What a length of time 9.16.14

Hellur y'all!

What a week! I forgot to tell y'all, but the next p-day will be on a
Tuesday too. We are having a  mission tour next week. Elder Golden
from the Seventy will be coming. He has a really nifty accent since he
is from Southern Africa, so this is going to be real fun. I'm actually
pretty sure that he spoke at Stake Conference in Idaho Falls once.

But this week was chuck full of interesting things:

My arm is almost back to normal. Brother Matt gave me some medicine
and finally admitted it was poison ivy. It doesn't burn/itch/make
me want to die as much anymore.

This week I have also found that I have a strange obsession with
braid crowns. I figured out how to do a really good one and make it
look all fancy hipster like.

This week I also hit the volleyball over the net for the first time in
my life. It was shocking, impressive, and there WAS a massive round of
applause. Life conquered. I now know that I can go forth and do
anything! NAILED IT.

This week we went and helped with a funeral. It was like going home!
Which is actually kind of sad. But I have never seen such a spread of
food. There were 5 different churches involved and the Mormons provided
the food and building. It was an all day event full of southern
goodness. If there is one thing that Mormons know how to do, it's
throw a funeral luncheon. Yet another NAILED IT moment.

This week we met this ward member who is 95. He still remembers Heber
J.Grant, y'all! He was telling us about his meeting in 1924. What. On.
Earth. He is the neatest soul in the whole entire world. My goodness!

We also had the most disturbing experience of my life. We went to see
these people and their friendly dog dragged a headless furry creature
over to the door. It was either a puppy or a bunny. Both of those are
unacceptable. It was real smelly too. YUCKERS.

The mysterious fur creature

As you can guess this week is transfers. Sister Cline will be leaving
us, but Sister Donohue from Mandarin 2nd ward will be coming! She is
the new Lake City Sister Training Leader! Hooray! Sister Cline is
going to Georgia in Sister Conley's last area. Missionaries run in
small circles, y'all.

I made dinner for the trailer.  It was yummy!

masters of machetes

Me as a beauty queen

We had this dog that kept coming to visit us. Her name be Zipporah.

 

machetes - Sister missionaries tool of choice

The people at the library threw us a party and made us a cake as a
thank you for all of the service that we do for them.

Peacocks join us on our porch.

Hope you have a good week! Love you!

Love,
Sister Perkes

This week went on for ages 9.8.14

This week went on forever.... in a good way, but still forever. Hence forth this email will be a doozy, so buckle up. 

On Monday I got this weird looking thing on my arm. It sort of had a stinger in it, but we weren't really sure... well we got the stinger out and now weird things have happened. It pussed for literally 6 days... right through the bandaid. Our doctor/ward mission leader told me it was "contact dermatitis"... contact dermatitis, my bum. I know what a rash is and this aint one. It's still there.I think it could be poison Oak... but they are also telling me I'm a hypochondriac now... I have no clue where they get that idea. But the stinkin rashy thing is spreading and it is quite uncomfortable. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die. OH WELL! If I die my calling and election will be made sure. See y'all in the eternities! 

Bye.

Okay. End rant.

It rained for pretty much a decade here. I finally understand about "the rains coming down, and the floods coming up." By some sort of miracle we have made it out of our flooded dirt driveway every day. Wow... that would be embarrassing... getting stuck in your own driveway.... yikes.

Sister Snelgrove during studies. Note the torrential down pour. It
rained for literally 3 whole days.

But this week we chopped down some trees with a halfway broken ax and some machetes. It was great fun. I don't know how I ever lived without a machete before. Heads up, I'm asking for one for Christmas when I get home. I'm not sure how expensive they are, but we should take up a collection just to be safe.

Before we chopped down these trees the Elders decided that they were going to catch some pet geese that the people had. Well catch them they did! I was pretty sure that I was going to die. They came right at us like 5 times. It was terrrifying. They were angry. I don't like geese. 

This week we went and helped at the school again! We made a bulletin board to inspire 7th and 8th graders to read! We asked this girl in the library what she liked to read... well that was a bad question. We had like an hour long conversation about what she loved to read, but we did get a lot of useful information. So we took some of those books that she told us about and picked their locations and put them on a big world that we cut out and said, "Discover a new world... read a book!" It turned out really well. I think I see a future career path for me.. Thanks mission! 

