I'm Lame

Sorry, guys, my motivation to type out a big long email this week is nill. But I will do my best to tell you all the fun things(: 

Tuesday: It was seriously so hot. Aaaaaah I was dying. And, I'm directionally challenged, so we walked around forever in the blazing heat trying to find someone's house while we sweated our faces off. 

But we had some pretty neat lessons. We visited Kendra for our weekly lesson with her and things have just been plain overwhelming for her the past few weeks. So instead of leaving her with another thing she has to add to her to-do list, we got the elders to come over and move some furniture for her that had also been overwhelming her. You could just see the stress lift off her shoulders once that stuff was out of the way. Never underestimate the power of a few young boys moving some couches. 

We went to the golf course after District Meeting and someone had paid for our meal! So sweet. 

We finally got a relief society president in 3rd ward, and it turns out it's Sister Searcy! We love visiting their family, so it'll be so fun to work closely with her. We went over there that night and went through the ward list with her, talking about who we can work with and whatnot.They recently went to Oregon for a family vacation, and Hope, their youngest, brought me back a sand dollar! So sweet.  

Wednesday: We doubled as therapists. Not intentionally, but that's kind of what happened. Just about everyone we visited shared with us some really difficult struggles they went through in their lives, and it was pretty eye-opening. Also from that experience, I decided I'll never be getting married. I'll just get a dog instead. :D Haha just teasing. 

Thursday: It rained all day, which was nice because the one day it decided to rain was the day we were mostly inside weekly planning(: 

We also had our first lesson with Sam since before I got here! Sam is 11, and her parents aren't active. Her and her sisters are allowed to take the lessons, but not be baptized until they're 18. We'd kind of lost touch over the summer, but with things starting to get back into schedule for school coming up, we were able to meet with Sam and we'll be meeting with her other sisters shortly(: 

Sam turns 12 in October, so we're working on having her memorize the Articles of Faith leading up to that. She's such a sweet, cute kid, we're excited to keep working with her(: 

Scriptures with Friends was amazing this week! We had almost every seat in the seminary room filled, and the kids had so much fun! We had a lot of new kids come that aren't from the usual crowd, and we're excited to see them back next week. We played scripture pictionary, and read in Mosiah about Alma converting and baptizing people while he's in hiding from King Noah. We then talked about the covenants we make when we're baptized and how we can keep them in our everyday lives. 

Friday: We made sail boats at Good Sam's with the residents and tried to see how many rocks we could put in them before they sunk. I helped Eddie with his, and our boat held 70 rocks before it sank! That might sound like a lot, but it wasn't. Haha, I'm terrible at the whole making-things-that-actually-function thing. But it looked cute!

On Monday, we found a massive zucchini in our fridge with knives stabbed into it. Our only guess was the elders got us again. So to pay back, we made a cake for Elder Simmons' birthday, but we took a bunch of the zucchini and cut it up and wrote "Happy Birthday!" on the cake with the zucchini. 

Saturday: We helped our ward mission leader's mother-inlaw (try saying that five times fast) move in. They had a trailer full of boxes, and we had it all inside in 20 minutes! Again, don't underestimate the power of a few boys moving some boxes. And girls. We helped too. 

I felt prompted to visit the family that we helped move into our ward last weekend. We knocked on the door, and the oldest son answered. He said his mom was in the ER right now because she'd fallen down their front steps and hurt her leg. So we came back later that night and chatted with her and found out some ways we can help her and her family. Part of the reason why they'd moved was because she'd just gotten divorced, so there's lots of opportunity for us to serve with helping unpack, clean, and hopefully help with organizing the baptism for her little girl. Yay for following promptings!

We also talked to these people on the street (which never happens in Raymond unless they're members, which these people weren't) who were making huge bubbles with sticks and string! I'll try to send the best photo of it that I got. But it was pretty neat! 

Sunday: I went on splits for the first time my whole mission! I guess I've just never had to? Idk. Anyways. We had two ward councils happening at the same time, So Sister Brignone took our ward mission leader's wife to 1st ward council, and I took Emma Boyes, a recent RM, to 10th ward council. It was really good to be there, and one of the bishops told me a few different times, "Sisters, thank you so much for being there. Having you presents helps us stay focused on our purpose for the ward." Aww. Nothin' like that to make you feel good about being a missionary!!

