Sept 15, 2014 (9 1/2 weeks out)

OKAY. This week was hard, but I don't want to waste time talking about it. I'm struggling with a few different things. But. Focusing on the good. And my keyboard is messed up so please excuse any issues..

 

Okay wait I want to say one thing - so one morning we woke up and I saw our front door was unlocked and I was like aw darn.. whatever. And later that day Sis Rea was like, okay so I'm not sure I want to say this but I think someone was in our apartment last night... and I was like holy what... our door was unlocked and she just stopped like oh shoot. and apparently she takes forever to go to sleep and I am out in 2 seconds but she heard someone come upstairs and walk to our bedroom door stand there and go downstairs. But she was like nah we're locked up it must be the neighbors but our walls are super soundproof and so needless to say I didn't fall asleep in 2 seconds anymore. But. All is well and we are safe. 

 

Another story about safety - we were knocking a couple days ago and walking up to this house this creeeepy big dog came prowling around the corner and like, I have never been legit afraid of a dog attacking me until that moment. He was tied up and sis rea was like it's ok he can't get us and I just had this huge horrible feeling like you can't walk up to this door and I convinced her not to. And when we came back down the street a couple minutes later he was sitting on the front porch growling at us. So, uh. Yeah. I'm glad we didn't go up there. 

 

OKAY GOOD NEWS! Our area is EXPLODING with people right now. We have like 6-7 new investigators and it's awesome. David, the guy who brought himself to church and has read the whole Bom? He believes it all! We taught him 2-3 times this week and he's praying about baptism on the 27! He only has some issues in that he and his son kind of bonded over religion and he has to talk to him about it..so hopefully it all goes over well. He came to church again but he still goes to his Lutheran church in the mornings cause he's been going there like 10+ years and he's not sure what they'd think of him if he up and left to be Mormon. But he's great.

 

We also are going to start teaching this family!!! AH! They are so so awesome and they were sick on Saturday when we were supposed to teach them but we are going to sometime this week. She (Ladeana) and her fiancé have 5 kids ages 7-15, so we are way pumped :) Hopefully we get back in contact with them soon.

Okay! and MIRACLE BAPTISM YESTERDAY!!! So, Heaven Sorenson turned 9 last Saturday and we brought her a b-day present cause once she's 9 she's no longer a ward baptism she's up to us. She's had 2 baptismal services so far and each time when it came to her getting in the font she'd get waaay nervous and wouldn't do it. And she won't tell anyone why. So we were determined this is gonna happen. And we went over there like 4 times this week and taught her everything and practiced with her and she went back and forth with yes I will! To absolutely not sooo many times. So the day of her baptism came and we got her there with many more I can I cants and it was the most amazing baptism I have ever been to. It took 20 minutes of inch by inch but she got in the font! And then stood in the corner terrified and we got he rolder brother in there with her to help and sang encouraging baptism songs with her and her little friends were up against the glass saying "you can do it heaven!" and we were all praying SO HARD. And her brother had her go underwater with her just to try and after that she said ok! And she did it! And everybody was SO HAPPY. I can't even explain the feeling there. We all clapped and cried after - the first baptism I've seen where everyone clapped cause they were just so dang happy. It was so so so so awesome and I wish I could convey that in words.

 

Ok I have just a few minutes left and I need to say a few things -

One. Jason Gray from Studio-C? His brother is in my ward. We had dinner with them and they are awesome. Every time I see them I'm like giddy inside. His bro looks just like him but receding brown hair and shorter. CRAZY AWESOME.

Also, Mom can you send me piano sheet music maybe? I can print it at the library. I just really really miss it and I can't remember anything except Fur Elise.. and I miss it. So if you have a moment to spare even just a couple songs would be amazing and make my life :)

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH !!! And miss you! Have a fantastic week and tell Derrek hello with a hug from me!!

 

I got a raincoat btw and MY SURPRISE BOOTS! THANK YOU MAMA 

Sept 8th 2014

Ok so lots to say.

First, I want to tell a story of about um this morning's adventures. 

