Nature 6.24.14

So it's transfers and guess what. Sister bowers is getting transferred
to mandarin 2nd ward. No joke. She will be living in MY apartment. I
am dead serious. Don't worry, I already made her a list of awesome
people to see. It will be GREAT.
My new companion is named sister Conley. She has been out for a year
now! I've met her before and she seems really nice. Everyone keeps
telling me that she is funny, so I think we will get along.

This week there was a lot of rain. So much rain. We biked through a
lot of it. Some of it was refreshing, some of it was painful. But we
made it! We lived!

This email will be pretty short since I'm on my iPad and typing on
this thing is a beast. I know. I'm complaining about typing on my free
iPad that I get to use on my mission. My problems are so real.

This week had a lot of nature in it...
Yesterday was the buggiest day of my life. I killed no less than 100
little gnats with my bare face. It was disgusting. They were stuck to
my clothes, in my eyes, and in a lot of places that it wasn't their
business to be in. I guess that's what happens when you ride like 15
miles in one day.
We did Wilmont gardens this week! Sister Bowers and I helped these men
chop down a tree. It was our job to break it into smaller pieces
and shove it into a dumpster. We did a pretty good job, I would say. I
did learn... Well remember, that I hate nature.

We also had the weirdest lesson of my life. It was crazy. I've never
been so confused and terrified in my life. It was....I don't even know
how to describe it... We will just leave it at that.

Oh goodness. I can't believe I almost forgot to write this. Let me
preface this with telling you that I've developed an unhealthy love
for cats since I've been here in Florida. I do not know how it's
happened, but it has. Don't worry. I've still retained my love for
bunnies, but the possibility of me being a crazy cat lady is pretty
high. It's a little more socially acceptable than a crazy bunny lady.
So. I've started a foundation here in Gainesville. It's for the
homeless felines of the area. It all started with this cat I met named
Fredrick vonHasel (sounds like Von hazel, but it's not spelled that
way because he's a cool cat). He's a very hungry cat that was so
desperate that I stuck my hand out and he came right to me. I didn't
have any food that he liked though. Apparently cats don't like fruit
snacks or chocolate. Sorry cat. That's all I like. But I did put some
water in my hand and he drank it. Victory for Sister Perkes! Then I
took some awesome selfies with Fredrick. That's really the only smart
thing to do.
I've also found another cat to come in my foundation. His name is
Melvin. He is significantly cuter and more well fed than Fredrick.
I drew sister bowers a poster for it. It was great. I shall call my
foundation. Feed the friendly felines. It will be very successful. So
far I'm the only one participating. Sister bowers refuses since she
doesn't like cats....well cats touching her.

Other than that I think that was about it for this week. Still haven't
found a bike. Oh well. I'll HAVE to get one next week, since they take
the car next week.... :) c'est la vie!

Have a good week!

Love,

Sister Perkes

Much Better Than Last Week 6.16.14

This week was a goodie. Oh boy, it was a goodie.

It started off with having a fantastic day with the beautiful Julie Castillo. She drove us all over kingdom come and even took us to WALMART. I was so excited. So excited. Then we had pizza. That was delicious. So delicious.

I should preface this story with some facts: Sister Bowers can't stay on the sidewalk. She has been falling off and tripping all week. It's been quite the entertaining struggle. So we were just doddle-bopping down the sidewalk walking to this complex where we were going to knock. We were on a main road in Gainesville and we got to an intersection and walked through it. We got to the other side and Sister Bowers fell off the sidewalk. I chucked a little bit, but by now this was a common occurrence  The next thing we know this white car, who was still stopped, edged over to the side of the road and this man, dying with laughter, jabs his finger at Sister Bowers mouthing," I SAW THAT!!! I SAW THAT!!!" and doing the whole fingers to the eyes and back at you maneuver. Then he went on his merry way. It was golden. I then proceeded to laugh the rest of the night.

