"So much Jesus in such a little body." (Week 14)

Merry almost Christmas everyone!!! How are y’all? I am doing pretty dandy. I am emailing on Tuesday because it is transfer week this week. I am staying in Baton Rouge! I am pretty excited because there is a lot of work to do here. I am also getting a new companion. Her name is Sister Bell and I haven’t met her yet. I just know she is pretty tall, so this will be different. Sister Maynard is almost my height. Now I am going to feel tiny. This is going to be a long email so here we go.

Monday we chilled at the church for pday, and I had a jam session with Sister Johnston. We arranged a Christmas hymn medley, it was pretty awesome. It is on the mission Facebook if anyone cares to try to find it. Then we had a dinner appointment with J a recent convert. We went through ALL of their wedding and engagement photos. It was fun. We are such girls.

Tuesday was zone conference! We had the talks, then lunch, then we had a white elephant gift exchange, and I ended up with dried beans… I gave a strawberry tea pot. Then I performed the Christmas medley that Johnston and I arranged yesterday. It was fun. Then we visited M for a bit. She takes too many sleeping pills and it makes her really out of it. Then we had dinner with F and K and that was fun.

Wednesday was my 3-month mark!! My month marks are kind of weird. They make me think about home and it is distracting. I’m okay though. We started off with service at the Old State Capital. Then we taught a lesson to Q. Visiting her is kind of sad. There was a rat on her stove, and cockroaches, and she is scared of the outside because of the crime. But we had a good time sharing scriptures so it’s okay. Then we had a dinner appointment with the bishop’s family. Their little boy breaks my heart because he wants me to pick him up, and I so want to hold him, but missionaries aren’t allowed to hold kids. Makes me want to cry.

Thursday we did service at the USS KIDD like always. They wanted us to learn more about the ship so we got a personal tour. Our tour guide is basically the internet as far as slang goes, and it was hilarious. Then we had lunch with a member. Then we did comp study in the park. After that we went tracting for a bit, and we actually found this really awesome girl! Her name is J, she is a Muslim from Iraq turned Christian, but she doesn’t have a church. We taught her the restoration, and it went awesome! Then we had dinner with Ashley and her grandma who isn’t a member. They are so fun! We got Chinese and had a ton of leftovers which I love.

Friday we had apartment inspections. We are #1 in the mission, all thanks to Sister Brown. I’m not very tidy. Then service at the Red Cross, then lunch and personal study and 12 week. Then we visited J again, and had a great lesson. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and it really clicked with her. She loved reading from the scriptures. We invited her to church, and she said she would come.

Saturday we helped a lady move. There were some problems with her husband and she needed to get out. She has been feeling really lost, and she asked if we could come over again to talk to her. Then we visited M, who was a bit more in her right mind today. She played a very out of tune guitar for us for a while, which was somehow quite peaceful even though she has no idea how to play. M kind of thinks that I’m an expert on everything. She is always saying “I sensed that you know about this” and will have me explain something to Sister Maynard. Random stuff like MSG and guitar and theology and history and the word ‘catatonic’. I just go along with it because it’s hilarious. After that we tried visiting some people for a few hours, and got some return appointments.

Sunday was pretty awesome. C gave her first talk, and got her first calling, and J came to church!! And she really liked it. C is already such a good fellowshipper. After church had lunch and mission coordination, and Sister Marsh and I made some really good homemade tomato soup. She was a little nervous because we were kind of making up a recipe, but it turned out awesome. Then we visited this lady that the missionaries found, but they never got back to her, and she has been waiting for them to come back! She was so excited to have us over. I look forward to working with her. Then we had some more appointments fall through, and Sister Maynard’s back started freaking out and she couldn’t stand, so the Elders came over and gave her a blessing. I love the Priesthood.

Then we had Proslyting Monday, longest day of the transfer. We had to do some errands, but we talked to some cool people while out. Then we tracted and ended up smelling very strongly of weed. Then we went to J’s, and this time it didn’t go as well. J was fine, but her boyfriend is a little crazy. He tried to convince us that the Earth is flat, and space isn’t real, and Antarctica is just an ice wall hiding other continents, and Nasa and the CIA are fake and feeding you lies, and he went on and on. It was actually pretty funny. My favorite part was when he went off about how useless cats are. I was crying with laughter. I think that encouraged him. When he calmed down we were able to teach J about spiritual gifts, but now I think J thinks that we are Amish, so I’m a little concerned. After that then we had some appointments fall through. So then we went to K’s house and she fed us dinner and gave us little Christmas gifts and I painted her a picture. We got transfer calls while there. Like I said, I am staying and getting Sister Bell, and Sister Maynard is going to Leesville with Sister Trussel who I actually do know. Leesville is right by her old area so she is pretty excited. I do have a little bit of stress just because of the uncertainty that comes from getting a new companion, but I’m sure it will be okay.

So that’s my week. I’d say it was pretty good. Now this week is CHRISTMAS!! So just so y’all know, they decided to change the day of P-day for next week as well. I am still going to be Skyping my family on Monday, but P-day will be on Tuesday, so that is when I will email again. I love hearing from y’all!! Keep me updated! I love you!!!!

p.s. I forgot my list of out of context quotes at the apartment, so more next week!

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~Sister Danielle Reid