Wildbreeze in O-Town: In which the Sisters stayed home for half a week--Week 7

14 November 2016

Mom and Dad!

I hope your week has been absolutely fantastic. It sounds like you're doing some fun things. Mom, I think it's so cool that you're volunteering with the mission office! We missionaries need all the help we can get, haha.

Before I forget: I didn't ever thank you for the coloring book I found in my suitcase! I love it. It helped me stay calm this week. And the pins! I didn't find those until the last day in the MTC. :) Also, I did not go to that first District meeting barefoot. I was wearing flip-flops, because I'd been wearing them around our house (the floor is a little gross).

One thing; I really would like to pay tithing on the money I got gifted after my farewell. But missionaries are supposed to do that through their home ward, and the only way I can do that is if you either mail me tithing slips so I can mail them to our Bishop, or if you use my debit card to pay it online (I don't think there's a way for me to do that myself).

I have not found pants, but I honestly haven't looked very hard. I tried on one pair at Walmart and realized they would be infinitely too long for me. We'll have to do some shopping around, but neither of us feels like spending time on that immediately. Sister Angelo bought pants and loves them.

Haha, I prefer Maruchan Ramen. :P

I'm SUPER glad I'm not around for election nonsense. What we've heard from members is enough. I hadn't heard about rioting, though.

For Christmas, could you just send me pictures? I want pictures of the family, the nieces and nephews, the mountains... Just stuff at home. A picture Meowser if you can find one.

And I was SO EXCITED to read that Tanner got his mission call!!! I was thinking about him this week, actually. So awesome! :D

On to this week! I'm sorry pictures have been such a stinking issue. Hopefully it'll work better this week. Church wifi isn't great, especially with a couple dozen missionaries writing their families at once.

Sister Lamborn started to feel super sick on Monday. :( Stomach bug/flu/Poinciana Plague. (Fever, nausea, aches... Sister Neff directed me to direct her to sleep and drink and sleep.) She was out of commission and in bed through Wednesday-ish, at which point our Wednesday evening appointments cancelled anyway, so we were effectively home-bound for three days. It was certainly interesting to figure out being a missionary from home, alone.

I had set a goal last Friday to not whine about knocking doors or making phone calls. I always do it anyway, but the bad attitude felt like an issue. Perhaps it's good that I made that goal, because phone calls were absolutely necessary while Sister Lamborn was sick. All the cancellations and rescheduling and apologizing and other miscellaneous phone calls were left to me. I. Hate. Phone. Calls. But I succeeded in just doing it and not being a baby about necessary missionary things.

It did stress me out a bit, though. Between not having my upbeat companion and having to do all the things and one rude phone call... This is where the coloring book came in and saved the day(s), haha. Also, Adjusting to Missionary Life. So helpful. ("Stress emergency? Do these things. Calm down.")

She got a blessing Monday, and again I'm so grateful for Priesthood power. The blessing was so cool.

So the first half of last week, I started reading the Doctrine and Covenants, and read I think 18 sections those few days. Along with all of Mosiah in about 2.5 days. And talks, Preach My Gospel... Read a few things that I definitely needed. I see those few days as a blessing. Obviously I'm not glad that Sister Lamborn was sick and miserable for three days, but I needed the time to rest and sort myself out spiritually. I ran across so many things while studying those few days that were meant for me to read.

Wednesday I knew she was feeling better because she starting making jokes and talking in silly voices again. :) I missed having her brightness and laughter those few days. It was so so good to have her back.

Thursday we got out of the house!!!!!!!!!! Had a great District meeting. I gave a thought on gratitude (I'd actually been looking in the TG for "thanksgiving" a few days back, so it was fine).

I really love biking so much. Florida is gorgeous. I'm figuring out gears and it's mostly just effortless on the flat, flat roads. Except when the wind is blowing like crazy. (In our last companionship inventory, Sis Lamborn actually listed "good at biking" as one of my strengths. Part of it is just how TALL my bike is.) The only thing is, biking all day and then having to sit in hard chairs for meetings isn't fun.