On Tuesday we had a run in with the po-po. No, they were not there for me. There was some domestic violence occurring two doors down from us and this lady was screaming out the window, "somebody (bad word) call 911!' The next thing we know these creatures sneaked up the stairs and then we hear a big ol "*BOOM BOOM BOOM* POLICE, OPEN UP!!!!!" Then there was even more screaming and shouting, but they did not open up. Then we heard some even bigger booms as the police proceeded to knock down their door. Then they refused to get on the ground, but they did before they had to use the tazer the police had pulled out. I love thin walls. Due to thin walls we also heard that the fellow hit the TV with a bat. Never a dull moment where we live. :) Needless to say we will be moving soon, but we did solve the previous problem of our apartment reeking of pot. All it took was an arrest. 

When your bike gives you a flat tire, make a hula hoop. 

This week my bike also got a flat tire. Me and that stinking bike have had quite the interesting relationship. But I am human. I will win. No metal death contraption will overtake me!!!!! But it did keep us inside for the rest of the night making calls. That's okay though. It was rainy and lighningy and I didn't feel like dying anyways. It has been raining like crazy all week. It makes me that much happier that we got the car on Wednesday. 

This week was a great week to go galavanting around Gainesville with members! 

On Wednesday Julie came out with us again. We went and saw a bucket load of people and then we went to a lesson with a less active fellow. It turns out that the Elders had the idea to visit him at the same time, so we had a group lesson. That was interesting. SO MANY MISSIONARIES. Then Julie took us to Texas Roadhouse, since Sister Bowers had never been. How a soul grows up in Idaho and Utah and never ventures into a Texas Roadhouse and it takes coming to Florida to finally go to one baffles me. But we went. It was delicious. Needless to say, she loved it. 

Then Yesterday we went out with Vanessa, who is a recent convert who is from Brazil. She is just the most adorable person in the whole entire world. We saw someone who had a Brazilian flag in their window, so we knocked on their door and Vanessa just had a wonderful time speaking Portuguese with them. 

Now it's time for our weekly portion of "What Do you Eat in the YSA?" Well this week we had some goat. It was quite chewy....very chewy. If ever I became crazy poor I would buy goat meat. You could probably eat the same piece for a week. But Ken gave us this goat and we cooked it right up! It was tasty. Today he also gave us (literally) a platter full of food. Platter included. It is adorned with a turkey featured in a Thanksgiving spread. I will cherish it forever. He told us that we were his girls and that he had to watch out for his girls! It was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard. He makes living in the hood that much more bearable.

 Our goat meat all cooked up

Yesterday we also taught the lesson in Gospel Principles. It was on the gift of the Holy Ghost. It went really well! People enjoyed it, but it's really hard not to enjoy talking about a member of the Godhead. 

This week we have been working a lot on Sister Bower's family history. We have been putting in pictures and stories about her family. I know what I'm doing when I get home! 

ALSO. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Tomorrow is the next Facebook event. I see that none of you participated in the last one. I'm a little upset, but there is always redemption. Tomorrow's event is called "Search the Book" and you take a picture of you reading your scriptures in your favorite place and share an experience that you had whilst reading your scriptures. Please freely use the hashtags #searchthebook and #bookofmormon. We had a great turnout for the last one. Don't be one of those silly people who gets left out of something awesome. Discover the Book was covered by Mormon.org AND Deseret Book. IT WAS AWESOME!! 

I love you all and hope you have a good week! 

love,

Sister Perkes

6.9.14

This week does not have much. We spent a lot of time finding. A LOT.

 

It's also been REAL hot and SUPER humid. Sometimes I'm afraid my hands are going to slip off my bike handles because they are so sweaty and I will conk my head on the handle bars and pass out and then fall into traffic and get squished like a bug. These are my thoughts. Unrealistic, but thoughts none the less.

It's also been really rainey. It rains about every day.

 

We also had some wonderful Facebook miracles! Sister Bowers was so inspired to message some less active and we were able to meet with all of them and help them make the steps to come back to church. Heavenly Father is so mindful of us, no matter where we are. We are also never too far gone from Him. His love is always there.  That is such a miracle.

