Crazy Days 11.24.14

I think yesterday was Monday... I have no clue what happened to this week.

Today we went ice skating as a zone. I did not fall once and I even
let go of the wall a couple of times. These little girls were teaching
me how to skate. I think the main problem was that I had NO
circulation in my legs since my jeans have become more of compression
jeans rather than actual skinny jeans. I really gotta start exercising
more effectively... We also went to the zoo!! It was wonderful! Mostly
because Sister Elliott's favorite animal is a tiger and she had never
seen one in real life. It was a good zoo, but a lot, A LOT, of
walking.

Things are going great here in Lake Butler...wow. I mean Hendricks...
but on Tuesday we babysat the office and saw on some papers that we
are being shut down. It probably looks like I'm cursed since I've shut
down my last 2 areas. Huzzah.

We had a baptism this week of a cute little boy named Joseph. He's 10
and his mom just passed away. No one else in his family is a member.
Half of them don't even speak English! He's half Jordanian. It was
such a great program. Sister Elliott bore her testimony in Arabic,
because of course she knows that language. The spirit was so strong
for the whole meeting. You could tell his mom was just so happy for
him. We also had 4 of our other investigators there! There is nothing
more wonderful than a baptism to remind you of your own or to inspire
you to be baptized. It was delightful. Joseph is too cute. He was so
excited for Saturday. He had a count down and was squealing like a
little girl all day long.

I also got to have lunch with one of my favorite souls ever! Megan
fowler from mandarin 2nd Ward came into town and we went to lunch with
her! It was so wonderful to see her lovely face again!

We went to the grand opening of Krispy Kreme this week and got everyone
in our district hats and donuts. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
That hot light gleams like a beacon in the night. Hello, 20 more
pounds. Just kidding. We haven't been back since. Self control is hard
though.

Now time for Kathy's quotes:
"...It's as fragile as a moonbeam.

It's like my heart is 200 years old going bum....bum bum... Saying I'm
too old to take care of your body!!"

Thanks for all of the love, letters, and things I've received in the
mail recently. Who knew that all I had to do was whine? Maybe I'll do
that more often :)

I hope that y'all have a good week!

Love,
Sister Perkes

Some things that Sister Elliott's aunt sent us.

How is it P-Day AGAIN? 11.17.14

This week was quite interesting. The first half was great, and the second half we spent sick. We have both caught colds. So I went from my cough to a cold! Hooray! I'm doing much, much better. Sister Elliott on the other hand is still sick. She has lost her voice and sounds like a man, so I lovingly refer to her as Elder Elliott. Just kidding... But really. She sang with the men in choir yesterday. I've never seen a girl hit a low b flat in all my days, but she did it. 

So we blew up the air mattresses and had a grand set up in the living room and we watched Mormon movies for 3 days. It was nice, not nice at the same time. We have a lot of work to do, and if we don't do it, it won't get done. Hopefully we will be up and running again soon! (Yes, we have medicine out the wazoo) 

This week one of my favorite souls came back into my sphere of missionary life. ENTER TABATHA!! One of my favorite souls on the planet lives in this very Ward now! She moved when I moved to Gainesville. God is just plain to good to me. We met up for Froyo and had a wonderful time. She is so delightful and she brought sully! They are my favorite. Great things are going to happen there. 

This week, when we were still alive, we planned Joseph's baptism. He's a ten year old little boy that they were working with before I got here. His mom just recently passed away unexpectedly. I've never seen a 10 year old more excited for anything. EVER. This is going to be great, especially since he's already invited all of his family, who aren't members. Any other child I would be worried about, but Joseph is so solid and I don't worry about him at all. He has such strong faith and his family is very open and supportive. They are all planning on coming to his baptism and to church next week. His uncle even offered to help Sister Elliott with her Arabic if she helps him with his English. It was too sweet! 

Family history is something that is hitting out stake really big right now. Everyone is encouraged and challenged to find their family names and take them to the temple. The youth have challenged themselves to do it in 40 days. They kicked it off with a cemetery scavenger hunt! We walked around this cemetery and filled out this paper with random things on it. They only had 3 church members in there, which was weird to me since I'm used to there only being 3 non members in all the cemeteries I frequent. 

This week we had Stake Conference and it was amazing. They talked a lot about being a friend. About being a true friend. When we are true friends we do not need to worry about sharing the gospel with them. They will know that if we offer it, and they don't accept it that we can still be friends. 

