How on earth did this happen 3.10.15

Y'all. 

It's happened again. We've been roped into making another piñata. It's out of control! I swear
this is the last one. It's Elder England's birthday, and he just got here, so we had to make one. Simply had to. He's always complaining about our pinatas, so we put extra layers on it this time. It is like unto a rock. 

This Wednesday was a dark day. Sister Stockett went home. She done finished her mission. How odd is that. But that's okay! I shall see her soon! Since there were lots of missionaries going home we got to take Sister Hall out to work with us! It was so fun! She is such a well rounded missionary and she's actually been companions with 3 of my past companions. How crazy is that! Quite fitting, if you ask me, that she spent her last day with us. She's from Pocatello, too. It just keeps getting better and better. 

We did farmshare again on Saturday, and I got a sunburn. Yes, whilst wearing a sweater and tights. Welcome to Florida. 

We also taught Sunday school yesterday. It was on the scriptures. While studying I realized how silly it is not to read them. They are a divine instruction book that opens the door to personal revelation. Want to know how you can improve? Read the scriptures! Need some comfort? Read the scriptures! Bored? Read the scriptures!! They were written for us, this very day, so why not read them? I love reading from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. What a blessing we have to know about all of these scriptures and to search through them constantly. I love to read and find what Heavenly Father has in store for me. 

Oh! Kitty is getting baptized Saturday! How exciting! We are scrambling to get everything together since she leaves for Scotland on Sunday. How insane is that. She is quite the world traveller! She also is coming to BYU in the fall. It is going to be great. I'm going to get all "A"s as Kitty helps me unleash my inner Asian and not be a B-sian. (She told me that, so it's okay. Actually her mom back in China told her that. Hahaha!) 

Have a good week! And read your scriptures! 

Love,

Sister Perkes 

Sent from my iPad

Flash 3.3.15

What a crazy week. They just go by faster and faster every one of them. 

We also went to the Regency Square Mall last Monday...... It's.... Nothingness. We walked through what used to be Dillard's I'm guessing and into another section of the mall and it was EMPTY. No stores, no people. It was super creepy. They have like maybe 12 stores. It's eerie. Whatever, Austin. Definitely not the best mall ever. In fact, I would even venture to say WORST mall ever. It was it even really a mall. It was like a covered strip mall. 

We had a family history event this week. It was well attended. 3 people! Wahoo! One was even a non member. That's records folks. Just kidding, but hopefully it will get better. We learned about different resources to use for online work and it was lovely. 

The hit of the night though was relative finder. It's a program that some BYU students put out, and it is stellar. It links up to your family search accounts and shows you all the famous people you are related to. Of course all us Utah people were related. We are all Mormon. I'm related to the family history specialist in the branch, which is pretty apparent because he ate half the pan of brownies we brought once slice at a time. WHILE STANDING NEXT TO THE PAN. If that doesn't scream "kin folk" then I don't know what does.  We are 9th cousins once removed. Sister Malm and Elder Francom are 4th cousins once removed. Sister Malm and I are related, too!! It was great.

We went out for sushi with Hannah, Sarahjane, and Sophia (from Hendricks) this week. we made Hannah a flower crown out of a bath and body works receipt and one of our deconstructed puff balls and band aids for tape. It actually turned out beautifully. It's genius. That's going to be my new flower crown when I get home. S m a r t. The sushi was all you can eat and it was divine. We came out of it so full of fish. Yum yum yum.

We also got new iPads yesterday. How exciting! If you go home after August you have to buy yours, but since I go home in 42 days they are letting me borrow it. How thoughtful. They are super fast and pretty nifty, but they don't have all my pictures or nuffin, so I don't have much to send in that area this week. 

Sister Malm and I are staying together! Death in the YSA! 