Our awesome bulletin board that we made to inspire children to read.
(It has the book series under the location)

This week we had zone meeting and it was a good one. There were brownies and a game of Simon Says. Sister Cline and Sister Davidson also made the whole entire zone these mugs that we can put our mission motto on and that will help remind us of our goal for 1,000 baptism in the year 2014. Have I told y'all about that? It may seem like a HUGE and LOFTY goal, but I know we are going to reach it. President Craig kept feeling like we needed this goal, and so he set it. Then he went to a meeting for a ton of mission presidents with Elder Holland. President Craig was the only mission president that wasn't asked to reconsider his goal. BAM. Sustained by Jeffrey R. Holland, Apostle of the Lord. BAM. Also sustained by Sister Perkes, missionary of the Lord. BAM BAM BAM....bam. 

We also had stake conference this week. The stake president is in our ward and he is really young. I think their oldest kid is 9! But he is a fantastic stake president! Holy cow! So great.

So we were planning on going to the adult session, but then we got a text from the zone leaders saying that we needed to have an investigator about 2 hours before it started, but we are in Lake Butler so all hope of going shot out the window. But after the period of shock wore off we thought of someone we could invite. Not only did she come and drive herself an hour to Lake City, but she brought a friend! God is so real, y'all. He is a God of miracles and a merciful God. I cannot tell you how much I needed Stake Conference. Heavenly Father is so aware of our needs, and He always prepares a way to meet them. I know that He listens, I know that He cares. I know that He provides miracles and that He is willing to make them happen when put forth all of the effort that we have.

I hope y'all have a good week!

Rock on, big daddy!

love,

Sister Perkes

This little girl sat on the stand and wore gloves, a fur coat, and a
tiara. Best part is that I know her! We used to go visit her mom in
the hospital when I was with Sister Conley. These are the Beckhams.
Such grand souls.

A member bought this diet coke for Sister Davidson in memory of me.
How kind. Someone told me they were out there,but I hadn't seen one
until now.

Hellur! 9.1.14

Hellur! (That's apparently the southern way of saying hello. It
has something to do with madea...)

This week was a trip and a half. Today we went to Walmart and it was
beautiful. I have never been so happy to see such a blessed store. We
also went to a mall and I bought a lot of things that I don't need. My
closet already overfloweth. Oh well. The deed is done.

 This week we went to a wedding reception as a sort of finding
activity. Finding is slim pickings, so we take what we can get. It was
a beautiful reception! Twinkly lights included! They also had a
s'mores bar and her parents painted their house to match their wedding
colors. They had a fruit shrine that was rivaled by no other and like
3 different cakes, which were all delicious (this is why I've gotten
so tubby). It rained through most of it, but it all worked out. They
had honey as wedding favors and they told us to take a lot, so we
did... We stacked it all together and call it the Great Wall of honey.
It's great.

We went to Arby's this week when we went to starke for district
meeting. It was wonderful and not subway, so that's all that matters.
If I eat subway again when I come home from my mission it will be a
cold, cold day in a place that is meant to be quite hot.

We did a lot of service this week, which seems like a common
occurrence here in lake butler, so I should probably stop saying at...
But we weeded and raked till we about dropped dead!

We also met the most redneck individual of my life. He has a toothpick
in his mouth, a big hat on, no shirt, and was sunburnt. To top it off
he asked if we wanted a ride in his truck. We politely declined since
we valued our lives and kept walking. He was quite polite though, but
was an whole mess of stereotypes.

Thank you for all who participated in ifollowhim!

Hope you have a good week!

Love,
Sister Perkes

Service for (literally) days(3) 8.25.14

Hello family!

This week was quite eventful! It was chuck full of service.

This week we helped put up a roof! Missionaries! Building a roof! It
actually went pretty well. I didn't really do anything with the roof,
I mostly pulled weeds, but I was there for moral support and morally
support them I did!
We also spent a lot of time at the elementary school this week since
school was starting. We helped a lot in pre k and kindergarten. Boy oh
boy I am a master with scissors now. I can cut on a dime. I should get
an award for my precision and speed in cutting out monkeys for days.

We went out with a member this week and saw a billion people. It was
ex most productive we've ever been in Lake butler! AAAAND we got to
ride around in her Mercedes. It was delightful. She has to be the
classiest, boldest lady in the whole entire world. Everyone better
watch out for sister ginger and her ensigns (she likes to leave them
with people).

There was a ward activity this week too! It was minute to win it
themed and our team got second place. It was really well attended.
There were 10 non members there and 12 less actives. What a mighty
miracle! Huzzah! We somehow weaseled our way onto the teenager team,
so we didn't really have to do much. It was weird to feel so old. I
don't know how I feel about that.....