So after personal study this morning we were going to swap out our laundry and there was this nasty big spder on the outside of our front door - so, naturally, we wanted to kill it. So Sis Rea went outside with my shoe and I said WAIT I want a picture of it (cause it was cool nasty) so I ran back inside and we shut the door so she could hit it against the door... and my camera was dead. And when we went to get back in, the door was locked. And we were locked outside. With no phone, no key, and no shoes. (actually no, we had one shoe to kill the spider) which was actually 3 spiders. SO. It was cold. And we killed the spiders. And had absolutely no idea what to do. Beth and Gayle (2 ancient old ladies who are sisters and live together now and so cute) who live in the other unit have a spare key, but they sleep from 2am-2pm and no matter how many times we rang their doorbell they never came. And everyone else was either asleep or at work. So... there we were as 2 helpless missionaries with no phone no shoes no neighbors and no way to get inside (and no camera to document it which made me kind of sad). And so I said what are the odds we left the car unlocked.. we did. So we sat in the car for warmth and thought about what to do. Longer story shorter we sat in the car and my first suggestion was to climb up the tree, climb onto the roof and hope the window was unlocked and climb in through there. Sis Rea totally rejected it but I kept suggesting it and finally, we did that. It was slightly terrifying and I saw myself coming home with a broken femur for a minute, BUT it totally worked and it was awesome. We reinacted it with her camera since mine was dead. So there's a pic or 2. That was a lovely adventure this morning, and it probably means nothing to you but it was hilarious and utterly helpless for us. It was fun.

SO, anyway.

This week was probably one of the hardest thus far... I'm kind of struggling taking over this area. I feel like Sis Rea is annoyed with me because I don't know as much as I should and she asks me who these people are all the time and I have no idea and it's just frustrating. She'll ask me what we should do and who we should visit and I have no idea. I feel like I don't know anything. And our area is struggling in the first place as it has been, and she came from a place where she had a baptism or 3 a week. And I feel like she just expects so much of me and I have so little to offer. And for the first time I had a little bout of homesickness. One night I was just done and for the first time I thought I just want to go home, this is too hard and I'm not worth it anymore. Sis Rea is way sweet though. One night she just sat there waiting for me to decide what we should do as I stared at the map and I just started crying cause I felt so hopeless and she just held me and let me cry, which was good cause I haven't been able to just cry for a while. Sis Rea is good at helping me feel better - she knows what to say and we came to find out last night that we've been through a lot of way similar stuff. And we bonded a lot. In the first couple days I thought this compship may struggle cause I got slightly annoyed with her sometimes.. (she is Barbie. walk,talk,dress,you name it). But we're coming to understand each other more and I think we'll be good. We agreed to just be totally open with each other and say when somethings bothering us (and I told her I didn't like how she argued with this anti on a doorstep yesterday and they were yelling at each other and I stood there like oh..dear.. (there was no hope of fixing that situation and the spirit was totally gone). So. Things are hard right now. I just don't feel good enough to be here and I questioned my decision to be here and I feel so weak. But in my blessing Elder Bing (our DL who is my absolute favorite person ever I love him) said something about how my weaknesses are going to come out and let God turn them into my strengths, and that Heavenly Father is proud of me and I AM supposed to be here, and he said that you will serve the full 18 months. So that really helped a lot. There are still but a few things I will never be able to deny and that is that God lives and He loves us, and the power of the Priesthood. I am amazed by it all the time. And I must go, and I so wish I could tell you all that happens and the miracles we saw ok actually I will tell you real quick. Yesterday was fast Sunday and we prayed and fasted so much that someone would come to church and nobody came that we planned on EXCEPT this guy David who brought himself to church and he's read the book of Mormon already. like, WHAT. and while we sat there talking to him another lady walked in who said she saw a BoM on the bus stop and took it as a sign to come to church. WHAT. MIRACLES, man. It was awesome. But I wish I could convey a mission. But I can't. So, just know that it really is the hardest most difficult and rewarding and growth-enducing thing ever.

I LOVE YOU 

PS--[Funny side note-- when I told Charity to go buy some bug spray to get rid of the spiders this was her reply "ps- we prayed that spiders wouldn't come in any more a few weeks ago and they haven't come IN (just on our door). God is better than bug spray :)"]

the first few is when we got caught in our torrential downpour. and some slugs. and the clouds which I love

 

 

 

 

 our zone last transfer at our zone lunch at capitol lake park which was just lovely!
and the capitol across the lake.

Take 2

Ok, so today is transfers!!! My first one is already done! (wat) The library was closed yesterday so we are here today to write real quick. :) SO!

Sister Julien is leaving me D: She's going to Elma to be an STL with Ghering and C-something. They're gonna be a tripanionship! (which she's not too excited for because she's going from having our own bathrooms to sharing one with 2 others..lol) But I'm staying and taking over this area (which I am kind of nervous for because... I still feel like I know nothing) But my new comp is gonna be Sister Rae - and it's way funny cause of stalking the blog before I left and such she's one that I remember seeing.. So. We're going to transfer meeting in a couple hours (but we're grabbing meconi's after this and going straight there cause it's in Tacoma). I forgot my camera today (it's been crazy) which sucks cause I had some fabulous pictures. We had a zone lunch/activity yesterday at Capitol Lake (look that place up its gorgeous btw) and I LOVE our zone. From what I hear it we'll have an interesting district next transfer. But it'll be good.

