I know why Heavenly Father gave me the last few companions I have had...it is so I could ABSOLUTELY TREASURE the experience I am having now!!!!! This has been the most fun week of my entire mission!!!!!
I am training Sister Kelsey Isaacson from Emmett, ID. She is my twin!!! She was at BYU-I studying early childhood and special education...gasp! THAT"S WHAT I WANT TO DO. She loves to laugh...me too. She tells really awesome stories...I LOVE stories. She wears her hair in a giant bun on top of her head at night...ME TOO!!! She has a tie die shirt....smile. She is the oldest of 4...ditto. She has brown hair and freckles...sounds familiar.
We have had a total ball this week. On monday I stayed up until 3 am talking with Sister Kesler before she went home, and it was the best thing ever. That was probably the best conversation I have ever had with her. Then I was up at 5 am Tuesday morning for the meeting...
So I was pretty much the walking dead all day. The assistants and President Batt are particularly impressed with how well I keep the ward area book with everyone's info and all that...so they asked me to teach a special training on it at the big meeting for trainers and new missionaries. I WAS THE ONLY CIVILIAN (non-leadership missionary) TO TEACH ANYTHING THAT DAY!!! No big deal...no pressure...ya right!
Sister Issacson and I be-bopped around on Tuesday getting a million and one things done for her. We started laughing right from the beginning. We had so much fun that we started a "Daily doodle" ...meaning we do a gimpy drawing of the funniest thing from the day. So far we have us as sleeping walking missionary zombies, her falling asleep while I try to orient her to the ward, her freaking out at a prairie dog (she didn't know what it was), the two of us crawling on the floor totally scared out of our minds, me standing on her back to change a light bulb, and her catching a frog....stories to follow :)
On Wednesday, we were studying in the morning, and we saw a man come up to the door and ring the bell. Being the only ones home, and not knowing who the heck he was, we refused to open the door. We got wigged out when he was still standing there after a long while. We started crawling on the floor, with our eyes peaking out the window to see when he left. We had our hearts plummet to the ground when he opened the freaking door!!!! We flipped and crawled on all fours so that we could get to the other room where the phone was to call the members we live with. We were about as scared as you could ever be. As I was trying to text Ronda, we got a message from her letting us know he was coming...well she was a little late, but we were able to breath easy again.
The other awesome story was from Saturday night. We were pulling weeds for a service project, in the dark and the cool, and we discovered a frog. Sister Isaacson started squawking my name and I turned around to see her running at me with a GIANT toad in her hands. I ran to get my camera, trying not to pass out from laughing so hard, and by the time I could get it going, she had dropped him and was chasing him around the yard, with the help of the family dog. Later in the night I saw him again, and got another photo of this beast. We decided it was a good thing she didn't catch him because he probably would have been her prince, and then she would have gone home to marry him, and I would have been left all alone and sad. :)
There is also a photo (or 2) of me at a random door in the middle of a field/cliff thing. It doesn't make any sense for it to be there...but we loved it, and decided to write a story about 2 sister missionaries who get chased through the door by hundreds of prairie dogs, and they get teleported to Nephite times...We figure that our experience in Book of Mormon times will help convince President Batt to let us open a new rez area for sisters :) It's a long shot, but we are willing to try. (The photos are of us, tracting it out...and me banging and begging to get in.)
The absolute coolest thing of the week happened yesterday at church. There was a man, Gerald, who was taught one lesson by the sisters before the white wash 3 months ago. (He came a couple times to church with them as well.) I met him my first Saturday in the area. We were able to get him to church that first Sunday, but I haven't seen him since. We would call and try to set up an appointment EVERY week since, but nothing ever worked out. He finally called back Saturday night, and was having a really terrible time with his family. He takes care of his abusive and alcoholic mother, and she is NOT SUPPORTIVE of him and the church at all....his life just felt like too much to manage. He started telling me how much he missed having the sacrament in his life, and he could totally feel the difference. HE wanted to come, but he also wanted to talk with his ward fellow-shipper...so we got them in contact...and they convinced him to come Sunday morning and to get a blessing. After sacrament meeting, he and our ward mission leader went to do the blessing. when they came into Sunday school, the ward mission leader had been crying. They sat directly behind us, and he leaned forward to tell us that Gerald wanted to be baptized as soon as possible!!! We were so shocked and excited! Gerald wants it so bad! I don't know if I have ever seen someone want it so badly. It is incredible. We have a big lesson with him tomorrow to set a date and see how quickly we can do this. (I am really excited, because this will give Sister Isaacson the best opportunity to learn the ins and outs of missionary work in a short period of time. This is going to be awesome!!!)
I love you all! Please pray for Gerald that everything goes well, and that we can do this quickly and the right way. And congratulations to the Searle family, and to Jessica for her baptism!
All my love,
Sister Melinda Wilkins
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