I didn't think that all that much happened this week...and
then I looked at my journal. I was mistaken. A whole ton of stuff happened, and
now I must collect it all and put it into a clever email. Oh, goodness.
First of all, there were transfers. Our entire district,
apart from Sister Sylvester and I, changed. I am now the only missionary left
from the Spring District when I first got here - and the only person that's
been here more than 3 months. Sheesh. I just got here - I'm not old. This is
odd. We've been joined by Sister Barnes, Elder Darnell and Elder Cloward, and
Elder Contrys - my new arch-nemesis. Elder Petersen, the Disneyland hater, was
transferred, so I had to have someone to drive me bonkers, right? It's
wonderful. My bestest buddy Elder Christensen was made our new Zone Leader,
which I totally called, by the way, and most of the Zone changed as well.
Except us - we're too cool for that.
On Monday, we decided to go and use some free shake coupons
that we had gotten. We got our food and were getting everything settled in the
car when Sister Sylvester, in an attempt to place her shake in a cup holder,
spilled it all over me. Well, mostly my left side. So, we drove home, I was all
covered in shake, and we cleaned it up. It was a hoot.
On Tuesday, we decided to visit the Manns, aka the
greatest family of all time. Their oldest son was just married and they were
hosting the reception at their house, so we went over to see if we could help
out with anything. I got to help Allison make Oreo balls (like cake balls, but Oreo,) while Sister Sylvester and Sarah were wrangled into polishing the leaves
on Sister Mann's fake ficus plant. It took about 2 hours, and I'm pretty sure
that they both lost some of their sanity. Brian, the second oldest Mann, also
polished leaves, but he was polishing the leaves in the kitchen and covered the
kitchen in dust, so he was fired.
We were able to visit with most of our investigators this
week...and by most, I mean half. We met with Ashlee, who is just great. She's
really starting to start to get it. Make sense? One of the things that
frustrates me as a missionary is when people don't get it. I teach the things,
the Spirit is there, and then they're supposed to just get it and get baptized,
right? Well, no. Not really. One of the things we're having a hard time with
with both Ashlee and Kezza is helping them to understand the importance of the
gospel and the blessings that it brings. She's starting to grasp it, though.
Kezza's been out of town with her mom all week, so we weren't able to meet with
her, but school started again today, so now she's trapped here. We'll find her.
We were also able to meet with Carmen and Marcie this week.
I can't remember what I've said about them - a member told us that their next
door neighbor had talked to him about the church and said that her daughter had
been baptized into the church once upon a time. We've been meeting with Carmen,
the mom, who's 81 and - let's get real - we don't know how often she's with us
mentally, but Marcie has always been busy, so we haven't seen her. We stopped
by this week, though, and she was there. We chatted with her, and then all of
the sudden, without even taking a breath after her last thought, she said,
"So, when can we start my lessons?" Sister Sylvester and I sat there
for a minute while we processed the whole thing, and then we answered. We were
able to teach her yesterday and committed her to read the Book of Mormon before
our next visit. (She said that she hadn't read past the introduction before she
was baptized. Really, 90's missionaries? Come on.)
One of the things that I've come to realize this week is
that - hmmm. How to put this in words. I've realized that my mission is more
about me than I thought. The Lord doesn't need our help to do His work - He
could do it all on His own. But, He knows that we can learn and grow so much by
helping him, so He allows us to help. There are some missionaries who are here
to teach specific people that no one else would be able to reach, there are
some who are here to lead, there are some who are here for their companions.
It's important to remember the importance of learning and growing. Missionaries
are given challenges to grow and develop, and the Lord's intention is not for
us to have this whole thing figured out any time soon. We do what we can, we
have fun and we grow, and that makes everything okay.
Y'all are great. Be good and stuff. I love you!
Sister Liljenquist
Making caramel with the Noordas
Brian shows off his handiwork...while sitting on top of the
fridge
Me...covered in shake. I was mostly sitting on it, though.
Polishing the leaves
The reception decorations - the backyard looked really
fantastic. Brother Mann is great.
Sister Parker taught Sister Sylvester and I how to play the
harp. It was pretty cool.
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