So.. I forgot to tell you a story last week I must tell you. We had another monster-spider in the cottage last week. We had already named the past 2 Aragog and Shelob so this time around Sister Julien wanted to call him Stanley. But I decided on Satan. So, we called him Satan-Stanley. He was in our laundry closet and even bigger than the last 2 (someone said they might be called hobo spiders?) and there was no way I was going to try and get that thing. So we went and got our neighbor Carol (the sweetest little retired lady) and she came over and said "By goodness that's the biggest one I've ever seen!" (and she's lived here decades btw if that gives you the idea I'm really not exaggerating) and so we went and knocked on our other neighbor's door (Les) and he came over kind of chuckling cause he's this macho guy, and he looked at it and said the SAME thing. So this thing is huge. We gave him a mason jar to try and trap it so it didn't fall behind anything and in his rush to be manly he missed and it fell behind our washer... and we couldn't find it. And there he stayed all that day and night and we just had to wait to find him again (which, btw I had to pray myself to sleep that night cause having that thing in your living quarters is terrifying) and lo and behold, the following night he came out and when we came home he was on our wall. So we went to get Les and he wasn't home. So we tried our other neighborat 9:30 that night and he was just laughing at us... but he came over and said "oh gee, that thing really is big..." and we were like mmhmm yes now get it please. And so he caught it in the jar successfully (which his body filled) and took care of him. And that was the end of Satan-Stanley Spider. We now have a nasty spider about as big as my thumb living outside our front door by the porch light and we call him Lucy (short for Lucifer since Satan was taken).

Anyhoo, we're struggling finding people to teach right now. With school starting and holiday weekends and such everybody's like "leave us alone" but hopefully things will pick up in the next few weeks. Sister Rae will be joining me and maybe she's got some good ideas up her sleeve. We did find a new guy Mark though! He was a referral from Bremerton elders who found him at a bustop and he's got some potential I think :) He's going through a really hard time in his life right now and is a recovering alcoholic and we're meeting with him tomorrow! Yay! Julie is slowing down cause her dad had a stroke/heart attack but she invited usfor lunch on Sunday with Eleanor and it was so great.

We were downtown the other day walking around trying to find a less-active and as we were walking it was misting (I understand what they say by mist rain now) so we figured we didn't need an umbrella or anything (and I still don't have a coat/jacket yet anyway... which I need to get next Monday...cause uh rainy season is coming up on us) but as we were walking out of nowhere we were caught in this torrential downpour. It was ridiculous. Like when in Phx monsoon season and there's those nights where it just comes in buckets? Like that. So we were running down the street to this lady's apartment which we couldn't get in anyway. So we were soaked - it was quite the adventure.

I had a pretty hard day the other day. I'm just struggling with feeling like I'm not doing anything worthwhile. I don't feel like I'm doing any good even in lessons cause Sis Julien does most of the talking and I sit there and smile and nod. And I can't talk to people on the street yet - I'm working on that bravery. It's hard. So we were downtown street contacting on this rough day when I felt like I wasn't smart enough and didn't know enough about the Gospel and I felt kind of useless and I wasn't getting better even when I am trying so hard and I had a little silent breakdown in the park. I feel ridiculous sometimes cause your days literally are like a little heartbeat monitor with ups and downs and whatnot. But Sister Julien is oh so wise. And she gave me some good advice and told me it's ok that I'm not the perfect missionary and whatnot. So I'm doing better and I'm just studying hardcore all the time and sometimes it sticks and sometimes it doesn't but I'm trying. So, missions are a struggle. But I'm getting better and working on my "hope" for things. Cause sometimes it's hard to be hopeful when everything is rather negative. But. Alas.

Speaking of hope, I hope that Sister Rae does movie quotes too cause me and Sis Julien get a kick out of those. She could be a Bowler. I will let you know next week how things go!

I love you all sooooo much. It's ridiculous really.

Final note - I find the strangest things interesting as a missionary.. Doorbells are like, a thing. When someone has a quality doorbell, it like makes you giddy. We have said a few times this past week "what a majestic doorbell" or "oo, this ones fun" (and when we're all happy from their little birthday-tune doorbell it's this crotchety old man who hates us.. #life) and it's just like the weirdest things we find exciting now.. normal people would think we're the weirdest people ever (which I mean I guess they do have a point but..)

