Wax

Monday, June 11, 2012 (email)

I smell like wax, car wax. We were asked a long time back to wax our vehicles, but Sister Kesler and Sister Patrick had not waxed the truck yet...and he was looking sad. (I named the truck Larry when I got to Shiprock). Sister Patrick asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I said, wash, wax and vacuum the chitty (chitty is the Navajo word for car.) You should have seen how tickled I was at the car wash place. The Elders have always taken their truck to Octopus car wash, and I always wondered what the big deal about that place was. So this morning we tried it out. Oh, its only 8 dollars for AWESOMENESS!!!! You pay at the drive up port thingy...then pull through to a long row of overhead vacuums where you get to vacuum the car as much as you want, as long as you want...FOR FREE!!!! (You can't find that anywhere around here.) Then you pull up to the drive through wash. It has 2 attendants at the front that get you all suds up and then the conveyer for the drive through pulls you in. This is going to sound like no big deal for you, but there are no carwashes around here that have the big spinny sponge things and no hanging scrubbers.....but this place has it. I sat in the car giggling half the time and the other half I was catching flies with my mouth. Sister Patrick insisted that I looked like a little kid. I dont doubt it. When we were done with the wash, we waxed the truck. OH MY GOSH! Stressfull!!! I have never waxed a car before! Sister Patrick has never waxed one either. We were going off of what they instructed us to do a month ago. We were pretty messy by the end of it, but the truck looks sexy. Yup sexy. That's what I said. Now Larry is ready for a night on the town.

Today we are planning on going to Costa Vida for lunch (because they have a mango salsa salad which is calling my name...) but I keep calling the place Chipotle and confusing everyone. I have invited a couple companionships to join us for bowling...but my arms are so dead from waxing the car that I don't know if I can pick up a 2 oz ball....let alone the normal weight of a bowling ball. Ugh. This is going to be a hoot. Then we are going to the mall to check out a store that sells silly Navajo themed t shirts. Then to Walmart we go to get our groceries.

This week at Ward Correlation Meeting, one of the ward missionaries walked in an introduced himself to me. He was a very kind old man, and he reminded me slightly of my grandpa. I was totally shocked when he asked, "Are you by chance related to an Ernie Wilkins?" I stammered and gaped at him. "Um.....you mean Earnest and Ruth Ann Wilkins?" "Yes, that's the one." "THEY ARE ONLY MY GRANDPARENTS!!!!!!!" So Grandpa Wilkins, I just met Dale Carlson...one of your college buddies. Small world. I love moments like this!!

This week we tripled our numbers this week (which sounds like a big deal, but it really isn't, because we had the most dismal numbers l have ever heard of last week.) We have finally met everyone that the previous sisters had listed on our board. But the crummy news is that they didn't leave ANY records at all...so we are totally shooting in the dark...yucky.

Sister Patrick and I are doing so well together. We have more patience for one another this time, and we understand each other better. I still have the tendency to interupt her when I'm excited, and she still snaps at me...but that is the worst of our problems. So, there really isn't much to complain about at all.

She has helped me to recognize the things that I need to work on, and she is so supportive of me. I have come to realize that I have a huge problem with getting distracted. I didn't realize how constantly I change focus, until I had a few days of total concentration, and then going back to my normal crazy brain. It was so fantastic to be focused and then so miserable to realize how scattered I normally am. Now I am seriously working on staying focused on the work, the topic at hand, and anything else that comes my way.

As for letters received, if you have written me a letter in the last little while, and have not heard back from me...don't worry. You will!! I am backed up...and I'm slowly getting back on the ball on p-days.

Oh man, my brain is shot. I don't feel like I can remember anything I was going to tell you. This was not as fantastic of a letter as I thought it was going to be. Either way, I love you all!

Love, Sister Wilkins