On Monday night we had dinner with the Blodgetts. Sister Blodgett is so sweet and I love her! Right after dinner we were supposed to have a lesson with some of our friends, but they did not answer the door. Turns out they had a family emergency and completely forgot we were coming…quite understandable considering the circumstances. After that we did social media work and planned more of the transfer with the Zone Leaders.
On Tuesday we had our mission-wide Zoom call in the morning. The main topic of the call was finding joy in the work. After the Zoom call, we contacted a lot of people. We were supposed to have a chapel tour with a friend, but they ended up not showing up. We went to go visit some people instead and thankfully had pretty productive visits. After visiting people we did a little bit of weekly planning, and then had dinner with the Greens. They took us to Smashing Tomato (kind of funny since it is the mission president's favorite restaurant in the area and he and his wife talked it up to Sister Allen before she came to be my companion). We also got to meet some of Sister Green's family, so that was fun! After dinner we had ward correlation and worked on the zone challenge. We then had a call with the Corbin Elders. They are the district leaders of a sisters district and wanted advice on how they could best help their sisters. After the call, we called it a night.
On Wednesday we were supposed to have MLC, but it got postponed to next week, so we visited so many people instead. The best part was that most of them actually answered. We were supposed to have two lessons, but one ended up not answering. We went to go heart attack our friends Chris and Kelli's door and got caught! We were so confident in our ability to be quiet (it was the middle of the day and their car was not home). The glass door squeaked when we opened it and we had not even taped one heart on when Chris flug the door open! We were able to have a good conversation with him though, so I guess it was a success. After heart attacking their door we visited some more people and had a cool experience with one of our friend's neighbors. We knocked on our friend's door and she ended up not answering, so we decided to knock on her neighbor's door. Her neighbor answered and we started talking to her. She told us that she had missionaries come by her house prior and we asked if she let them in. She goes, “No” (but then let us in…) We started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and she starts going on about how the prior sisters taught her about Premortal life and it made her so excited! We had no record of the sisters meeting her prior, but it was a super cool experience. She said she never knows when she is going to be home, but we are free to stop by and talk to her if we are in the area! It was a really cool interaction. After visiting people we had dinner, and then had a lesson with our friend Miss Jay. Miss Jay is so amazing and we were able to talk about faith with her and she told us it was exactly what she needed. Wednesday we also had a District leader call and the Elders trio changed. They now have Elder Rushing and he is hilarious. He gave us the rundown of how he made a couple thousand dollars on Sports Bets before his mission.
On Thursday, we went running in the morning. It brought me immense joy. After that, we had a zone comp study. The Zone Comp Study was wild. The French Elders taught us about teaching friends towards lasting conversion. After the comp study we went and did service with the bag ladies. I love just listening to all their wild stories while I crochet! After service we decided to have a bus day. I do not know what made us think that we could take the bus and visit like 20 people but we definitely did not get to everyone. It was a pretty smooth trip out to downtown and we had some good conversations on the bus. Once we got down town, we walked to visit different people (it was nice to not have to find a place to park). We ended up having an impromptu lesson with a gray dot and setting up a return appointment so that was kind of cool! She was sitting out on her porch and started talking to us, so we did not realize she had a dot until after. After that we sat at the park and had a phone call lesson with our friend Janis. We talked about temples with her and she says she would like to go to one, so we will have to see what direction things take with her. After her lesson, we stopped to get ice cream at Graeters. We then went to get on the bus to make it to our next lesson (we realized the bus was running late so we had asked our friends if we could do 30 minutes later). We were waiting for the bus when we realized Sister Allen's phone was missing. We frantically retraced our steps and thankfully someone had turned it into a store. We had left it on a table when we pulled up directions on mine. 🤦 .
Unfortunately, while looking for the phone we missed the next bus, so we decided to walk to a different stop because we would get to on friend faster on that one then waiting for the next bus at that stop. We finally got on the bus, but there ended up being a car accident and traffic, so the 30 minute bus ride took over an hour. One positive thing about this hour bus ride was that our friend Zach called (we had been playing phone tag all day), but we were able to answer and talk about setting up another lesson. When we finally got to our friend's apartment we were an hour and a half late! We were so stressed, but thankfully Samuel and Samika are very laid back. They thought it was hilarious that we had gotten stuck on the bus and just laughed at us! They are actually so elect and we are excited to watch them continue to progress! After their lesson, we walked to the bus stop and at this point were racing curfew! We messaged the sisters and asked to call on Friday morning instead because there was no way we were getting home in 24 minutes to call them! After messaging the sisters the bus never arrived and my phone died! We ended up switching the sim card to Sister Allen's phone and calling one of our members to rescue us! Sister Kotter came to our rescue and we got home 2 minutes before curfew. It was a wild day, but was honestly so much fun we walked 7.5 miles in addition to taking the bus! Something funny about the day was that we had 3 different people ask if Sister Allen and I were twins!
On Friday we called the Danberty Sisters. They are so sweet! After their call we went to district council and our district is huge now! The Bluegrass area got blue washed and became a Bike area so then joined our district. We also had a senior couple arrive and so our district almost doubled the size it was last transfer! During district council we talked about helping members and getting friends to church. After district council we had a lesson with our friend Windy. He is so funny, but his lessons are kind of difficult since he speaks Haitian Creole. He has such a desire to continue to learn though which makes things exciting, but complicated. After his lesson we were supposed to have a lesson with our friend Brett, but he part way opened the door, mumbled something, shut the door, and never came back. Still not sure what that was about. After that we then visited people and had a sweet lesson with our friend Kahmari. She has such a desire to do the right thing and learn more about God! After her lesson we ate dinner, called the Richmond ASL sisters (so funny since they were catching a centipede in their apartment while on the call), and then ended The night with a call with the zone leaders.
