So, probably five times a day, people will ask Sister Black, "How come you're white if your last name is Black?" Or, "You know, just because your last name is Black, doesn't mean you have to always wear black." Or, "Bye, Sister Black! Bye, Sister White!" I'm Sister White, in case you were wondering.
It makes for pretty entertaining days as we reenact people's reactions to her name haha. Even this morning as we took our care into the mechanic's to get the tire fixed and one of the guys working there, who is a member, asked her why her watch was white if her name is Black. So, that's a basic rundown of our every day lives.
Monday: We had a zone p-day in Cardston and it was super hot. We played capture the flag and the losing team had to line up along the fence and the winning team got the pelt them with water balloons filled with paint. So that was fun. Especially because my team won. Hahaha. It had nothing to do with the fact that I was guarding our flag and was totally camping on it(;
Elder Johnson and I decided we'd paint our faces while we waited for the games to begin, and since we both super miss 'Merica, we pretended to be the flag. #Represent
We then had a lesson with a family in one of our wards. Their dad is kind of semi-active and the kids recently got baptized. Their grandma is making her way back to the temple, and so we have FHE with them every Monday. This week, we did an object lesson on the parable of the Wheat and the Tares from Matthew 13, and talked about some real-life ways we can make sure we're doing what the Lord asks so we won't be "sifted as the tares." During our lesson, the grandma shared her testimony with us and her story of how she decided to come back to church. Tears and all. It was so amazing to hear the hard things some people have to deal with and how the gospel can just bless us. All of us. No matter our situation.
We then stopped by a guy in our ward who goes to church by himself. None of his family goes with him and we felt bad for him because it was Father's Day. So we dropped some cookies off and left them with his son because he wasn't home. We weren't sure if he'd actually get the cookies, but stay tuned, because that leads into a cool story later (:
Tuesday: We had District Meeting and for some reason decided to eat at that same burger place again that takes forever. Why? Because it's the only place in Magrath and we're all too lazy to pack lunches. So there's that. We then had a lesson with a member who's preparing to go through the temple in the next six months. We talked about the temple prep booklet and read a little bit from it with her. Then an ant bit me. I'm pretty sure I've never been bit by an ant before. Then it bit Sister Black, too. Same ant, guys, same ant.
Anywho.
We then had a lesson with a recent convert, Troy, who is 9. His dad is the bishop of one of our wards and they helped him take the lessons and get baptized. We're now doing his new member lessons, but he has ADHD hardcore, so they have to be short object lessons that get straight to the point. This week, we taught him the importance of scripture study. So we gave him a little nibble of a cookie I made, and then gave his cousin the whole cookie to eat. We asked him how he felt watching his cousin eat the whole cookie while he had a little nibble. He didn't like it. We read 2 Nephi 31:20 with him and focused on "feasting upon the words of Christ" and then gave him a whole cookie. And that was it. But he loved the cookie, so that was good(: It helps that his grandma is super involved with it because she helps him read from the Book of Mormon and come to church and stuff like that. Yay for grandmas.
We had supper with the Graves' and they fed us a "greenie meal" for Sister Black. Everything was green. But it all tasted so good! They're awesome.
We went to mutual and helped decorate shirts with the girls for camp and then crashed the priest's activity. They were having toaster strudels and chocolate milk, so we ate their food. It was great. And then they told us we're the coolest sister missionaries they've ever met and they like us better than the elders. We got it on camera. Mwahahaha.
Wednesday: We went to a member's house who used to be a seminary teacher for, like, ever, and he taught us about the Hebrew temple and then his wife fed us chocolate zucchini bread. There was definitely more chocolate than zucchini in it. They also have a Harry Potter room, like legit like his bedroom in the movie. So that was cool.
We went to the retirement center and visited a lady who has rheumatoid arthritis. She was so stinkin' cute. I brought my ukulele and sung her some songs and then she cried.
Walked around a lot and I got sunburnt. Oops.
We went to Institute and then started watching Meet the Mormons with a less-active couple in our ward.
Thursday: We visited a member in our ward who, turns out, is cousins with my aunt's father-in-law! Mom, tell Wayne that Sister Kanyo says hi!
We visited a couple of less-active families and shared an object lesson with each of them.
We had about 10 kids come to Scriptures with Friends! We were so excited to see that many kids there. They didn't know it was every week, so now that they know, they'll tell their friends and hopefully we'll have more this week when we act out the Tree of Life! This last week, we acted out Nephi and his brothers getting the plates from Laban. And the brownies were really good.
Friday: Can you tell I'm running out of time to email? My description of my days are getting shorter and shorter, hahah sorry.
We visited a less-active lady and read from the Book of Mormon with her. When we got to her house, she was cleaning her pool, so while she finished, we talked to her and I stuck my arm in. It felt great.
We got lunch at Subway with the other sisters and then went to the retirement center to help with some activities. I love working with the old people, they're so funny.
We visited a family we had supper with last week and were just following up on their commitment we left them with at supper. I asked the daughter how the wedding plans were going and she says, "Oh... yeah, I called it off." Sister Black and I just stood there, mouth wide open, staring at her for, like 25 seconds because we had not idea what to say. Finally, the nine year-old daughter goes, "Awkward turtle!" Haha so that happened.
Kathy fed us butter chicken. Oh my goodness, it was so good. Just about as good as anywhere I could've gotten it in Calgary. Kathy is in the relief society presidency in one of our wards and is kind of like a mom/grandma to us. She got us these cute hats for Canada Day on Friday.
Remember the guy we brought cookies to? We stopped by him to see how he was doing and we ended up talking to him on his porch for, like, 25 minutes in the cold wind. He was so touched by the cookies and he shared with us how he's been going through some really hard times lately. I felt impressed to share a scripture with him that was on a card my mom sent me at the beginning of my mission when I was really struggling. D&C 68:6 "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come." I love this scripture, and it helps me when I'm really struggling. He said, "Wow, that's really what I needed to hear," and then proceeded to tell us how he's been feeling lately. We shared how proud of him we are for coming to church every week by himself and setting that example for not only his family, but for the rest of the ward. What a guy.
Saturday: We had breakfast with Jacquie, one of our members. She has a farm and we got to hold her baby chicks! We then did some service for a family whose non-member grandma was visiting and they wanted us to make that contact with her. We did some heart attacks for some girls we're teaching that we haven't been able to get a hold of recently, and then we went to a baptism for the Graves' son.
We visited a lady who has been battling breast cancer since September and she is just so sweet and strong and we were so blessed to visit with her.
We went to the other sisters' ward BBQ since we didn't have a supper, and then we went to have a lesson with the Collies. We got permission to go out to their campsite where they were because a member took us and we had a lesson on prophets. We also got to roast hot dogs with them and it was way fun! The Spirit was so strong during our lesson, Tracy, the mom, cried. Who knew having a lesson in nature could have that effect?
Sunday: Was church alllll day long and then we had supper with the Nickels, the family whose grandma was in town. We finished watching Meet the Mormons with Mavis and Jack and then had a lesson with a family in 1st ward. They're pretty hilarious.
And now I have to go. Geez, where does 2 hours go?
You guys, I love this gospel. I love seeing how it blesses the lives of everyone, no matter who they are or what they do or what they like. The Lord loves each of His children. All of His children. Individually. Isn't that so neat? I kind of have a hard time wrapping my brain around it, but then I listen to people share their testimonies, and it's just so evident that He loves us.
Love you all(:
<3 Sister Pipkin
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