 

We had trade offs this week and I was with Sister Phelon here in our little part of the YSA. We had a great time! We rode our bikes and I only almost fell off once! That is good news for me since I was riding the bike that I wasn't used to and is like 4 times the size of the other one. I felt like I was on top of mt everest. I might as well have been.

 

Sunday/yesterday was quite the day. QUITE THE DAY. We got done with church and had a delightful appointment with a member and an investigator who owns a record label. It was like my dream come true. We did family history! More dreams come true!!! Loved it.

Then we went to singing practice since we are singing at Tocachale again! I was the Alto section. Loved that.

Then we got back to our bikes and Sister Bowers realized that I had a flat tire. So we walked our bikes back home. Then I tried to turn on the water at home and THERE WAS NO WATER. The water main in our building burst due to the massive amount of rain that came down while we were at singing practice. So now we had no water. Period.... well except for our bottled water and that can only go so far. So we called 1 billion people and no one answered. So we decided to just go on our merry way.

While we were leaving the house one of our neighbors told us that it was going to start raining again. Did we listen? No. Then it started to rain... and lightning. The fact that we are alive is living proof that God is good. Everything in my bag is STILL wet. Still wet.

So the Sisters came and got us and we spent the night at their house. It was wonderful.

 

So this was our life for the last week. We had zone meeting got super pumped to do missionary work, especially on Facebook. It really is a fantastic way to share the Gospel without feeling like you are being pushy. So genius. So inspired. So Heavenly Father. He just knows what is right.

 

I hope you have a good week!

 

Love,

 

Sister Perkes

A Week of Laughs 6.2.14

This week was full of laughs. Sister Bowers and I laugh a lot, but more so this week. Some were out of fear, some were out of happiness, and some were hysterical laughs. It was quite the toss up. Don't worry. I will get to them all.

 

                                                     street we saw at zone conference.

Hysterical Laughs:

This week we yet again were dropped by every soul that we have ever taught. We knocked and knocked, but no one wants to listen. This was difficult, but I know it's not the end of the world. People will want to listen eventually. We just have to keep working.

 

Fearful Laughs:

This week we met a very interesting person. He thinks he is a prophet and is quite... interesting.. Then he really put the cherry on top when he told me that he was, "very attracted to my soul." Then he told Sister Bowers that she had really intense eyes and that some people may even think she's crazy. It was really scary. We were very afraid. Needless to say we will never go back to that McDonalds.

 

Happy Laughs:

OH BOY. All of these funny stories occured around the same area.

On Tuesday we were knocking down by the University and we had just come out of this very nice complex when what to my wander eye did appear, but a really nice printer just sitting on this pile of junk waiting to get thrown out with the trash. Now I COULD NOT let that happen. This was a mighty fine, beautiful printer. So I carried it back to the institute with me, which was roughly 6 blocks down a very busy road. I only got a few weird looks, but judgers gonna judge. I got myself a nice printer. Then I realized that I had no use for this printer so I gave it to someone in the branch.

A few days later down the same street Sister Bowers pulled into this parallel parking spot and I swore up and down that she had enough room to just pull out, but she made me get out and back her up. For everyone that doesn't know, missionaries must be behind the car to help their companion back out. If it's in reverse there better be a companion standing outside of the car making sure that you don't hit nothin. It's a weird rule, but we also don't really have insurance so missionaries got to do what we got to do. So I was backing Sister Bowers out and not really paying attention to the task at hand. 1)Sister Bowers is a big girl and can back herself out 2)there were cars to be waved at. So I turned around to wave at this car that was turning at the corner. Said car starting freaking out, slammed on it's brakes, and rolled down the window shouting, "AHHHHHHHHHHWATCHOUTTTTTT!!!!!! AWWWW ****!!" Then I realized that he thought Sister Bowers was going to hit me and I had no clue that she was backing up and was warning me. I told him that I was supposed to be out here and then was like, "OH. YOU OKAY." and sped off. It was the darn tootin funniest thing I've ever seen. I thought we were going to die laughing.