But we had zone conference this week and it was beautiful. We went up
to Gainesville and it was like coming home. Sister Conley is doing
well and sister Tsai is surviving the YSA. We talked a lot about
Christlike attributes and fortifying things in our lives, which leads
me to my spiritual message of the week: the title of liberty. Read
Alma 46! It's wonderful. It talks about the title of liberty. Moroni
hoisted the title of liberty and people ran to make the covenants that
were being set forth. Do we RUN to make our covenants? What do we hold
important? What would be on our title of liberty? I challenge you all
to think about what would be on your title of liberty and write it
down and put it somewhere where you can see it every day. Then pray
and covenant with God to always maintain those things, so that He may
bless you.

It was overall a delightful time. I hope everyone is doing well!

Have a good week!

Love,

Sister Perkes

Rash girl strikes again 8.18.14

Hello all.

Oh what a week. It was a lovely week! It was a dandy week.

We started off this week with cupcake wars and we were the judges. It
was like the best day of my life. We HAD to eat all these cupcakes and
decide which one was the best and which one was the prettiest. It was
the best day ever. If I could have that job forever i would be so fat
and happy. So fat. So happy. The winner for taste was a maple bacon
one. It was delicious. The pretty and creative one was this cupcake
that looked like a milkshake. It was adorable. My favorites included a
pineapple upside down cake and a banana bread one. They were
DELICIOUS.

My food prayers were constantly answered this week as well. All I
wanted was some banana bread and lemonade. We went all day and then we
went to a house. Low and behold they had fresh baked banana bread and
lemonade. Yes. Please. I also wanted some enchiladas. Low and behold
enchiladas. I wanted some cake. Bam! Cake. God is good, y'all.

This week I have learned a valuable thing about myself. If push came
to shove I would not be able to me a manual laborer for the rest of my
life. I would be so bad at it. BUT I have learned a many a thing about
lawn care! This week I hauled stone, mulched, and pulled out lots of
bushes/trees. Most importantly I've learned that I don't hate it. I've
also worked up a pretty good tan. We have been doing service out the
wazoo. Holy cow! Left and right! It has been such a delightful week.
I've loved every minute of it! Strange... I know.

There was something else I worked up this week: a full body rash. From
what? I know not. It was really rashly though. But thank goodness our
ward mission leader is a doctor so he wrote me up a prescription and I
went on my way. I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to the starter here. It
smells. Rash girl strikes again! Wahoo.

Last night was the funniest night of my life. My whole dang life. We
were at the Bishop's house last night getting blessings for the
transfers. Afterwords we had some delightful home made pizza and a
wonderful family home evening by Saige, the bishops daughter. Then we
were sitting around having a good laugh and then Baler, the Bishop's
son, shouted at Bishop Daddy Paul, "daddy, show them the stanky leg!!"
I don't know why, but it struck me so funny. I laughed for EVER. Then
everyone was laughing because I was laughing. It was so STINKIN
hilarious. Now that I'm typing this it doesn't seem to funny, but my
my my. I am STILL laughing about it. In case anyone was wondering he
did do the stanky leg, but I missed it.

This week was good, nay, great! Hope y'all have been having a good week!

Love,

Sister Perkes

Sent from my iPad

 A wonderful trip to the temple

Some of the bread I accidentally ate in my sleep. I have eaten ice cream and bread in my sleep. Both different nights. I had no idea about both times. Yes, those are my teeth marks. We checked. 

An awesome "bonnet" that I made at the stake pioneer day.

Greetings from Lake Butler 8.11.14

Hello all.

Greetings from Lake Butler/ LB3! Well. It is pretty rural here. I
think that everyone here lives at least 1 mile apart from each other.
But we have a giant ward. It's the best functioning ward I've ever seen
and I lived in Utah! 

Lake butler is half Mormon and half baptist. We
are slowly getting them on our side. We don't tract here, so all of
our investigators come from members. It's so. fantastic to see all the
week they do!

We do all of our shopping here at the dollar general, which is just a
jazzed up dollar store. Magical. I take back everything negative I
said about it! I love it!! We spent forever in there and it was
blissful.

There is a subway and a pizza place in the whole city and the closest
Walmart is a half hour away. Why everyone doesn't live here, I don't
know. Oh wait. Icing on the cake: we live in a double wide with the
other sisters, and we have a 2015 car. Really it's Zion. But the gps
we have can't find where we live...so that makes getting home pretty
difficult.

Plus they asked us to work with the young women and I am SO excited.
Really. Being sent back to young women is the best thing ever.