Ok. and really quick- since when is Zac doing swim?? How is that going? How does Jeremy like HS?? How's Matt's injury? Does Sam like cello so far!? I'm so glad he's got an instrument now :) I hope y'all know that I LOVE YOU OH SO MUCH and I show off pictures of the boys to the YW in the ward all de time ;) (don't get cocky).

I LOVE YOU and MISS YOU <3

Week.....something

Next week is transfers already! WHAT. Sister Julien is most likely being transferred (cause she's been here almost 8 months and in such small area she is going insane.. many breakdowns this week) so that means I'm taking over the area  Speaking of! On Tuesday we had exchanges with the STL's, and usually (always) they take the newbie back to Elma because having them take over a new area is terrifying and they know nothing. BUT for some reason they felt like I needed to stay in Olympia and Sis Julien went to Elma with Sis Johnston and I stayed with Sis Ghering in charge for a day. And when they told us that I kind of freaked out because I was already having a tough day not knowing anyone and everyone told me not to worry about it cause they always took newbies to Elma. So they said "we thought Sis Julien you could come to Elma" and I sat there staring at the phone and Sis Julien finished the conversation cause I started to panic because I still don't know lots of people and I don't know my way around and the STL was going to come and expect all of this of me and I may or may not have cried... Because I was terrified and and I knew nothing. And I so didn't feel ready to take over the area. So we prayed a lot that night and by the next morning when we swapped I felt a little better about it but was still pretty nervous. But Sis Ghering is way fun and way like me so it just felt kind of natural and Sis Julien planned our day so we had a lot to do. And it was so fun!! We didn't have a lot of success but we did get to visit Lance. OH Lance! So, last week we went to visit him (he's a less active no one's been able to contact or connect with whatnot) and as we were walking up to his apartment there was this truck pulling out and the guy had his window down and with this new "open your mouth" challenge, Sister Julien walked up to his window (I was thinking WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS IS SO AWKWARD) and was like "hey there!" and he was way nice to us! Turns out, this guy IS Lance and he said yeah I've really actually been thinking about coming back to church lately and we set up an appt to come back and visit him! Which was pretty much a little miracle cause if we hadn't been there right then and there and whatnot we would've missed him. So Sis Ghering and I got to go visit him and our fellowship bailed so we didn't get to go in but we talked on his porch and invited him to stake conf (which we didn't see him but maybe he was there) and he was way excited! So that was good. And then we had dinner with Milka... She is from Yugoslavia and she is crazy. And she made us this feast that wouldn't even fit on the table and she kept having to switch everything out and she didn't even have time to make all of it. And when we were literally in pain from eating so much she was offended we couldn't eat more. (btw - she boiled brussel sprouts and plopped them down too and I ate 2 of them.. meaning I chewed on the side of my cheek til it was enough to swallow and in swallowing my body (literally) heaved - I waited to swallow for when she wasn't looking at me so she wouldn't notice) I love Sis Gerhing. We had so much fun. When we were going to bed we were saying prayers and when I got done she was sitting on the floor staring at the ceiling and she was like "hey uh sister Wilson you've got a spider there on the ceiling" and sure enough, yes, there was a nasty fat thing that wasn't super big but right above her bed and therefore, it had to die. But it was wedged between the popcorn on the ceiling and we couldn't just smash it with a book and long story short, it took about 10 minutes to find an object sufficient to kill it with and in doing so it ran and dropped itself from the ceiling with the speed of light and we had no idea where it went.. so. after trying to find it for another 10 minutes and another 10 minutes of thinking of other places to sleep(we got creative let me assure you), we just pushed our beds into the middle of the room (so it couldn't crawl onto us from the walls and we felt safer) and eventually fell asleep. We switched back Wednesday before lunch and carried out again. But, I successfully took over the area for 24 hours! And drove for the first time in a month and a half which was slightly unnerving but we're alive.

 

Things were a little rough this week - my testimony is being tested hardcore. We talk to easily 70-100 people a day and some of them that rail on you can really put a damper on your day. It takes a lot out of you. Especially those doors you'll be walking up giving yourself a pep talk and you'll be SO ready and just overpouring with love for the person behind that door and you're thinking YES here we go I'm here to help you come closer to Christ and your life will be changed and you don't even know what's coming!.... and nobody will come to the door (even when you hear them whispering). Or they'll open it and you are grinning ear to ear and before you can say a word they *slam* (there is a whole new definition to slam when you're on a mission) it back shut. Or they'll open it and while you are trying so hard to show your love for them and really trying to teach them they will roll their eyes and look at their watch and you're thinking "no please! just listen!" and your heart just breaks. You totally come to understand all the prophets in the Bible and the Book of Mormon when they talk about when people aren't listening and it breaks their hearts. In stake conf yesterday someone said "Missionary work is hard because it helps you understand Christ more" (or something like that) and it is SO TRUE. You understand everything so much more and your testimony is super-tested and you question everything and it is HARD. And at the same time you get those doors when people will just love you right back and give you water bottles and you're reminded that people do appreciate the work you do. (And sometimes you laugh when they tell you they're fine but their neighbor needs some Jesus). I have SO MANY stories but I have 2 minutes left. GAH. And I don't know if I'll be able to write next week cause the library's closed :( We'll figure something out mebe. But, I just want errbody to know that I LOVE YOU and MISS YOU TONS!!

And I love Jesus :)

PS - Emily's wisdom teeth... lololololololol I LOVE YOU

Week 3 [says Charity, but I think it's 4?]

Ok so I'm starting to get used to this email thing. 

Also, it's insane that tomorrow I will have already been in WA for a MONTH! Since when?..

So, I have to say a few things that I've noticed about Washington that are highly different than Phoenix.

First - everything is alive. And things grow like crazy. Everyone goes out and picks blackberries off the side of the road cause they really are weeds here, but I mean at least something good comes of them! We were walking around the other day and this worm was coming out of the sidewalk that was as long as my forearm (no joke-I measured it). And the bees are totally black with one yellow stripe.. which is odd. They're a little bigger than the yellow/black ones too. And there's flowers EVERYWHERE - eeeveryone has flowers growing and my new favorites are Dahlias. I've seen more kinds of flowers in the past week than I have my whole life. And these weird ones that hang upside down called Fushias? I swear Dr Suess lived here.

Humidity is killer some days... It's not so bad when there's a breeze but otherwise it feels like you're walking in a sauna. It's not super hot outside necessarily but it's super muggy. And moss grows everywhere - it's in the cracks on the street on the sidewalk on rooftops (it's actually a problem sometimes) which is weird.

People don't believe in plastic bags anymore up here - when you go shopping everything is in big brown bags with no handles (that you have to pay for every time).  And milk jugs are big rectangles with a hole in the top - it's the weirdest thing. Normal milk jugs don't exist.

And the spiders... Let me just tell you okay. Spiders are crazy. At first it was crazy-funny like "oooh the spee-i-der" (megamind) because there are at least 2-3 on everyones doorways and whatnot and you walk through them all the time but it's like, spider-season now and they are LITERALLY EVERYWHERE. We counted 14 webs (with inhabitants) on this one lady's porch/doorway thing. And they're not like AZ spiders - they're these big yellow-orangey-black ones. We found a pretty big one on the stop sign as we were walking the other day I'll put a pic on the bottom of it. And THEN... luckily we don't find them in the cottage that often. But last night I battled freaking Aragog and his spawn.

Story time. So after we came home for the night we were saying our "mighty prayer" where we pray about everyone and everything every night and it takes a good 10+ minutes, and as Sister Julien was praying this lovely epistle I have no idea why but I opened my eyes and looked over right as this monstrous thing is crawling less than 2 feet away from us as we are huddled on the floor. And I panic because literally, this thing is as big as my palm. His body is as big as my thumbprint and standing he was like 2-3 inches tall. Which explaining it doesn't seem that bad but you know those ones in captivity at the zoo? Someone let him free in our house. And he's crawling towards the closet door and I'm like no way he's going in there cause I will not sleep knowing he's in there, so I whisper "sister julien... pause..pause.. sis-SISTER JULIEN" (whispers getting louder) and she looks at me mid-prayer like what the heck and I'm just staring at Aragog's firstborn over there and she panics. She has a theory of "out of sight out of mind" and there's no way she'd touch it. But I won't sleep til I know he's gone so I grab my shoe and (he's half the size of it with his legs) try to hit him and he runs. And so I'm going crazy trying to smash this thing and Sister Julien is just saying "kill it kill it kill it" and it was one of the most terrifying things I've ever done.  But eventually, I did smash him (several times) and we go to continue our prayer.. I hope God forgives me for that interruption. So we finish that and we just look over at the little corpse and kind of nervously laugh about it and ALL THE SUDDEN his SPAWN comes creeping out from under my shoe and he's only slightly smaller than his devil father but he creeps under the closet door. And so Sister Julien (who is petrified of spiders, btw) is done for and she's freaking out sitting on top of our table because our cottage is now under attack with the little beasties and to make a long story short I found him in the closet and killed him too. But that was last night. Northwest spiders... *shiver*

ANYWAYS.

