Cat Scratches and Toby Keith

Hello all! What a CRAZY week it has been! Man alive. I'll just jump right into it, after I emailed last P-day.

Monday- We got a bunkbed! So happy! It's tiny though. I sleep on the bottom bunk and I have to be careful to not turn to abruptly because otherwise I hit my head on the top bunk. It's great fun though. Having a bed at all is really the best. Later in the day we played flickerball with the elders (like a mix of ultimate frisbee, football, and basketball) and it was fun. We had dinner that night with the Broderick family. They're so sweet! They remind me a lot of the Thomson's. A LOT. It's crazy. That night we went to check on our Bashers-not-bashers. They are really cool. They're super hipster-Oregon people who started their own religion, but only because they haven't found one yet that they really believe is the true church.. so now they're reading the Book of Mormon and it's going really well! Man. They're really nice. We call them Bashers-not-bashers because they ask really crazy doctrinal questions trying to disprove the Book of Mormon, but when we answer their questions, they're really thoughtful and are like, "okay, that makes sense!" so they're super open to everything.

They're cool.
 

Tuesday- After morning studies we went and met with Gabriel. He's so interesting. He can just take a subject and run with it for a solid half hour.. you can't get a word in sideways! He's really nice though. Needless to day, we were unable to teach a lesson to Gabriel on Tuesday, but I learned a lot about him and what he thinks about humanity. After Gabriel we went and knocked doors on a street I'd felt impressed to knock a couple days ago. And guess what! We found a new investigator and some potentials! it was way cool. After that we visited some less actives and went to dinner with the Tuckers. They're the people that fed us amazing waffles on Sunday morning of conference.. so happy. After dinner we checked up on Sister Smart. Okay. This story.. is awkward. So we get in there, and first off, she has the most OBESE CAT I have EVER seen in my life. His name is Biscuit. He (no lie) is the size of half of a coffee table. It's crazy. He's really nice. Anyway, she has this other kitten named Max. But she didn't know if he was a boy or a girl.. so she had me pin the cat down, (yikes) and she checked. It was harder than that though because she was like yelling at me to help her with this poor cat, it's meowing like it's about to die, I'm unsure what to do, one of my companions is holding a flashlight and the other one is just laughing to tears, and I'm getting scratched to death by this poor disgruntled kitten. It was so uncomfortable.
 

Wednesday- We had veteran's meeting. Basically that's a meeting for new missionaries (like me) to go and our trainers tell us how much they love us and they brag to the other trainers about how great their "kids" are. It's ridiculous. We had some good macaroni and cheese though. I got my first letters, too! From Matthew and Biana! I was SO HAPPY that I might have cried a little. Just a single solitary tear, but it happened. So happy. :) That night we checked up on some investigators, had dinner with the Cruz's, and met with a girl named Caitlyn. It was fun! But alas, we made very little progress :(
 

Thursday- Ah Thursday! We did weekly planning for WAY too long. It took FOREVER. A lot of it was because we were gutting out our area book to make sure we were organized for the area changes. Afterwards we went to have a lesson but it fell through, so we felt prompted to check on Doris. SUCH A GOOD IDEA. She's this old baptist lady who liked us a lot but was not receptive to the gospel. Her heart was so softened when we went to visit her and we're going to go check on her again soon. :) She also (without realizing it) helped me to remember my purpose and helped my perspective a bit, so that was really good. After Doris, we had a lesson with Maverick. AH! MAV! I love that kid! We taught him a fun lesson and then booked it home.
 

Friday- District meeting. It was so long. We had a good one though and I'm slowly coming out of my shell. It's weird because when I email, I'm normal me again but as soon as I'm talking to someone, I change. I don't know how to explain it. Shyness. It's weird. After district meeting (and lunch) we went back to the apartment and I did language study. We went to dinner with Sister Martin at this REALLY yummy french bakery. OH. Forgot to tell you. Our area boundaries got completely changed around so now we're all in different wards. Also- we lost ALL of our investigators to other missionaries.. and didn't gain any. Well, at least we get to keep Doris. :) It's like we're shotgunning kind of and it's weird. But it's fun and our new area is beautiful! It's all country roads and mansions. Also- Toby Keith is in my ward boundaries. Yeah. He lives here. It's weird.
 

Saturday- We did studies, then met up as a district to swap records and stuff. It was sad. :( But it's for the best! After that, we went with the Zone Lords to transition Gabriel over to meeting with them instead of us now because of the changes. It went surprisingly well! After that, we went around and said goodbyes to our investigators and less actives. :( It's amazing how much I love all of them! That night we had dinner with the Oropeza's! They're the best! They always feed us sooooo much though and it's hard to say no.
 

Sunday- Man. yesterday.. crazy day. Went to church. New ward, different people, introductions EVERYWHERE. It was great though. We met one girl who is just like Molly was, where she has been an investigator for a lonnnnnng time but hasn't joined yet. She's really sweet. Her name is Annie and she is awesome! After church we came home and I decorated my planner. It looks legit. I'm happy about it. We had dinner with the Humphrey family that night. Brother Humphrey served his mission in Sweden so we talked about Scandinavia for a while and that was nice. :) After that, we had a fireside. My companions and I were asked to speak at a youth fireside. It was crazy! We told our stories and we encouraged them all to learn to bear simple, powerful testimonies. It doesn't have to be something big. Something small like, "I know God lives." It was a really neat fireside. A mom at the fireside asked me to talk to her daughter about considering a mission and it was really cool to get to know her. She's a really sweet girl.

Alright well, that's all for this week. It's been a nuts week, it really has, and I'm so happy for it! I love this gospel. I know that God loves us. He sees us in our trials as well as in our joys. He wants our happiness more than we do! It's up to us to do what we have to in order to gain those blessings.

I love y'all way too much!

Again, randomly rotating, IDK why. Email dated October 21st.