Sorry this email is so short! I wouldn't say I'm getting trunky, but typing up a big long email about your whole week is a lot more work than you'd think. Especially when you don't use technology any other time(: 

But I love you all SO MUCH!!!!! Thanks for being so loving and supportive(: 

Mom, tell Brother DeMordaunt that I got his letter and I'm so grateful for his encouragement! 

Love you!

<3 Sister Pipkin 

1) The Raymond Missionaries Moving Crew

2) Sister Brignone and I, photo courtesy of BMD. Also, note her mismatched outfit. She lost What Are the Odds and had to let me pick out her outfit and wear it, no matter what I picked. I think I was pretty merciful... :D 

3) the zucchini they left in our fridge

4) the payback birthday cake. too bad we didn't put zucchini IN it. We're nicer than that. 

5) Eddie and I with our boat (: 

You look like death warmed over

That's what I heard from my companion all week this week. 

So as you can guess, I was sick basically all week. 

But not, like, deathly ill, puking or anything. 

No, no. Just some random stream of a nasty cold that wouldn't go away. Why wouldn't it go away? 

Well, there's this thing called being a missionary. And being a missionary, we're kind of stubborn, even more so than normal. We don't like to budge when people haven't kept commitments or come up with dumb excuses, and we don't like to take more time than is necessary for ourselves. So if we have a simple cold, we're like, "I'm fine, let's go to work." But here's the thing. We're in constant contact with people all day. So while we may not be deathly ill to the point that we can't get out of bed, we definitely shouldn't visit people, which is something hard for missionaries to accept. 

The moral of the story is this. A simple cold was dragged out waaaay too long because I wouldn't just rest and let it recover. My bad. 

But despite being sick all week, we were soooooo super productive. I don't even know how, but I know that it's because of the Lord. "Did you not tell him this is the Lord's work?!?!?!?" (Nacho Libre, but I changed it a bit...)

Monday: We normally get together with other missionaries in the zone, but this week, it was just us Raymond missionaries. So we hung out in the stake center gym for a bit, and ended up having trash can races. That was fun. But terrifying at the same time. We also played baseball with some members from the other sisters' wards and it was a lot of fun. I was also reminded of how uncoordinated I am. 

We were asked to give a devotional at a YSA activity that evening, and we did a little interactive activity. We played the Telephone game, where someone starts with a word, they whisper it to their neighbor, and it has to make its way all around to the last person. Indefinitely, the word gets jumbled up, and so we did that with about 50 YSA and related it to the Restoration, and the importance of prophets and the priesthood authority on the earth today. It was pretty fun. 

Tuesday: Is when the illness started. I woke up with a horrible headache and it just went from there. We had District Meeting in Magrath, and then a lesson with Kendra. About 2 minutes into the lesson, Kendra looks at me and says, "Are you okay? You look really sick." So she sent me home with some herbal tea and I slept for two and a half hours. I laid down thinking, "Oh, I'll take half hour and be fine." Nope. Two and a half hours later, my companion says, "You look like death warmed over." That was only the beginning. I felt fine enough to go to supper, though, so we went and had supper with Bishop Smith and his family, which turned out to be a huge party for their oldest son's birthday. 

We then went to Amanda's and talked with her about better study application, and then she forced us into her car and drove us home because she said I looked awful. How kind. 

Wednesday: We visited an older lady in one of the retirement homes, and shared the message of the Restoration with her. We've been doing that with just about everyone we visited this week, and then asking, "Do you know anyone who would be interested in or benefit from this message we have to share?" 9 times out of 10, they say, "Well, everyone could benefit from this message." We know. 

We headed to a zone conference in Lethbridge, and by this time, I was really congested and my voice was started to get raspy.

The conference was really good, though. We talked a lot about sharing the Restoration with everyone and asking that same question, and also making sure our teaching appointments are a lot shorter. Like, 20-30 minutes max, shorter. And at first, I was thinking, "How the heck am I supposed to get to know people in 20-30 minutes?" But it's proven to be super effective, and it's awesome. 

