Wow, it's weird that life seems to be going on without me. How does that happen? Haha I am so happy for Maggie (marriage) and Cait (boyfriend) and Beth (college) and everyone that has such cool stuff going on! And I am especially happy for those that have boring lives right now......that could definitely explain the last 22 years of my life before the mish :) So keep your chin up if your life seems boring right now. Enjoy every moment cause you'll miss it when it's gone!
I am also happy to hear that everyone is doing so well. Girls, way to go to your presidency meetings! I love my righteous sisters! And Bug, way to practice the piano. And Em, way to be the best mini-me ever! And Beth, way to get the college stuff going! You all rock! And Dad, keep being that powerhouse that you are. Man, what did I do in the pre-existence to deserve a Dad like him? And Mom, thanks for the love letters.....you know me, I just get a little freaked out when I don't hear from you.....and I can't text you! So I just need a little weekly, "Don't worry, we didn't forget about you, you're still my favorite bestie" type of thing :) (I haven't gotten the letters or the package yet, but just knowing they're on their way makes me feel infinitely better)
Okay, on to the top ten for this week!
1. The other day I was having a downer morning and I walked in to our study room and there on my desk was a present wrapped in a bus map. That Sister B! I opened it up and it was a shirt! She'd found it in the apartment and wrapped it up for me and everything! I got a good laugh out of that and wore the shirt the very next day :) Dad's right, it really is the simple things that make the difference.
2. Well, because we live alone in our apartment now, we spent forever cleaning and throwing out stuff and we're still not done! I'm sure Sister B will go into great detail about it so you could read her email for that. But yeah, our apartment is infested with mice, roaches, and now perhaps bed-buds! I was filling up a bucket with hot water in the bathroom so I could scrub the walls and something jumped from the sink onto my shirt. I thought it was a flee so I swatted it off and yelled for Sister B. When she came in I told her what happened and she said it could have been a bed-bug (she would know cause she's had them) So I immediately started freaking out and taking off all my clothes and throwing them on the bathroom floor. Then I went and grabbed permethrin and sprayed the whole bathroom down. If it was a bed-bug it didn't stand a chance. Then when we were walking the garbage down to the basement (we live on the 3rd floor) the bag broke and all the garbage fell down the stairs (see picture). We just looked at each other and started laughing cause there was a ton NASTY stuff in that bad. And then I picked it all up :)
3. Sad story but happy ending. One of the Elder's in our district has been a little rude/different the last few weeks and we were asking our district leader about it and if we could do something for him. I said, "Yeah, I feel bad for the guy. The way he's acting you would think he's gotten dear-johned or something." Then our district leader was silent. The poor kid got dear-johned! Well I don't want anyone having a broken heart so we went right to action on that. The next day when we saw the Elders we presented them with a Better Than Anything cake, or as we now call it Better Than Baptism cake. They loved it and we've been praying for him so I think he'll be alright. Man, love hurts! But he is seriously one of the most consecrated missionaries I've ever met so I'm sure Heavenly Father has someone amazing in store for him.
4. The other day Sister B was extremely tired and was telling me so during companion study and she got so upset with how tired she was that she started to cry. The poor kid. I just started laughing (yeah really insensitive of me but she started laughing too). But you really are tired 24/7 on the mission. ALL the time. But you get used to it and it only hits you every once in a while really bad. Then 20 minutes later Hermana Pedraza called to give me some Mexican remedy for Sister B cause she'd had an upset stomach the night before. She felt better by the morning but we didn't want to disappoint Hermana Pedraza so we told her that she was still sick and Sister B just started busting up laughing while I was talking to Hermana on the phone. And Hermana Pedraza heard her and said, "Oh no! Is she throwing up!? I'll come over in 5 minutes!" And then Sister B is rolling on the floor and I had to make her leave the room because by this time I'm laughing so hard I can't talk and Hermana Pedraza is asking me what's going on. Wow. Good times. I still made Sister B drink the remedy and we reported back to Hermana that she feels so much better.
