3 Month Birthday

So this week was a lot of fun. I spent some time on Tuesday in Worcester (you say it like Woo-Stah) and I got to help a less active plant a garden! It was so much fun. :) I missed doing one this year. She was impressed that I wasn't afraid to dig in the cow manure mixed with dirt. I hope it grows. :)  I finally got to have a real life work out, I biked three miles. It felt so good!  It rained so much the last few days! Holy wow. Everything is so green now though, it's awesome. 

 

I am obsessed with eating vanilla wafers in milk.  It didn't replace my apples and peanut butter. :) it's up there though. I tried flan and borscht.  I am not really a fan of either. haha Big surprise I am sure. :) 

 

 

 

We are going on a ton of exchanges, it is a lot of fun.  Exchanges are the same as splits. :) Sister Wagner is one of the sisters we are assigned to train, she is serving in Boston. That's our mini. :) I was on splits for most of the time that she was here.. So I don't know her very well. 

 

Starting on the left with the Sisters... That's our mini missionary, then my companion, then me :)
Starting on the left with Elders... That's my zone leader, their mini missionary, and my other zone leader :)  Funny guys

 

Funny story, I was on exchanges in Boston and we were teaching some recent converts. They are all under the age of 20 and their mom is not a member. Sister Wagner went to give the mom a huge hug before we left and afterwards we found out that she is a huge racist (she is from Haiti). Awkward.  Also while we were sleeping the night before Sister Wagner farted so loud that it woke me up, three times.  It's already week five of the transfer, next week I will be getting a new companion and possible a new area.  Scary! I find out on Saturday. :)  

 

I made a Plan of Salvation object lesson and it's pretty nifty if I do say so myself. :)  For the Plan of Salvation object lesson I just cut out little shapes and stuff for a visual. :) I guess it's not really an object lesson.. I'll take a picture and send it next week. :) 

 

We got the best phone call ever on Friday! One of our investigators called us and said the she knows it's true and that she can't wait to be baptized. :) Rubi is the person who decided to get baptized. :) I LOVE HER! You would too. :)  We moved her baptism date to the 8th of June. We also finally met her husband!! Please take a moment to stop and dance around, that is exciting stuff. :D She also asked for a blessing, she said I am not sure what it is, but I know it will help me. What faith. :)

 

Our new Bishop is FANTASTIC. He is all over missionary work and can't wait to get the ward more involved. Oh and fun fact, my new Bishop's Uncle is named Gerald Lund. The guy who wrote the Work and the Glory series.. He also wrote the Alliance! :) Small world.

 

I have tried this new thing where every Sunday I try to pray for 30 minutes in the morning before my studies. I pray individually for our investigators and write down any revelation that comes. It's awesome, sometimes 30 minutes isn't even enough time.. :)  Yesterday we got to go to the Temple. It was so amazing. It's crazy how everything is magnified now that I am on a mission. I also got to take a two hour nap. :) Woo!

 

The people here are so patriotic and so into all the holidays. I got to watch a two hour parade yesterday. You know how much I love parades. :)  

 

 

 

 

We were in Watertown watching the parade which is where they caught the bomber.. Cool stuff. :)

 

The coolest bridge in the world

 

I went to the doctors and he asked me if I had been squeezing limes recently.  At first I wasn't sure but then I remembered that about a month ago that I cut and juiced about 10 limes.  He said that lime juice makes your skin sensitive to sunlight and that I just have a really dark tan/sunburn.  The mission doctor thought that was odd so I am supposed to call him on the 13th to check in with him.  Good news is that it's not leprosy. :) haha.  

 

Just so you know, I will be emailing you on Tuesday of next week as well. :) I have a bunch of meetings I have to go to on Monday next week. :)

I had pasta with bacon in it!

My week was hectic! Last week we played baseball with tennis rackets and tennis balls.  It was so much fun!

I had my first zone conference and it was so good. We are so blessed out here to have the leaders that we do. Our zone leaders bought us donuts and made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to make sure we got protein.. It was nice of them!

Our investigator that was supposed to be baptized this weekend is being moved to June 15th, she finally opened up and said she wants to know the BOM is true first. Go her, plus she finally understands the Word of Wisdom. Originally she said she didn't want to follow it because it would make her feel like a baby. :) She is funny.  Our investigator is the only one in her family that is really interested in the church. BUT on Sunday her 19 year old son came with her!? Can you imagine my excitement!?

I was on splits in Boston and we were visiting less-actives in their ward. We got in contact with one and she said that she stopped going to church because she felt like people were trying to control her mind, she mentioned she was mentally handicapped. Then she started saying really bad cuss words and that someone stole her VCR. She made me nervous, so we left.  We are reactivating a lady in our ward, she hasn't been to church for 30 years! Splits are so much fun. :)

The coolest things happened to me on Saturday! I had a question about the Spirit World and the souls who are stuck in the state of prison. I found a good explanation that helped me a lot in D&C 138.  Now here is the cool part.  I went to read the BOM, just at the point where I left off in my last personal study and I was on Alma 42 and vs 1 was total revelation.  Heavenly Father knew I would have that question and made sure that I was on that chapter that day.  I was so excited!