At the conference, I saw Sister Black and took a photo with her, and right as it took, President Miles jumped in. And hugged me. He freaking hugged me! And photo bombed my photo! Greatest moment of my life. Every missionary in the mission is now jealous. Mwahahaha. 

After our conference, we got frosties at Wendy's on our way back into Raymond because Raymond doesn't have a Wendy's, and frosties are life. 

We had supper with the Navratils, and then had a lesson with Roger and Mavis Stone. We straight up told them we wanted them to come to church. I'm not sure if they're quite ready yet, but they're getting there. Then we visited another lady in 3rd ward who has FibroMyalgia. Very nice, and we shared the message of the Restoration with her. Even though we visit lots of members, it's always so neat to share that message with them and see their testimonies reignite as we recite the First Vision. We all need to be reminded of that truth again and again. 

Thursday: I woke up and my lungs were on fire. Unbeknownst to me, I coughed the whole night. Poor Sister Brignone. 

We had a lot of changes we had to make in the way we do some things, so we spent basically all day planning. If you haven't caught on in the last 16 months, Thursday is weekly planning day. That's basically all we do. Surprise. 

We had a few member lessons, following up on their family mission plans, and we had supper with Dawna Jensen and her family. They are in the process of adopting this little boy and he is darling. He sat next to me at the table and I just wanted to squish his cute little cheeks. We went to Scriptures with Friends and had quite a few kids show up. I think it's so fun to work with the youth, even though they can be a bit rambunctious, they have such strong testimonies when we can get it out of them(;

We were walking by this family's house, the Nalders, and I felt like we should go see them, so we knock, and two of the boys come to the door and in whispers, say, "Malcolm is getting a blessing, come in quietly."  Pretty out of character for little boys. We walk in, and Malcolm is laying on the couch with his leg propped up and this giant cast on. Poor little 6-year-old had broken his leg just hours before and was getting a blessing right as we knocked. So I got to be the first to sign his cast and we shared a message with them and tried to cheer him up. Poor kid, there goes his summer. 

Friday: I sounded like a man, and I couldn't breathe out my nose. I'm telling you, this thing just got worse and worse throughout the week. Woe is me. 

We went and helped with a community event, and ended up just watching and making sure kids didn't fall off and die on these bouncy house things. That was dumb, so we left. Not before grabbing some biscuits from the breakfast they'd had that morning. 

We then met up with one of the coolest people ever from my first area, the amazing Steph Feenstra. She took us to lunch at the Burger Baron and she scolded me for not telling her I was sick so she could bring her essential oils and fix me haha. She's great. 

We had planned to go to Good Sam's for service, but I was pretty sure my germs could kill an old person. And Sister Romney, in the other companionship, was sick, too. So we switched companions. Sister Romney and I stayed home and rested, and Sister Brignone and Sister Taylor went to Good Sam's. They came back, and we'd slept for a solid 2 hours while they were gone, and when they returned, Sister Brignone said, "You look like death warmed over, you're staying here and sleeping longer, we'll go visit Sister Kindt." So they did. And we did. And when they came back, we still felt like we'd been hit by a train, but a much smaller train, and we were getting impatient with how slow our bodies were 'healing', so we went back to work. See? Stubbornness. 

We had supper with the Graves and they shared their family mission plan with us. Basically, they're the coolest. They had all these different ways that their kids could do missionary work at school and with their family and it was just super awesome. 

We visited a couple other families, and then had a lesson with George Kindt and the other sisters. Basically, he should be a missionary because he's just as stubborn. We had the hardest time getting the stinker to commit to pray haha. 

Saturday: Was service out the wahoo, but we still managed to have a bunch of teaching appointments, and have walking time in between appointments. It was pretty much amazing. 

We spent the morning helping a family move into our ward. They had these super good donuts. Mmm. One of the boys helping move was holding the box, and I grabbed a donut, and as I did, I said, "ah, bae." He looks at me and goes, "Me?" "No, the donut. Sorry." Him, "Ah, I thought I was getting a compliment" Hahahahahahahahaa no. No boys, only donuts, please. 

We then helped at a funeral, and I saw a couple of members from when I was serving in Airdrie! That was so neat. 

