I LOVE this ward... I must be getting transferred soon.... NOOOOOO 1.20.14

This week was a great one! I'm not entirely sure what we did, but I know that we had a good time doing it!

This week we had dinner with members almost EVERY night. It was a dream come true! We have met some of the funniest people ever. I really love the members of our ward. They are such great, caring, loving people. Plus they are all pretty good chefs.

We also had a great Relief Society activity! It was called "Speed Friendshipping." It sounds daunting and a little bit overwhelming, but it was great fun!

This week we were walking around and literally ran into this lady. We have had the chance to teach her twice. She is great!!

We also visited this sister in our ward and her granddaughter has the most toys I have EVER seen. It's like Santa was shook down for everything he got. Wait, NO. It was like Santa gave her WALMART for Christmas. But I'm pretty sure she has more toys than Walmart. We have been over before, but this time she just focused on showing us all of her lalaLoopsies. I WANT ONE. I want one reaaaaal bad. So if anyone would like to send me one that would be great.      

I also discovered the most glorious thing. My camera has Photoshop. Now for fun I turn myself, and all those around me, into what I lovingly call "aliens." Some of them are real creepy. Really we just look like we should belong in a pageant... I've always wanted to be in a pageant. A high glitz one. 

Recently I've been studying the 13th Article of Faith and boy, I love it! Everything that we believe and everything that we need to do in our lives is in there. When we seek after the things listed in the article we recognize our divine nature and live up to our individual worth. We should Heavenly Father that we truly appreciate who we are. I LOVE it. 

I am so grateful to be out here in Florida serving God. I have been so blessed. Miracles are real and they happen every.single. day. We just have to have the eyes to see them. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

love,

Sister Perkes

This. Week. 1.13.14

I'm just going to start this off with probably some good news for everyone. This email is going to be rather short. I am very hungry. I didn't bring any snacks. Emailing takes about 2 hours, which is significantly longer than the time I should go without food. BUT I love you all very much so I shall now proceed to wax eloquent and tell you of my doings this week. 

I'm not even sure what we did this week. My key indicators indicate that we did a lot of things, but I don't seem to be able to remember any of them. 

Last night we had dinner at a family's house and it was like being home. There were people all over the place and we had a good southern meal. I should have known it was going to be fantastic when the pater famailia opened the door and he had on a FSU Seminoles bandanna wrapped around his head like the karate kid. It perfectly accentuated his long hair and fantastic goatee. This family just has great facial hair. His son-in-law has the beard of all beards. It is of epic proportions. People aspire to have Brother Leckie's beard. 

This week I experienced my first torrential downpour in Jacksonville. Boy, oh boy, was it raining. Right as we got out of the library. It wasn't very fun. Especially since we had contacting and tracting planned for the rest of the night. We squished through 2 neighborhoods. 

We also went to visit a man this week. He is a less active in our ward and we have been trying to meet with him since before Christmas. Last week he just told us to give up on him, so that meant one thing. Surprise attack. We went over there one day and had an interesting gospel discussion that ended with me rather confused. Right before we were going to leave he was like, "wait! When you first called me I got you some stocking and some candy and nuts! Let me go get it." So we stand there for a bit (we are outside) and then he reappears with these stocking. They aren't just your regular Joe stockings. They are singing Peanuts stockings. SINGING. Expensive SINGING stockings. Then he starts to laden us with candy and entire bags of nuts. He gives us about 2 grocery bags full of candy and it weighs purt near 10000 pounds (he also gave us fruitcake. I hear that stuff is pretty dense, so that probably added to the weight). ALL of this candy was from World Market, so it was all foreign. There is a whole BOX of British chocolates. I about died. Here is the kicker, my friends. Sister Jeromchek and I are sacrificing sugar for the month of January. Yes. This was the worst idea ever. I wish I could go back, but it's just too late. Plus it's a very, very serious sacrifice. So now we have a plethora of delicious, foreign, sugary confections waiting for us to eat them come February. Hurry. Please.

Well. That is all that I can extract from the depths of my brains. I hope everyone has a dandy week!  

love you and miss you,

Sister Perkes    

Hello Mother. Hello Father. Here I am in Florida. 1.7.14

So guess what ya'll. We moved!... AGAIN. I refuse to ever move again. They can try and transfer me, but I won't move. I just won't. They can't make me. I will just stay right here forever. I don't even care. I'm tired of moving. But by the time next transfers come I will probably be okay with moving. I've got six weeks to prepare myself. (Yes, transfers happened. I'm staying in Mandarin! WOOOHOO)

This week was really great! It was also really awkward... I have realized that a mission has made me such an awkward person but, as my companion constantly reminds me, if it's awkward then we are doing it right. I am doing a whole lot of right then.

So our new apartment is in our first complex. It's lovely and on the second floor. The stairs are at the most unbecomingly steep degree. They are like a death trap. Surprisingly no one has ate it yet. I can feel it coming though... Plus they are squeaky and pretty sketchy. 

