12.7.2015

Infested.

 

Thankfully the snow has not come and the weather has been on the "warmer" side of cold weather. It's still pretty cold to me though.

As we were walking home from a recent convert's house this week Sister Birch and I decided to walk on the side of the road in some trees and bushes to change things up. It turned into a fun "nature" adventure. Well, as outdoors as you can get in a city. The highlight was when Sister Birch slid down a mini hill on her stomach. I was dying laughing and she was so dirty. I got it on video and every time we need a laugh we watch it. It was great!

We went to Sewickley's Christmas Tree Light Up Night. We were able to pass out a bunch of pass along cards and had some fun along the way. We saw some ice carving completions, reindeer, and fireworks. The night was so much fun until it was time to catch the bus. Since some of the roads were blocked off the bus skipped our stop. We saw it pull into the main road from a side road ONE BLOCK away from us and it didn't even see us. Well we were then stranded  seven miles from our house and it was less than an hour to curfew. Thankfully we were able to have a member come and save us. That was a relief!

I was also able to call and talk to P from my last area. She is doing really well, and it was great to ear from her. That was a nice midweek treat.

On Tuesday morning I woke up to seeing a mouse dart across our kitchen floor. That didn't make me too happy, especially because our apartment is always really clean. We bought traps and when we came back at the end of the day it was caught. That was a huge relief. Sunday morning I got up and about five minutes later I heard one of the traps that was still up snap. Low and behold, we caught a mouse that we didn't even know we had. This got us a little nervous so we put up about four more traps. We now constantly have six traps ready to kill mice. When we got back Sunday night we heard another trap snap and yet another mouse was killed. We went outside to throw the mouse away and within ten minutes we heard that same trap go off and ANOTHER mouse was dead. That's three killed on one day, all in the same spot. We think there is a hole behind our sink that they are coming from, and sadly there isn't much we can do because this house is so old. I guess I just have to put on a brave face and live in a mouse infested attic. Pray for me that I don't get the Black Plague haha.

This week we taught A about tithing and fasting. He said that he was going to ask us about when he should start paying it and was totally on board! He said that its nice to see our church using our money wisely and helping not only the starving kids in Africa, but also those locally around us. Yesterday at church he paid his tithing, and not just for this current month, but retroactive to when he started coming to church about a month ago! It was so cool to see him so willing to live the commandments.

We had two lessons with J this week. We brought along another member who was perfect. She did such a great job at making Judy feel good, and she loves cats almost as much as Judy! I didn't think it was possible, but I guess I was wrong.

We didn't get a chance to teach the R's this past week, but we were able to drop by and set up their baptismal interview fornext Saturday! They are struggling to fight smoking now that the baptism is approaching, but they said that they were going to knock it so they can be baptized. I sure hope they can quit on time!

Sister Morrison

 

We went to Quaker Steak and Lube after district meeting. Probably the worst place I have ever eaten. My stomach was not too happy about that choice.

Everyone sure loves decorations out here!

 

We got some lovely fur coats from a dead lady and rocked those bad boys caroling! Don't worry we didn't actually go out in them, just outside our house

11.30.2015

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! I know I ate more than my fair share of food that day. 

Because of the holiday this past week, we did a lot of drop in visits because no one could schedule with us. We met with one who informed us that dirt grows, and that we are all really smart mold; needless to say that was a funny visit.

J had a baptismal interview this week and pass! Sadly, her brother is sick so we have to move the baptism back two weeks. The cool thing is that she will now be baptized on the same day as the R's! The font is going to be a happening place on December 19!

The R's are going through a little bit of a rough time, but it's really cool to see how as they rely on the gospel they are able to keep chugging along and make the best of everything. 

A is doing well also he texted us Saturday night making sure that we had a ride for him and really enjoys coming to church each week. Even though he is not sure about baptism he sure loves the gospel! 

It's not an email from me without some fun experiences so here they go: we were volunteering at New Hope, the senior assisted living facility, and you're making ice cream sundaes for the residents. Brian, my favorite old man who is a huge flirt, told me that he "wanted everything on his ice cream cause he likes it sweet, just like me." He then proceeded to wink and kiss my hand. I sure got a kick out of that one!

One night this past week I pierces to Birch's ears! One of her earrings got yanked and slit through her ear and she never pierced them since. We tried going to the mall to get it re-pierced, but they said that she had to get surgery first to fix her ear. We decided, what the heck? Why don't I just pierce it so that's what we did! Parent Trap makes piercing an ear so much easier because, unfortunately for Sister Birch, it took about eight minutes instead of two seconds. I felt a little bad, but I could not stop laughing at the fact that I actually pierced her ears!!! That's one for the books!