We helped serve in the kitchen, and we're standing there, and I see this giant pump bottle of dish soap. Sister Kanyo used to be in our ward, and she's a real jokester. So I grab her hand and put it under the pump and dump a ton of soap into her hands and say, "Here you go!" She looks at me and goes, "Oh, thanks, sweetie! Here, you have some, too!" And rubs it all up and down my arm! Hahahaha it was hilarious. 

***AMBER GALBRAITH*** She's the one that is Wayne's cousin(: 

We then had a couple lessons with some less active members, and every time, we shared the Restoration using the pamphlets we have. They have pictures that go with each point we teach, and it was so neat to see people's attention focused on a picture of Christ, or the First Vision.

We visited someone in 10th ward who hasn't been active for a long time. His wife, who isn't a member, answered the door, and said, "we're fine, thank you." But I recognized his last name from my first area and told her I'd like to know if there was any relation. She goes and gets him, and he invites us in! We chatted and they were both very friendly. We then asked if we could share a message, and we shared, you guessed it, the Restoration. You guys, the Spirit was so strong. We knew that his wife is Catholic, so we stressed different points in our teaching that we normally don't do, like how prayer is a two way communication between us and the Lord, and how the Restoration came about because of distortion of basic gospel truths and doctrines. She totally felt the Spirit, we could see it in her eyes, and then we asked if they already had a copy of the Book of Mormon. He said yes, there should be plenty in the library, and I said that we had a copy if they'd like one. He said no, but she said yes. They kind of argued for a second, and she said she wanted her own! So we gave her one, and then when we asked if we could come back and teach them more, they quickly said no, they already let the home teachers in, haha. But it was such a cool experience. Who knows if she'll read it or not, but the Spirit was definitely there and she definitely felt it! 

Sunday: In Relief Society in 10th ward, Tracy, our investigator, spoke up while we were talking about the sacrament. She shared that up to that point, she hadn't felt worthy to take the sacrament, until today, and that was the first time she'd taken it since coming to church. Neither Sister Brignone or I had any idea that had been going on, and it was so neat to hear her share her testimony. In Relief Society!! We really feel like she's coming closer and closer to baptism. So awesome. 

We had supper with the Geddes, and it poured. A ton. 

Then we had a lesson with a less-active, part member family that came into our ward from the elders' ward. We knew nothing about them, so we went in, shared the Restoration, and just as we're leaving, his family shows up. His uncle, and two cousins who are all super active, and we were able to talk to them a bit about their missions and whatnot. So that was a neat coincidence. 

We also found out that one of our investigators, who is 11, but hasn't met with us all summer, is ready to see us again this week! We're so excited(: 

It's been such a great week, despite being sick. I don't know how we ended up being so effective, except for the fact that it's the Lord's work, and He makes things happen all the time. 

I also know that the things President talked about during our zone conference were inspired, that he knows how best to conduct the missionary work in this mission, and he receives that revelation from the Lord directly for us! 

I've kind of hit a point where so much change keeps happening and I'm getting frustrated because I'm like, "I don't want to change anymore! It's so much work!" But I know that change = progression. Without change, we can't progress, and that's basically the definition of damnation. So... I'll change. (: 

Love you all so much! 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

Raindrops keep falling on my head

I'm pretty sure it rained every single day this week. 

I also think I've already used this email title, but it's fine. 

I guess you never realise how much it rains when you're not a missionary walking around in it haha. 

And also, this may be inappropriate, but I swear, every time either my companion or I were wearing a white shirt, or a white skirt, or white at all, it started raining while we were walking. Like... what? Why? 

Anywho.

Monday: We went into Lethbridge and went grocery shopping. Last weekend was a holiday so all the shops in Raymond were closed, so we got to go into Lethbridge. Which means going into actual civilization, haha. It was kind of overwhelming, actually having to pay attention to stoplights and such. 

We had supper with the Andrews. As we got there, they were packing things up and we're thinking, "What's happening? You're still feeding us, right?" Yes, they were, but they had a surprise for us! They took us in their camper out to the park and we had a picnic. Sister Brignone and I sat on the couch in their camper, and it had a seat belt, so that was pretty cool. 