An Elder, who is a zone leader, gave a talk too. He served in Lake Butler right before I got there. He got up, and what did he talk about? Lake Butler. It brought a tear to my eye. Lake Butler is a heart stealer :) LOVE THAT PLACE. 

Hope yall have a good week! Not to be whiney or anything, but I haven't gotten a single piece of mail for a month and my companion has gotten 3 packages. Not that I'm needy or anything, but a letter every now and then would be nice. If you feel so inclined, here is my new address:

6650 corporate center parkway apartment 1505 mailbox 52

Jacksonville, FL 32216

Love,

Sister Perkes 

Oh wait! I had great Kathy's quotes for this week! Here they be:

"I'm an orphan in the desert

She's like the wrong side of a pineapple 

I don't want to be a goobledy gook!! * does robot solider arms* 

The world is weird. With a capital w." 

The pumpkin I carved. The squares are bushes.

Sister Elliott with a video she found in the library at the church

Our awesome set up for us sick sisters

You know it's going to be a good week when it starts with holding a bunny 11.10.14

Greetings earthinglings! 

I greet you from my favorite mall on the earth. All is made right as I type with my Dr Pepper from chic fil a. 

Life. Is. Good. 

This week was crazy!! We had 5 people that we are teaching come to church yesterday, so we spent all of church running around like crazy people. It was a lot of work. 

You know what, this week was a lot of work! We have been going and going and going. Sometimes literally running from thing to thing, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

We have a Spanish Ward that meets in our building and they have adopted us as their Hermanas. We helped out with the music at one of their baptisms and ever since then they have been stuck on us like glue. The only problem is that none of us speak Spanish... But they all speak English, so it's great! 

They saw us this week and insisted that we come to their Ward talent show. It was hilarious. The young men did this Super Mario number and at the end Princess Peach comes out and he dips her for a kiss, but he steps on her massive dress and everyone comes tumbling down. Then the set comes down and people and are falling over laughing. They are slowly getting up all in a big giant mess as the Mario music ends with the Sad "duh de da duh de da daaaaaa." People couldn't plan something that funny. I thought I was going to asphyxiate on my own spittle. We brought one of our investigators and she loved it.

We also somehow got roped into being their primary pianist, so looks like I'll be learning some primary songs in Spanish. 

We have also started helping a ward member with her family history, and I have found the stinking cutest pictures you've ever seen. WHEN DID PEOPLE STOP BEING SO DARN CLASSY? I WANT TO BE CLASSY. We seem to have traded smiles for duck lips and classy poses for deuces. How turrible, yall. Turrible, I say. I get our grandkids will look back and say, "what the heck was granny thinking? That is disturbing..." 

This same member that we are helping told me to eat some garlic to help with my cough. She even bought me some garlic, so I had to do it. Well it worked, yall. I'm practically all cleared up! I took a video of me eating it, and it's darn tootin hilarious. I can't figure out how to send it in once piece though, so I'll have to save it for my homecoming talk. 

We also had Zone Conference this week and I got to see my lovely Sisters Stockett and Bowers. It was a joyful occasion. I loved it. We talked a lot about not having fear when sharing the gospel. Share the gospel, yall! You can do! The good Lord gave you a testimony for a reason- to share it! 

We also went to some members for family home evening and they had bunnies. THEY LET ME HOLD THEM. I about passed out from sheer happiness. Yes. Please. 'Twas the best week ever!!

 I about DIED. ONE IS NAMED ELEANOR. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME

Make this week a good one! 

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Perkes 

.

Enchiladas and home made chicken soup. Our creations this week

Hellur from Hendricks! 11.03.14

Greetings from Hendricks ave!

Well this concludes my first few days in the area, and in the words of my favorite redheaded child with a bald daddy, "I think I'm gonna like it here!" It's been pretty sad to leave Lake Butler, but change is a necessary part of life. Don't I know it! 

Sister Elliott is my new companion! She is great! She is from Kennewick Washington and was trained by Sister Davidson and was Sister Snelgrove's MTC companion. She loves "cardboard pizzas" and playing the piano. She has curly hair and is a shorty pants. She speaks Arabic and spent a few months in Jordan last year. She goes to BYU! Rise and shout, y'all! 

We opened up our companionship by singing at a funeral. It went pretty great. They have had 23 funerals here in the last 8 months. When they say that this ward is nearly wed and nearly dead they really mean it. I guess they sent me to the right area since I sure know how to put the fun in funeral! 

We spent Halloween at the ward mission leaders house with the other sisters and the elders. We decorated cookies and cupcakes and had a great time. We just had such a fun time doing nothing. It was a weird feeling. 