On Saturday our phones decided to lose service the ENTIRE day (well not quite)! We had a phone call lesson around 10 am, but after that had almost no service the rest of the day. You do not realize how much you rely on your phone as a missionary until you do not have it. We got to go to Richmond for a baptism of one of the ASL sisters' friends. It was a super sweet baptism! After the baptism, we were supposed to have a lesson, but they did not answer the door, so we went around visiting people. We then had a lesson with an inactive member and we just awkwardly had to find our way to his apartment without maps loading to help us. Thankfully we left early so we were able to get there on time. We had such a good lesson with him and he has the cutest daughter named Gracie Who just kept coming to show us her artwork. After his lesson we visited some people and started weekly planning. We then attempted to do social media work, but just gave up instead.
On Sunday we left the apartment a little before 9 am and got back around 8pm. We had Ward Council followed by church (unfortunately none of our friends made it this week). After church we staying to help calm down kiddos during the Commonwealth Branch's sacrament meeting. The Elders requested that we give it a try and it was a lot of fun! The kids were so excited to draw pictures for us. Although one of them kept trying to take my hair down so she could braid it (despite the fact that it was braided and pinned up). Another kid thought yanking on my necklace was quite fun, so it was an adventure of trying not to get strangled during sacrament meeting. After their Sacrament meeting we helped set up for their baptism, stayed for part of it, and then ran to a lesson with another inactive member. Apparently her and her non-member husband have been watching zoom church, so that was a cool discovery. They also had a massive cat (like dog sized) that was a pure bred of some kind. It was wild! After her lesson we had dinner with the Walther family and they are so funny! The mother heard that I played oboe and was so disappointed that I did not have one with me (apparently it is her favorite instrument to listen to). Right after dinner we flew back to the church to set up for the new and returning member fireside. Some of the new members who are deaf were there and they are so funny! Brother Armstrong is my favorite. He gave me a signing name and then we were making fun of each other! After the fireside we helped clean up and then went back to the apartment. We had a District Leader call, did some social media work, and called it a night!
It was quite the week, but every week continues to be a testament to me that this is the Lord's work and he has a perfect plan!
Pictures:
On Friday we called the Danberty Sisters. They are so sweet! After their call we went to district council and our district is huge now! The Bluegrass area got blue washed and became a Bike area so then joined our district. We also had a senior couple arrive and so our district almost doubled the size it was last transfer! During district council we talked about helping members and getting friends to church. After district council we had a lesson with our friend Windy. He is so funny, but his lessons are kind of difficult since he speaks Haitian Creole. He has such a desire to continue to learn though which makes things exciting, but complicated. After his lesson we were supposed to have a lesson with our friend Brett, but he part way opened the door, mumbled something, shut the door, and never came back. Still not sure what that was about. After that we then visited people and had a sweet lesson with our friend Kahmari. She has such a desire to do the right thing and learn more about God! After her lesson we ate dinner, called the Richmond ASL sisters (so funny since they were catching a centipede in their apartment while on the call), and then ended The night with a call with the zone leaders.
On Saturday our phones decided to lose service the ENTIRE day (well not quite)! We had a phone call lesson around 10 am, but after that had almost no service the rest of the day. You do not realize how much you rely on your phone as a missionary until you do not have it. We got to go to Richmond for a baptism of one of the ASL sisters' friends. It was a super sweet baptism! After the baptism, we were supposed to have a lesson, but they did not answer the door, so we went around visiting people. We then had a lesson with an inactive member and we just awkwardly had to find our way to his apartment without maps loading to help us. Thankfully we left early so we were able to get there on time. We had such a good lesson with him and he has the cutest daughter named Gracie Who just kept coming to show us her artwork. After his lesson we visited some people and started weekly planning. We then attempted to do social media work, but just gave up instead.
On Sunday we left the apartment a little before 9 am and got back around 8pm. We had Ward Council followed by church (unfortunately none of our friends made it this week). After church we staying to help calm down kiddos during the Commonwealth Branch's sacrament meeting. The Elders requested that we give it a try and it was a lot of fun! The kids were so excited to draw pictures for us. Although one of them kept trying to take my hair down so she could braid it (despite the fact that it was braided and pinned up). Another kid thought yanking on my necklace was quite fun, so it was an adventure of trying not to get strangled during sacrament meeting. After their Sacrament meeting we helped set up for their baptism, stayed for part of it, and then ran to a lesson with another inactive member. Apparently her and her non-member husband have been watching zoom church, so that was a cool discovery. They also had a massive cat (like dog sized) that was a pure bred of some kind. It was wild! After her lesson we had dinner with the Walther family and they are so funny! The mother heard that I played oboe and was so disappointed that I did not have one with me (apparently it is her favorite instrument to listen to). Right after dinner we flew back to the church to set up for the new and returning member fireside. Some of the new members who are deaf were there and they are so funny! Brother Armstrong is my favorite. He gave me a signing name and then we were making fun of each other! After the fireside we helped clean up and then went back to the apartment. We had a District Leader call, did some social media work, and called it a night!
It was quite the week, but every week continues to be a testament to me that this is the Lord's work and he has a perfect plan!
Pictures:
- Commonwealth Branch
- Heart Attacking
- Pretty Sunset
- Bus Day
- Lesson with Samuel and Samika
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