#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!