5. This should probably be deleted and not sent to anyone or put on the blog haha. (Deleted at Rachel's request!)
6. So you can see from the picture that I have found Brenna's husband. He is actually the one and only Armand, the son of Hermana Pedraza. His Mom is from Mexico and Dad from Trinidad, so I think they'll have beautiful children. Anyway, he collects rare Nike shoes and that's what he's standing next to in the picture. But the other day we went to eat dinner with a family and as we left they were starting to watch a UFC or something fight on TV for an Elders quorum activity (yeah, we're wild with church activities here) So the next morning I asked someone how the rest of the night was and she said, "Oh it was good. I think the Chinese guy won the fight." So when we saw Armand at church he said something like, "Yeah so the fight last night" and before he could finish his sentence I said, "Oh yeah, the Chinese guy won right?" And he got so mad at me because apparently he'd missed the fight because he was at a single adult activity and he was about to say how he was going to watch it the next day. He said, "Man, I thought I would be safe at church from hearing who won. And out of all people, the sister missionaries ruin it for me!? You have got to be kidding me!" I told him maybe I heard it wrong and he said, "It was against a Chinese man and a Mexican. Kind of hard to confuse them. Nice try." Anyway, I told him to just forgive me and he said okay so the wedding for you two is still good to go B'renn. You're welcome! Oh and another point for him is that he found out I liked Tim Tams (see picture) and they're from Australia and only sell them in a few places so he went all the way to Manhattan and bought us two packages of them! You guys should see if you can find some in WA. You bite off both ends and sip hot chocolate through them. Yum!
7. The Lord loves us. The other day we were in our apartment making phone calls and then a member calls us and says, "hey Sister I'm going to have to cancel the appointment we have at 4." We were a little bummed but no more than 30 seconds later an investigator calls us and says, "hey can you meet at 4 today?" Wow, miracles! The Lord's hand is in this work!
8. Hermana Dextre just moved to North Carolina and we are going to miss her and the kids so much! We have grown so close to her and I will definitely be keeping in touch with her. She is such a strong member and when we left she said she wanted to share some things with us and she shared some spiritual experiences that really touched me and strengthened my testimony. We helped her back and 3 hours later they hit the road! Life is always changing, so crazy!
9. Rosa. Wow. I don't know if you remember Rosa but we just started teaching her and on the second lesson she said she would be baptized. So she was supposed to get baptized this upcoming Sunday (the 21st). But we went and visited her last night and found out she is not actually married to her husband. That is SO common in this culture and her husband doesn't want to get married. So we had to tell her that her baptism had to be postponed because she couldn't be baptized unless she was keeping the law of chastity. She was disappointed but we told her that miracles do exist and the Lord will help her if she is doing everything she can. She said she is going to keep learning and going to church whether she can get baptized or not and she said that if she sets a good example maybe her husband will see her changing and want to get married. We love her so much and know that Heavenly Father is looking out for her. Please pray for her! Please!
10. This week's spiritual thought. First off, I just want to give a plug for the law of chastity. It is SO important. SO important. I can't even explain in words how important it is that we are chaste in thought, appearance, and action. The procreative power is such a special gift that Heavenly Father has given us as His children and we should treat that gift with respect. The law of chastity is not some hindrance or restrictive rule. Rather, it frees us from the burdens that come from the sexual impurity that the world falsely portrays as fun. When we are pure in thought, appearance, and action we are treating ourselves with the respect that we deserve as divine children of an Eternal Father. Do not sell yourself short by living by the world's standards. You are so much more than that!
Second, I was thinking about humility and pride a lot. And in Preach My Gospel it talked about pride and said, "To put things of the world above the things of God." Simple right? Well, in the Spanish program when they feed you, they feed you. So it's feast or famine here. But the feast is a little overwhelming and it's made me a little preoccupied about how I look. And normally I'm just fine and love who I am but the last week or so was a little stressful in that category. And I realized right when I read that line this morning that Satan was trying to devalue who I was and diminish my worth as a daughter of God by making things of the world above the things of God. How dare he try and tempt me and waste my time with such foolish thoughts. We are children of a Supreme Creator. How dare we label ourselves with the things of the world when we should look at ourselves as the way God sees us. And then, in such a witty way, Heavenly Father helped me to just chill when I looked up some of the scriptures PMG listed and one said, " He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat." Well, my trust is in the Lord! It made me laugh super hard and I've just decided to shut Satan up! So I really hope that this week everyone realizes how important they are individually to their Heavenly Father and just shuts Satan up!
Love the mish. Be the mish.
Hermana Winfield
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tim tams are in fred meyers:)
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