Our new apartment is just dandy. It over looks this giant pond that all these ducks hang out in. It is quite entertaining to watch. I think they have a little West Side Story going on in this pond. You know, rival packs... flocks? Herds? Gaggles? Wait. No. They aren't geese. Well. A large group of ducks. But the downside of this is that we hear obnoxious duck noises all day long. They aren't just your normal duck quacks either. They are diabolical. They are like unto no duck quack that has been heard before. It's the perfect mixture of terrifying and obnoxious. I bet they spent years genetically perfecting this quack just to annoy me. They have found success.

Our apartment also has quite the interesting neighbor (we have no idea where this person actually lives, but we know it to be near by). EVERY morning this neighbor plays their music. Quite loudly. So loudly in fact that the ceiling, and everything else, rattles. It's wonderful. All his song is super bass-ey and it's mostly rap and dubstep. It's really a great background to our studies as we are trying to feel the Spirit. It usually lasts for about half an hour and then we are left to our peace. 

But it doesn't smell and that's all that matters.

This week we had a movie night for Family Home Evening. It was wonderful and we watched the long Restoration movie. It was a good activity and everyone there really enjoyed it. Brother Bishop/Branson came and so did Sister Hairel, so I had a great time.

This week we had dinner at Sister Hairel's and it was magical beyond belief. This lady CRACKS ME UP. She is just so sweet and so funny. She also sang with us in our musical number that we did at the baptism this week. We sang "I Will" by Hilary Weeks. It turned our really well especially since we had practiced it 3 times all together. 

So awkward story time. Last night we went to see a referral and when he opened the door this cute little dog ran out. We talked to the guy for a little bit and he wasn't interested so he shut the door and we turned around to leave. We got half way to the car and realized that this dog was still running around the driveway. They had forgotten their puffball! I know that dogs are okay outside, but this dog really wanted to go inside. It was pretty cold outside and I know that I wanted to go inside. This seems like a situation that shouldn't be that awkward. But it WAS and I will tell you why. 1)The guy wasn't interested and obviously didn't want us to come back 2)This really grumpy looking scary dude who was our referral's boss had shown up and gone in right before they shut the door. We had NO idea what to do with this dog. We tried to just leave it, but the blasted thing followed us to our car and looked like he wanted to get in. We sat there. We sat there and we festered in awkwardness. We like partly ran back and forth between the door and our car multiple times. We couldn't decide if we wanted to knock on the door or just leave it be. We decided to leave. Well the dog wasn't having that. He sat in front of our car so we couldn't move without hitting him. We sat there for about 2 minutes until the door opened and the guy's boss left and the dog ran inside. It was really awkward pulling away because that whole adventure took about 5 minutes and we should have been long gone by then. Awkward. Story of my life. 

That was only a taste of the awkwardness that permeated my week. 

Have a great week y'all! Try not to be awkward. I can't. 

love,

Sister Perkes

(sorry, I missed posting this) Just in case I wasn't enough of a freak already, let's add a TIARA!! 11.26.13

Well. This week I got called to be trainer. That's right. A trainer. After 6 WEEKS. I don't know what's going on.... anyways. Awko. My poor new missionary probably won't turn out right, but that's the risk they're taking I guess. 

Sister Eddington is going to Julington Creek. That's not in my zone and I'm about to cry. She is SO. FAR. AWAY. BUT if things go south I can still walk there. It could take me hours, but it would be worth it. 

Moving on. This week was rather dull in comparison to the last few ones... I'm not actually entirely sure what I did this week.... I'm sure I can come up with something.

So. This week. I spent all week just having a fit about training. I'm just dying over here. Don't worry. On Thursday we had a train the trainers meeting. That was super fun. I was the only person who came from my group that is moving companions, let alone training.

We taught Branson again. HE'S STILL DOESN'T HAVE A BAPTISM DATE. I'm gonna rage.But he thought he had a blood clot, but in fact it was just a bruise. Long story. No fun. 

Oh! On Thursday we went to the neurologist. That was an adventure and a half! So fun.   

I really can't think of anything. I'm sorry...

WAAHHHH. TRAINING. DYING. BLEGH.

Love,

Sister Perkes

Mappy Birthmas To Me! 12.30.13

This week was wondiferous! Much better than the last two.. and quite possibly the last three put together! 

IT WAS CHRISTMAS. CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!!!!! But it really didn't feel like Christmas. That's okay though because it is like Christmas every day here. 

So Christmas eve was a blast and a half. We had 3 dinner appointments right in a row. Each one was wonderful and delicious. I shall now elaborate upon them.

Our first one was with the most loving, giving woman I know. Her name is Tabatha, which makes it even better. Not everyone is blessed with such an awesome name. She had all of her family over and we had a fun time. 

The second house we went to was Sister Estoesta's house. I have learned one thing on my mission: I love me some Filipino food. It's divine. They had all of their family over, too. That was lots of fun.

The last house we stopped at was the Bennetts. We had BISON tacos. I don't get it. I live about an hour away from one trillion buffalo/bision for the bulk of my life and I never try any of the meat. NOW I move to the other side of the country, where there is not one to be seen, and partake of said meat. Funny and delicious. Anywho. The Bennetts are so lovely and are the funniest people ever. We had a grand time.

