Monday, April 17, 2017

My Mission Expires Before My Milk!

Yep, realized that this morning. It was a really good week! Definitely some ups and downs, but fortunately the highs were really high and the lows only a little low. 


Last Monday was my last normal P-day! We are having a different P-day schedule this week because we are going to the Temple on Thursday morning. (happy birthday to me!! ) So rather than loosing 2 whole days out of the work week, we changed Thursday to P-day. We'll get home around 2-3 PM so there will still be plenty of time for shopping, laundry, and cleaning. (AND PACKING AHH)
Okay so Monday night something so cool happened! I have to tell a little background story though! So I never wrote about this back then because it was all very confidential, etc, but when I was in Yakima a little over a year ago, one of my companions had a pacemaker, and on our third day together she actually fainted, so that was really bad. I called the mission nurse and she told me to take her to the ER to have her pacemaker interrogated (make sure it's working correctly). My companion was super scared and uncomfortable because of the ER. She is from Utah, so she wasn't used to people not knowing who Mormon missionaries are and what our rules are, etc. so it made it even harder for her because she was dealing with culture shock, too.  The one ER nurse left, I guess her shift was over or something, and then a new ER nurse came in. She introduced herself as Jackie and said she was a Mormon too, and actually had served a Spanish-speaking stateside mission herself, so she totally understood us! She was able to talk to us a lot and help my companion calm down. Hermana H had to get her blood drawn, too which she totally hates, and she felt a lot better about it with Jackie there. The coolest part about it was that after it was all over with, Jackie told us that that week she had been on vacation in Arizona to visit her family and that she was not planning on coming home until Saturday or Sunday, (this was on a Friday) but that on Thursday morning she had woken up at like 5 AM in a panic and had the strongest feeling come over her that she needed to go home NOW and go to work the next day! She had no clue why, she just felt very strongly that she needed to go into work that morning because someone was going to need her. It was SO COOL to see God's hand in all of it, and how even though He doesn't always take away the heavy loads we carry, He does strengthen the bridge.  This is one of my absolute favorite mission stories that I tell all the time! I even used it in a sacrament meeting talk back in White Salmon! 

So also, a few weeks ago when I first got here we asked a lady in the ward to come to a lesson with us (I hadn't met her in person yet) and when she walked up I was like "Man she looks so familiar! How do I know her!" So I asked her where she was from, how old she is, etc, she's from Idaho and is 26, so I was like... hmm that's not it. I asked her what her first name is and she said "Jaclyn" For some reason that made so much sense to me, I have no clue why! So I kept asking her questions and she was like "I don't think we know each other"... she started to seem a bit annoyed so I just gave it up. But then on Monday we were at their house for dinner and we walk in and she's in SCRUBS. I was like "Are you a nurse?" and she said "Yeah! I work at the ER" But for some reason I was apparently very ditsy that day so it still didn't register in my brain. So we go through the whole dinner appointment, and share our message, show them the awesome Easter videos #princeofpeace and everything, and then right as we're about to leave it just all comes flooding back into my mind. I was like " WAIT A SEC, YOU'RE JACKIE THE ER NURSE!" and she was like "What?" and I was like "remember last year when you helped my companion who had the pacemaker?" and she was like "Ooooooh yeah!!!" And I was like "I KNEW I WASN'T CRAZY! I KNEW I KNEW YOU!!" haha it was so funny and satisfying. Then we took a picture together and I'm emailing it to Hermana H today :)

Jackie the ER nurse!


Then Monday night elder Sanchez called us and asked me to sing at their investigators' baptism on Sunday. I was so excited and said, "Of course! I love to sing! Thank you for the opportunity!" But then the next day I woke up and my voice was 1000% gone... like super super gone. I got so sick! haha I saw Elder Sanchez later that evening and he was like "What happened?" I just pointed my finger at him and whispered (because that's as loud as it got!) "You did this to me!!" haha it was super comical. All day people were whispering back to me. Lol I was like "Y'all didn't lose your voices too!" 

During tracting on Tuesday we met this amazing lady named Aly. She's so sweet. It was weird because she opened the door and let us right in. (that never happens, especially with white people!) and she was like "I used to meet with missionaries like 8 years ago, they were the best people I ever knew. I love them so much we still talk on facebook all the time." Then she just opened up to us and poured her heart out! She is going through a LOT. And she said she used to believe in God but is really struggling right now. She's trying so hard to hold on to the little seed of faith she has, but it's hard. looks like we found her right in time! 