We also rode our bikes in the rain, since they were out of miles when I got here. We attempted to go 8 miles, but were halted by the fact that the appointment was canceled. Which we were informed of about 4 miles in. Good exercise! 

In Lake Butler I had the weekly weird animal encounter. This area I will so lovingly share some pretty hilarious quotes by one of my favorite ward members. We shall call them Kathy's quotes. So here are this week's hope you enjoy. 

Kathy's quotes:

"I'll just fast and pray until God beams me up! 

Instead of running around screaming I'll just play the violin as we all go glib glib down with the ship. 

It's a tsunami of nuttiness that just overwhelms me."

Aren't they great? She's great. :) 

Hope you have a good week! 

Love,

Sister Perkes

My new district

 a picture someone sent me from lake butler

 the stuff we made on Halloween!

And we go back to Jax 10.28.14

Today we went fishing and the we went traipsing through the wilderness. Gotta love Lake Butler. 

Well this week I have been sick. It's been delightful. Every time I laugh, sleep, and even breathe, I hack like I've been a smoker for 45 years. As Michael would say, I either need to cut back or change brands. Har Har. Actually it's not much fun. I've taken to using Sister Snelgrove's inhaler. What has my life come to. 

This week we finally did our musical number that we have been a practicing. It actually went really well! No one coughed and no one cracked. Also no one passed out. Prayers are really answers, y'all. Sweet blessed day. 

This week we did a 5k with the library. the theme was sparkle! Right up my alley!....well besides the whole running bit, but I can overlook that part. It was quite fun. We walked it to help out the library and watch out for people in distress. Turns out the only person in distress was Sister Donohue. Oh the irony! The elders won the whole thing... Yup. 

We also has a mini mission with Brooke Starling this week. It was wonderful! We had such a great time. She is such a fabulous young woman with a heart of gold. LOVE HER. 

This week is also transfers and I'm getting transferred to Hendricks. They are shutting down the second set of sisters here in Lake Butler. I'm SO SAD. It makes me feel like quite the failure, but I know that it's just because we are losing so many sister missionaries. My new companion is Sister Elliott. She was Sister Snelgrove's MTC companion and Sister Davidson's trainee, so I know she will be great. 

I know I said this when we went to Gainesville, but I never realized how much I love Lake Butler until it's time to leave. There is something about Lake Butler that latches onto your heart and makes itself at home. It is a place for people to come and be healed. It is a place of miracles. Everyone here was either born and raised here (why would they leave Zion??), or has been led here by God. This is the little town with nothing but big miracles. I love it. 

well I hope y'all, have a good week!

Stay golden. 

Love, 

Sister Perkes 

traipse in the wilderness

Us at the run. 

Us saying goodbye to e people at the library. Or
librarians if you want to be fancy, I guess.

Volleyball this week was fun there were only 8 people there. All
girls. We had such a blast! We didn't even keep score. Yes, please! We
went crazy and did kicked the ball instead of serving it. It was
golden sister snelgrove hit the ball and it went into the basketball
hoop. Proudest moment of my life. Nailed it.

Pics: us with Brooke. Everyone at volleyball this week.

If Some Missionaries Take Down a Tree Will Anyone See It? 10.20.14

Hellur from LB!

What a week. It went by so quickly!

There was a baptism in the ward this week. His name is kelvin and he
is great. He's going to be a wonderful asset to our ward.

This week we had a scare off. The sisters scared the begeebers out of
us, so we got them back. It was pretty great. I'll try and send the
video.

Well also spent this whole STINKIN week working on power points for
active members. It's a lot more work than I anticipitated. But we will
prevail!

This week I learned a lesson in an odd way. I learned a lesson of
patience, endurance, and the importance of working smart.. We went to
do service at a member's house and they had a big tree limb hanging
inbetween their other trees. Well us missionaries got it in our minds
that we were going to get that branch down. We tried just about
everything. We hit it with baseballs, water bottles, footballs, and
just about anything else we could find. We even tied a water bottle to
a rope and threw it over. That worked the best, but it didn't get it
down. The members sat there on their porch and watched us. They called
it a spectator sport and though it was pretty hilarious, which it was.
About every 10 minutes the members whose house we were at would give
us some new tool to try and help us. At one point we even had a rake
tied to an end of a ladder and taped a water bottle beneath it to hold
it up. We tried just about everything. Most everyone wanted to just
give up, but we kept going. Somehow Elder Dean got the rope wrapped
around the tree trunk and pulled it down. That thing came down and
lodged itself in the dirt. It was like he sword in the stone, but
reverse. It was a massive miracle! The whole ordeal was quite comical.
This taught me a lot about life. It taught me that we cannot give up.
Even if it looks too difficult we have to finish. LIKE BEING ON A
MISSION. There are lots of times when I just want to give up, but I
can't. We have so many tools to use that Heavenly Father has given us
to do missionary work. None of them are given to hurt us or to hinder
us. They are given to us to help us succeed when we use them right. We
just have to find the one that will work best for us, and for our
investigators. It will be different for every single one. I also
learned the importance of using the tools in new ways. When we work
hard and we work smart miracles happen.

