On Tuesday we went around and visited people. One of the people that we visited was an inactive member with a lot of health problems. She has a really small dog. When we came in, she told us to sit down on the couch. Sister Bastian sat right down on the couch. I went to sit next to her, but there was a big wet spot. Not wanting to be rude, I sat down anyway. I was most definitely sitting in dog pee. Sister Bastian just seemed completely content. I was so confused because I was completely disgusted. We got out of the house and I said, "We just spent the last 30 minutes sitting in dog pee." Turns out the reason Sister Bastian did not seem as disgusted as I was was because she had not noticed. She too had been sitting in it, but only a small part of her skirt was wet. Needless to say, we went home and changed our clothes after that. That night we had dinner with our friend who is on date to get baptized. Her husband had gotten a new picture of the temple to go in their house. He was showing us all of the temple pictures because he had reorganized them on the shelf. Sister Bastian complimented their vases that were on the same shelf. Brother Perry replied, "They're urns." Sister Perry then said, "I am glad you like my parents." I have never seen Sister Bastian's face more red than it was in that moment. Both Brother Perry and I thought it was hilarious!
On Wednesday morning we went to help at the food pantry. I love helping at the food pantry. It keeps you busy, but it is a mindless task so you can think about other things and still be useful! After helping at the food pantry, we went to visit the Perrys. They work in Boonville, and they always tell us to stop by when we are in the area. It was really fun. We got to go through security because they both work at the judicial center. They gave us the complete rundown of their jobs while we were there, which was extremely entertaining.
After that we went back to the apartment to prepare for exchanges. The STLs were late getting there, so we cleaned the apartment while we waited. Sister Bastian went with Sister Strong to Evansville for the day, and Sister Saylor came to join me. Sister Saylor is a convert to the church who just hit her two year mark. She has the coolest conversion story! She was super anti the church originally, so it is cool to hear her testify about what she knows to be true. I led out the area for the day. I was super stressed about driving that new of a car because the newest car I had previously driven was a 2007. It turns out it is actually extremely easy to drive new cars. We drove to Boonville and then biked around the area to visit people.
Wednesday night we had a lesson with our friend Lisa. It was such a cool lesson because it was the first time it did not become more like a Q and A. We got to teach the beginning of restoration again and then shift to the gospel of Jesus Christ (my favorite lesson to teach).
On Thursday morning our windshield got fixed! Our washing machine was also supposed to get looked at because it is broken, but the guy never showed up. We left to exchange back without the washing machine guy ever showing up, so it is still broken. For lunch we went to La Campirana. It is a really good Mexican restaurant. After lunch we had a lesson with our friends Dane and Ashley. We put them both on date during the lesson!! After the lesson we just weekly planned.
On Friday we had district lunch followed by district council. We drove the STLs up because they were out of miles and our district council is around 70 miles away one way. They were late getting to our apartment, so we were going to be late to district lunch. On the way there Tiwi fell off the window! We got our windshield replaced Thursday and I guess they did not re-install it correctly. When it fell off it gave Sister Bastian an aggressive driver violation…she was stopped at a stop light. One of the STLs from the back seat said, "FOR WHAT??!!" and sounded super offended, before realizing it was because it had fallen off the window. We then started driving again and it gave her an aggressive driving violation about every 30 seconds the entire rest of the way there. While we were panicking about Tiwi, we missed our exit, so we were 30 minutes late to district lunch. If you get that many aggressive driving violations, it notifies Salt Lake and our vehicle coordinator has to work out getting them removed from the record. We are hoping he will tell us how many she got…it has to be close to 100. It was super funny because Sister Bastian had never previously gotten an aggressive driver violation. While at district council, the vehicle coordinator told us to unplug Tiwi before we drive again and he will fix her at zone conference. That means that vehicle restrictions are not enforced in our car. Good thing Sister Bastian is a safe driver without being forced to be.
A member of our ward brought our district lunch for district lunch because she wanted to meet our district leader. (His older brother served in the same mission and served in our area before they pink washed the ward.) We had a lot of fun at district lunch. After lunch we had district council. During district council Sister Bastian and I gave a training on how to stay motivated and obedience brings blessings. It went pretty well. After district council we drove back to our area, but everything ran late so we did not get back until 5:30pm. We then had a video lesson with one of our inactive members.
On Saturday we were supposed to have a lesson with one of our newer friends. We confirmed 3 times! We needed a female to come with us, so we got the Bishop and his wife to come, only for them to not be home when we got there. Saturday felt a little all over the place. We spent most of the day trying to find new people but were unsuccessful. That night we had dinner with the bishop and his family. It was super entertaining.
On Sunday we finally had Ward council. That is the second one we have done since I got here almost 3 months ago. Our friend Mellissa made it to church and got confirmed!! Sister Bastian played a musical number in our ward and in the Marshallese branch. That meant we spent close to 9 hours at the church yesterday.
Cool miracle: our friend Mellissa told us earlier this week that she needed to talk to us and two of her member friends after church. It was a little out of character, so we asked if she was okay. She said not really, but she would tell us Sunday. We were super stressed about it. After Church we found a room that was not in use to talk. She told us her cousin (who she lives with) is moving and does not have room for her at her new place. She does not make enough to live in Newburgh and pay for her own apartment, so she wanted to tell us that she was going have to move home. One of the members in the the room just recently bought a new house. She said she had been praying about what her extra room was supposed to be used for and God told her it was for someone in need. She said that earlier in the week God had told her that Mellissa was going to need a place to live and was going to come be her roommate. It was super cool because both of them are single with no family (other than the cousin moving) nearby.
Our new member Alan also called us yesterday and told us he needed some Books of Mormon. He had multiple friends that he wants to give one to. He is definitely being a member missionary, so that was super cool.
Sunday night we had dinner with one of the families in the ward that l have never had dinner with before. It was super funny because for our lesson we gave them a mechanical pencil (without lead) and told them to write their name on a sticky note. As soon as they realized that it did not have lead, they ran to get their own pencil. That was definitely something I could have seen my siblings doing when we were younger. The father was giving us a hard time. He said, "I had faith like a mustard seed and you just blew it away. Boom. Gone." It was a really funny lesson about having faith that God will give you what you need to do what he asks.
This week was a weird week, but a lot of fun. I also got to clean out the junk closet in our apartment and organize the media shelf this week which made me so happy!
I am so grateful for the Lord's hand in my life and the calm assurance that he will answer my prayers. Quote of the week: Richard C. Edgley said, "...it is a still, small voice and a throbbing heart that testifies of the miracle of the Restoration."
We each can truly know of the truth for ourselves and it is through small things that great things are brought to pass.
Pictures:
- Exchanges with Sis. Saylor
- District P-day
- District photos
- La Campirana
- Sister Saylor, Sister Strong, Sister Bastian, and I
- Sisters photo
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