Work, work, work!!

Wow!! Two weeks into one.  I'll just go with some highlights...

First, Mission Tour!! Elder Joaquin E. Costa of the 70 came and spoke to us. He was mainly talking about mission statistics. In the IDMM, to every 40 investigators we find, 6 will come to church, 4 will receive a date, and 1 will be baptized. It was crazy to think of finding 40 people...

The other big thing that was going on was a ward activity!! Sister Short and I were very disappointed that the Osceola Ward only has an activity twice a year - the 4th of July and Christmas. So, about a month ago, we decided to make our own. It was mainly about the Book of Mormon. We had a couple members agree to act some things out, and we had a couple others help us run the games, but we did everything else. It was crazy. We invited everyone we could think of, from members to less actives to investigators to people we knocked into. Then, word got to our mission president. And, of course, he and Sister Badger wanted to come. So, then we stressed more trying to make it even more perfect. The end product, however, was pretty good. People later told us that it had a better turnout than any ward party that they had been to in this ward, so we were pretty proud.

Yesterday we decided to take it a little easier. A less active in our ward, Sister Brobst, offered to teach us how to make some delicious bread like how to Amish do. It was awesome, and it made some of the biggest rolls I have ever seen!! She invited her granddaughter to come learn too, and she isn't a member. But, she was stuck with us for 4 hours, so she asked questions about our life, and Mormon rumors. She lives outside of our area, but we are hoping to see her again...

Then, this morning was a whole other adventure. Mormon pioneers crossed through Iowa, specifically through a part now called Mt. Pisgah. It was found by a guy named Farmer Brown (yes, that is his name haha!). He was well witching when we found all these graves. Under further investigation, he also 'witched' up some cabins. The earth is magnetic, and disturbances in the soil disturb those magnetic waves.  So, you take a metal rod and it moves based on where the disturbance is. I didn't believe it would work until today when we tried it. Anyway, Farmer Brown basically found an entire Mormon civilization that was destroyed. Cemeteries, churches, cabins, everything. It was super cool.

Elder Rutledge, President Badger, and Elder Brown (back)

Sister Short, Hermana Tolson, Sister Badger, Hermana Esplin, and me (front) after the activity

Our rolls​ :)

At Mt. Pisgah

Monument for Mt. Pisgah

Pictures

So some highlights from this week... 

-We went to zone conference/mission tour! Elder Joaquin E. Costa from the 70 was there, so that was pretty cool. Had a lot of fun with a lot of missionaries.

-Our apartment is bed bug free! (We hope)

And that's the big ones! I'll expound next week...

The story of Nephi in Emojis for anyone who may have need...​

​Mission Tour!! #zonepicplussomemore​

My amazing attempt to photo bomb Elders Barney, Fuller, and Orme at Mission Tour!!

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My Beautiful Companion when she found a street named after her

The day of Dinosaurs!!! (Sorry, I did not take any with them...)​

Can't really think of one...

Man, it has been a busy week! On Monday, after P-day of course, we went and visited our investigator Kristi. She is awesome! Kristi lives with her aunt, Sister Watkins, who is one of the super solid members of the Osceola Ward. Her family, however, isn't super active. But, Kristi comes to church every week, and she wants to learn more. We taught her the plan of salvation, and she said that she believes that it could be true. We are definitely going to keep teaching her!

Tuesday morning bright and early Sister Short and I took our journey to the land of the Indianola Zone Leaders for interviews with President Badger. After interviews was over, I was hanging with some of the other missionaries; Hermana Esplin, Elder Lovin, Elder Barrett, and Elder Orme. The question came up of 'what should we do now?' Elder Barrett had the great idea of a circle of love. Someone sits in the middle of the circle, and then everyone in the circle takes a turn complimenting them. So, with a lack of anything better to do, we started the circle of love. Within the next 15 minutes, our entire zone had joined us. It was so much fun, rather than awkward like we all thought it would be. Then, we all went and got lunch and looked at pictures and played ping pong. When we got back to Osceola, we found... snow. But that's okay. Eventually it'll be summer and my hair will make the perfect afro.

On Wednesday we met with Roy and Rita again. Their date got pushed back again, to April 7th. Their very first date was April 8th, but 2017. They have now been investigating the church for a year.

Thursday Sister Short and I dedicated ourselves to our ward activity and planning that stuff.

