MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!!

This has been one of the busiest of my mission!!! But also one of the best.

So, Monday we headed up to Waukee for Zone p-day! It was pretty awesome. Sometimes, Osceola gets a little lonely, sitting in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do. But we got to go hang out with 15 other missionaries and play basketball and even some soccer! The weather has finally started looking up! (knock on wood)

After p-day ended, Sister Back and I went on exchanges with the lovely Waukee sisters, and I got to spend the day with Sister Norwood! But, she is new in the area, and had no idea where she was going, so we ended up driving around town telling funny stories :) But, we headed back to their house and played games with Sister Harmon till almost 11.

The next morning we got up early and took a journey to Indianola for interviews with President Badger, and for district meeting. Because our interviews were earlier, we had to wait for the other district to finish before lunch. So, one of the elders pulled out a game they brought - coup. For those who don't know the game, you basically lie to each other and try to get the most tokens haha! Good missionary game! Then we played ping pong as a zone. It got intense!!

Then we finally headed back to Osceola... Until 9 am Wednesday, when we traveled north to the land of the Hermanas - Perry. I went on exchanges with the beautiful Hermana Esplin!

We snuck into the guys yard cuz there were like 100 lawn mowers just lined up on the grass, and we thought it was funny!

Awesome camera filter that reminded us of snapchat!!

Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and it was hard to say goodbye when we left Thursday morning. But, we made it back to our area just in time to prepare Rita for her baptismal interview! As you can tell... SHE PASSED!!!  

Friday we finally got a normal day! Just full of awesome missionary work and sharing the light of Christ with all we met :) 

Saturday was a day of preparation! But, it finally happened - Rita was baptized.

​It took 5 tries, but it happened!! She was glowing! What made it better was that Sister Short got to come all the way from Clinton (4 hours away). We taught the Restoration together at the baptism, and I wanted to cry. I have missed her so much!

The little girl on the end by me is Hannah. Sister Short and I started teaching her back in February, and her baptism is this Saturday (May 5th)!

Can't think of a name...

Hmm... Trying to think if anything exciting happened this week....

OF COURSE!!! Rita agreed to be baptized, even without Roy! They have been investigating for a year now, but Roy has had a Word of Wisdom problem, so it kept getting postponed. But, she decided that enough is enough, and is getting baptized Saturday at 5 pm!

Something else completely amazing, our 10 year old investigator, Hannah. Her mom, Aleshia, is a Less Active member, who hasn't been to church since she was about 10. But, due to Hannah's excitement of being taught, Aleshia has decided that she wants to go to church with Hannah! I couldn't have been happier!

I love love love Osceola! Sister Back said that she would talk to President Badger about keeping me here my entire mission... Fine by me! It is an hour away from the 'big city' of Des Moines, and the closet missionaries are still 45 minutes away haha! But, the people and the ward are amazing. Pro life tip, help missionaries! Whether it is a referral, or feeding them, WE APPRECIATE IT!! Just thought I'd put that out there!

Picture I didn't realize I hadn't sent... Me and Sister Short reenacting the Book of Mormon!

Transfers!

This week has been insane!! So, I was correct in my guesses of hints! Sister Short took her journey to Clinton to be a Sister Training Leader, on the opposite side of the mission, and I got a new companion, Sister Back! She's from Eagle Mountain, Utah and about 5'11'' and so I feel... Very Short. (Haha, sorry, I just thought that was punny) But Osceola is still good!! We have four people on date for baptism! Roy and Rita are trying for April 28th this time, and our 10 year old investigators, Lexy and Hannah, are on date for Cinco de Mayo!! We are super excited for them!

Iowa reached it record low for April this past week. Weather has been all over the place! On Friday, it was pouring rain like no other, and then that night there were tornado warnings. Of course, us missionaries were 'grounded' to our towns. Thankfully, Osceola was just windy. But, in Truro, a town just 20 minutes North, the roof got blown off of a Casey's... Scary, but cool at the same time!!

Then, just because it is Iowa, it snowed on Sunday. We only got a couple inches, then it was sunny this morning so it all melted. This week is supposed to be in the 30-40s though, so we are excited! Maybe it'll warm up!

But, before transfers, Sister Short had a bucket list item... To pet a cow. In my opinion, it's not too exciting, but to each her own I guess. But, we went with a member, Sister Graves, to her pasture to see a little calf. And, well, that was exactly what I expected Iowa to be like. She had a 50s pickup (I think. It could be older...) and we drove down dirt roads and saw cows. Intense.

Texts from a member in Osceola

April 9, 2018

"Hello. I am Sister Olsen. Sister Girvin is in my ward. She is such an amazing missionary! We are so grateful she is here! Thank you for sharing her with us!

I am quite slow but I have a picture of dying eggs last week."

 April 10, 2018

"We fed them tonight! Great day."

One last week!!