I was reading this talk today and I really liked it. It says "Brothers and sisters, our individual worth is already divinely established as “great”; it does not fluctuate like the stock market" (Neal a maxwell. Consecrate Thy Performance http://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/12/consecrate-thy-performance?lang=eng)

That's so true. We are precious children of God. It's time to put on your heavenly eyes and see yourself, and others, the way that God sees you. We don't need to sin, we are children of of a Heavenly Father with a capacity much larger than we even know of. 

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Perkes 

P.s. I've mastered the art of fried pickles, but it would be so much easier if I had a deep fryer. So now for Christmas I'm asking for a mini deep fryer and a machete. Carry on. 

Our car before we cleaned it out this morning

So Much To Say 2.23.15

So. Last pday. The elders and Austin decided they wanted to come, so come with us they did.  We had pizza at the same delicious place we ate last time. I'm pretty sure that I got the same kind of pizza I got last time, too! Then we started the wandering around. 

We went to the fort and had a grand time! They were celebrating African American history, so they were having these little performances in the middle of it. There was this lady dancing to God Bless America and she had this flag headband and a flag on her dress. It was pretty great. At the end she made her son and husband get up and wave flags while she waved her skirt. It was HIGHLY entertaining. 

We continued our wandering and Austin informed us of all of the information we needed to know about the fort. He also kept calling everything the nations oldest whatever it was. The nations oldest fort, the nations oldest doorknob, the nations oldest ladder. There was this fire truck that rang and this little boy shouted "a fire truck! A fire truck!" And Austin said something like, "oh, no little boy. The nations OLDEST fire truck." 

There seemed to be a funny pattern of incidents with little boys at st Augustine. We were walking down st George street and this little boy was dilly dallying in front of elder England (who is a hairs width short of a giant) and the boys dad told him to watch out for where he ass going and to pay attention to what's behind you. The little boy turned and looked up at elder England and his jaw DROPPED. He was just shocked. 

Then we were walking through the fort and went near the little hole part that you can go to where they kept all the powder. Haha... Powder room. Sister Blatter and I had already been so we didn't go in. There was a big crowd by the door and people were all over the place when the other sisters came out. The sisters found us and sister Blatter asked if that was where they kept the dead bodies. This little boy whipped around with this look of shock and terror on his face. It was too, too good. 

We got yummy ice cream and continued our traipsing around. We finally decided it was time to go home, so home we went. We went to family home evening and played spoons. Spoons with 30 people is... Difficult. 

This week I gave a training in district meeting. We rolled up to district meeting, and lo and behold who should be there but the assistants, the zone leaders, and the sister training leaders. Huzzah.... I also gave a talk in church and it was very well received. The Spirit is so very kind. 

This week we had a mission conference about facebook with Elder Zwick from the seventy and Bother Hemingway, who is in charge of technology for all missionaries. We make it and sat down and waited for the good times to roll. Elder Zwick came in... Like a little lamb!! He was so calm and sweet! Last time he came he was like a lion roaring through the forest! Brother Hemingway is also absolutely hilarious!! My goodness. 

It was a wonderful conference where they talked all about our iPads. We were the first people EVER to hear this. By four days! They are rolling out new standards, protocols, and methods for our technology. The church has some massively beautiful vision for this technology that will start even before we get our call. They are launching a "re-birth" of facebook, so we will be getting rid of it for a while. By the time we get back on as a mission I will probably be home. I'm excited for this purge. It's good to be pure again. Haha, so I won't have facebook my first and my last transfer of my mission. Funny. 

Elder Zwick kept talking about writing things on the fleshy tables of our hearts and making the gospel ours and making our hearts the greatest filter on the Internet. It was a very inspiring conference full of loving comments. At the beginning Elder Zwick said that if he wanted to go 6 hours then we would, so he went 5.

He also showed us the new Easter initiative that will be airing on March 27. It's beautiful and is called because he lives. I'm so thankful to be in this mission that is so trusted with these marvelous tools to further the work. I love being a missionary! Even if I didn't have all this fancy stuff. I just love this work, and I know it's God's.

I hope that yall have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Perkes