We had a lesson that night with a man in our ward who has been less active for the past 25 years, but has just recently been coming to church every Sunday. We visited with him and his wife and he told us his story, how he'd had some crazy health problems and decided he needed to get it together and start coming back to church. He's also almost been a whole year without smoking. Come to find out, he's on our list of Prospective Elders, so we're excited to work with him and get him back on the right track. He always gives us Werther's butterscotch candies on Sundays(: 

Tuesday: We had Zone Training Meeting in Cardston, and we talked a lot about relying on the Spirit and recognizing/following through with His promptings. That was really neat because I always feel like it's hard to recognize if it's the Spirit or not. But there's this talk by Elder Bednar and he says that if it's a good thought and we're doing what we're supposed to, then we don't have to worry if it's the Spirit or not. We just need to do it. 

After our meeting, we had lunch at this place called Dave's Drive-In. Shout out to Cami. Sister Taylor and I took a photo under the sign, just for you. We were going to get a shirt, too, but $12 is too much. Anywho. It was really good food. And they give missionaries free meals once a month, so that was cool, too. 

We headed back in to Raymond and had a lesson with Kendra. We read from the temple prep pamphlet and talked about what we read and discussed getting her into temple prep, which would be so so good for her. Kendra is awesome. She just rocks. 

We went to contact some people that the other missionaries in Raymond has passed off to us when the ward boundaries changed, but with it being summer, everyone is out of town or getting ready to go out of town. 

And then it started raining. 

Someone told me that the more raindrops you get on your name tag, the more attractive your husband will be. 

I'm holding on to that. 

We had supper with Cathy and invited her to do a family mission plan. She's like my surrogate Nana out here. One of them. She always has pie for us(: 

Cathy drove us to Amanda's and we helped Amanda paint her kitchen while talking about our assignment for her to read Preach My Gospel ch. 2. We hadn't seen Amanda in a while because she's been away, but walking into her house was like coming home. So that was kind of weird. Seeing as I'll be doing that shortly. 

Anyways! #NotTrunkyNotTrunkyNotTrunky

Wednesday: It was pouring again. 

We had a lesson with a lady who has breast cancer, and we talked about trials in our lives and how they teach us and bless us later on. She's a really neat lady. 

We then started walking to another appointment, and a member in one of our wards picked us up. Thank you, Heavenly Father! She pulled up to her house and her husband came out with an umbrella for us to borrow for the rest of the day. This was pretty sweet because Sister Brignone and I thought this family hated us. Guess not! (: 

We had her drop us off at a member's house and we helped her sort through baby clothes that she was getting rid of. Talk about making me baby hungry. Babies have some stinkin' cute clothes. And they're so little!

We had lunch and correlation with our stake mission leader, Brother Bridge, and talked about the craziness in the stake after the ward boundary change. The craziness meaning it's been a month since the switch up and we still don't have ward mission leaders in two of our wards. So we're trying to figure out how to work around that and how to get ward mission leaders without being obnoxiously naggy. I didn't even know what a ward mission leader was before my mission, and now I'm like, "Hi, we can't function without one. Help?"

We stopped by a potential investigator and this was a pretty neat experience. She looked a little off, so I asked her if everything was okay and she just started crying. She said that her dad is paranoid (we think he has Dimensia) and she's trying to place him in a home, but it's really hard. As soon as he's placed, she said she'd need someone to go to and she's hoping the Church would be able to help. Of course it is. That's why we have Relief Society presidents and Compassionate Service Coordinators. Boo ya. And then she let me hug her and it was sweet. So that will hopefully be an opportunity soon. 

We had supper with the 1st counsellor in the 1st ward's bishopric and his family, and then stopped by the Collie's, our investigator family. Her aunt was visiting, and turns out her aunt is a member and lives in Airdrie where I used to serve, so that was neat. We shared a quick object lesson with them on the Book of Mormon and re-emphasized the importance of reading it. It was neat for her aunt to be there because she was able to testify and to hear it from a family member probably meant more to her. 

Thursday: We had a lesson with our rogue investigator, Priscilla. I say rogue because we can never ever get a hold of her haha she's always gone. So that was neat to be able to sit down with her and see where things are. She's trying to find a place to live right now, so we're hoping to find her something in Raymond to keep her close by(: 

We then visited Linda at Good Sam's and talked about gifts of the Spirit. She's such a neat, strong lady. She's been through many difficult things in her life, yet stays strong to her tesimony.