We had our first real sit-down lesson. The people down here are so interesting, and it makes for some fun conversations.

Sister Clark approved us to have a sleepover with the Pleasant Hill North Sisters (have I said their names? Sisters Parish and Angelo) on Thursday night. :D Because they had the car that week, and Sister Lamborn and I had to be at a trainer follow-up meeting early Friday morning. At the Stake center. It's about 20 minutes from our house to the other Sisters and about 45 min to an hour to the Stake center. So it would have been a big ol waste of time to have them drive down to pick us up, and we would have had to get up suuuper early. It was way fun to spend the night and talk with them. Sister Parish did my nails. We were incredibly disobedient and got to bed after 12, oops. :P

Sister Angelo made cinnamon pancakes for us in the morning, and they were absolutely delicious. I'm starting to actually like having breakfast, and it feels weird.

The trainer follow-up was basically just "How have the past three weeks been? Are you still alive? Are you dealing with stress?" Mostly it was just great to see Sister Sorensen and the others we came out with again. :)

We finally got into the huge gated senior retirement community here. Solivita. Met with a sweet less-active woman who basically doesn't come because of her health; she can't sit on church chairs all day. She was so great though. She decorates eggs. Like, carves them with a drill, makes intricate details and doors and mechanisms. All different kinds of eggs, too. Ostrich, emu, goose... It was so cool.

And we had dinner with a new Solivita couple, the Chapmans. They are FANTASTIC. He was an ER doctor and they've worked with BYU in Jerusalem. They're so willing to feed us whenever, to come out with us whenever... The best member missionaries we could have asked for.

Friday we biked all the day and met some really cool people. Did some service for a less-active sister who loooves to talk. She fed us too, which was nice. And this weekend was Stake Conference! (I didn't bring my notes unfortunately, but I'll try and remember some of the cool stuff.) We snagged a ride to the adult session with one of the cool members down here and her less-active husband. There was a brother who talked about prayer and how awesome it is, that we should never take it for granted and we should always tell Heavenly Father how much we love Him. Elder Juan A. Uceda was at both sessions. (He's the one that gave the talk "The Lord Jesus Christ Teaches Us to Pray" in this last General Conference.) He spoke about his conversion story, and meeting his wife. She wanted to be married in the temple, and at the time the closest temple to his home in Peru was the Los Angeles temple. When the Sao Paolo, Brazil temple was announced, they saved for years and years to be able to go. She refused to be married anywhere except the temple. When they finally had enough money, it took them 21 days in total to get there and get home.

President and Sister Clark also spoke in both sessions. And the new Orlando temple president and his wife. There was a sweet little boy who talked about his conversion story and how prayer has helped him and his family. (I really wish I had my notes. :( I also haven't written in my journal the past couple of days, it's been too late. :( :( ) There was a lot about missionary work.

We met a sister earlier in the week, she pulled up to a stop sign and told us she was new in the area, please visit her. So we went by on Sunday. She's so so sweet. She recognizes that she's been missing the Spirit in her life from not going to church or slipping up on little things, and she wants to have that back. Her husband knows that the Book of Mormon is true, but is a little hesitant to be baptized. We're excited to teach him.

A Philippino family invited all of us to dinner. Their food is interesting. Dunno if you guys have tried that kind of stuff before, but you'd like it.

There's always so much that happens during the week and no way to write it all. (You wouldn't want to read these letters if I did.)

I know that God knows and loves us personally. He knows what will best help us. We have to put in the effort to ask and seek.

The scriptures are great. There's so much peace and knowledge contained in those pages. I don't know how I've never tried to read D&C. It's awesome.

I love reading your letters through the week. I love getting pictures. I love you all. :)

Love,

Christine

Including pictures that cover the past few weeks: