Dear mom papa, family, and friends,
Sorry I didn’t' email yesterday! It’s been the craziest week. Transfer weeks are crazy, and it's insane to me that this is my last one before I go home. It’s going by so fast.
So Sister Baker got transferred to Sulihull with Sister Pope, and I got Sister Whitaker, who was companions with Sister Pope before. So they just swapped. It’s sad for Sister Baker to leave. We got on really well, and I thought she'd be with me till the end, but I’m grateful for the chance that I have to do more growing. Sister Whitaker and I have only been on one exchange together, and so this will be wonderful to learn from her.
A little about her: she is from Nevada. She was a gold miner before she came. Yep, I’m for real. She is the only sister that has beaten me at arm wrestling. Not even a competition! She has a great story, and is funny, so we are having a great time. This is only the first day, so I’m sure it's going to go up from here even!
So I should really start from last Tuesday. Since I emailed last Monday. I have SOOOO much to fit into this email! I’ll try to get it all. Good thing I write down everything I do, so it'll be easier. Mom, it sounds like you need a missionary planner, so you can remember every hour of every day! Ha-ha.
So last Tuesday, we had some really great lessons I remember. But then we had a makeover! Now this seems like a funny thing for a missionary to do. But we needed to. Our recent convert, Rita Lee, has not had the best circumstances in her life, and she really has struggled. Nobody has ever helped her to look her best, so we decided because she trusts us, we would. So we set up a hair appointment. Had her hair cut. We dyed it for her. We did her eyebrows, her makeup, and went charity shopping with her! I wish I brought the pictures to the computer with me! I should send them to you. But she looks incredibly better. And we told her to go to her dentist and get false teeth, and she did. She looks awesome, and even better, she's walking with her head up now. She has so much more confidence. We plan to do more to help her. We told Sister Ogden about it, and she loved it!
Wednesday: we had a great great lesson with Cellie! She is amazing. She talked about her whole past with knowing about the church, and then she told us that she plans to get baptized when her parents come and live with her in December! She invited herself!!! Gosh. Sometimes, our work can be so easy and rewarding! So that was fabulous. But then on those kinds of miraculous days, there is always something to also try to get us down. We just had to laugh at it. We went to a member’s house, and she has a hard time. She’s crazy. Literally. And she had us come over to drop her something off, and they invited us in. and turns out that her family is completely anti Mormon, and basically yelled at us for a while. All I said was, I’m sorry you feel that way, and I’d smile and try to compliment them. Well, by the end, we just wanted to get out of there, but the mom was at least nice to us at the end. It was interesting. Not everyone loves us apparently. Sad.
Friday! We got a call from Sister Ogden. She has had a lot of pain in her knee, and has a really hard time getting around right now. Which has been especially stressful for her, because she is the one to get food done and ready for Elder Bednar. So she called us and asked us to come to Costco with her and shop with her. So we went, and pushed her in a wheel chair, and then had lunch with her. It’s one of the privileges of being APW (assistant to the president’s wife...of course!). It was nice to spend some time with her. I love her and President Ogden so much!
SATURDAY! Was a really really good day! Elder Bednar came to speak with us for a whole three hours. And it was amazing. I was asked to play the piano, and I was so nervous, playing in front of an apostle of the Lord, but it turned out ok. It was amazing to have the whole mission together. And the meeting wasn't long enough! We loved it. He started out asking us loads of questions, and we could answer. And then we could ask questions.
He talked all about turning out versus turning in. Being selfless versus being selfish. And how in our missions especially we have to turn out. But even when we get home (or get transferred home to a different kind of mission - that's how he put it) we have to turn out and concentrate on others. He talked about how the gospel is full of paradoxes. Is that the plural of paradox? I don’t know. But he talked about losing one's life to find it, etc.
He also talked a lot about being an agent versus an object. And how in our prayers we need to be agents. We need to act, not be acted upon. It was an amazing meeting!
He talked about the priesthood for a good half hour, and I think all of us sisters wanted to hear what he'd say about women’s roles in all of it. So when we only had 20 minutes left, he asked if we had more questions, and I raised my hand. I stood up and asked where women fit into the gospel. And his answer was incredible. I knew a lot of the answers, but oh it was wonderful to hear it from an apostle. He first had his wife answer the question. Then he talked, looking at me the whole time, not even breaking the eye contact, and told us that women turn out automatically. We have the ability to love. When we do something well, we think we didn't do it well enough. Whereas men don’t do things very well, but they think they were amazing. Men provide for the family. Women nourish the family. Men need the priesthood to go to the temple. Women don't. Basically women just don't need the priesthood.
Well, by the end of him talking, I was feeling very overwhelmed and emotional, and he asked if that answered my question. I said, yes, thank you. And then he looked at me, and said, "I can tell that you got more out of this than what was said by the smile in your eyes", and wow. That was amazing.
It was an incredible thing to be at, and to be a part of. I’m so grateful I was able to be on my mission for that! It was amazing!
Then the next day, we had a tri stake conference with Elder Bednar again. And he spoke to us about many of the same things! We had 6 investigators there! Two of which were Bureh and Hawatu! It was their first week, and they loved it. Elder Bednar took some time to talk to non members, and it was amazing. He taught them about the gospel. And it was wonderful! The spirit was so strong. And everyone loved it so much!
Monday, I got my hair cut! I was just sick of it. And I saw someone with a really cute hair cut, and so I just decided to go for it. And I chopped all of it off! Well, not all of it. I still have hair. It’s just short. It’s a-line. And I love it. And I am sorry; I have no pictures on me. But maybe on Sister Tuft's blog soon? She has pictures. But I like it a lot. It’s short. But great. And it's nice. Less time having to do my hair. It’s a relief! And then that night we found out Sister Baker was leaving. I was really sad. We have gotten so close, it's sad. But we'll always be close, so I’m happy. We’ll always be friends. And now Sister Pope is her follow up trainer! It’s great she gets both of us! Lucky duck!
Tuesday, we saw sooo many people to say goodbye. It was a sad day. But good day.
Then Wednesday, we got her out of there!
So today was Sister Whitaker’s first day, and we have had so many blessings today. It’s been wonderful. There is a wedding rehearsal tonight. I am pretty sure I get a harp to play on for the wedding! I have nothing to wear for the wedding. I feel stupid, it's all missionary clothes. Blast! Oh well.
But things are great. Life is good, and I love being here on a mission. I’m so grateful I have been able to spend 6 months here, and will have 7 and a half by the end. Wonderful!
Mom, papa, I love you! Thank you for all you do. You are wonderful. And I miss you, and am excited to see you. Kinda. I’m not going to be one hundred percent excited to leave my mission. I’ll miss it! But I’m excited to see you!
Love you sooooo much!
Love, Annie
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