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Our ward had a Turkey Bowl that we went and played in. It was a load of fun and I didn't stink as much as I normally do at football. I think that was a mission miracle haha. I woke up the next day with a whip lash from getting taken out, but it was totally worth it! For dinner we went to the P's. They are an amazing family with lots of kids and it was a blast! The food was wonderful, and it was nice to be around good company. After we ate we went and placed with the kids in the backyard since the weather was still nice enough to be outside. Even though we played with sticks, had limbo completions, sword fights, and played on swings, I had so much fun. Their little girl A clung onto me for most of the day, and she is probably one of the cutest girls. We ended the night with a round of SkipBo. That was something thanksgiving shouldn't go without, so I was glad to see that we were able to play it. 

The new Christmas initiative for the church was released yesterday so now we are shifting to show this to as many people as possible. It's going to be fun this upcoming month caroling and spreading the good word to as many people as possible!

Sister Morrison

When I pierced Birch's ears! Parent trap makes it look nice and easy...

All the missionaries with Bishop Hoke. Now I can say I've played football with a two time Super Bowl champion ✔️

We went to visit a less active but he wasn't home. I decided to take a little break on the crapper before trying another house. 

We were looking for baptismal clothes for Judy and found these pants. We had a mini whale pants dance party right then and there. 

11.23.2015

First week post training!

 Hi everyone! Nothing too crazy happened this past week, but here's an update:

J is continually progressing. She has her baptismal interview on Tuesday which is pretty exciting. She got a little held up when we taught her the law of tithing, but Sister Birch and I did our best to explain the blessings that will come from living the law.

A is doing really well. When he came to stake conference he heard the stake president ask everyone what they did to make the Sabbath day holy. He really took that to heart and asked his boss to have no work on Sundays before we even taught him about keeping the Sabbath day holy! We are super excited about his progression and he also said that he was sad he didn't come to church last week. 

The R's are continuously doing awesome! We taught them the Plan of Salvation last night And when we asked them what they thought about it S said "it's just beautiful!" The Plan of Salvation really is beautiful when you think about how every person gets the opportunity to hear the gospel of Christ whether this in this life or the life to come. Brother K, a ward member, has done a really great job at befriending them. He takes them to activities like Christmas tree lightings, and bowling throughout the week and picks them up for church every Sunday. I think at this point he gets more interaction with them than we do!

We are still trying to master the bus system. Sometimes the buses come 10 minutes early and other times they come 10 minutes late. This past week a couple times we were between bus stops when we saw the bus coming in, so we had to book it down the street and try to chase him down. Thankfully they stopped for us. Everybody on the bus got a good laugh at it, so at least we made their day. 

We went to an ARP, addiction recovery program, meeting at church this past week. Even though Sister Birch and I aren't overcoming the same type of addictions as the other people are, it was still amazing and the spirit was so strong. I want to go next week just because of how great the place makes me feel. It's based on the Atonement of Christ, so anyone can implement the steps into their lives.

Well, it's not an email of mine unless there are some funny stories so here they are! We have played the game what are the odds a lot this past week and some funny challenges have been made. I got to whip Sister Birch with the branch, she had to carry a teddy bear around all day, and Elder Redford had to eat and entire pie that a ward member made. To put it lightly, everyone could only muster down one bite, but he had to finish it off. It was pretty nasty, so I was happy that I was t the one who had to finish it. 

The four of us missionaries had to teach primary yesterday. There were no adults in there and it was as wild as a zoo! Kids were going psycho with energy, but we were able to make it controlled chaos. We all decided the teaching primary is so much more fun than going to the other meetings. We had kids laying on the floor, hip checking each other, and others dancing like no one was watching. It was a blast.

Sister Birch plays the violin, and I'm taking a few lessons from her during her lunch and dinner breaks. I now understand why mom encouraged Alex to play outside in the backyard so the neighbors could hear her "wonderful" music. I feel bad for Sister Birch, but it's also comic relief for her.

Sister Morrison

Sorry the shadows are bad, but we were in Market Square and there was an awesome Christmas tree! I can't wait to start caroling next week.

We walked through a cemetery this past week because it decreased how far our walk was. I found a tombstone with the same last name as me. As disrespectful as this may be, I had to take a picture! RIP Sadie!

We were driving on a backroad after some service and there was a slaughtered deer on the side of the road. Sadly, the head was missing. I figure since thanksgiving is coming up that deer legs must taste the same as turkey legs, right??

We saw Sister Durfee and some other missionaries at the strip district

last Pday. She has been made an STL this transfer!