Ello' Everybody!

First off, for those of you who have emailed me I am going to try to email you back, but I only have so long on the computer and more time to write letters so send me your physical addresses so I can write you back! :)

Soooo much has happened this week. It feels crazy.

The probably not so important but everyone wants to hear typa things:

Welp. We did the old man's laundry. We had to rewash like EVERYTHING. We found cigarrette butts in our washer. :) Yum. And Sister Cox made him a pork quesadilla on Tuesday. He proceeds to call it a KAS- a - dilla. "Well gee. I never had a KASADILLA before." I don't think I'll ever say it right again. We didn't bother getting the plate back. It's probably moldy by now.

One of the members made us Traditional Stacked Enchiladas which were pretty cool. They put an egg on top of it. It was pretty good. That particular member was formerly Jewish and is a Bible scholar. He joined the church in 2006 I think and it's super interesting to hear his conversion story. He said he started out trying to prove the Book of Mormon wrong, but realized he couldn't. Haha. :)

Sister Cox and I wanted to celebrate the 1st of August... for no other reason than it was the beginning of a new month. So we drove through McDonalds. She got a burger and I got an ice cream cone. (Thought of you mama).

We had our very first real rain since I've been here. :)

Experienced the first time someone in a towel answered the door too. A little awkward because she only answered because she thought we were her son knocking. Shame too because we could've had a sweet conversation. But she kinda just looked at me like "Uh, I'M IN A TOWEL!"

ONE OF THE BEST MOMENTS THIS WEEK WAS PROBABLY... I got Donald's geocache!!! I emailed my Mission President (which I found out later I probably shouldn't have done, but ignorance is bliss) and he had the missionaries in the area get it for me! Haha. :) To say the least it was awesome! Thanks Donald! I will do sooo much with what you put in there. ;) But literally it made me cry. Gave me the boost I needed for sure.

I also, had Subway which was delicious. I LOVE SUBWAY.

With the old man yesterday, we had the most awkward conversation ever. He looked at me and said "Oh Sister P (*cracks up because he thinks that's funny) look at you with your blonde hair and nice teeth! Sister Cox just look at her." We looked at each other and she said something like well gee thanks and he said "Oh Sister Cox you are beautiful too, you just don't know it. In fact, you remind me of my first wife. Oh was she beautiful. She spent a whole hour putting on her make up in the morning. I would go out to run around the lake and come back sweating. One time I went and got my robes off and went to take a shower, but she was doing her make-up and...." then the conversation turned very disturbing. Me and Sister Cox left cracking up and basically crying from horror. Ah, the things you hear as a missionary.

Okay, well that's about it for the random stories now for the good stuff.

So there's a family here who is a BIG help with the missionary work. Let's call them the Wall family. They have 3 kids. The son's girlfriend was one Sister Cox and her former companion had been teaching and I got the chance to teach a couple times as well and she was baptized this Saturday. :) It was such an amazing thing! This 20 year old girl was beaming like nothing you've ever seen before! It was beautiful. I actually had to sing with another member and that was okay, except for the fact that the Bishop so kindly asked me to bear my testimony right before so my mouth was soooo dry. Oh well. But, it's truly amazing knowing how much Alayna (that's her name) has grown during this whole process. She has made changes to her life that probably haven't been easy, but when you know that the gospel is true, your heart just wants to change! And making that first step, showing that she wants to follow God's plan and be baptized... it's just incredible to watch in a person. The Spirit was so strong there. It also makes me remember how important my baptism was. For me it was just something I did. Not until wayy later, like right now even do I realize how important it was. It's never to late to remember and to hold true to the promises you make. :)

On top of that a girl names Junalyn (the daughter in the Wall family's friend) is interested in the church. We taught her one lesson and she is set to be baptized on the 24th of this month... those dates change a lot, but fingers are crossed. She has been coming to church for quite some time actually so she's already shown she's committed. She is awesome. :) And she attended the baptism and said while she was in tears "That was powerful."

At the end of the baptism, someone asked if Sister Cox and I would give talks next Sunday. Yeeeehah. They are just putting me to work. Haha. :) It's funny. :)

Well, Sister Cox is a Sister Training Leader which means she has to go on exchanges with other sisters for 24 hours at a time. So she goes with one companion and I'll be with another. Which totally has been freaking me out because I'm still a baby missionary! I need my trainer! But apparently God is really trusting me. I'll have to just hold my breath and jump in. Two days of this week it will be me and another missionary who I don't even know and I have to continue and keep up the schedule while Sister Cox is gone. Ah, luckily God qualifies who He calls because I don't know what I'm doing. :P Haha. I heard a good quote on Sunday. "Change is mandatory. Misery is optional." I have chosen NOT to be miserable. I'll just be excited, lean on the Lord, and try my best. :)

TENDER MERCY:

So Sister Cox has already actually left me once... but only for a couple hours while she had to go to a meeting. So I had another Sister hear with me. We went to go find an investigator who I've met before a bunch of times and I totally knew where here apartment was... yeah, apparently not because that's when I accidentally knocked on the towel lady's door. So we walked around and I was clueless and I was just praying help me find Carrie... and low and behold Carrie pops up walking to her car and I was like CARRRIIEEEE and waved and she waved back. Ah, tender mercy.

So this week will be MIGHTY interesting with all the changes that are happening. Just pray for me. Things will be fine. :) Haha.

Until next time!
I'll be doing it the Federal Way!

Love,
Sister Pearson. :)