9.19.2016

New comp, and the temple!!!

Why do missionaries have big bladders? Because their pee day is on

Monday! 😂😂 oh man, nothing beats missionary humor! Oh wait, lots of

things do. Like slurpees :)

Transfers week came and went, and they are always so crazy, a little

stressful, but a blast. I learned lots from Sister Maya this past

transfer, but the biggest thing was how important it is to bear a

genuine testimony all the time. She was super good at that. Monday

night the Berwick sisters came and spent the night which meant

sleepover with Sister Birch! It's always a party with her, and we got

to go to the trainer meeting together. Of course we had to make a pit

stop at the M's because they are our pseudo grandparents here,

and I love them so much! The trainer meeting was wonderful! It got me

a little freaked out about training, but a little fear is always good.

I got to see both my trainers, and a bunch mission friends. One funny

thing that happened was when President assigned Elder Boyes and Manly

together. Sister Birch scream "manly boys!!!" We all got a kick out of

that. So with that news, I'm training Sister Terry!

Sister Terry is awesome and is already such a good missionary. She is

full of the greenie fire, and it totally motivates me to want to kick

butt every day. Training has really helped me see how much I've grown

over the past year. When I first came out to PA I honestly can say

that I hated the place. In my mind I kept saying "I'll put my 18 mo

this in, and then I am never coming back here again." Well, slowly but

surely my attitude has changed completely! I love it here, and I have

so much pride in this place. I had a really rough go to the start of

my mission, and adjusting was something that took a lot of work. Since

Sister Terry is new, she is experiencing a lot of the things all new

missionaries feel. It has been cool for me to talk with her about how

I also had those feelings and how overtime they go away and you learn

to love the simple things here. Overall, it has helped me reflect and

see how much I have utilized the enabling power of the atonement. When

I first got out, I had no idea what that was, and once I learned I put

it to action, and now God helps me on the daily! God rocks my

socks!!!!

We had so many random and fun adventures this week, one of them being

a nerf war with some 10-12 year old boys. We were walking around

trying to visit some people when they came up to us and asked us if we

wanted to nerf battle. So next thing I know we are chasing little boys

around with guns. It was short lived cause we didn't want to look like

two creepy girls chasing down little boys, but they offered to walk us

back to our car. So basically it was like I was roaming the streets

with my posse like I did when I was little. It was great.

Our Relief Society had an activity where we did laughter yoga.

Honestly, it was one of the weirdest things ever, but so funny! Just

imagine a room full of old ladies in a circle making faces at each

other and laughing.

We also got to play butcher with the T's. They have to have non

injected chicken, so they bought twenty chickens from an Amish lady,

and we spent the morning cutting the meat off the carcasses, then

grinding it all up. It was so much fun! I never thought I would learn

how to do so many random things from how to butcher a chicken, to

milking cows, to catching stink bugs before they spray you, but life

in the country has some perks!

Ok, the highlight of my week was hands down yesterday. We got to watch

all here of the Philadelphia temple dedication sessions!!!! I have

never been so proud of this state like I was yesterday. My heart was

so happy that they finally have a temple! It's probably the only

temple I will have the opportunity to go to on my mission, and after

touring it, I felt such a strong pull to it. I know God wants each of

us to strive to go to the temple and remain worthy of the blessings.

The temple itself is so special because it is right at the birthplace

of our country's freedom! In fact, the Declaration of Independence,

Constitution, and Bill of Rights were all established there! Some cool

little fact is that the Constitution was signed September 17, 1787,

the ground breaking ceremony for the temple occurred September 17, and

the cultural celebration for the complete temple was September 17,

2016 making it 229 years after our rights were established! Needless

to say, that date is full of historic events. They talked a lot about

how so many people have sacrificed so that we can have the blessings

of the temple. Both church leaders, and government people who have

fought to have our rights preserved.

Sister Morrison

Grinding chicken meat with D.

Squad

All of the missionaries from yesterday's temple dedication.

We more or less got to hang out between sessions.

Some of the coolest missionaries in the PPM!