Mission Newsletter #5

This week was my birthday! Everyone made it sooooo special for me!

Birthday miracles

         The beginning of the day, I woke up to my companion yelling "Happy Birthday!" Then after working out and hopping into the shower, I came out and my companion had made a Happy Birthday sign and put it up in the kitchen and wrapped my gift in construction paper, a paper bag, and used plastic bags as tissue paper. Cute and a classic missionary wrapping job. :) She got me a One Direction cup, earrings, chocolate, and mints. What every girl missionary wants! The day got only better when I opened the mailbox to find it stuffed with cards and letters! There was one card from my parents, my siblings, the DeLuca's, and a letter from Darren. :) It was the best gift ever! I can't express all the joy it gave me.

My companion's B-day decor

Cards!

        We went out, having a normal day visiting and knocking on doors. We ended this day with dinner at our Bishop's house. :) They made me a spectacular birthday dinner! Pork chops stuffed with apples and bacon, mashed potatoes, baked asparagus and tomatoes, and rolls (or homemade gf bread for me.) It was

The Birthday Meal

delicious! SO much food, but worth every bite! They also made me a gluten free, dairy free, egg free, chocolate/ German chocolate cake. They lit the candles, sang to me, I made a wish (a WAY good one), only to be disappointed with my lacking ability to blow out more than 3 candles at a time. It took me a WHOLE blow to just get out one blasted candle! They weren't trick candles, but they sure were tricky. Anyways, the cake was amazing! I don't know how his wife did it!  First completely normal tasting dessert I've had since I have gotten on this diet! It was so good! Not only that, she made a normal German Chocolate cake for everyone else, so we took the rest of my cake home. She also sent me home with the gf bread, rice crispy treats!, and a box of ginger bread cookies that work with my special needs. How nice?!

       

The Elder's Gift

The birthday celebrations ended with meeting Elder Leali'ie'e and Elder Osiemo at the church. First

off, they totally scared me (on accident, but I jumped hard core.) They had Martinelli's set up, a Happy Birthday balloon and gift for me! They gave me the most hilarious card ever with the pic of all four of us on the front and then a silly pen with a cute journal. The journal is SO me! They were so sweet and chose everything out perfectly! We seriously have the best elders/ zone leaders ever! So overall, my birthday was amazing! THANK YOU EVERYONE!

This week we went out with a college-aged girl in the ward who goes out with us to teach. She sent off her missionary this last week. :'( Sis. Senior and I both know how hard that is. She plans to go on a mission as soon as she turns 19 in September. She'll be a great missionary. She's incredible.

Btw, everyone has been asking me about the weather. It's overall warm here. It's starting to get a little bit more chilly, but not bad at all. It's the wind that's cold, so no wind= perfect weather. It gets light way early here. The sun starts rising at like 5:30 and it starts getting dark between 5 or 5:30 at night. Weird! The pic of our apt complex I attach is taken the second we woke up at 6:30! Doesn't it look like noon? Crazy!

6:30 a.m.

We had Zone Conference this week and have a Zone Goal of 16 baptisms for November. Crossing our fingers! That would be doubling our baptisms from last month! Pray for us!

Also, Sister Senior has been sick. She has bad kidneys and they have been acting up a lot. We've gotten some testing done, but there will be more, so you could keep her in mind too, that would be great. Good came out of these appts though! I had extra study time. I had some doctrinal questions on my mind that had been boggling me. It's amazing how the Lord will answer our prayers and answers if we just put in the work and time. I encourage you that if you have questions or concerns about anything in life, if you put in the work, the Lord will follow through.

We also had Stake Conference this week. I just want to pass on one thought: "We must abandon sin and become comfortable with God, not abandon God and be comfortable with sin." We must be different from the world. Love this thought. So true.

We visited Tywanna as the first time since she has become a member. The Holy Ghost is so prominent and glows inside her! She was beaming when we came to see her. She says that she loves having the Holy Ghost and just wants to talk to everyone about God. How incredible? She has grown more and more and I know the Lord is so proud of her at this time. She will do so much good for the Lord.

Well, this week has been great as usual. I love you all. Have a great week! Pray for me! I could use it! ;)

-Sister Heather Salmond