I also really wanted to tell a story from our miracle day on Thursday.

So, lately it's been kinda rough when everyone hates you. But I'm getting used to it and it's not so bad, but Wednesday was a pretty difficult day. And so on Thursday I was determined to have a better day. We went out to lunch with Bishop Anderson (who is the absolute best btw) to this little Asian place downtown and I got this little fortune cookie that said "Others appreciate you more than you think" and I showed it to Sis Julien and we were like "Ha!" cause it was perfect! And exactly what I needed to see, you know? Cause things are rough and whatnot but it was like this little nugget of hope that totally made my day :) And Bishop just kind of took a sec to say that I'm doing good and don't worry about it kind of thing which helped too. And then throughout the whole day these little things kept happening like little signs from above reminding me that someone's looking out for me. Then when we were knocking that night, we hit this Anti, and holy moses he was just oozing with this hatred. He stood there on his doorstep and just yelled at us for a good 5 minutes telling us we are deceived and everything we believe is crap and etc etc. He was shaking he was so mad. I didn't really say anything but it was so weird because I just felt deep inside me this love for him.. I could see past his anger and his threats and whatever else he was throwing at us and it was almost like I was looking into his soul or something - but I could see he was afraid and I just loved him. It was so strange. But I think that's what charity was. And after that house we knocked into this British lady who was much nicer but not interested and as we walked away this car pulled up next to us and this lady and her daughter said "are you the LDS missionaries?" and we were like why yes we are and she said "oh, we love you guys! we take them in all the time for dinner - and we're actually on our way out right now, would you like to join us for dinner?" And so they treated us to dinner at this little Mexican place! And while we were there (this lady Dory and her daughter Olivia are absolutely the sweetest most intelligent people I've ever met btw) this older Latino man came up to us and said "oh, I love the missionaries! You guys don't worry, your meal has been paid for" and we were like, okay, what is going on today!? It was so awesome! And the whole night was just awesome like that, and I felt so much love and AH. and then to finish it off, we came home and I got my package :D That day was the best day in the world!!

Btw, I have T-2min left on my timer before I'm logged off but I just have to say how much I LOVE you guys!!! That huge envelope full of notes and letters absolutely MADE MY DAY <3 I love my family SO much and I read every single one!! I have the best family in the whole wide world and that package was just the best thing I've ever received! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

Here's some pictures of the week! (including Aragog's corpse and the big ugly one by Sis Julien)

August 11th

The baptism on Saturday went SO GOOD! Cala is absolutely amazing, I can't even say. I love her so much!! She bore her testimony after she got baptized and she is so ready to change her life and everything! Even being a single mom with no family nearby she is so strong - she made a comment in Gospel Essentials class yesterday that we were just like "YES! *fistpumping* GO CALA!" I absolutely love her and am so excited for her!

Speaking of church yesterday, Sister Julien and I got to teach Relief Society! (Eleanor was supposed to teach but it was the anniversary of her daughter's death so she went out of town with family so she asked us to take over this Sunday) And so, yes. The sister missionaries taught Relief Society. On none other than Eternal Marriage. (why yes it was super ironic and many jokes were made) but it was pretty good! We team-taught which was good because I don't get a whole lot of opportunities to speak (Sister Julien knows a lot and she's usually the one talking and it's hard to jump in) But it was good! We had a bunch of sisters come up to us after and say we did better than most married people would have so I mean.. it wasn't too bad! haha

We didn't get to go to the temple with Eleanor either :( When we called President for the ok he said actually he just wants members baptized -after he made that announcement to go with their missionaries... So. That's a bummer. BUT we can go with Cala in a couple weeks and take Eleanor along >:) #loopholes

