Just about lost my mind this week. Between running around between appointments, service projects, wardrobe changes, teaches, and meals.....it's been SICK! Crrrrrrrrraaaaazy....but sick:)
Felt like we had a MILLION things to do e.v.e.r.y. day........#missionaryheaven!
We got the member service party rolling this week.....and no joke, they're rolling in! We've been instructed by the mission to start dedicating at least 5 hours of service a week towards helping members of our ward and I'M ADDICTED! Past the denial stage now......
Almost every single day we were over at a member's house, doing some kind of service!
BOOYAH.
Bread baking. Floor waxing. Cookie making. House cleaning. Dish washing. Closet organizing. Frame painting. Furniture moving.
(Sounds like a dating application, right? haha! Serve missions girls.....ya won't regret it:)
#skillz
Been there, done that.....and the opportunities keep coming in! Service brings zest to the work and keeps us happy and engaged......it's the work that gives back!
On Saturday, we served at the Willmette Family History Fair (all day!) which yeilded a really good turnout of both members, but mostly non-members! Time to find........
#hometerritoryhunting
We got to meet a lot of people from the community who we welcomed into the church building! We also gave away 5 Book of Mormons, about 10 pass-along cards with our number, and found out at the end, that there were over 150 attendees! It was a great event that exposed many members of the community to the Mormon culture and morals......love those events:)
P-day. Gotta share. Perdy WILD. It was Sis Teare's birthday (the little leprechaun:)!!! Soooooooo.....of course.......we had to celebrate!
We moseyed down to the lake (yea....i know....first time i've been down since I've been here!! #fail).....
Next up. Cheesecake Factory? I'm down. Walked in and started the long and wracking process of trying to CHOOSE BETWEEN ALL THE OPTIONS.....when the cashier says, "Oh hey, look! That guy's from Chicago Fire!"
COULDN'T. SPIN. AROUND. FAST. ENOUGH.
Sure 'nuff! Chistian Stolte is chillin at the front desk waiting to be seated! I just MIGHT have done the Sheldon shake. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
#celebritysighting
(Yea, girlies....I WAS disappointed that it wasn't Jesse Spencer or Taylor Kinney......maybe next time....fingers crossed!:)
Buuuuut, still..............I call it a good day when any actor from one of my favorite TV shows walks through the door. haha! I was told no photography was allowed, but I totally left with plans to chill at Cheesecake Factory for P-day in the future;)
(Apparently, Serena Williams, Tiina Turner, and a lot of the Bulls players have come in to eat there as well........#livininfametown!) Can't ask for a better P-day;)
Later on in the week, we were able to visit Margaret and met her cousin who is off to Africa to be married. We got to talk about the Book of Mormon and shared with her our testimonies. It was a powerful lesson! She's totally going to become Mormon (I can feel it!)!! She said when she returns from Africa, she wants us to keep teaching her!
#cando
At the end of the lesson, we got to chatting and Margaret, turns out, has decided she wants to set me up with her African cousin who keeps telling her he's "looking for a white woman....WHITE WOMAN.....to marry!"
Ah ha ha.....yeeeeeeeaaaa....'bout that. hahaha! Welp, if anything, that's one post-mish date:) lol
AWKWARD MOMENT OF THE WEEK: Two days earlier, we were parked on a street, taking lunch, and I awkwardly started crunching on carrots just as two guys crossed the street towards us. Luckily, our windows were up and the doors were locked, but they start pointing and whistling and eventually, one of them came up to the window, waved, TOOK OF HIS HAT (what is this?? the 1800's??), and asked me to roll down the window.
Yeeeeeeeaaaaaa........I don't think so. It wasn't until I'd shaken my head repeatedly that they gave up and walked away. Aaaaaaaaannnnndddddd....it wasn't until they'd walked away that I'd realized that in my flustered-ness, I'd woofed my whole carrot (yea, not the baby size....like the real straight-outta-the-ground deal of a carrot) all the while they'd been standing there attempting a pick-up! hahahaha!!!
Gotta love a girl with an appetite for rabbit food! lol! If that doesn't deter 'em, IDK what will:) hahaha!
Our weekend, as usual, was crazy busy! We got to meet with Dawon again and the spirit was SO strong as we shared the Restoration video. He's at a turning point right now, and has big decisions to make.....decisions like baptism that will bring incredible blessings!!! He came to church this week, too, which was great! We luuuuuuuvvvvvv having investigators at church:)
Sooooooo........the work is working:) We're pushing hard, enjoying the random warm snaps in the weather, and staying alive (more or less.....btw, saying goodbye on the doorstep of a member's home before turning around and forgetting the last cement stair is always an awkward demonstration in the law of gravity.....just sayin;) hahaha
BTW, playing with investigators' pit bulls is also.........fun:) (we actually got to meet the 8-puppy liter too! ahhhhhh!!!! cuteness!)
Finally, AWKWARD CONVO OF THE WEEK (feels like I have a lot of "awkwards" every week....go figure:) haha!):
Investigator: "I used to have so many crazy parties at my house! Oh.......but I probably shouldn't talk about parties around you church folk."
Me (first thing outta my mouth....IDK why): "Oh, no, you're fine! We like parties! I mean....... sorta...... like......
#partyfoul........in both senses of the word:) LOL
Gotta love moments like that........trying to prove you're not a weirdoo, just a Mormon:) haha!
I've been thinking a lot this week about my journey to becoming a missionary, and why I chose to go.
Before leaving, I was not one of those missionaries that was like "Woo hoo!! Mission life, come at me!" I wanted nothing more clear up until packing those bags, getting on that airplane, and walking into that MTC to high tail it back home.....back to the life I'd chosen for myself. BUT, it gets easier!!!
Trust me!!!
I'm learning how much happiness comes while doing something that is not wholly your will, but that you are doing because The Lord asked it of you.
Being on a mission is weird.
It's like you step into another dimension. A dimension where every law of happiness-obtaining is all of the sudden turned upside down and for some reason, you find yourself bursting with happiness over something as simple as one hour of reading a book written thousands of years ago.
It's just weird. But it's incredible!
Before a mission, and even during a mission, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make any sense that giving up friends, family, music, movies, school, time, money, effort, comfort, and even things as small as gum and high heels can make you SO satisfied.
The ONLY thing that does make sense though, is the fact that God would not ask you to do something, unless it would bring greater happiness and joy later on. You HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT.
Yes, it doesn't make sense. It didn't make sense for Nephi to go back to Jerusalem to get the plates. It didn't make sense for Alma to give up the judgement seat to go preach the gospel. It didn't make sense for Enos to spend the whole night agonizing in prayer. It didn't make sense for two thousand inexperienced boys to go off to war. It didn't make sense for Ammon to work as a menial servant for a king.
And it didn't make sense for our Savior, Jesus Christ, to suffer excruciating pain and unimaginable agony that wasn't His own JUST so He could save others. BUT HE DID IT. He did it so that you and I could be freed from the dark misery of sin and pain.
Our cause is NOT about us. It's not about what we need, what we want, or what we think. It's about HIM and all of those people who are searching for the truth! They need us!!!!!
They may never find this gospel unless we go! It's only 18 months of your life.....ONLY 18! Yes, it seems like an e.t.e.r.n.i.t.y., but the longer I'm out, the longer I realize how truly short that window of time is.
"Shall we not go on in so GREAT a cause! Go forward and not backward! And on, on to the VICTORY!"
Onward and upward!!!
Sister Anna Parker
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