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