For Christmas Sister Jeromchek and I got up at 6 and opened our presents. It was strange. It didn't really feel like Christmas, but I enjoyed the presents! WOO HOO! 

For Christmas lunch we went to the Aniel's house and had a fantastic time with all the other missionaries in the area and the Aniel's family. LOVED IT.

For my birthday we a quite a day of adventures. My birthday dreams came true and we went to Panera for lunch. It was a little slice of the Celestial Kingdom. I had a bread bowl with my delicious soup. I was in hog heaven. Plus they have really yummy pastries and I love me a good dessert make up of bread. A ward member named Sister Hairel came to lunch with us (I don't know if I've said anything about Sister Hairel yet, but she is the neatest lady. She LOVES the civil war and Phantom of the Opera. Yes, please to both. She is just magical. Harry Potter is her ringtone. Needless to say she is my kind of person).

Post-Panera we went to our epic baptism. It was the mother load. We had FOUR baptisms. FOUR. None of them were mine, but I loved going and it was the best birthday present ever. It was so beautiful. Branson came and he really enjoyed it. He also came to church on Sunday. Since it was my birthday we sang "In Our Lovely Deseret", but no one knew how to play it so I had to. But we still sang it! What. A. Gem.

This week was wonderful and skyping home was just what I needed to pep me up. Thanks for being so great!   

Thanks to all the people who sent me packages and letters! It really meant a lot to me and made Christmas more homey. 

I hope you all had a lovely week and I hope you have a great one!

love,

Sister Perkes

12.23.13

So this week was pretty good. It started with a trade off! I was with Sister Parmer again, but this time we worked in my area. We got a lot of work done and I learned a ton of new things. While we were at a less actives house we were sitting there talking and having a good time. We were seated in a swively chair and I decided that I wanted to cross my legs. Next thing I knew I was tipping over and I thought I was going to die. Luckily Sister Parmer saved me and up righted me. I thought I was all good. Then I moved. The next thing I knew I was on the floor. A screw had come loose and the top of the chair was only being held on by one screw. That one screw was not enough. I was on the floor in all my shame. Sister Parmer didn't even try to save me that time. The lady we were visiting looked appalled and terrified at the same time. I laughed for about 10 minutes (I'm laughing writing this too, as well as every time I think about it) and then I fixed her chair for her. All is well now.

This week we met these people and they were kind of crazy... alright, mostly crazy. This lady has had all these visions. WEIRD visions of emerald and ruby people with golden hair singing praises and other strange things. Very strange. Very strange. 

This week we also have made a new tradition. Every week after district meeting we go to Steak and Shake. Yes. It is as delicious as it sounds and most of the menu is in the name. It sells hamburgers and shakes. YES. PLEASE. It's delicious and they have this whole entire menu of 4 dollar things. It's plenty reason to live in the south. 

So that's pretty much everything exciting that happened to me this week. Oh! Yes. We did meet this lady named Betty. She used to be a go-go/cage dancer in like the 60's. She showed us the picture... Yerp. She also made us watch these YouTube videos of her nephew who is in this band. She also has a book of poems that she wrote. 

They were great, but also contraband. You can't deny reading someone's poems. You just can't. 

But that was my week. We have a great ward and they are really treating us well this Christmas. I'm so grateful that they are! I hope y'all are having a great week!

love,

Sister Perkes

Wonky Week 12.16.13

What a wonky week. It was so strange. Somehow we managed to do absolutely nothing in a whole entire week. It really flew by. Missionary time is trippy y'all. It really is. 

This week we had our giant Christmas party with all of the missionaries! EVERY SINGLE missionary in the mission was there. It was great. I got to see Sister Blatter, which pretty much made that day the best ever. I missed her so much. I also got to see Sister Eddington. That was just lovely. Our separation was rather abrupt so it was nice to actually get to say a real see you later. 

Here's a bit of interesting for ya. On the way to said Christmas party we got rear ended! How exciting is that! I stopped at a yellow light and here in Florida that is basically synonymous with green, as is red. Do not even get me started on Florida drivers. They are no respecters of cross walks and that really gets my goat. THEY ARE THERE FOR A REASON. Ugh. Anyways. I stopped and the guy behind me did not. There wasn't a lot of damage. Just some paint chips. Everyone was okay.

The very same day Sister Jeromchek and I packed our whole entire apartment into our car and moved, Beverly Hillbillies style to our new apartment. It is the nicest apartment I've ever been to. It's the lap of luxury. Top notch. Cream of the crop. I miss my old stinky apartment. There is no storage in this place, which is rather difficult when you have acquired a multitude of wonderful gems. 

This week was a good week for Branson. He came to our Book of Mormon study on Wednesday, our ward Christmas party on Saturday, AND church on Sunday. Things are moving right along! I think he's really loving getting to know the people in the ward. They are all really nice. 

This week was pretty difficult, but this week is looking to be much better! 

I hope you are all have great weeks! Make it a good one!

Love,

Sister Perkes