I sat reminiscing with Sister Short last night about the last 3 months in Osceola. It was weird to think that there was ever a time before being a missionary, before knowing families like the Olsens or the Bairs... Before having investigators like Roy and Rita or Ulises and Oliver. A time before we knocked on random peoples doors, before we were in Iowa even. Yet, it has only been three months.

This week is transfers, which has everyone at a buzz. If you ask the right people, you can get some pretty good hints as to where you are going. So, Sister Short and I asked the APs, Elders Wood and Obray, and Sister Badger (MP's wife). My hints were 'baby balooka', 'Oreo Os', and 'Mt. Zion Baptist church'. So, what we got from that is that I am staying in Osceola haha! It was a long process to get to that conclusion. But, sadly, we think that Sister Short is moving 3 hours away to Clinton... We'll find out tomorrow though, so stay tuned!

Some of the highlights from last week, Sister Short and I offered to help out at a school carnival at the same time that her past investigator's baptism was (oops), so we went on exchanges with Hermana Tolson and Hermana Esplin. Tolson and I went to the carnival, where we helped kids pop balloons. It was crazy!! We were there for a couple hours, then went back to apartment and sat on the floor in exhaustion. But, we met so many people that I am sure I'll see again ;) 

Missionary work has its ups and downs, as most know. Yesterday was one of the 'downs'. Roy slipped again, so he can't get baptized this coming week, and Ulises and Oliver decided to go to a different church, and two other investigators, Mike and Christine, cancelled our appointment with them. We sat on the couch just thinking, well, what now?? But, there are always going to be miracles no matter what happens. And, today is one of those miracle days. It didn't appear so this morning when we woke up to find a layer of ice on everything, but since then it has been great. The other day, Sister Short and I were driving down the road when we saw a lady carrying a ton of bags full of cans, and she wasn't wearing a coat. But, she was smiling at everyone who passed. As it was 20 degrees outside, and super windy, we thought she was insane, but parked and ran down the street to help her anyway. We helped her to her apartment building, then handed her back the bags and a Book of Mormon with our card in it. As it was cold, we then took the trek back to her car, not sure if she was really all too interested. However, we couldn't get Tia off our minds. So, we found our way back to  her apartment building and knocked on every door there until we found her. She invited us in, and we talked with her about the Restoration. She told us that it made sense, so we invited her to baptism. She blurted out, "I gotta tell you something." Immediately, we were filled with dread that she would tell us no in some way, but it was quite the opposite. She told us about how she had a hard life, and had been arrested a few times, but had cleaned up, and how baptism was the first thought in her mind in the mornings. But, she hadn't been baptized yet because the churches she had tried weren't true. We wanted to jump up and down for joy!! We assured her that this church was true, and she assured us that as soon as she found that out, she would gladly be baptized. We left that visit being just overwhelmed with the Spirit, and so grateful that we had the opportunity to come and see Tia.

Me and Hermana Tolson at the Statue of Liberty!

Waffles and Butter!! #neverbeenhealthier #jkitsicecream

Destroying the ice on our car this morning

This week...

First off, General Conference was amazing!! It's a second Christmas for missionaries. 7 new temples! When we heard that, we were praying that one would be in Des Moines, but Layton got it instead.

I love all the chocolate that got sent my way (thanks Natalie :) and Sister Short and I had fun eating a lot of it watching conference. We were the only ones that watched it at the church on Saturday, so that was fun. Then, on Easter we went to the Ward Mission Leaders house - Brother Bishop. We watched the first session, then, while we were waiting for the food to finish cooking, we checked out their Easter present - an automated basketball game, like one you would find in an arcade. Now, I am quite terrible at basketball, but I can say with pride that I easily (ha) beat Sister Short. Well, we tied the first time, then I won by like ten points, then in the third round she won by ten points, so I guess it was even. Then, we went to the Bishop's house (yeah, Brother Bishop and Bishop Olsen... It can get confusing) and we dyed Easter eggs.

But, of course, Easter isn't about the food or the new basketball games. It's about Jesus Christ. He came to this world to show us the way to get back to our Heavenly Father. But, He knew we could not be as perfect as he was. So, He paid the price for all of us, so that we could make it back to live with Him.

When Elder Costa was visiting Iowa, he left us with a commitment that I'd now like to extend to everyone else. In the Topical Guide, there are tons of names of Jesus Christ, starting with the Bread of Life. So, each day look at the next name. Look up scriptures associated with that name. And then, throughout your day, think 'How is Jesus Christ the Bread of Life?' or 'Living Water' or all the other names given. As we constantly have our minds centered on Jesus Christ, we can be helped in our hardest trials, and find strength during the hardest of times.

Iowa may be close to perfect, but it does have a problem. It rains a lot. So my lovely companion got prepared...

Me and Sister Short with our investigator, Ulises, his mom, Marta (member), and our other investigator Oliver

Super Bleary Selfy of Sister Short and I with our investigators Lexy and Hannah! (Taken the same day, which is why I have on the same outfit haha!)

A picture I forgot to upload last week... oops. Before our fantastic activity, us missionaries decided to test out the boat races :D​