Week 61: Tonsillitis and Brucie Snatched Away to Summit

This week was a little slower, but of course I always type forever long emails!

Odds and Ends

●On exchanges to Graniteville, we went to a boujee neighborhood and we were visiting a house that was practically a mansion, and the referral was named Hans. I was like ARE WE IN FROZEN?!

●I went back to the animal collector house in Graniteville... it smelled just as bad as before.

●Sister Mickelson said her teeth hurt after eating a cake bite... and then she said to her teeth "stop complaining I'm giving you exactly what you want!"

●I forgot last week after our lesson with James and Kristen... I definitely ran over the curb and they definitely watched it happen... and they found a dead cat on the church property and asked to bury it. Wow.

●On Sunday we gave little Charles Nebeker a missionary tag and he's been wearing it around the house, and his mom asked if we could include him in missionary work somehow! You best BELIEVE Charles is coming to a lesson sometime.

●We had Navajo tacos for lunch... and then we joked "what if this is what we end up having for dinner?" And then we pulled up to the member meal... and we did.

●Fabio showed us his basement... he's dug it out BY HAND for years. Like with a shovel and wheelbarrow. And a few weeks ago we were playing Simon says and jumping up and down??? Uh uh. No more jumping. I'm 99% sure it's not structurally sound. If I fall in one day I wouldn't be surprised.

●While we were working in the clerks office, and then a flat earther wanted to share his spiritual documents with our church. I explained how we could help him...which wasn't much. But then he tried to say we aren't Christian but we shared the gospel anyways👍 seed planted

●Sister Mickelson started doing the dating section of My Plan... holy its setting in that she's almost done with her mission!

●We found out that theres actually a TARGET in our zone. It's a miracle! I've been deprived!

Miracles

★We built the Rome Italy temple with the Potratz family out of wooden blocks! It was so fun. Shami got super excited about the temple and helping her family progress there one day!

★Sister Bruce taught the Baughman girls this cute little faith poem and it REALLY helped them remember faith.

★We got a response to a media referral on Wednesday morning. We called and Keisha answered! We asked if we could meet with her. At first she said she only expected to get daily texts with scriptures. But she said it was okay if we came by! So we scheduled an appointment for that same day! We got to know Keisha and her mom Sonja and they are so sweet! Sonja met with the missionaries in Jamaica a long time ago but hasn't met with them since. Keisha told us about how she feels like she is missing something in life and she knows that God will direct her. Sister Bruce WHIPPED out 2 Nephi 31:20 with her and she loved it!! She said that was EXACTLY what she needed to hear! I'm so proud of Brucie! And so excited for Sonya and Keisha!

★We were on exchanges in Graniteville, and we got a call from President. He said that Sister Bruce was going to be sent on an emergency 4 day exchange to the Summit area. We were SHOCKED! A sister in the mission lost her brother tragically in a car accident and was going home for the funeral. Sister Bruce was going to go to her area while she was away. So we cut our exchange with Graniteville in half, and we dropped her off to the switcheroo! The second we got back in the car and it was just Sister Mickelson and I... it was WEIRD. We took my pineapple squishmallow around in the car as our temporary Sister Bruce and wrote her a little jar of all the times we missed her. Things are always better in a trio. But really, they are always better with Sister Bruce around. We are excited to bring her back home tomorrow! For a second we weren't sure we were gonna get her back! But she'll be in Gilbert again soon!

★All the while Sister Bruce was in Summit... Sister Mickelson came down with something SERIOUS. She was out of commission sick. She wanted nothing more than to go serve the Lord. But we did a lot of office work and we planned our 5th Sunday lesson, a youth jeopardy we are doing next week, and our PMF sheet. Holy it was like almost quarantine! She would rest for hours but still not be doing well. Her poor nose was all stuffed and she was snoring softly cuz poor girl couldn't breathe! We called the mission nurse on Sunday to see if she could go to church. She asked for a picture of her mouth. After she saw the picture, she sent us straight to urgent care! We watched zoom church. Also going into Urgent Care felt like it's own kind of adulting. Then we were signing her in, Sister Mickelson spelled sore throat like "throught." Haha! We found out she had tonsillitis. But now she's on the mend! Also side note---when the nurse came in, she said she could smell us when we walked past her in the hallway and that we smelled yummy. Hehe!

★Thankfully, a lot of the families we had to cancel with us immediately rescheduled! God is in control💪

★Brandon has been living through word of wisdom, and he's had a trip been up in the air. And then it was falling through, so we almost planned a baptism 48hrs in advance! But that was a little too rushed. But we are planning on May 6th for him to officially follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. Then, we had a super fun lesson with Brandon! We did a phone call lesson with him (where at first he was watching TV and we could tell) but we read the story of Ammon. When we got to the part where he chopped off the arms of the Lamanites to defend the kings flocks, Brandon goes "When I become a missionary, do I have to chop people's arms off?" This was quite possibly the most hilarious lesson of my mission!

★Members of the ward had Angie and Jody help at ward campout! They are so stinking awesome. We love the Bangerters for being their bestest friends!!

Spiritual Thought

I've been pondering faith recently. I read a quote from Isacc K. Morrison, where he says "The more I cheerfully respond to difficult circumstances with faith in the Lord, the more I grow in my discipleship." I KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE. Because I've seen highs, and I've seen lows in this time I've been in the Lord's service. But as I show and prove my faith, I will grow through whatever trial I'm given. God can make good come from ANYTHING! How does He do that? I don't know. But I know he does it because He loves us. I invite you all to look forward with faith! For it conquers all!🌱

Birthdays

My mumsy...my gorgeous mom, is one year older! She truly is my greatest support other than Christ himself. I've seen her do so many selfless acts over the years, and I sure do try and follow her example. She goes above and beyond to make sure I'm well cared for. I'm blessed to have her in my life! Thank heavens God gave me you!

Also, June is 2! My mom is a true dog mom now. Check her Facebook. Hehe!

Pictures