Also - I'm not eating whole fruit yet Mama don't get too excited. But I almost did a couple times.. so it's coming. Just cooked fruit I can do. And that is quite wonderful. But we had peaches on top of angel food cake at a dinner last night and I couldn't... so I hid them under a napkin. By the way.. did I ever tell you about a couple weeks ago and the pickles?... I'll tell you even if I already did. So we had lunch with a member and then went to meet at another member's for an appt with Rena but Rena cancelled last minute so we just hung out and Sis Brown (the member) said well hey let me make you some lunch then (we call this double-stuffing in the mission life) so she made us sandwiches and salads and on my sandwich she's like "do you like pickles?" and I said "I do not.." but she missed the "not"... so, she piled on a lot full of pickles and fruit is one thing but pickles are just nasty.. and so I was internally struggling like "ohno ohno ohno" because it was too late! So I tried a bite with it and felt sick and was trying not to gag so I made a plan. I let some of the lettuce fall out (she was commenting as she made it as the lettuce might not stay in and laughing whatnot) so I casually let some pickles fall out like oh no big deal but I couldn't let them all just fall out I mean that was too obvious. So I looked around and their big dog was sitting by me looking up and I was like hmm.. yes.. but then thought what if he doesn't like pickles and spits them out over on the carpet and she's like.. heeey.. so I couldn't do that (and they're too loud to chomp on for the dog anyway and she'd be like what is he eating) so.. I had my bag on my lap and "accidentally" let some fall in there and I shoved a little stack in the pocket and let the little nasties fester in there until we left. So when we got back to the car I threw them in a bush and Sister Julien just looked at me like "what.." and my bag had a light stench of pickles for a bit. BUT I escaped that one successfully. So that was exciting.

Okay. Anyway. Honestly this is going by SO fast and all the days blur together... and I don't remember hardly anything. But alas, here's some things I remember:

Knocking doors the other day we met a crazy lady named Roslyn from Australia who was absolutely unhealthily obsessed with quantum physics. That was a super interesting - she doesn't shave (Zac you'd be proud) and she had this toothpick she was picking with as she leaned against the door smirking at us the whole time but she was funny. "God is love-he is inside all of us!" "We believe God is a being who is our Heavenly Father who lo-"  "OH that is a looney! Now if you only knew ..[quantum physics things that were way over our head]" and the like for about 15 minutes. We also met a guy who I'm pretty sure hadn't showered in weeks if not months who approached us and said "can you tell me a little bit about what you are teaching people?..." and we were like why yes, yes we can.

It's funny how this whole thing works - one day tracting/knocking this past week we has 0's all around for anything and no success anywhere - I think only 2 people opened their doors in 2 hours and they were both 2 second conversations and rude words. Then the next day, we had 5 new potential investigators and return appointments and it was the best day ever! One of the guys we met was Eli, and he's this young guy who had a bunch of questions and asked for a Book of Mormon and I was just so excited. We gave him our number for when he's done reading (he was excited to read it) and I really hope he follows through cause he seemed different and we talked about prayer and God and stuff cause he was unsure about God and I was able to tell him how I experienced almost everything he was thinking about and going through and we connected and I think he'd be super great.. so I really hope that works out.

Also, school started?!?! Everyone has to tell me how it goes!! Please!! I'm so excited! How was Jeremy's first day of high school?? And Matt in middle school?? How is Sam all by himself at HH? And Zac's an upper classmen?  Emily... oh wait. Yay! I want to know!

I have to go now, but this week was crazy. It is insane how different every day is. You never know what is gonna happen!  We're really trying to get members more involved because they're in the mindset of "the missionary's got it-go them" and they don't realize how important they are. So any ideas on how to get that started would be awesome. We're gonna try this week (if we can get into anyone's home) to talk to RM's and get them thinking about their mish and hopefully it'll kickstart a "hey-I miss that. I wanna help" So. Pray we can get more members involved cause that's strugglin. 

One more thing I AM SO EXCITED FOR DEVIN AND BROOKE I CAN'T EVEN SAY!! They are going to be SO great in Sweden and Spain!! AHHHH I love them!!!

 Me with the ELEVEN LETTERS I wrote last Monday.
Yes it took forever but I felt so accomplished :D

 I got a SEAHAWKS jersey because it says Wilson on it and they are huuuuge here

 a baby trashcan <3 <3 they are so cute!! I have no idea what they're for but I love them

Me writing you at this very moment (courtesy of sis Julien taking a sec)

Baptism...say what?! (Aug 4th)

[for clarification--this is Mom posting Charity's emails.  Charity doesn't have access to this blog and won't see if you comment until she comes home.  You can always write her a letter though! :)]

Ok! So, I have a whole lot to say and not a lot of time to say it so bear with my scattered thoughts...

First of all and most importantly, WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS WEEK! WOO! Cala is getting baptized on Saturday! She is so amazing, oh my goodness I love her to death. We are so excited and she is so funny - on fast Sunday she brought this bag of food because I think she misunderstood it... it was so funny and she was so embarrassed but she is a good sport through it all :) I love it! It's so great!

Also, I'm finally feeling better! I was sick the first week and a half with I don't know what. It went through weird stages but it's all good now!