We had supper with the Hardy family. Their little boy is getting baptized next year, but is scared of water, so we shared an object lesson on that. Then he kept saying silly things like, "Have you ever heard of crap dinner?" His dad told him he could marry a sister missionary, but only if he stopped saying words like crap dinner. So that was funny. 

For Scriptures with Friends, we did King Benjamin's address from Mosiah. The kids build tents out of blankets and desks, so that was really cute. 

We had correlation with our Ward mission leader in 1st ward, and his daughter was walking around listening to Panic At the Disco. I told her to look up my brother singing a song by them opening for an Alex Boye concert, and about 5 minutes later, I hear my brother's voice coming from her headphones. She totally Googled him haha I'm setting them up. 

Friday: We visited Sister Kindt and talked about taking steps to go back to the temple. Cute lady, she was so excited. And then when we saw her on Sunday, she said that she'd finished reading the temple prep pamphlet we gave her and was determined to do the things we invited her to do to prepare to take temple prep and stuff. Attend all three meetings of church weekly, especially Gospel Principles, read her scriptures every day, etc. 

We had lunch with the other sisters and then helped paint at the Nickle's. We also helped set up for a wedding for our bishop's less active son and his common-law girlfriend. We've been teaching their son, who is a recent convert, and also 9. So it was neat to be able to actually meat the parents and help them with their wedding. Also, really neat, our potential, Jan, was at the set up, so we were able to talk to her and see where she's at. Blessings from service!

Then, our ward mission leader in 1st ward, Brother Lacey, had banana bread for us. His daughter, the one that Googled my brother, had made our loaf, and I jokingly said, "Tell Chloe I accept her dowry." 

And then, we had the greatest lesson ever with the Collie's. Except, we didn't even really teach anything. That's the power of the Spirit and members.

Tracy had asked for a blessing, and so Brother and Sister Nickle came over to do that, and it was probably the neatest thing ever. Very long blessing, but so neat. He even talked about baptism, and then we read Mosiah 18:8-11 with her and talked about how she is ready to be baptized. She wants to get baptized with her two girls, and they have to work things out with their dad, so that's our goal right now. Trinity and Trenyse received blessings as well, and it was just really neat to feel the Spirit so. Strongly. In their home. Sister Nickle was impressed to promise the girls that if they fast this Sunday, that any obstacles in them getting baptized will be removed. That. Was so awesome. 

Saturday: We helped with a triathalon. Basically, they dropped us off in the middle of nowhere with some water and campchairs to tell the runners that this was their midway point and they needed to turnaround for the rest of the race. And pick up their water cups that they throw on the ground after pouring it on themselves. I don't blame them. It's a feat for me to run a lap around the track in the morning. Lol. Anyway. 

They also gave us a traffic sign to stop cars coming and tell them about the race so they could watch out for the runners. I got put in charge of that because no one else wanted to tell angry drivers what to do. 

Also, it was really cold, hence the hoodie and blanket. Note that this was on August 6th. AUGUST. 6TH. 

We also went to the hospital. Because Sister Brignone had this nasty bug bite on her leg and she was having weird symptoms, so I made her go. She's fine. I just didn't want to have a companion die on me.

Then I realized that the next day is Fast Sunday and I hadn't had nearly enough water, so I got a 1.5L bottle of water and downed it in, like, 45 minutes. Bad idea. We basically ran to the nearest member's house so I could use their washroom. A couple different times. 

And then it started raining. Woo hoo! (:

Sunday: Our investigator, T'Kaiya came to church! We haven't seen her since the first day I got here, so that was really really neat. 

We also fasted for the Collie's and it was a really great thing to think of them the whole day. (Also, if any of you are fasting anytime soon, fast for them(:)

We met with a couple different members and invited them to do family mission plans as well. They all fed us some sort of fruity, ultra sugary dessert. I love it here. 

