the end of the meeting right after Sis. Lewis' talk about family history (I died. I was so, so, so, so, so happy. I LIVE for family history!) It was so cool, because we got up there in front of 100 other missionaries and felt like we were about to throw up. And then after like the third note this peace just washed over us. The Spirit totally took over. I have never heard Hemana Hull sing like that before. She's usually amazing, but this time was like indescribably phenomenal! It was so perfect, like we were giving them all a gift, which was totally our goal! We wanted it to not be about us, or our singing; We wanted it to be about the song, "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer." It was cool to see Pres. Lewis' eyes just fixed on us! And a few of our friends even started to cry. Sis. Lewis took a video of it, and it's on the Yakima Mission Facebook page!

After the meeting was over I finally had a chance to go talk to some of my friends! I was especially excited to see Elder Najarian and Elder Buchanan, they are two of my absolute best missionary friends and I have missed them a LOT. I actually just found out Elder Buchanan is going home for a surgery! Please keep him in your prayers. 

 Family Pictures

 Hermana Clark, Elder Buchanan, Elder Kiser, Hermana Luevano, and Hermana Knight

Hermana Hull and Elder King

They both went to University of Texas--Hook 'em Horns!

 Us with Elder Najarian

So basically Zone Conference was awesome, but also a little sad because now I miss everyone so much! That's the part of missionary life I never realized before coming out here, that missionaries get to be really good friends with other missionaries. I love them so much! 

After that we drove over to the mission office to send off some of Tyler's teaching records and info to the missionaries in the Everett mission because HE LEFT FOR COLLEGE THIS WEEK. More on that in a minute. 

Driving home we were on a total spiritual and emotional high and just so happy, but as the 2 hours and 45 minutes went by, the tiredness really started to set in! By the time we got home at about 9pm, we had woken up at 4:30am, driven 2 hrs and 45 mins to Yakima, sat in distress and nervousness through a meeting for 8 hours and then drove 2 hours 45 mins back home to White Salmon. I lost my mind the last five minutes of the drive. I was literally crying and laughing at the same time. Hermana Hullheart was like, "What in the world?" I was like "Haha! *sob* I'm just so tired!" ha ha! We went home and CRASHED. 

Something else really fun we've been doing this week is playing basketball in the mornings for exercise time. It's random, but I just remembered. Anyway...

FRIDAY RAUL GOT BAPTIZED. AND TYLER BAPTIZED HIM! OH MY GOODNESS, IT WAS SO CUTE! Tyler is a pretty skinny guy and Raul is quite a bit more built than him, so Tyler accidentally dropped him! Then he had a hard time picking him back up! Ha ha! It was awesome! But great job Tyler!

 Raul's Baptism!

So cute! I love them! I'm going to miss Tyler so much!

After the baptism we had to say goodbye to Tyler for good! It was like ripping my heart out of my chest and stomping on it. He left to go to college in Seattle on Saturday, which means he's not our baby anymore! We gave him to some missionaries in the YSA Ward up there in the Everett Mission. It was so hard to say goodbye! He was crying! Pobrecito. Little brother all grown up. I'll never forget him. At least now that he's not in our mission boundaries we can email him! 

Saturday was just weird. the only good thing is that it rained...

Sunday was of course awesome, but Raul actually couldn't come to church for his own confirmation, because his aunt just got in a terrible car accident. So he had to go to the hospital in Seattle to see her. So he's technically not a member yet, so his lessons this week are not Recent Convert lessons yet... so we are referring to him as an extremely progressing investigator. Haha!

So yeah, this week has been awesome. This morning we went to the Clarks and Sis. Clark helped me do some online shopping for some new boots! Yessssss. It's the most wonderful time of the year, people! I love fall! And I love all of you! 

 Another beautiful view

It's too beautiful. I can't stand it!

 Language Study is not Hermana Hullheart's favorite.

Hermana Hullheart had to drive, 

because my allergy meds make me drowsy!

Hermana Hullheart (WHOLE heart)

Me and Hermana "Hullheart"

Hermana Hull is like walking charity. She is SO AWESOME. Ah, I love her so much. Hermana Hullheart is a new nickname I came up with for her this week because I love her so much and she seriously just loves everyone with her whole heart. What an amazing example I have to learn from! 

This week went by like *snaps finger*. Seriously just flew by! P-day was fun last Monday. We played volleyball, AKA my favorite sport to play. It was so fun. 

Tuesday we did some service for Andrea. We helped her do some weeding and trimming in her garden and actually learned a lot! I want to try gardening when I get home. 

Update on the eternigator, Emma- let's just say D&C 75:20 will suffice. 