Because we don't tract here we do service just about every day the
other day we helped tear down a house! Which means I basically hauled
brick for 3 hours. Let me tell you. I was not made for exercise, but
it was really fun! People down here are so nice and have the funniest
accents. I'll never get over it. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

Driving here to lake butler we got significantly lost. Like real lost.
We got here like 2 hours later than we were supposed do. Oh me oh my.
My new companion is Sister Snelgrove. She is from Orem and is very
sweet! We are going to have a good time. We live with Sister Cline and
Davidson and we just have a grand old time.

They play a weekly game of volleyball and we went and I actually
played this time. I also didn't die or kill anyone. By the grace of
God, y'all. I also served like 15 times in a row because my mad skills
were getting us points. I don't know how this happened.

We went to lunch at a members house and it turns out that her grand
kids are cousins with the branch mission leader in Gainesville YSA!
Funny story. So of course I took a picture!

But I'm loving it here! Good things are coming for Lake Butler! Huzzah!

Hope you have a good week!

Love,
Sister Perkes

It came in like a wrecking ball. 8.5.14

This week was pretty intense and I didn't even realize it until I started to write this. So I apologize in advance for how long this email is.

 

My awesome face mask whilst listening to transfer calls What? Me? Where?

I'm a firm believer in bad news first, so here it is: I'm getting transferred.... to Lake Butler a.k.a the sticks. It was like a punch in the face. We were just sitting there listening to the transfer call laughing and having a good time when all of the sudden they read my name and it wasn't very funny anymore. I'm so upset. President Craig even told us that this wasn't going to happen, but oh stinkin well. I thought I had at least one more transfer here in the blessed land of Gainesville. But I'm packing up my bags and heading over to Lake Butler where we do all of our shopping at the Dollar General and the nearest WALMART is 20 MINUTES AWAY. Distraught. So in honor of my perilous state I only bought salt and vinegar chips, those delicious pink cookies, and Dr Pepper this week for food. Whoever said you couldn't eat your feelings was a dirty, skinny, liar. Onwards!

 

We have continued to teach Nick this week. He is moving along so well and is the most prepared soul that I have ever met. Miracles happen, they really do! He came to a baptism that we had this week in YSA and he loved it. He is such a sweet, elect person. I think he was just waiting for someone to invite him.

 

This week every living thing fled from Gainesville. There is not a creature left in Gainesville. Not even an armadillo. They have all been hit by cars in their haste to get hence from Gvegas. Everyone has moved out and gone on vacation. Because of said moving out we were able to experience I miracle. We got a call from some random number and it turns out that it was someone we had knocked into like 2 months ago and talked with her about family history. She asked if we could help her move, so we said yes. of course. We ended up being the only ones that could help her move her stuff to storage, but that's okay because she had 3 bags of clothes to go to Goodwill and we are exactly the same size. So I gained some new clothes! Hooray! We are also the same shoe size, which is what I'm most excited about. I got a brand new, never been worn pair of limited-edition TOMS. BESSSSTT DAAAAAAAY EVERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! So worth it. We also had to try on all of the ridiculous clothes that she had. That made for fun times.

 

Speaking of moving we are also moving apartments. We are finally getting out of the hood. I knew this day would come! Sweet goodness!!!... well when I say we, I mean them. BUT I PICKED IT OUT!! Life is seriously unfair sometimes.

 

But this week I got to go to the temple on Thursday. It was the best day ever! I got to see Sister Blatter, eat chic-fil-a, and go to the temple. What a sacred place temples are. They are truly the house of God. We NEED them in our lives. We need the work that goes on inside them. The work is necessary, not only for the people that we perform these ordinances for but for us as well. We NEED it. We need THEM. How are we supposed to be together forever if we don't even know our ancestors?

Family history is such a vital thing. It ain't for your gramamma. Family history is for NOW. It is for THIS generation. We have the skills and now we have the resources for it. Joseph Smith even had something to say about it. He said, "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free." That's Doctrine and Covenants 128:22 in case anyone was wondering. Family history. DO IT. It's done? INDEX. There will come no greater joy than redeeming your dead.

 

There is also a new online missionary event coming up. It's called "I Follow Him" Here is the blurb about this one. It's real simple folks so I expect everyone to do it. Plus we are giving you ample time. I do not think that I ask too much.

"We invite you to share a picture of yourself with a photo of Jesus Christ on your Facebook profile and any social media outlet of choice. Include your testimony of why you follow Him... and use the hashtag #ifollowhim. Add this link about Jesus Christ to the end of your post to welcome others to learn more about Christ -http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/jesus-christ" 

I think you can all handle that.

 

Have a good week!

 

love,

 

Sister Perkes

                                             This is our American Gothic picture :)   (dead fish carcass)

                                                                  Habitat for humanity

Going to the temple was the best day ever!