 

We had a fantastic miracle baptism this week! This girl that the Elders have been teaching for a while decided to get baptized on yesterday. She decided this on Friday. It was a beautiful baptism and I heard the sweetest talk on baptism I have ever heard in my whole entire life. Us Sister Missionaries sang Come Thou Fount. It went pretty well.

 

This week we also did a TON of service. We did some more gardening at Wilmont Gardens on campus and then we helped paint a building at grace marketplace. It was so wonderful and I'm glad that it's getting up and running. Then we helped this older lady move and that was quite the adventure. She had these puzzle that if you touched it was the end of the world. If you want to live you best not touch her puzzles. But we DID get it all moved.

 

That's all folks! Hope you have a good week!

 

love,

 

Sister Perkes

                                                   Sister Bowers when she lost her shoe

Sister Bowers when she gets home

the apple pie I made Sister Bowers make me

                               Alison's baptism. Our little Asians. They are the best. Pan, Alison, and Sigrid

Sister Bowers

                                                                       Sister Perkes 

I finally got to use my rain bonnet

me and my printer

I made sister Bowers tater dogs.

This weird doggytreat-mobile we saw. It was weird and played strange
animal music. None of it involved a pan flute though, and that's all
that matters.

 

The Swamp 5.26.14

This week. What a week. I feel like I start every email out like that,
but really. They're all their own sort of crazy.
We knocked on like 4 trillion doors and got dropped by every
investigator that we have ever had. It was great. Wheat and tares!
Wheat and tares! We got a drop text message from an investigator that
was 10 pages long. But it was the nicest drop I've ever experienced,
so that was a plus!
We are teaching this girl named Theresa though. She is a ballerina and
just so fantastic. The spirit is so strong when we teach her. She's
all we have at the moment.
We also went tracting on Saturday in 102 DEGREE WEATHER. It was so hot
I thought I was going to melt. I don't know how we made it all day.
Since we have no one to teach all we basically do is knock, knock,
knock and bike, bike, bike. Heavenly Father really does watch out for
us. Grace is real.
That's one thing I've really been studying recently, grace. It's the
power that comes through the atonement, not only to save us, but to
sustain us. We know that after ALL WE CAN DO we are saved by grace.
Even though we know that none of our works can ever amount to anything
close to being soul saving, we still have to do our best. Doing out
best requires a lot of effort, so how do we do that? Grace! Grace is
the daily divine help that we need to make it through. Grace makes it
possible for us to maintain those good works that we don't think we
can keep up on our own. Grace will never run out and grace will never
go away! It's always ready to help. It's just another thing where we
have to humble ourselves and ask.

This week we had zone conference and it was beautiful. We talked about
being a consecrated missionary and family history. Two things I love!
The Craig's are such angels. So fantastic.

Yesterday I made sister bowers make me a pie. 'Twas an apple pie. Our
neighbor also gave us barbecue chicken to make. So sister bowers made
it and then made some of it into a pot pie. It was beautiful and so
yummy. She is so talented. I will starve when she leaves.

Yesterday we had the most miracle of miracles! It was raining so badly
that we couldn't go out on our pedal-paddles/bikes. So we stayed home
and called every less active soul in our ward roster. We got some new
addresses, wrong numbers, and some quick hang ups. But the very first
number was AMAZING. So sister bowers Facebook stalked (we are such
good stalkers. I wonder if other people in the library know we are
this crazy. Really we should get an award) this less active. He had a
different number on Facebook than on the roster, so we called it. He
answered and we talked to him for a little bit and then he told us
that he lives in another part of Florida that's out of our mission. We
asked him if we could move his records. Turns out that he ISNT a
member of the church, but he want missionaries to come to his house.
So he gave us his address and we thoroughly enjoyed our little
miracle. It was amazing.