Wednesday night we went to a SUPER fun service project at the white's house! Pretty much the whole ward family was there. The Whites came back from their mission in Nauvoo on Friday so we were cleaning up the yard and planting flowers for them before they got back. They are such a cool family. He's actually Larissa's brother. Three of the White's kids and their families live in the ward so it's a fun really close extended family. I want to be them! Bro. White stopped us at church yesterday and was like, "I have to meet the famous sisters! Larissa has told me so much about you! Thank you so much for helping my baby sister, it's been a long road for her. Thank you for loving her and helping her." 

At the Service Project

Wednesday we also learned one of our investigators' spouse is divorcing them! Really tough situation right now, and we are so grateful for our district and zone leaders for helping us and giving us advice. Also the Bishop... he's just awesome. 

Thursday we met a funny lady named Joe. and holy cow, we resolved some Mormon MYTHS. Some of them I couldn't believe! People actually believe this stuff? Wow! She was really nice though, so that's good. 

We also visited with Myrtle on Thursday. She's 85 and has a lot of heart problems, so usually she's pretty calm and a little lonely and down too. But this time her 2-year-old great-great grandson was there, and it was so cute to see her all perked up! They had so much fun together :) 

Thursday we ate at a delicious Mexican restaurant with the Clarks. It was so nice to go out. We don't get to do that very often. We also met a really sweet girl names Marizela. She's from Aguascalientes! After that we had an awesome lesson with Raul and three of his friends that are in the Church. It's so amazing to see the youth here and how they

support each other. They are such good friends to each other. At one point we were having a little bit of a struggle with concentration though, because of course all the friends were excited and talking, so I decided to just talk to him one on one in Spanish for a moment. It was really reassuring. It was special to get to hear him really express himself too, in his native tongue. "No se como explicarlo, es algo que me siento cuando leo el Libro de Mormon."

Friday we had a lunch meeting with Bishop. I just gotta say again that he is SO awesome. He helped us answer some important questions that had been bothering us for a while! Then we did weekly awesomeness (planning) and met Raul and Elders Vejnar and Burbank at the church for his baptism interview. He passed! He was so nervous, but he did great! He said it wasn't like a scary interview or anything, just a conversation and getting to share his testimony. 

Something really exciting this week--President Lewis asked us to do a musical number for Zone Conference this upcoming Thursday! We prayed and prayed and prayed and finally found a beautiful arrangement of "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer," and an elder in Yakima will be accompanying for us! We're excited and nervous! It's going to be probably 80ish missionaries. We really want to bring the Spirit!!!!

(To see a video of the Hermanas performing their song, click here.)

Friday night we had a lesson with the Houdens and Sis. Carl. She is so sweet and they clicked so well! Instant friendship. They came to church on Sunday and really liked it! We are having a Family Home Evening with them and the Abkens tonight! I'm really excited. 

Saturday we went to Tyler's goodbye party. He's leaving for college up in Seattle this week! SAD… He showed us his truck that he rolled back in March right before I got here. That kid should not be alive! Miracles are so real. I was actually kind of in shock. It reminded me of when I went to Universal Studios and saw all the stunt vehicles they use in movies... except it was REAL. 

 Tyler's Truck!

Church yesterday was, of course, great as usual! We have a new Relief Society presidency, and one of the new counselors is a recent convert! It's so exciting to see her like this! She's nervous but so excited. We know she'll do awesome. 

Tyler and Raul brought their friend, Abram to church with them! So great! Then we had a lesson with all three of them after church and planned Raul's baptism program for this Friday! We are so excited for him! 

Raul, Abram, and Tyler, looking adorable!

Hermana Hull and I got to go to Primary and help out with Sharing Time. We shared three awesome stories from our missions. The kids just lit up. I LOVE that I have mission stories!!!

Last night we had dinner with the Clarksons, and they are so awesome! We needed to deep clean the inside of our car this morning for car inspections this week and Sis. Clarkson actually offered to let us come over and do our laundry there on her THREE sets of machines and wash and vacuum our car with her stuff while we waited. It saved so much time! Wow! That was so nice. And now Onsonkwanae (our car's name) looks SO GOOD. Woo hoo! 

WELL I think that's it. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love and miss you!!!

-Alison 

p.s. Please don't forget about 9/11/01! Nobody even mentioned a word about it yesterday! Don't let history repeat itself by forgetting about it! 

 Amazing view we found on Snowden Road

 Cute kitty!

 Hermana Hullheart's first experience with "Pizzadillas"

(Knight family invention--kind of like a quesadilla, 

but with pizza sauce, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese.)

Hermana Hullheart loves tacos!

 Snake I accidentally ran over with the car

The new iPhone 9 ha ha!