Wednesday was a great day. We had District Council in the morning. I LOVE MY DISTRICT. Then we went to the Dentist because Hermana Powell has been grinding her teeth and needs a night guard. After that we went to the mission office to do My Plan (Cry plan) and that week it was all about Marriage and Dating..... at least there was a cute dog on one of the videos. Then we went to the church and Mike had his baptism interview! Woo hoo! He's such a smart kid! We also got to wash a member's dog! haha at first I was like "Well this is weird!" but then it was the same kind of dog as Tobie so it was a piece of cake. I was like "I used to do this all the time!" 
Thursday was good, and my voice came back! Well, mostly. I still sounded like I smoked 5 packs a day, lol but that's okay.  

Me and my daughter being trendy (double dutch braids are so in right now)

dentist time!



Friday was also really good. (my last weekly awesomeness!!) We had a good lesson with Brittney. Her friend actually committed suicide last week, so that was really hard for her. She is getting through it though. We watched "Like a Broken Vessel" by Jeffery R. Holland with her. If you have not read/seen that talk, you should go watch it right now! It's so good. 

Saturday was a crazy day! We had Mike's baptism, which went SO well! It was so cute, right as he got out of the water he was like "I finally got baptized!" It was so so so cute. We could feel his mom was there too. She died a few years ago, and was the only member in their family. Mike's dad, Albert, and his step-mom Brittney are making wedding plans right now and will soon be following Mike into the waters of baptism! We are so happy for them, I love them so much. They are such a special family! I hope I can somehow come back to see their wedding and baptisms. Albert was crying in Mike's baptism. it was so sweet. 

Right as soon as we got finished with Mike's baptism, we had to rush off to start driving to Moses Lake (shout out to Mama Cox!) because 3 of Sister Powell's investigators she taught there for 6 months were getting baptized at 5:30. (it takes like an hour and a half to drive there and Mike's baptism ended at 4!) so we drive over there really quick (actually the Mitchell's drove us. They are truly angels!!) and we run into the church just to get told by some people that we missed the baptism, they had actually changed the time last minute to be at 4pm! Hermana Powell was devastated! We had worked so hard to be able to be there!! I was like "Why?! How?! After all we went through to be here?" So I went to the bathroom and prayed. Fortunately one of the members that was there at the church had Shawn's (the dad of the family that got baptized) phone number and she called him. He said he was at this retirement home in town visiting their grandma. So we called our Zone Leaders (also angels) and they gave us permission to go to the retirement place and Hermana Powell still got to see them and talk for about 30 minutes! It was a miracle for sure. On the way home in the car, the Mitchell's told us their story of how they met/got together. ITS SO CUTE. I wish I had enough time to write it! but It took Sister Mitchell an entire hour to tell it to us. Maybe someday!

Mike's baptism!!

Moses Lake! Shoutout to Dannai :)


Yesterday was a great day, too! HAPPY EASTER! I'm so glad He is risen!! I started writing my homecoming talk yesterday morning in personal study. (weird but exciting!) We had such a good day at church. Hayley made it again and even brought her husband! He's never been to any church before and hasn't showed any interest in learning from us before, It's so exciting! 

Last night was the Valdez Family's baptism. (I LOVE SPANISH BAPTISMS) and my song actually went well! I'm still super sick with a chest cold so I just prayed so so so so so hard before Elder Sanchez and I went up (he played piano) and somehow my voice held out! I was so intimidated because President and Sister Lewis showed up, and because there were so many people there the primary room was getting too full so we had to move to the Chapel, which meant I was on a microphone! Also, It's very rare for me to sing a solo. But it went well, thank goodness! It was so cute at the end of the service, the 13 year old son, Isain, went up and bore his testimony and at the end he looked down at his missionaries, Elder Sanchez, Beaumont, and Colunga, and started to cry and thank them! This is what it's all about people. Those are the moments we live for as missionaries. It's the hardest 18-24 months, but it's the best!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

Us and Sister Lewis. Happy Easter!!

Valdez' baptism yesterday night

Coloring on Sister Don's journal




I love you all! see you in 8 days

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