Hello to my parents who I love so much!
Loved hearing from you and all about your Thanksgiving fun! I was thinking a lot about ya'll too on Thursday and on Saturday, wondering if you went to get the Christmas tree. Maybe not with Dad on call?
So sad to hear about Gordon Meier. Man, that stuff is just not fun. Please tell him that I'm praying for him and his family. Can you send me his address so I can send him a Christmas card?
Soooooo, crazy updates:
Monday afternoon we got a call that Sister Alvine was leaving on wednesday morning and there would be two temple square sisters coming, so one would be going to Albany with Sister Lyons and one would come to Denham with me. Man, that phone call was not fun - I thought I was going to spend Thanksgiving with my two current best friends, and then two seconds later, nope! Change of plans. I was not very pleased, but the Lord helped me get over it pretty quick. Tuesday night we all went out for dinner with President and Sister Wall and Elder and Sister Olsen, the office couple. We went to a seafood restaurant inside Bass Pro Shop, and I was a little skeptical of eating in such a redneck place, but it turned out being freakin delicious. If ya'll come back to Loosiana with me to visit, we should totally eat there. Anyways, we dropped Sister Alvine off at the airport on Wednesday morning (she was bawling, it was really sad and hard), and me and Sister Lyons went back to Denham to clean and get ready for the new sisters. Then that afternoon we went back to Baton Rouge to pick up the new sisters at the mission office, but we had to wait for like an hour and a half because one of the sisters left her insulin in Salt Lake, so as soon as they left the airport, President took them to CVS pharmacy to get some insulin. Finally, we got our new companions, and I am now with Sister Klein from Brazil! She has been out 6 months, she's a life long member, and she's diabetic. I freakin' love her. It took a little while for her to open up, but she is so funny and just fun. She is not your typical sister missionary - she used to play video games a lot, and she likes Metallica haha. I love it. And she isn't too serious, which really helps me. We spent Thanksgiving driving around to our appointments, eating too much and loving up the members. It was great. I'm so happy to be with her, and I'm kind of hoping that President leaves us together for a transfer or two. President said I might be training though, so we will see. We will find out next Monday.
Speaking of which, next week is transfer week, so I won't be able to email until Tuesday. Transfer week is weird one that is always a little off. I'll keep you posted on who goes where :)
So I also wanted to tell you about my interview with President. Every 3 months, we get to have a one on one, 30 minute interview with President, and this time I felt like I didn't have anything big I needed President to help with. In the past, I've gone in really struggling because of my companion or district issues or whatever, but this time I felt pretty okay, I just wanted to ask President how I could have a little more courage to follow the promptings of the Spirit.
And guess what - he started peeling me apart like an onion. I just started bawling, because he helped me to see some struggles that I didn't realize that I'd been having but that he had discerned from my weekly emails. He said that I am one of the best missionaries he has, but I don't realize it. My confidence is kind of low and he said that I am so competent, but I let my lack of confidence get in the way of my competency. And he was right, I doubt myself a lot. President said that I have a really clear picture of what I think a sister missionary should be, and when I don't measure up to that, I beat myself up really good for it.
And I need to QUIT!
I guess I knew that I was overly hard on the elders, but I didn't realize that I was being so hard on myself. I thought it was good, but I didn't realize that it can be really damaging. So my goal right now is really just work on loving myself no matter what. If I make a mistake, I will repent and move on. And I will thank God for my weaknesses because they allow me to rely on my Savior. When I get home, I really want to be able to know and appreciate who I am. I'm excited :)
So I need to update you on some people you can pray for:
H and R - We gave them the Baby Jesus story cutouts that you set for them and they were so excited. They are going to teach us the story of how Jesus was born on Sunday and Martin's parents are going to be there. I'm a little nervous to meet them, but hopefully it will be good.
K, gotta sign off, I'll write you a letter.
Love you tons!