You guys, the Spirit was so strong this week in so many different situations. It's really hard to not think about home because it's so close, but I've recognized that when I'm thinking about home, I'm thinking about myself. I'm not thinking about those we're teaching. I'm not thinking about what to do best for them. And that's when I can't feel the Spirit. So I just want to testify that this. Is. The Lord's work. This is His time. He is in charge, and when we devote it all to Him, that's when we see miracles. When we lose ourselves, that's when we're the happiest. I know that because I feel it every day. 

I love you all so much!

<3 Sister Pipkin

p.s. if you have the chance to go to either Emily or Cami's wedding, do it for me and take lots of photos. Plz. (: 

1) us with the Andrew's for our picnic

2) Sister Taylor as we're taking the photo, "Why are you so short?"

3) us being poured on

4) our kids at Scriptures with Friends and their 'tents'

5) these glasses I found and then gave to our Ward Mission Leader

6&7) our service for the weekend at the triathalon

8) yes, I drank that whole thing

9) Sister Brignone and I do this thing called P-day Eve. We celebrate that's almost P-day on Sunday evening after we've planned. So we had popcorn and watched The Testaments like we did back home, minus the orange juice because we didn't have any #poormissionaryprobs 

Can't think of a cool Title because I'm Hungry

And so my judgment is a little cloudy. Sorry(:

Monday:  We went to Cardston for p-day to see all the

 new missionaries that got transferred into our zone last

 week. We played lots of basketball and there's this one 

elder that is massive, and terribly horrifying to guard. So,

 I picked the smaller 15-year-old that some of the elders
 invited. (: 

We had supper at the Tatlow's, Mamma J's, and they'r just

 a hilarious family. I love them. 

We then went to the Wannop's and had FHE with Alex and

 Aaliyah. They got baptized a few months ago and we have 

FHE with them and their dad every week. This time, we did an

 object lesson on prophets where we hide something and 

then the "prophet" (my companion) is guided by "Heavenly

 Father" (me) to tell one of the kids where to find the hidden 

object. It's kind of like Hot 'n' Cold. Anyways. We did that 

and it was super fun, they're cute kids and have such a love

 for the gospel. 

Then we visited the Boogemans. They have four little boys

 that are super adorable, and we did an object lesson with

 them, too. We did what we call the Nail Game, where we 

use 10 nails representing the 10 commandments and balance them on one nail head with 2 other nails

 representing Christ and Heavenly Father, supporting us to help us keep their commandments. 

Tuesday: It poured. Like, buckets. After District Meeting, we were heading to stop by some people, and
 a lady in our ward walks out and says, "Sisters, you'd better head home and get your car or something
 because it's about to hail and pour for the rest of the day." So we started heading back to our house to
 grab our car and another member who isn't in our ward offered us a ride. The second she pulled into our
 driveway and let us out, the rain came down hard. So, the Lord was really watching over us.(: 

We had a couple lessons with some less-actives and this one lady we visited would not look at us when
 we spoke to her, it was so strange. We figured maybe we'd offended her somehow, so we asked our Ward
Mission Leader later and he said, "No, she's just weird." Hahaha so there you have it!

We drove around heart attacking the rest of our bishops, and one bishop's dog tried to eat us. That
was fun. 

We had supper with the Andrews. We call Sister Andrews, Nana, cuz she's definitely a Nana. They're
 awesome.
 Always taking such great care of us(: 

We then stopped by a member whose son is in YSA and set up a time to come back and have a lesson and
 invite their son to an upcoming YSA activity that we know about. 

Wednesday: I was really sick in the morning, so my

 companion went with the other sisters for the morning,

 and I stayed at a member's house with Sister Steed,

 whom we used to live with, and rested. So that was

 boring. But then I was feeling better, so we went out

 and did work! We went and had a lesson with Linda at

 Good Sam's, and then we went and helped served food

 at a funeral. We had supper with the Boyes', who are 

newly weds and we talked all about our missions and

made fun of the District(: Look it up if you don't know 

what that is. 

We then had a lesson with Tracy and her kids, our

 investigators. We taught and testified of the Book

 of Mormon, and how by reading and praying, she

an gain a testimony of it, and Joseph Smith as a prophet.

 And once she has that testimony, she can gain a
 testimony

 of the Word of Wisdom and have that drive and desire to 

stop drinking coffee. You guys, the Spirit was so strong.

