Week 46: I'm a mama! Newberry to Gilbert/Lake Murray

Well as you can probably tell by the subject... I got transferred! Very bitter sweet. I had been in Newberry for 5 months, and those were very beautiful months. I had gotten to the point where I knew every person in the ward and branch and where they normally sat and everything. And it was sad to leave some of our new friends we started teaching like Michelle, Jeanne, Crystal, Nicole. And holy cow it was hard to leave my comps Sister Wardrop and Sister Carter. At transfers I just started bawling because we literally became ACTUAL sisters in a few weeks. But we will see each other soon! Triple threat will be back together soon!

FIRST OF ALLLLL I literally went on exchanges to Gilbert LAST WEEK and here I am now for realzies! I also get to minister over my past area as an STL, so I still get to check in weekly with Sister Wardrop! God couldn't keep us away too from each other ;)

MEET MY NEW COMPANIONS

First, Sister Haven Mickelson! She's been out on her mission for 14 months (the first companion I've had older mission wise than me since my trainer!!). She is from Hooper, Utah and is so brave and bold! I have lots to learn from her this transfer. We've been called as Sister Training Leaders (STLs) together this transfer! She's teaching me the ropes on how to be a good leader.

Second is my babyyyy, Sister Marie Hoyal! Her mom posted asking about temple clothes a few days before the new missionaries got here, and I thought "huh maybe that will be my trainee." And SHE WAS! She's from Highland, Utah. She's learning areabook like a pro already! She's been super brave and has the PUREST testimony ever.

We are already so close and it's only been 5 days! Ahhh! Stayed tuned for some amazing memories!

Odds and Ends

☆I made a greenie bag full of green things for Sister Hoyal.

☆We were taking sunset pictures before transfers and I set the timer and ran to get in the picture. I slipped and fell in the mud. Buuut I was able to hide it in the picture thank GOODNESS!

☆We got flipped off

☆We had a dance party in the middle of Crystal's lesson. It was pretty great! Jamming to gospel music with her is a core memory now.

☆We stopped by to say goodbye to Ricky and he didn't see our text. He answers the door butt naked sitting in his wheelchair hiding behind the door as much as he can. Where I was standing he just looked shirtless. But not from Sister Carter's angle. That was not the last image I wanted of Ricky... welp...

☆We had so much luggage between Sister Carter and I that I BARELY squeezed unto the car. I was curled up into a ball and my arms were stuck above my head. See the picture below.

☆We heard noises walking up to a door and all of a sudden it got real quiet. We could hear their phone getting the ring doorbell notification, and still nothing. We were writing a sticky note on the porch and all of a sudden we hear "Hello Harry!" They pressed play on Harry Potter because they thought we had left haha! I was super caught off guard at first!

☆We get to live with members! It's 1 out of 2 in the whole mission! We live in a little trailer down a dirt road and I get to wake up to chickens squawking in the morning! So cute!

☆I'm now over the Gilbert and Lake Murray wards! They are so big we get 2 Sim cards!

☆I'm serving in the same district as the Penrods, who are friends with my grandma from Arizona!

☆Both my companions say "rats!"

☆I warmed up an avocado in the microwave and it made it softer! Little experimentation going on over here.

☆One sweet lady in the ward calls us her "miss America's" haha!

☆I organized the fridge and pantry and found 2 very moldy loaves of bread

Miracles

☆Sister Hoyal has a severe gluten allergy. She had a small bite of a nerd rope I gave her and her stomach was churning for hours. So we get to church on Sunday and had to pack a lunch. Then we freak out because Sister Hoyal wouldn't be able to take the sacrament bread! We run up to the priests and lo and behold they had gluten free bread! The little deacon walks up to her while passing and says "Are you special?" It was so tender.

☆We met our friend Dezi who is SO ready to learn the gospel. He actually requested baptism! He was excited about learning about how to apply scriptures to his life. He was so open to learning about the Book of Mormon and knows that Christ has helped him through everything in the past. We are starting to teach him and hopefully his girlfriend too. We read Mosiah 18:8 and we paused for a long while. Then he was reading over it again and he was repeating "desirous to come into the fold of God" as he was crying. The Spirit was so strong!

☆While greeting, I was blessed by a HUGE MIRACLE. A brother asked where I was from and was more interested when I said Arizona. Long story short, we keep talking and I found out my GREAT GREAT Grandpa Karl West was the one who baptized Brother Prowell into the church while he was in New Mexico! He was so grateful and excited to meet me. It was awesome to have that connection. Only God could've been the one to help us cross paths.

☆James and Kristin are so SO awesome. We had a great church tour with them and now they are praying about baptism!

Spiritual Thought

Ponder what it means to you to "come into the fold of God." Are you doing everything you can to stay there and follow the Good Shepherd?

Here's my new apartment address for the next 6 weeks at least!

540 Reedy O Smith Road

Leesville, SC 29070

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to my lovely Aunt Kimberly ♡♡♡

Pictures