Mission Newsletter #47

Lots of Fun Stories to share this week, so here we go! Btw, Sister Millard and I have come up with cute nicknames: Sammi and Millie! Isn't that adorable? Ok. So, just realize I may be using these nicknames in my emails and such. :)

So first of all, it was Birthday week! Thank you everyone for making my birthday a blast! It was great having Millie's birthday first on the 7th, followed by mine on the 8th! Double whammy! Party central!

November 8th: Waking up and choosing an outfit was difficult. I felt like wearing pink. I wanted to be a Princess for my birthday! So, I started going through all my outfits, then my companion's

outfits... I had made a wreck and didn't find much success. I settled with combining one of her items and one of mine. Wasn't exactly what I was feeling, but it would work. Got ready for the day and then OPEN PACKAGE TIME! Right before Personal Study time. :) I opened up my package from the family and you would not believe what I got?! It was an adorable soft pink and black lace-ish dress! The exact color I was looking for! Perfect style too! It was perfect! I quickly changed and all was right with the world. :)

The rest of my birthday we spent at our Stake's Women's Conference! It was so good! The speaker was Wendy Ulrich and she spoke on the "Habits of Happiness." Sister Ulrich wrote the Adjusting to Missionary Life book and works a lot with missionaries and so she had a special lunch with the Sister Missionaries in our stake. We were able to talk as a group about different problems we face on the mission and it was such a blessing to hear what she and the other sisters had to say about mission life. She also told us that there is a new White Handbook that they are working on that will allow missionaries to have more flexibility and control over their schedule. That seems so strange to me, but I am curious to see what they end up doing. So look forward to that Victoria!

Lastly, for my Birthday, we made my cake! (Thank you family for the means to do so.) GERMAN CHOCOLATE! My favorite! We ate like half of it that night after making it! Yum! So good warm! We've been eating tons of it every day. Will we get fat from it? Heck no! Faith! We have faith that that cake won't make us fat so therefore, we are safe to eat as much of it as we want. :)

The other night we were out and there were coyotes WAY close to where we were! I could hear them howl! Eek! Let's just say, I'm a chicken and jumped in the car! They are scary down here. They come into the neighborhoods at night and we have been warned that they hide and sneak in the bushes. There are accounts of them attacking people and of course cats. I'm paranoid! But crazy! You can tell we are in the country!

Missionary Wise: This week we dropped all our previous investigators and started from scratch! Booya Baby! So we started tracting all over. As we bicycled down a country road, we passed a little house that looked abandoned, so we kept biking. I hollered Millie to a stop when I saw toes in the window! She turned around and saw the toes too! Someone was in there! We knocked on the door and started talking to the woman. As we talked to her, a bug flew down Millie's shirt! AH! It was orange and we were afraid it was a red wasp! I untucked her shirts to find it was a little baby lady bug that I peeled off her back. fewf! Sister Millard then asked to use her bathroom! Yay! Great way to get in the door! We went in and it smelled mildewing, but it's doable. I started talking and teaching the woman as Millie went. We then hear toilet struggles. The lady says to me, "She won't be able to get the toilet to flush. It's broken." I tried not to laugh as Millie peaked outside of the blanket (since there was no door) and said, "Um... I can't get your toilet to flush..." The lady told her it was fine and she would take care of it. Millie was humiliated, which I can't blame her. The Lady ended up not going anywhere, but man! It was an experience to remember! I couldn't help, but laugh SO HARD! I could hardly bike. Man! The adventures as a missionary. :)

Prank from the Elders after coming out of MLC. Elder Collins broke it when he was leaning back! We laughed so hard and then found it on our car thanks to the Assistants. haha! 

Well, with dropping investigators and seeking for more, the Lord has blessed us with 3 new people we have met and are starting to teach. Each one has just started their journey and is uniquely different, but all are so great and it seem like there's a lot of potential. I'll give you more detes when we meet with them more. Also, a previous family that was dropped, we picked back up. It seems like the timing is right now for them! Before, they didn't make time for the missionaries, but now it seems like they really are ready to learn and have God play a larger role in their life! The Lord is blessing us time and time again with people as we work hard! As Sister Millard and I talked about it, it really is such a blessing. We were out of our area for half the week with exchanges, MLC (Missionary Leadership Council), and then Women's Conference, and yet, these big miracles were able to still come forth. I am so grateful for God's evident had in the work. He is so mindful of His missionaries and will bless us, no matter the circumstances as long as we do all we can to do His work. (Alma 26:28, 29:13 hehe.)

Well, I love you all. I hope you enjoyed the many stories this week! I'm praying for you! Take care!
Sister Salmond (Sammi)