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MY FIRST BROKEN BONE!!!!!

So, this is my last weekly I will be sending out! It has been a fun mission!! 

Let me tell ya... Osky is insane! Each week is something different. For instance, I can no longer say that I have never broken a bone... We shall get to that tho!

So, Monday was Pday!! We went up to Ankeny and hung with the other missionaries, played some ball, because I used to love it... LOL. After we got back, we just went to dinner with our favorite people, and then headed home!

Tuesday and Wednesday were just visiting people, nothing too exciting!

On Thursday, I had my last district counsel!! Crazy!! I forgot to take pictures tho... On the way back from Newton, where the meeting was, we saw A PIONEER CEMETARY!!! So, of course we stopped and I have a picture of that. Then, we went on exchanges with the amazing Beaver Creek Sisters! I was with Sister Handy this time, and I, once again, forgot to take a picture for that. But, we went and saw some awesome people, and we found a total of 4 new people to teach!! They are all so amazing!!

Friday morning, This is were it gets fun. We woke up and started preparing to go play some basketball for exercise. I had a little bit of a stomach ache, but I was like, eh, I like ball. Before we left, Sister Pinto-Haynes told us about her dream... In which we went to play some basketball and I wore some weird wooden cases on my fingers so I wouldn't jam them. These were all warnings from Heavenly Father, but we didn't listen to them, it seems! So, we get to the church, and we start playing a game called 21. If you don't know what that is, that is okay. I probs won't be playing it again, LOL! Anyway, someone threw the ball, and it bounced off the rim. I jumped up and tried to catch it on the rebound, and, welllll.... My finger basically flew off! TMI maybe, but you could see the two ends of bone. So, I start freaking out. It takes a second before the other sister believe me, and we rush to the urgent care while calling our mission president's wife. We get there, and I'm starting to get dizzy... my finger was literally 10 times bigger than it was supposed to be... Long story short, they took a couple xrays, and came to the conclusion that it was just displaced. So, they yanked it back into place, and I bawled my eyes out because that hurt really bad, and took a ton of ibuprofen and headed home! Sister Short and Sister Pinto-Haynes headed out to do work, and me and Sister Handy stayed home and did a puzzle while listening to conference talks! Well, then we get a call from the hospital... They were looking over my xrays again, and turns out, the impact of the basketball not only displaced my finger, but also broke it! So, yeah. I have to go to a specialist sometime this week so they can do more with it, because like, it's swollen and black and I can't move it xD

Anyway, Saturday was MY BIRTHDAY!!! But sadly, We were stuck inside most of the day because of my finger, AND I also got a 24 hour stomach bug! So, happy birthday I guess? LOL. We did go to a lesson with our homie Ben, and he brought his friend along with him! So, we are now teaching Ethan as well!

That was basically our week... TBH I can't remember much else, but enjoy the pictures! 

Love y'all!

Sister Melanie Girvin

P.S. I included a picture of my hospital band because after the initial shock wore off, I realized they spelled it wrong, LOL!

Week in Pictures

So, I have a ton of pictures from this week! So, basically, my weekly will just be those and a little explanation...

- Zone conference was this week! It will be my last one! So, it was sad. But, I got to see lots of people, take a picture with my trainer, and a picture with the zone, lunch with the zone, a selfie during caroling with Sister Pinto-Haynes, Elder Gunderson, and Elder Gaunt.

-We went to the mission office, and they had our Christmas card hung up!

-Awkward camera picture

-A random question directed towards our zone leaders gone a little overboard

-Me and our favorite puppy, Liddy!

Also, I will only be sending one more weekly after this! I have loved the year that I have served in the IDMM, but it is time for me to go! After the 21st, you can get ahold of me through my personal email- melaniegirvin@gmail.com. Love y'all! 

December!!

Sorry in advance for the lame email... We have a busy day planned ahead of us! Our district is performing a musical number for zone conference on Tuesday! And... Yesterday we decided what song haha! So, we gotta practice that! But, here are some pictures!!

Me and sister Short went on exchanges! And we got to see Rita, my first convert!! She and Roy have 6 dogs now, and we got attacked xD they were cute, but one of them peed on me..

Thanksgiving Text

Sister Girvin and Sister Pinto-Haynes helped Sister Stahle prepare for Thanksgiving.

Being a missionary means expecting miracles!

What a crazy week! Thanksgiving was a blast! So, starting off...

Sister Pinto Haynes and I were stuck in Osky for pday! It's weird being to far to go places, but that's okay! We went to a couple stores and looked around, and we were going to pass a nail salon when she said she had never gotten her nails done! So, we got a pedicure Haha!

On Tuesday, we had interviews with our amazing mission president and his amazing wife! Love getting to see them and the zone! We played some weird games and got to know each other more, which is fun!

On Wednesday, we got invited to a couple different houses to help cook Thanksgiving food, and we happy obliged! Got some yummy pie early!

Thursday was TURKEY DAY!! We went to our Branch President's house and ate with them! It was a party! Afterwards, we went home and took some Christmas photos... LOL

On Friday, we weekly planned! And sad story, there was a baptism in Newton on Saturday, and we wanted to being some of the people we were teaching so they could watch! But, no one wanted to take the time to drive them because it was a long drive. So, we just gave up. We also felt impressed to go to the house of a part member family. The thing about these people tho, is they will invite you in and talk, but skip out on every return appointment and not answer texts. But, we went anyway! Sister Russel was the only one home, along with two of her boys. So, we talked and really got to know her, and found out she loves music! She admitted to us that she really enjoyed having us over, and we are going to eat with her next week!

