What Was That Again?: In Which Elder Graham Needs a Companion More Than Elder Armacost and Packing is the Worst Thing of All of Ever

Good morning, dearest reader. 'Tis a wonderful morning in...Spring. We're in Spring, right? I have no idea any more. Anyway, it's a beautiful morning. Sister Priddis has been tempted to sing some Oklahoma tunes all morning. #musicalswag The temperature is a balmy 76*, which is not my ideal temperature, but it's much better than 90 something, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut.

This has been a totally super crazy week, so I really hope that this doesn't just come out like brain vomit...though I'm not making any promises. We still are lacking in the investigator department, but we've been working with some incredible less actives - more to follow.

Have I mentioned the Hills before? I can't remember. There are actually three Hill families in our ward, but only one of them is less active. We've been working with them since I got here, and they are freaking hilarious - they're probably my favorite family in the ward. Sister Hill is a convert, and her sons are just great. They want to come back, but it's been really hard for them to get to church. We had an appointment with them on Monday, but for some reason, I was having the hardest time getting out the door. It was like there was some sort of physical wall in the way, and there were a few tears involved to get me out. It was not fun at all, and when we got to the appointment, I still wasn't feeling all that hot. We started talking with them about the importance of going to church, and they were serious about it - they want to come back. A few minutes in, though, I noticed that Sister Hill had her head in her hands. I asked her what she was thinking, and she said, "Why is it so hard to get dressed and get out the door?" I responded with, "Why is it so hard to get dressed and come over for an appointment?" I told her about our night, and helped her to see that she was having such a hard time because she was doing the right thing. It was a really neat experience. I just love those people.

On...another day this week, we went to the temple with Soraya and Jesus. Have I mentioned them? I have no idea. Soraya is a convert - she kind of has the coolest conversion story ever - and her husband, Jesus, was baptized about a year ago. Getting them to church has been a struggle because Soraya has basically all of the health problems ever, and Jesus is terrified that if he leaves her alone she'll die. We've been working with them, and we've made the temple a focus for the both of them. Jesus had never been to a temple before, so we went and walked around with him one afternoon. We sat in the back and talked with him about his goals, and he told us that he felt like God was preparing him to enter there and serve Him. He was so much more calm and collected than he has been recently, and you could literally see the change in his countenance. They had more medical issues this week, so they didn't come to church yesterday, but our goal is to get him in to do baptisms for his parents sometime this week.

Fun fact about Texas - ward boundaries change all the time. We talk to members all the time who have been in dozens of wards and multiple stakes while living in the same house. Hooray for growth! Last week, pieces were taken from four or so wards to make a new ward in our district. Poor President Pingree has had no idea what to do to staff this new ward, and he's been ripping his hair out about it since it happened. We got a call from him on Thursday telling us that he has decided to move the Elders in the Klein ward into the new Gleannloch Farms ward...and move us into the Klein ward. The Klein Elders are in a trio right now, so one of them and a new mystery companion will be manning Windrose.

Crazy stuff, right?

We're both really excited for the change. We had a chat with the trio this weekend, and it sounds like things are just waiting to happen there. The bishop is excited and ready to go, they just called a new ward mission leader, there are a lot of excellent youth and future missionaries, and the members are pretty dang solid. Also, sometimes when Elder Armacost is in the bathroom, Elder Graham tries to talk to us. Then, he tries to get Elder Larsen to come with him, but Elder Larsen says that he needs to stay with Elder Armacost. Then Elder Graham says, "Who needs a companion more right now - Elder Graham, who's talking to Sister Missionaries, or Elder Armacost, who's on the pot?" Elder Larsen then gets a little embarrassed by his companion. He'd also probably be super embarrassed if he knew that I included this story in my email. It'll just be our secret, okay?

I am really excited, guys. This is going to be great, as long as I don't think about the fact that we're on bikes and it's May. Going on June...and July...and August.

It's all good.

Have a good week, friends. I love y'all!

Most Sincerely,

Sister Liljenquist

I'm a fabulous photographer.