Well Mom, everybody and their dog offers fruit at every meal because everything grows. Blackberry bushes really are a weed so people pick them as the walk down the sidewalk and just eat away! On Monday we had family night with a family in the ward and had (fresh) blackberry pie for dessert (and I ate it >:) whatwhat) I have discovered that I can eat cooked fruit - we have these berry crumble things all the time at members' houses and they're way good. "spooner berries" are a huge thing here they're supposed to be the best in the world but I mean I wouldn't know the difference... but yes. You can be proud (I politely decline the peaches and whatnot they'll offer and people just think I'm weird)

It was actually pretty warm this week... when knocking the doorsteps are like ovens and we got sunburned one day.. It seems to be cooling down the past couple days but I'm not sure. 

Another one of our progressing investigators, Julie, really likes the church and we have a recent convert Eleanor (who is golden) come with us and we had a lesson this week that was awesome but she didn't come to church. :( So we're working with her and hopefully it works out.

Eleanor was baptized a couple months ago I think but she is the sweetest most amazing little old lady. AND we might get to go to the temple with her this week!!!! The mission just altered the rules yesterday and changed it so missionaries can take the investigators they baptized to do baptisms and not only endowments (and this is experimental so don't go telling errybody-it's kind of secret) So hopefully that works out.

Our other PI Rena was doing so good and was gonna start changing her kids nap schedules to come to church better! BUT the father of her children/boyfriend/idk who is getting out of jail soon said he doesn't want her talking to the Mormons. And she's kind of softer so we were thinking noooo! we've lost her! and then a few days later she texted us saying "Chris says if I join he'll have to have more than 1 wife.. is that true? and if it is I can say no to having sister wives right?" and we just laughed for like 5 minutes, 1: because of the polygamy thing and 2: she was still totally willing to come and learn still if it was true! So funny. 

One more cool story: MIRACLE PIZZA! We didn't have a dinner Saturday night and I had been craving pizza since we got an ad for Domino's on Monday, so we decided to splurge and have pizza delivered. When we called they said it'd be an hour and that was ok cause we had time before dinner anyway, so when we were waiting at home it took them like an hour and 15 and when the guy got there, he was like "sorry this is late - no charge" and we were like, "...what?" cause we had scrounged around for extra dollars and whatnot and then we got it for free! (2 pizzas and parmesan bites! freeee!) It was awesome! That was a good day :)

Earlier this week was really hard actually. I was struggling a lot for a couple days - especially when knocking doors because that is really not my favorite thing to do (I talked about it a bit in my letter to Emily) and everybody hates us (haha.. really though) and nobody wants to talk to us. Some people are really nice about it and some don't care to be which is hard. I was just praying and praying that Heavenly Father would just show me a sign that being here is worth it. Sister Julien would tell me that knocking you will see miracles and I was thinking "it's been a week and we've seen nothing even close" and just prayed and prayed that I would see something that told me that being here was somewhat worthwhile and I was doing something good. 

So I was reading in my study the next day about faith! And I don't remember where it was.. but it talked about how it isn't until after the trial of your faith that you see it, and how miracles are not wrought without faith! (here) So, me and Sister Julien prayed for faith instead of just miracles and whatnot, and that day we got 3 people to say they would be ok hearing more! WHAT. And everybody that day was so nice to us! People offer us water bottles and sodas and whatnot and it's so great. It was just like a smack in the face to me - after that day I was like, well DUH Charity, of course! So now we've been praying for faith and things have been so much better and easier and the past couple days have been so good. We are SO blessed! Prayer is real, guys. It's so great. I know there will be ups and downs but you know, Sister Julien says don't worry about the downs, enjoy the ups while they last because yeah they'll go away, but they'll go away. So enjoy them :) (hopefully that makes sense in text)

I loved the past few days and I think things are looking up! I love you all SO MUCH and miss you SO MUCH! Have a fantastic week!

PS - Emily told me about Devin and Brooke and I SAT HERE AND CRIED I AM SO HAPPY FOR THEM I CAN'T EVEN SAY. I wish I was there!!! I love both of them and tell them that!! AHHH

Pss- I use my little hymnbook allllll the time Mom :) thank you!!!

 Care package in the MTC

Cleaning toilets in the MTC 

(Sis Rasmussen was not happy)

 

Sister Julien and Charity at Puget Sound

(first day)

 

 In front of their cottage :)

Eagles nest! Charity said it was big enough she could sleep in it!

"One of these is me with a bunch of flyers... Don't tell anyone.. But I stole those off of people's doors. (they're for a church. I was simply removing a potential stumbling block)"

 Beautiful GREEN everywhere!