This week we also taught this man named Leonard, who has a family so
our teachings are now over. He apparently knows Tim tebow and is going
to set up a way for us to meet him. They played high school football
together! We will see what happens!

Well I hope you have a good week! We are trying to stay hydrated down
here in the swamp.... Literally.

Love,

Sister Perkes

Neehooooww Knee-Hi! 5.19.14

Since I wrote y'all roughly six days ago this email is going to consist of a lot of donkey pictures. 

 

So last P-day we went on a marvelous adventure. We went and met the world's smallest donkey. His name is Knee-Hi because he is roughly... knee high. Good job boys and girls! He is pretty short.

So we show up at this house in literally the middle of no where and the lady who owns said donkey (her name is Frankie and she is the sweetest lady ever. We talked her into letting us come back and do some service for her) led us back into her back yard. We see some donkeys in the distance and then the next thing we know we are surrounded by donkeys. They were mini-donkeys too, which makes this story even better. Anyways. These little (literally) donkeys are quite cute. They just want you to love them and pet them nonstop. They would get all up in your business until you paid attention to them. It was rather exhausting. Sister Phelon got bit by one! Not every person out there in the world can say that they've been bit on the leg by a donkey. But we met knee-hi and about 4 billion other donkeys. So nice thems is. Apparently Frankie has a fainting goat. I'm pretty excited for that... :)

me with Knee-Hi

Sister Bowers and the donkeys

                        Sister Bowers, me, Sister Phelon, Sister Dodd, and Grant with some donkeys

Grant loves him this donkey. her name is Xena. After the princess warrior.

 

The rest of the week we did a lot of finding. A LOT. We did this thing where we pretty much dropped every single person that we have...well had.. because they aren't progressing. Summer is hard in YSA. It's not worse. It's just hard.

One night we were driving into an apartment complex and all of the sudden we here this giant clunk and something falls onto our windshield. I, of course, scream and then Sister Bowers screams and stops in the entrance (no one was behind us. We lived). I looked up and there is a frog right above my head... on the windshield. Some weirdo frog had fallen from a tree and landed on our CARRRR!!! WHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. So I screamed some more and refused to get out of the car until the vile creature was removed. Yuck. Florida.

 

And now for our portion of YSA food adventures! This week I made Sister Bowers make me a pie (on dad's birthday. How appropriate). It was delicious and peach. It was YUMMY!! I've decided that our food situation is like chopped. I give Sister Bowers a bunch of random food ingredients and she makes them into something delicious. It's working out quite well, I may say. We are not starving and that's all that matters.

 Angel Biscuits and Pie!

Us with Nate Pence. He is in our Branch Presidency. This was his last Sunday since he is moving to San Francisco to join the Chantileers. He literally sings like an angel. He sang that Baptism song (the rainbow one) at a baptism (how appropriate) and it moved me to tears. It was beautiful and he sang it in the original key and original octave. He gives those primary kids a run for their money. He will be greatly missed. The other person in the presidency ages out TODAY and the branch president is gone, so us missionaries are going to have to hold down the fort.

This week I spoke in sacrament meeting. I forgot about it until 6PM the night before. Sounds like me! So I wrote it about an hour before church. Typical. My topic was "because of Him what is possible?" Hello. World's broadest topic. Also, giving that to a missionary is like telling them to breathe. There were so many routes so I went with, "The Atonement allows us to change." I talked about how we all have the ability to change and repent and become better because of Jesus Christ. The other new missionary in the branch was supposed to give a talk, but then he got transferred and forgot to tell someone in charge that he wasn't going to be able to speak. So Sister Bowers gave an impromptu talk. It was FANTASTIC. I also only left her 5 minutes.... whaaat? I'm a Perkes. I can ramble. ESPECIALLY about spiritual things.

 

So I think that's all of the crazy things I've got this week. I'd say that's pretty good for 6 days.

 

I love you and hope you have a great week!!!

 

love,

 

Sister Perkes

Some extra pictures from the week - don't miss the last one 

Some weird Florida bugs

           Me and Lauren Calton with one of our investigators snakes. 

