Week 64: Bye Sister Mickelson 🤧

Transfers... my sweet Sister Mickelson. I don't know if I've ever laughed harder in my life. This girl has brought me so much joy. She teases me for my little quirks, she teaches me new life skills on the daily, she hand modifies her dresses, she paints like a queen, she has the FUNNIEST phrases, and has the biggest heart ever. Sister Mickelson is a big part of my heart now. Definitely sobbed watching her leave. But it was so fun watching her complete her mission strong! Maybe I'll name my child after her. We'll see! I'm lucky God blessed me with her and her spirit. Right before she left, we stated our missionary purpose one last time. I could hardly choke it out. Man I love this girl. Thanks for the memories Sister Mickelson ♡♡♡ but she'll be back to visit in like a month! Woohoo!

Sister Bruce and I are staying in Gilbert//Lake Murray! Meet my new companion...

MEET MY NEW COMPANION

My new companion is Sister Annie Gibbens! Her real name is Anastasia (one of my favorite princesses and miracles EVER WOW), she was born in the Ukraine then adopted while she was little and raised in Middleton, Idaho. She has a twin brother like meeeee! Some things I already love about her is she is a SUPER deep thinker, always trying to better herself, and has a fire testimony. She is also a convert to the church and was baptized when she was 15! I'm excited to see how this next transfer goes with her and Sister Bruce and I!

Odds and Ends

●I got a call... I have to take a driving course bc I've gotten too many check your speeds 😅😬

●We did some karaoke with the Tolmans!!! Eeee!

●Sister Mickelson and I ran on Powerade this week...

●The elders in our district put together a funeral for Sister Mickelson and told us all the wear black. It was so touching. Pics below.

●The Fastnaughts had us sing a hymn before dinner! 🎵for the beauty of the earth🎵

●Brother Fastnaught SHOOK HIS WHOLE HOUSE with his jazzy organ playing. And he's a pilot and has his own airplane and hanger.

●The Poultry Festival was going on this week in Batesburg-Leesville!

●We went into Beatrice's house and she had a fresh bowl of scooped ice cream. We started talking and then Sister Gibbens is giggling because she realized her ice cream had melted. Like squeak laughing!

●I saw a cactus on a porch of a lady's house. Just a tender mercy that God is aware of me!

●We got Mother's Day crepes in one ward, and sundaes in the other ward 🤤

●Pday we spontaneously stopped by at the Bells dock and got to go fishing AND we got to hold the baby chicks the Reynolds caught (they have 30+ and counting). And we jumped on the trampoline with Hallie which she's been asking for us to do for months!

Miracles

★Keisha has questions about the Book of Mormon that are good and DEEP! You can tell she really wants to know! We are excited for her to progress now that she's more committed!

★The few days before transfers weren't too busy, but they were happy days, even though they were slow.

★Sister Mickelson wanted to recite our missionary purpose one last time... wow I've never bawled more in my life! It was so hard because we didn't even get to take her to transfers. Sister Bruce and I just waved her off. And then we were told we were switching districts too. It was tough! But God's plan is the right plan for me!

★There was this family who's name I didn't recognize! So we stopped by, and they let us right in, which usually means that they are active. We didn't really have a game plan, but Sister Gibbens pointed out their son's mission plaque, and then I had a bing to share my mission plaque scripture, 3 Nephi 22:10. Then Sister Bruce bore solid testimony and Sister Gibbens asked for member referrals! And they started tearing up. They gave us 2, some of their coworkers! Sister Gibbens is about to bring blessings to the area that's for sure!

★We started talking to this guy... and he started bashing us and expecting to know everything. It was getting a little brutal. BUT Sister Bruce was bold with this basher and bore the PUREST TESTIMONY EVER! If there was a winner between the two of them, it would've been Sister Bruce! 💪

★We found Don! Accidentally woke him up but he came right out and started talking to us. We shared Mosiah 24:14 and he said he felt like he understood what it was saying! I feel like there's mad potential there!

★We had a FIRE lesson with the Baughmans! We started talking about prayer, and Matthew, the dad came out and started bearing his testimony. It was such a miracle! He hadn't been involved in any of the girls teaching so far! We taught them how to pray and had prayer rocks for them to paint!

★We were pushing hard to help Brandon get ready in time for the temple, but he will get to go to the next temple night! We are so grateful for Bishop for working with us to help him get there to the house of the Lord!

Spiritual Thought

Change. It's hard. Expectations. They never feel met. Perfection. Always out of reach. But something I want is to set aside being a "people pleaser." Talking with Sister Gibbens has really helped me understand more about myself. It's really easy to just go with the flow to keep the peace. It's also easy to do things to meet the expectations of men. But this week I decided I don't want to do that anymore! My power phrase: GOD pleaser, not a people pleaser! It ends now. Who am I really here to serve? GOD. He knows my efforts, my intentions, my heart, my diligence, my knowledge. He knows me perfectly and understands. So why am I so worried about what others think? That maybe I don't meet their expectations of how they think I should teach? That maybe they think my ideas are not valuable? It shouldn't matter. Because if GOD is pleased with my efforts, I know I can be pleased with myself. Please, don't wait to discover this for yourself! Really think: who are my efforts motivated to please? Then refocus. On your Maker! Pray and ask. ASK HOW HE FEELS ABOUT YOU! He will answer 💗 please God, not others! No more people pleasers when eternity is on the line!

Birthdays

Happy bday to my cuz Dalton!

And happy bday to Aunt Brittneyyyy!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to the one I get to call mine 💛

Pictures