Friday we took our business to Perry, Iowa to go on exchanges with our STLs, Hermanas Esplin and Tolson, while the bed bug exterminator sprayed our apartment. While with Hermana Tolson, we went to visit one of her investigators - Tina. Tina has two little kids who love to run around and scream and yell and have SOO much energy! Tina, however, was exhausted because these kids had been up all night sick, so she hadn't gotten any sleep. So, Hermana Tolson volunteered us to sing to her kids. So, we sang I am a Child of God, and they both quieted down, but then the older one started crying and ran upstairs, and the younger one, seeing that her brother was crying, started crying herself. We felt bad... Anyway, after that, we ran into a guy who turned out to be a member! He said that he hadn't gone to church since he was about 16 and his family moved to Africa, and went inactive since there was no church nearby. We asked what his name was, and he said Joe. Later, we asked what his last name was so we could get his records into the Perry Branch. He proceeded to pull out his licence and show us - Joe Joe. Yes, that was his actual name. It was really funny!

Saturday we got back to Osceola and hurried to go teach Ulises and Oliver. The member we were going to teach with cancelled, so we had to end up meeting in a Subway. However, we ran into another member who is a friend of Ulises, so he sat in on our lesson, and even bought us cookies! We taught the Word of Wisdom first, and found out that Ulises does drink coffee. So, we asked him if he would be willingly to quit, and he was like, well yeah. It'll be easy. Then, we taught the 10 commandments. We asked them if they knew what the first one was, and little 9 year old Oliver listed them all off! We were so impressed, and we are super excited for the two of them to be baptized. They are awesome.

Lastly, Sunday. Church was fantastic! 5 of our investigators came to church, which was a new record! And, to make it even better, we talked to all of them, and they all loved it! So, overall, a pretty fantastic and very busy week!

-My totally awesome zone at interviews.

In the back, Sisters Harmon, Esplin, Short, and Rath. Elders Clayson, Fuller, Williams, Orme, Stoddard, Barney, Brown (hidden in back), Hansen, and Lovin in the air.

In the front, me, Hermana Tolson, Elders Carver and Rutledge, and Elder Barrett in the very front.

Don't let the Bed Bugs bite!

This week has been insane! Half of my old district have moved on to other areas in the mission, and Sister Short and I are still chillin in Osceola! Continuing on with the work! Which, reminds me, we have a new investigator! His name is Ulises. He's a super chill dude. We ran into him when we went to visit his mom, who is a less active member. However, Marta speaks very little english, so she called him in to translate. We asked him if he would like to learn more, and he accepted! So, we have been teaching him the last few weeks, and he came to church! He described his experience as a Jacuzzi. At first, it was awkward and uncomfortable. However, after he settled in, it became more peaceful and he didn't want to leave. So, yes. Church is like a Jacuzzi. 

Another cool experience from this week was our service time at a thrift store called Cross Ministries. We got a call from Mike, the person who started it all, about if we wanted to come help load a truck (He hadn't realized that the elders left), but we accepted and went to help. We then found out that this thrift store was so much more. The truck we were loading up was being filled with tons of medical supplies that hospitals and clinics nearby no longer wanted/needed, and they were getting sent around the US to start up clinics. They also have contacts in third world countries that come about twice a year and pick up more supplies, or, if it is small enough, they mail it. The list goes on. It was amazing to work alongside them. 

On to a less happy subject... Bed bugs. No, they are not just some funny joke that you say before bed. They are real. It started a couple weeks ago when Sister Short woke up with a bump on her knee. We figured that it was just a spider bite, and went on with our day. However, then we got a call from Hermanas Esplin, Mora, and Monson. They had bed bugs, and we had spent the night over there just a week before. So, we looked all over, but we found nothing. However, every morning, Sister Short would wake up with even more bumps! (Luckily, I am not susceptible to the bites, though they could have been feasting upon my blood and I would never know.) Then, we walked into our room late Thursday evening and saw.... A bed bug crawling on the mattress. So we smashed it and flushed it down the toilet, only to find out that we have to have a bug to show the exterminator in order for him to really do anything. So, we prayed about it, then went to do our laundry. Lo and Behold, there was a bed bug in our dryer lint. So, Gary the Bug is currently hanging out in a nice plastic bag until the bug killer arrives, and we are having a sleep over elsewhere until that happens.

Elder Rutledge, Elder Alton, me, and sister Short hanging out by the non-existent lake.

My totally fantastic new district, Elders Lovin, Brown, Clayson, Orme, Fuller, Barrett, Hermana Esplin, me. Front Row, Elder Rutledge, Elder Williams, Hermana Tolson, and Sister Short

We found the home of a few more creepy mannequins... Iowa has an obsession.