 Sister Nickle, who came to our lesson, bore such strong

 testimony of the blessings of the gospel in her life, and it was so amazing. Ah. The Church is true. 

Thursday: We did a lot of service, helping 

the Nickles paint for their renovations. They

 fed us Costco

 hot dogs for lunch(: We then had a lesson

 with a member family and invited them to

 do a family 

mission plan. After our lessons and service,

 we went back home and weekly planned. 

We were 

supposed to do that in the morning, but

 service happened. So we planned for the

 next week, and

 then had supper with the Boehmes. They

 have four little kids and she's black and he's white, so their 

children are gorgeous little mixed babies. I want some. Anywho. They're super fun. After supper, we 

went to Scriptures with Friends and read the story of Enos and talked a lot about prayer. We had the 

kids discuss times they've prayed and received an answer or felt the Spirit and the blessings it brought 

them. It was really neat to see these youth apply that principal of the gospel to their lives. 

Friday: We had a lesson with Sister Kindt.

 She went to the temple once in '83, and

 hasn't been back since. Her husband is 

inactive and she thinks she can't go back 

without him. So after reading our chapter o

f the Book of Mormon with her, we talked

 about returning to the temple. She cried. 

It's something she wants so bad, and so we

 committed her to taking those steps to go 

back. It'll be so awesome for her to go back. 

She talks all the time about how it felt
 like Heaven. 

We went to Good Sam's and played games

 with the residents. Old people are hilarious.

 I love them. 

We then went to a member's house who had a referral for us, and we went to follow up and get some

 more information on the referral. This member literally talked to us for two hours. So that happened. 

By the time we left her house, it was time to go to supper, which was 1st ward's ward BBQ. It was really 

 neat to see everyone there and to see all the missionary work being done. We'd talked to quite a few

 people who had invited less active or non member friends of theirs, and quite a few of them came!

 Member missionary work, you guys(: Do it(: 

Saturday: We did a ton of service. We basically 

helped with a funeral all day. This lady passed

 away, and she'd had 12 children, and they'd all had

 a ton of kids, and so on and so forth. Long story short,

 basically the whole town was at this woman's funeral.

 And they had nothing but wonderful things to say

 about her and the influences she had had on their

 lives. It made me realize how much of an impact we

 have on those around us, even if we don't realize it.

 And especially towards the gospel. So many of her 

posterity are members of the church and get to have

 those blessings in their life. So that was a really
 neat experience. 

We had supper with the Laceys', our ward mission leader's

 family, and committed them to do a family mission plan, too. 

Then we went to that member's house whose son is a 

YSA and shared a message with him and invited him to

 the YSA activity next week! We hope he goes(:

Sunday: Was basically church until about 4:30. Tracy 

came with her kids, and her kids brought a friend! That was so neat(: I got to sit by her youngest boy

, Trevone, who's 5, and he's just adorable. It was neat to see how she wanted him to be quiet and

 respectful during the meeting, even though he's only 5. I know that reverence can be hard with kids, 

and that's just kind of how life goes. But I also know that the way we teach children in our homes
 about

 the importance of sacrament meeting has a great influence on them, even at such a young age.
Anyway.

 Off my rant. Tracy is awesome. We have so many people come up to us on Sundays and say things 

like, "She's quite incredible! I had no idea she isn't a member!" And we're like, "Yet. Not a member
 YET." (; 

We then had a few more lessons with some members, committing them to family mission plans,

 and also correlated with the new Relief Society president in 10th ward. It's really neat to see the

 dedication in members here in doing the Lord's work and caring for His children. So neat. 

Anyways. It was a pretty good week. We met a lot of our goals, which was so great, and we're excited 

for the week to come! Love you all! Thanks for all your love and support(: 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

1) Sister Taylor, Sister Romney, Sister Brignone, and I

2) This weird person made out of.. I don't even know. We found it in our apartment. Apparently the
 people whose basement we live in, their son in law made it for a school project. It's creepy. 

3) We helped with Sunbeams on Sunday and we had them draw pictures of their families

4) Sister Romney and I with our heads stuck together. Why? I don't know... 

5) Sister Taylor and I