Now, back to the sad story from yesterday. And, now it is Saturday, the day of miracles!! We woke up at 6:30, and not a minute later the phone goes off! It was our branch president. He said he would take Beth, and her boyfriend Jeff to the baptism, on the condition that they were nice clothes! So, we excitedly texted Beth, and she said that Jeff had some, but she didn't! We said a quick prayer and ran to a closet that had a lot of clothes for old missionaries. Inside, was a box full of clothes that would fit her!! So, we told her to shower and get ready, and we would bring clothes. So, that was awesome! Both of them were able to go! Now, a little about Jeff, he was previously like, never going to church! It was huge that he agreed to go to the baptism! During which, I would occassionally look over, and he was into it! So, while waiting for the newly baptized Sister Yoakum to come back from getting changed, I offered him a Book of Mormon, and he was giddy!! Also, Beth who was previously iffy about setting a date, wrote in her calendar 'my baptism' on February 12th!! We were so happy!! After we dropped Beth and Jeff back off, President Stahle took us out to dinner. While there, he said that when we asked him to come on Friday, his human self told him it was too far, and he was too busy. But, when he woke up on Saturday, Heavenly Father told him that Beth and Jeff needed to go. And they sure did!

On Sunday, we got a blizzard! So, church was cancelled :( We had been asked last minute on Saturday to give talks, and so we no longer needed to give those! we went to the Stahle's, again haha, and had some pancakes and helped them decorate for Christmas! That was fun! After about 3 hours though, we looked out the window and what did we see? A FOOT AND TWO INCHES OF PURE SNOW!!!!! And Oskaloosa does such a fantastic job of snow removal! JK. That was in the middle of the street xD So, we decided to head home, and then we were grounded for the rest of the day, so we decided to do our laundry... However, we didn't have enough quarters to dry our stuff, sooo.... yeah. Picture down below of how crafty we are!

Well, my talk was supposed to be on gratitude, which makes sense because Thanksgiving! So, what I am grateful for... Most of all my Savior, Jesus Christ. I would be lying if I said that being on a mission was easy! But I love this one talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland... He talks about missionary work, but I feel like it can apply to anything. He says, "Missionary work is not easy because Salvation is not a cheap experience! Salvation was never easy! If our Savior could cry in the night, sobbing Aba, Father, Papa, remove this cup from me, then little wonder that it is not a whimsical or easy thing for a missionary." 

So, in times of trial, remember that the Lord is there for you! To quote the mission president's wife, "The best way to squash the ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) is to use gratitude"!

Love you all, and have a fantastic week!

The First week in Osky

What a fantastic and long week! Our schedule was full on the daily!

On Monday, we got the opportunity to go up to Des Moines for ZONE P-DAY!! It is crazy living in an area that we can't go up every week, since we live so far away from real civilization haha! But I love Osky! After we got back, we went over and had a very sleepy lesson with our recent convert, Kawika! That was fun.

On Tuesday, We had some miracles. First, we were picking something up from Walmart, and there was this guy there! He came up to us, and was like, I see you everywhere, and figured I should talk to you! His name is Steve, and a little while ago he ordered a Book of Mormon in the mail... And six arrived at his house, so he has been reading those! We taught him again on Thursday, so I will tell about that later. Then, we tried by some people and did some finding, and found Linda! That was funny. She was expecting it to be her mom, but it was us, so she screamed and kinda threw the place mat that she was holding, and so that was funny. She invited us in, and we talked for a bit! Missionaries had come and visited her in the past, and her cousin is a member of the church, so she is down to learning!

On Wednesday, we went to the little town of Sigourney to teach Beth! She is funny. Afterwards, we were looking in area book and saw that there was a less active that lived there, and she had a cool name! It was BaneekequiQuia! So, of course, we had to meet her! Sadly, she moved a couple months ago, but we met Ben! He is so prepared! he has such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ, and when we offered a Book of Mormon to him, he responded with 'Yes Please!' He is a cool guy! 

Then, we went to have another lesson with Kawika, and our other recent convert, David! And they brought their friend, Sonny, who wanted to learn more! So we are so excited to work with him as well!!

On Thursday, we went to District Council, and had a party with our district! I love the other missionaries in the IDMM, we are like the most awkward family! But we had a blast! Afterwards, we went to see Cheryl, who is someone we are teaching. We had an awesome conversation with her about the love of God, and she gave us the address to her daughter April's house, so we also stopped by her! She was busy, but we are going back next week, which is awesome! After that, we went by a former, her name is Sheila! She hasn't seen missionaries since Sister Dalton was here! She just wanted to sit in silence for a little bit just to feel, and we are going back to see her next week as well!

On Friday, we had a full day inside! We had found quite a few people this week, and had to plan for them all, and we were tired by the end of the day! We also decided to be spontaneous and give each other hair cuts... yeah... LOL that was fun!

On Saturday, we also had a full day! We got up, did studies, and then went over to our Branch President's house, yes, I am back in a branch, for now!! We are gonna make this place a ward in no time! Anyway, we had lunch with them, and then headed up to DES MOINES for stake conference! Once we got to the church, we were walking down the hallway when I heard 'Sister Girvin?' I turn around, and THERE WAS SISTER MORA!!!!! She was my first STL back in Osceola, and she went home in March, and I hadn't seen her since, so that was a happy happy reunion! We went to DQ with her and Sister Short and Sister Handy and got some pictures!

On Sunday, we got to watch the second half of stake conference! I don't know why I used to think these were boring, they are the best! Afterwards, we went over to Tawyna and Doug's and ate some food! We had a competition on who could make the best chili, which still is in limbo, as me and Sister Pinto-Haynes obviously made the better one! LOL. Anyway, quite the exciting week! I am loving the people of lil' Oskaloosa, and absolutely loving Sister Pinto-Haynes! Have an amazing week!

New Address:

Sister Melanie Girvin

219 High Ave E apt 1

Oskaloosa, IA 52577