            It was a weird lesson...... Us 3 out knocking some doors.

Smelly 5.13.14

Oh family!!!! It was so great to see you! I loved every minute of it! It was kind of surreal though...

 

This week was craziness in 8 days. I know that weeks are 7 days, but it's been 8 since my last P-Day. So this week has 8 days. Transfers are tomorrow. I'm staying. Big surprise. Wahoo.

 

This week it was hot. SO. HOT. I have never glistened/sweated so much in MY WHOLE LIFE. It was unbearable and entirely unattractive. It was like I had just jumped out of a pool that I wasn't allowed to be in. No one would ever be able to tell the difference. We were on bikes too, so I spent all week smelling like a raccoon crawled into a dumpster, ate too much, couldn't get out, and died. This is really not how a representative of Jesus Christ should smell. I need to fix this. Really. I'm rancid. I am just smelly Shelly over here. 

I have also come to the realization that Gainesville smells (worse than me). Bad. In some places it smells like mildew. I didn't even know the earth could mildew. This is news to me and it smells wretched. Just plain terrible. but sometimes it smells lovely! Like flowers! Then about two feet later it smells like cow poop. Love it. The very best part though is that every night, no fail, from about 7 PM on it smells like steak. Like a really nice piece of steak. Tis heavenly.

 

Since there is practically no one left in the fair city of Gainesville President Craig has told us to seek out service opportunities, and boy did we this week!

This week we were able to go do some service at this really amazing place called Grace Market. It's a one-stop, all inclusive homeless shelter that is built in the old prison here in Gainesville. It's absolutely incredible. They need a lot of help to get up and running, but thankfully we have a lot of help to give. We cleaned up some bathrooms and we organized a room that they are going to prep people for job interviews in. It was a wonderful experience and we hope to go back at least once a week! I loved it.

We were also able to help a YSA's mom build a chicken coop! It was quite the task. I painted and Sister Bowers sawed some stuff with her awesome farmer/handy-gal skills. It was going great until Sister Bowers broke the head off the hammer. Don't fret. They had another one. It was too funny. The look on both of their faces. I about died.

We also helped some lady that we were teaching pull a plastic back out of her ice machine... I have no IDEA how that got stuck in there. BUT IT WAS STUCK. Reallly stuck. We ended up using scissors to cut it out and through some miracle we got it all the way out. I really don't know what she would have done without us since the fridge was twice as tall as her. Really. How does this happen to some people?

 

This week we biked about 10000 miles. Not really, but it really felt like it. Every time I get on my bike I put my trust in God. Every time I get off I realized how much God loves me and how very real He is. Bikes are quite the testimony builder.

 

This week I learned that Heavenly Father really answers prayers. I knew this before but this week it was extra real. The past few weeks have been really difficult for me and I didn't know why. I was so tired and I could barely make it through the day. My attitude was suffering and I was just done. 100% DONE.

On Wednesday we were walking home for dinner and I prayed, "Heavenly Father please help me. I'm done. I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go home. I can't take it. Help me find the strength to be here and to want to find motivation." We ate dinner and I laid down to take a nap (that was nap 2 of the day. That was how bad it had gotten). As I got comfy in my bed I grabbed my pill bottle without even thinking about it and looked at it. It said that my pills had expired 3/2013. I didn't think anything of it and went to sleep.

When I woke up I realized what was wrong. I had been taking expired pills for about 2 weeks. I was not getting the medication I needed. Through a massive miracle I was able to get pills that were finally providing the correct dosage and I am now back at full speed. No more naps for me! I'm back to being happy!

 

This experience really proved to me that Heavenly Father listens. He does. He will also ALWAYS answer. We don't have to worry, the answer will come. Especially if we are doing what He wants us to do. He just wants to help us. We just have to ask. It's all up to us. I can promise you that He WILL answer. He will.

 

 

Hope you all have a good week!

 

love,

 

Sister Perkes