So
many many many thoughts have run through my mind and I have so many
stories from this week but most of it I shouldn't even talk about--so I
won't--so just know this week has been epic :)
Last monday we ate lunch with a semi-recent convert, Maggie,
and her bf since they're leaving town for a whole and we don't know when
they'll be back, but we love them lots :)
I also made a fantastic job of tripping (no ice involved) and destroyed my knees. Our neighbor only had rubbing alcohol.
WHO BUYS RUBBING ALCOHOL WHEN YOU CAN BUY HYDROGEN PEROXIDE????? fools. That stuff
hurts.
You
know President gets told all about how you and your companion always
beg your way out of doing role-plays every ZTM because whenever a
meeting with him comes around, he asks
you to do it out of
everyone. Cause you can't say 'no' to the President. We spent half the
week working on a training for MLC cause Sister Newton likes to have
these things perfect cause they're nerve-racking. I don't blame her.
Particularly when it's in front of all of the mission bigwigs.
Charity: my new years resolution. I am determined to figure
out the secret to this Christlike attribute. Although, when looking out
on the opportunities I have had on my mission, it becomes clear that
someone
thinks I have a lot of charity. I can tell something has changed to
everyone else, even though I can't tell what. Personally I don't feel
like I've grown into it that much. I'm working on it anyway.
There comes a time when all reactivated/baptized people must
take their journey away from the missionaries. Although that time is sad
because we don't get to see each other as much, it's great because we
know we don't have to fear for them. They aren't leaning on us anymore
and they're just as strong by themselves. This is happening with Angie
and Quentin, among others. It makes me happy :)
Some members are just much too loving :) I am grateful for them.
Setting new mission goals was awesome at MLC. As mentioned previously, we hit our mission goal for baptisms exactly
this year. It was 300. We've never gotten close before. We had a solid
299 baptisms planned, but everyone prayed for just one more, and some
kid literally traveled here from Ohio--where he met the missionaries,
took the discussions, and was interviewed for baptism--and got
baptized in his proper ward in Neenah, then went back off to school in
Ohio. That's what the Lord does for inspired goal-setting :)
We set 400 for this year as the goal!!
Why?
Cause we're crazy, and we believe in miracles :)
Our
training went really well. At least, President was smiling at me from
ear to ear the whole time. Although, looking at it with the hindsight I
have just being ET'ed, I realize something a lot more than just this training is really good was going through his mind. Possibly. Long story.
We had an
exchange and I went to Shawano. I like Shawano :) Sister Kern and I had a
really good time there, visiting lots of people. I loved seeing how
it's blooming. The past three transfers since the sisters got there it
was absolutely dead. Things are finally happening!!!
It was really cold. We tracted for like an hour. It was funner than I thought it would be :)
Here's the play-by-play for Saturday:
We
had breakfast to end our exchange at about 9:00. We went straight from
the exchange point to helping a potential investigator move which we did
from about 10:30 to 1:00. She hadn't packed at all. We bought the whole
group Hardee's (which is the east-of-the-Mississippi version of Carl's
Junior, just a name-change) for lunch, and had barely started eating
when the phone rang cause President was calling. We took it outside. He
told us that I was being emergency transferred to Janesville with Sister
Boggus, and that Sister Ipson was coming to Green Bay. He told us a lot
of other things too. We went back inside at the end of the phone call
and my appetite was gone, which surprised me quite a bit. Besides that,
the other elders that were helping us help Sandy move were teaching the
crowd of movers the Restoration, and it was going really well. Geez. We jumped right in. It was AWESOME. Besides the mind-still-a-million-miles-away part.
Then we had to leave to have an appointment with Gabriella. We did
all of the necessary stuff from about 2:00 to 5:00 but neither of our
minds were there. We were stuck thinking about what was coming next. I
was totally calm; as soon as President told me, I felt that it was
right. It is still mind-boggling though.
We had investigator volleyball, which was where the elders found out about the ET. They made that just plain awkward.
I
packed a lot between then and Monday and we told all our favorite
people the sad news. We ate at the Mills--first time!--and at the
Vanderheydens. Love them all soo much. We were busy from the moment we
got the phone call until we went to bed Sunday night.
That was probably a really good thing because Monday morning whatever peace I had had before was totally gone.
Completely. I felt sick; that horrible kind of sick when your about to
perform a solo or something. not cool. We went to the ice skating rink I
never got to go to before, and some other fun places Monday morning
before we had to leave at 10:30 to get to Milwaukee at 1:00.
The car ride
calmed me a lot. We mostly listened to music, and talked when we needed
to. Sister Newton and I have a very good relationship:) We feel like
sisters.
We got to the mission office and President Cutler interviewed us. I so
wish I could go into more detail. He gave me a blessing:) Sister Ipson
and Sister Boggus arrived a little later and Sister Ipson hula-hooped
for us:):) We had homemade Cafe Rio for lunch with Sister Cutler. Then
we swapped all our luggage and headed off to our areas.
Did I mention
that the high Monday was -10 but with windchill it stayed at a pretty
constant -45 all day. Schools were closed. Honestly, you can hardly tell
the different between zero and negative anything--the only way you
really know it's that cold is because although they don't initially feel
that different, the frostbite hits your face in like two minutes. Skip
the cold and go straight to pain. It's not very nice.
Sister Boggus
and I had awesome conversation on the ride home and a wonderful dinner
at the Tuckers. I think I love Janesville already. It pretty much feels
like Green Bay. I unpacked and we just talked a ton. I wish I could
properly explain all the things going through my mind and heart all that
night. Too many things. It was a really good night.
We could use your prayers though :)
Sister Neal
