November 18, 2013

Oh man, crazy week! Transfer calls were this past Friday aaaaand we're all staying in Williamston!!! Which is super weird because usually trainers and trainees split up after the 12 week training thing is over... but Sister Anson and Sister Dixon are both stuck with me again. :) And I'm really happy about it because Williamston is sooo great. We're slowly seeing a lot of progress in the area and this also means we get to stay for Thanksgiving AND Christmas!!! So happy!! This transfer ends the 28th of December, so my birthday present this year will either be 1. my visa to Brazil, or 2. an iPad, for me, here in Michigan. So I've got pretty high hopes either way haha.

This past week we had a General Authority from the Quorum of the Seventy visit the mission... Elder Golden spoke to us for a few hours last Wednesday and it was maaagical. Holy cow. So much information. He touched on so many topics every time he stood and later my companion commented on how many missionaries were praying for answers to their specific questions... absolutely incredible. I wish I could relate something I learned from this but honestly I've hardly been able to go through my notes -- goal for today! But it was such a wonderful experience. We all got to shake his hand afterward. I'm planning on downloading his talk from April (I think) General Conference onto my mp3 player because I'm sure it's absolutely fantastic...

Miracle of the week: the day after Elder Golden just about all of our plans fell through, so we ended up doorknocking this random street nearby. As we were walking up to a condo sort of building, a man came out to his car and picked up a case of Pepsi. His name is George. We told him about the Restoration, completely pumped up from Elder Golden the day before, and he was so interested. When we explained the Book of Mormon he said "I want to read that book!" -- which is something you don't hear very often as Michigan-aries! So we gave him a copy and he was so interested. "I wouldn't have answered the front door if you knocked because there are two families in the building... my son just randomly asked to get the Pepsi Free from the car, so it just so happened that you caught me!" So cool.

Right after we spoke with George, his landlord left the house and began leaf blowing. We offered to help, expecting a no as most people don't take us seriously... but then he pointed to his wife's truck and said, "the rake's in there!" So we got to do service in our skirts. SO FUN. And this weekend we had TWO MORE service opportunities raking leaves for people... tis the season. You woodn't beleaf how much fun we have doing it hahaha. One of those was for Kenneth, a 91 year old investigator who cracks us up. On my companion using his John Deere to pick up leaves: "I'll have to pull her over for speeding!" On us not accepting money after the service: "Guess I'm not going to church..." (we agreed he'll take us out to lunch today instead haha.) and when the doorbell rang during a lesson when a member came late: "Oh, I thought it was my girlfriend!" You have no idea how hilarious this guy is. Favorite person award.

This weekend we discovered that only one person in our whole district is leaving the area... Elder Wiscombe. He came out the same week as me and he reminds me of "Elder Kaegi" so much sometimes... completely ridiculous haha. So we took a goodbye picture on Sunday... and that's the only picture we took this week. Sorry mom! :)

There was a tornado warning on Sunday and guess what we had planned... DOOR KNOCKING. So we got to go out in the torrential downpour (reminded me a lot of hurricanes) and knock a few doors in our soaking wet skirts, rain coats, and umbrellas. It was so fun. Not even kidding. My bag is still a bit damp but I loved singing "Master the Tempest is Raging" from door to door haha. My companions weren't too crazy about it but I'm glad we went out anyway -- got to meet a really cool lady who personally knew the member we were about to eat dinner with later! Heavenly Father takes care of his missionaries. :)

Yesterday (the 17th) marked my 4th month birthday into the mission... crazy to think. I'll be close to 6 months (1/3) by the end of my transfer -- didn't really imagine I'd be in Michigan for all of it! But I love it here. The work is moving forward and it's such a blessing to be a part of.

I hope you are all being wonderful and feeling fantastic. Keep being awesome.

Muito amor,

Sister Kaegi