How to contact me

Letters can be mailed to:

Sister Melanie Renee Girvin

219 High Ave E Apt 1

Oskaloosa, IA 52577

Emails can be sent to: melanie.girvin@myldsmail.net

Monday, July 30, 2018

Ft. Dodge Interveiws!

So, this week has been exciting! We started it off on Monday in Ames. We were on exchanges with the STLs there, and I was with the lovely Sister Newman! However, for some reason the people that I am comps with have been getting sick lately... Call it my curse LOL! But, we had to pull over in a Casey's parking lot (gas station, since the West doesn't have Casey's)ad she ran inside. And threw up ALL OVER because she didn't make it to the bathroom fast enough. So, So, we just went back to the apartment and spent the night. And in the morning, Sister Henderson, the other sister in Ames, was also super sick. So, Sister Dalton and I went home haha! And we spent the rest of that day stopping by the people that we are teaching, but nothing too exciting... But, Tuesday evening we got asked by the APs to go help out in Marshalltown with the after effects of the huge tornado that they had there.
So, on Wednesday we woke up uber early and drove the hour to MTown, and we were completely shocked! We were not prepared for how badly they got hit. Our job was mainly to help the people who were effected get help from the Red Cross and other people in the area that were willing to provide free assistance. And can I say, we left that place truly humbled. One lady that I helped was 7 months pregnant, and tried to run to her neighbor's house, but her porch got ripped when she opened the door. So, she spent the remainder of the storm huddled in her bathroom. Many many people were crying... So, we were there from about 7 AM to about 2PM, then we headed home and did our studies before we had our branch Pioneer Picnic! (Because it was the day after pioneer day) So that was a lot of fun, of course!
Then, on Thursday, highlight of the week! We drove up to Ft. Dodge to have interviews with the zone! We had a new senior couple join our AMES DISTRICT LOL, in the Ft. Dodge zone. Our zone has 3 districts in it, so we were there from about 9 AM to 4 PM, then we went out to lunch with the entire zone! Those are the pictures that were on Facebook LOL! Sister Dalton and I low-key got lost on our way, so we were at the end of the table by the elders that came from Peoria. So, to be completely honest, the people from the Chicago mission and the Iowans never really mixed... We just never took the actual time to get to know them. But, after sitting with them for an hour, Sister Dalton and I can now say that they are legit our most favoritest  people in the mission haha!!
Friday morning started out as any other morning. Woke up, did studies, and started weekly planning. And then the stomach flu that has been hitting everyone in our district (A couple elders got sick this week too) came to us, of course, and Sister Dalton was struck down. So, we had to stay inside. Then, early Saturday morning, I too was hit. So we stayed in for most of that day too. We were a bit anxious towards the end, so we went out and stopped by a few of the people we are teaching, but nothing too exciting. But then, our branch president texted us. Turns out, we did a pretty good job at giving talks last month, so he asked us to again! So we hurried home and started working on those, and then texted President Badger that we were speaking again.
Sunday we got up as usual. Went about our daily routine. And then we went to church. We were sitting in the chapel when we got a call from our favorite President Badger, who asked us what the church address was. Not 5 minutes later,  he and Sister Badger walked in. We felt pretty special, but also low-key terrified LOL!! But we did pretty good. At the end of church, there was going to be an 8 year old baptism, so we were planning on staying for that, but President was like Sisters, I want to see your apartment! We were like, okay, and we drove home, praying that the apartment was clean, since, ya know, we weren't expecting company!
Thankfully, it was! They said that it was the cleanest one they have ever spontaneously gone to! So, we are so grateful that 1, both of us know how to clean, and 2, that we had been sick, and therefore, had time to clean!
The rest of the day was good. We went and stopped by a few referrals, but no one was home. We were starting to get a little discouraged when I saw a guy riding his bike down the road, and he was wearing a pretty legit fanny pack! So, I told him so, and he laughed, and we realized he was friendly, so we went and talked to him. We will now be teaching Daniel and his family :) Probably my favorite part of missionary work is finding new people to teach. When you first tell them about the message of the Restored Gospel. The process in finding those people isn't easy... Sometimes you knock on a hundred doors, get called very rude names, get screamed at, and sometimes even get bitten by animals before you find one person! But we are promised that great will be our joy in the next life for bringing but ONE soul unto Christ, which must be unimaginable if it is better than seeing a new sense of hope fill the lives of those we meet. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!

 My giant buddies on a wall...

Me and Sister Dalton in the Church famous helping hands shirts!

My favorite companion, Sister Dalton's 20th birthday is next week!! And she loves packages ;)