Week 27 - T-Rex In The Promised Land

May 18, 2015

Walking to the library on P-day with Sister Rapp

Soooo... here's something that will make you laugh....

Here in the heart of America they have this thing about trains... I am not very fond of trains and I haven't understood until just the other day when I realized why...

For some reason when I hear a train it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end and I start to feel super uncomfortable... Like when in Jurassic Park the T-Rex shows up.... So trains remind me of T-Rex... And of course there is always a train that comes by right when we pull up to our apartment... of course! lol

But other than that this week has been AWESOME and went by WAY TOO FAST! Didn't I just email you yesterday!?!?

 

 

 

Left: The double-wide our branch meets in.

 

Right: The purple port-a-potty!!!

 

 

 

 

We had an amazing Zone Conference where EVERYONE from the Columbia zone came to the building in Columbia and had our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders give us short trainings :) and Sister Rapp and I sang a musical number! We sang Ye Elders of Israel. Then the STL's talked to us and taught how we need to not return to our nets after the day is done. We all have "fish" (or weaknesses or sins) that we hold onto that inhibit us from truly being converted and walking with Christ. They had little fish cut out and had us write our fish down and then go rip them up and throw them in a trash can that was under a picture of Christ.

 

Our Zone had a Zone-wide half hour of planking.... I planked for a good 20 mins....
that wasn't super fun.... BUT I DID IT!

 

Then it was the ZL's turn. And now I am just PUMPED to do missionary work! There are so many awesome changes that are going to happen this summer! Oh man! So a little while after I came in they lowered the cap on how many missionaries would be called to this area. We went from 250 to 200. It doesn't seem like a lot but it IS! We went from 80 sisters to about 50. So for the last 3 transfers we have sent home missionaries and gotten none... And then we started getting some Elders and last transfer we got 1 SISTER! It was so great! But now that more and more people are going home by the end of the summer we will have 51 missionaries being trained! That means that 102 missionaries going over the training material and having that enthusiasm and excitement that a new missionary has... or THE FIRE OF A GREENIE! Sister Rapp and I are so stinkin' excited we just can't contain our joy!

Sister Rapp's Shirt-Burning

 

There is a tradition that when you hit certain landmark months you burn something. Since I hit my 6 month mark at the beginning of my transfer and Sister Rapp hit her half way mark we both got to burn something :) 6 months is tights and half way is a shirt :) So we went to a member's house and did so :) It was so FUN!

 

 

 

 

We are having to take 3 car drives to Columbia this month (90 miles one way, about 2 hours away!) And are having to be SUPER thrifty with miles... So we walked all over Marceline Saturday.... And got some blisters, had a great conversation with a wonderful lady, got sunburned and dumped rain on... Good day!

 

In Centralia I had gotten blisters and so I didn't get any but my arches were not super happy with me... And poor Sister Rapp got some good ones... We were walking to a less active member's house and got stopped by a cute little dog and ended up talking to a very sweet older woman for about an hour and a half and her daughter popped in and out. Her daughter went inside to do laundry and decided to look up Mormonism online... She didn't share what it said but read some scriptures about false prophets and cursing them... We asked her what she got out of these scriptures and she said that she needs to pray about things and find out from God. We whole heartedly agreed and bore our testimony of prayer. Then she turned around and walked back inside... and told her mom that she needed help. Not a minute later the older lady came out and said that we needed to be done because they had to leave. We asked her to pray before we left and she said several times in the prayer that she doesn't believe in the same way as us...

 

I really don't know what they read on the internet but from their reactions it must have been really bad... It makes me sad that people don't try to find things out for themselves but trust the opinions of others on the internet.

 

                 On our way home it just started to dump buckets of rain...

 

...and to say the least...

 

 

                                                ...we got wet!

 

 

 

 

 

We are getting our hair cut today. :) There is a lady in the ward that loves to cut the missionary's hair! :)

"I looked out the window and what did I see?" The St. Louis, Missouri,
 Temple!!

This transfer I am focusing on light and faith so my scripture is 3 Nephi 19:25 and Romans 12:13 Our light and faith are our shield against the adversary and we receive our light and faith from and in our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father.

Headed to Columbia

Transfer Meeting

"Bye Sister Petrie! I love you!!"