This week we also had a less active tell us why she doesn't come to
church. She doesn't come because she "just can't feel inadequate in
any other areas right now." HOW SAD. If I could put that in bold I
would. Church is not the place to feel sad and inadequate. If you feel
bad when you go to church, do something about it! I hope that we can
help her see how much she NEEDS church. She hasn't been for 18 years,
so she has probably long forgotten by now. Church is a place where we
go to remember how well we are doing and how much Heavenly Father
loves us. Sister Davidson shared this quote with me, "church isn't a
museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners." So true. Church is
where it's at, and where we all should be.

Hope you have a good week!

Love,
Sister Perkes

P.s. I've developed Sister Snelgrove's cough that she has had for like
a month. We saw brother Matt this week and it turns out that she has a
very mild form of bronchitis. Joooooyyyy.

What Happened to this week? 10.13.14

I should have know this week was going to be fantastic when it started off with dinner at the bishops. That was a whole lot of fun! We had a yummy dinner with them and then the other sisters taught the all the hand signs to remember the Ten Commandments in order. That family has to be the funniest people ever. We did number 7, which is don't kill and Bayler said, "don't kill....Unless you're going to eat it." It was too good. Then as we were leaving I gave Anisha, the bishops wife, a hug goodbye and this balloon that the kids were kicking around came right down out of the air and landed in between us. So we squished it as we hugged. It was pretty awkward... OF COURSE THAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ME. It was so funny. We just laughed it off. Gosh, who invites me places. 

This week we threw sister Davidson a birthday redo, since her only birthday on her mission was pretty stinky. We had tacos and decorated all cute like. It was really fun! We totally surprised her, which made it even better! 

So there is this cat at the church who frequents the relief society door. She looks like a house cat and is like the cutest thing of my life. If I wasn't a missionary then I would totally take her home. I have named her Frannie! I love her. She is so hungry she will eat anything. I fed her peanut butter and jell sandwiches, ritz crackers, and tortilla chips. She liked everything except the tortilla chips. I think it dried out her little kitty mouth. Sorry, Frannie. 

To continue on the animal tangent, it's time for this week's weird animal encounter!! We were standing at the door of one of our investigators (I know. We have one of those?) and this giant frog was just hanging out. I wanted to keep on eye on it to make sure that I stayed far, far away from it. I'm still getting over Mr bean, you see. Well this frog was a grade A fatty. Yuck.ers. So I was keeping my good eye on this frog when all of the sudden it ate another creature. I watched its giant froggy mouth consume the other creature's little body. Just plumb ate it!!! It was vile and I've been scarred. I shall never recover..............nope. 

At volleyball this week I did pretty good. I hit it over the net twice. I'm significantly improving. Huzzah! 

We are also going to do a missionary musical number this week. I will keep you posted on it, since right now it seems quite...interesting. I'm sure it will turn out. 

This week I also did something epic. I made a candle. It was out of beef fat and a piece of yarn. That is how you know that you are bored. It would have worked out great, but the fat didn't melt as quickly as the yarn, so it didn't last long. Sister Snelgrove told me that it could be a Yankee candle! I could totally see it. :) they'll put our a whole line of meat candles and the beef one will be the feature. They will put it right next to their best seller, "hot dog." Nailed it. 

This week a mighty miracle happened. We did ALL of weekly planning. Y'all, that is the miracle of all miracles. Holy cow. We haven't EVER finished all of it. There was some serious divine help going on there. 

We had a fantastic district meeting this week. We talked about desires and righteous desires. It was very eye opening and wonderful. This week in my studies I came across a wonderful quote that I would love to share with y'all. 

"Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, tragedy, every disappoint, and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus. As you do so you are changed to become more like Him."

Amen. It al happens for a reason. 

Hope y'all have a good week! Love you! 

Love,

Sister Perkes