After Stake Conference we went to visit a media referral - a media referral is when someone goes on the mormon.org and either refers themself or someone else and then they send it to us so we can go visit them. :) - and before we went into the house we sat outside and called some people.  We have gone to the house before and we met the referral's mom, and she was not very nice to us and told us that her daughter wasn't interested.  Being missionaries, that's not a good enough answer so we had to go back so we could hear it from the daughter.  While we were sitting in our car the mom came down her long driveway and started walking towards our car.  We freaked out and drove away, we parked farther down the street so we could finish planning and she started walking down the street towards us! I think that she took down our plates. She probably now thinks we are stalking her. :) haha oh well.

I can't believe Sister Monson passed away. It is really sad. :( I bet it is heartbreaking but he (President Monson) is so close to the Spirit World that I bet he still sees her while he is in the temple. :)

We ate at a member's home and they make steak, chicken, potatoes, and corn every single night for dinner. Dinner is always at 6:30 too. :) They are funny.  I had pasta with bacon in it yesterday! :D (Since I have been gone) I had a little bit of bacon in the MTC and an even smaller amount mixed in with some brussel sprouts.. I tried brussel sprouts!  Brussel sprouts are good with bacon. :)  This is the first major event that bacon has played on my mission though. :)  I should ask my members for breakfast. :) haha It would be interesting to see bacon jerky.. It looks kinda gross in my mind. haha

I drove some more in Boston and it isn't as scary as it once was. :)  I am becoming a Boston driver. Utah better watch out! 

I found them (the flowers) outside a house in Boston and I had to take a picture of them. :) I wish I knew what they were called.

Mother's Day Phone Call

We got to skype with Janica for about two hours yesterday!  She looks so happy.  There is no where else in the world she should be.

Janica told us she got to see a new state this week.  They went to New Hampshire.  The last street they past in Massachusetts was named Kendall and the first exit they saw was in New Hampshire was #1.  This fulfilled a life long dream for Janica... she has always wanted to see where in the world exit #1 is :) She has also been told she has a Boston accent :)

Janica in her Boston Strong t-shirt

The proceeds of the Boston Strong t-shirts go to the victims of the bombings.  She said there on lots of different kinds for purchase online...

The sisters have two more baptisms scheduled, one for May 25th and one in June.  All of their investigators so far have been from referrals.  The Lord has prepared so many people!

Her ward got a new bishopric this weekend, no more celebrity bishop for Janica...

Keep the prayers and mail coming.  Janica is grateful for everyone's love and support!

Janica the medical mystery...

So this week was fantastic. :D We have two baptismal dates, which is very exciting, but at the same time things could change. I hope they both happen and I have faith that they will. :)

They made a new leadership position for sisters called the sister training leader. My companion was made one, it's like a female zone leader. :) Very cool. I get to be a part of all the meetings and training. We will be traveling a lot and things will be crazy, but I am excited. :) This week we are going to North Brookfield on Wednesday. :)

There is a family in my ward that has 5 kids and the kids and I love each other. :) haha They always draw me such cute pictures and give me hugs all the time. The back of my name tag is covered in stickers. They are such an amazing family, I will miss them a lot.

On Saturday we helped set up and serve food for the Stake Relief Society Conference, it was a lot of fun. There were so many missionaries helping out! I got to experience being a waitress, it's harder than it looks. :) haha It really is. I just want to eat at wingers.. Not work there. :) We didn't get to stay and clean up because we had to leave to go to a service project. It was at an Episcopal church and it was a fundraiser for a charity called Parent Talk. We got to meet a lot of people in the community. It was nice. :)

We had an investigator come to church and we haven't seen or heard her from her in weeks! It was so good to have her there! :D Tomorrow we get to take our recent convert to do baptisms for her mom and grandma. She can't wait to do the baptisms.  It is going to be such a cool experience for her. I can't wait. :) . We were there last night and she said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the chance she has to bring her mom and grandma into paradise. :) awe. One of them is Rachel and the other one is Rubi. :) I'll tell you all about them next week. :D  I also got a bunch of letters from the ward this week.. I will be sending my replies shortly. :)

 

I still have that weird rash on my arm.. I talked to the mission doctor and he prescribed me some steroid cream, it doesn't seem to be helping. :( bummer. If it's not gone by Wednesday I am going to call him again. I also had a super weird allergic reaction to something on Saturday. I must have touched something and then got it in my eye. I had bumps on the inside of my eyelid and it was pretty swollen. I took benadryl and slept it off. :) I am a medical mystery, let's see what happens next week..