Transfer week

Obviously, by the title of my email, this past week was transfer week. 

Basically, I hate transfers because they take your friends away from you. It sucks. Plus, you have to

 watch your companion say goodbye to people in the wards and that you're teaching and you realise

 how much you actually love them and never want to leave, even though it's inevitable. 

Monday: We went into Lethbridge because I had to buy new shoes and there are zero places for that

 in Raymond. So we made a trip to the mall and had lunch and saw some of the other missionaries.

 Then we went to Bath and Body Works which was a bad idea, and then we got shoes. And I realised

 how much I miss wearing sandals and heels. Wah. We went to WalMart and then headed back to

 Raymond for the rest of our p-day. 

We played sand volleyball with some other missionaries at this new sandpit they put in by the pool. 

It's pretty sweet, except I suck at volleyball or any sport for that matter, so it was mostly a joke(: I lost 

What Are the Odds and had to buy Elder Johnson a Gatorade and basically I hate that game because

 I always have to do dumb stuff. Dumb Elder Johnson. 

Anywho. We had supper at Mamma J's. She's a member in the elders' ward. Her real name is Jessica,

 but she's Mamma J(: So, one of the elders is going home and it was his last p-day, so we asked her 

if she would feed us all, so she had NINE missionaries at her house that night! It was a blast. We had

 so much fun, and then we were under tornado watch, so we didn't go anywhere after that.... 

Tuesday: We had District Meeting and got Chinese food from the one other restaurant in town other

 than Subway and the local burger shop that is highway robbery. Sister Black and I had it on our bucket 

list for the transfer to eat at that Chinese place before she got transferred, so we got to cross that 

one off(: Then we had a lesson with one of our investigators that we haven't been able to meet with

 for a while. We were basically trying to see where she was at because she's been kind of MIA lately, 

and it's sad because it doesn't seem like she has a desire anymore. So, that was a bummer. But then

 we went to Kendra's and talked about temple prep, so that was uplifting, plus, we love Kendra(: 

We had supper at the Graves' and they're such a hilarious family. I dared their 8 year-old boy to eat

 his watermelon down to the rind... haha. 

We visited Hannah and she talked to us 

about her plans for school and a mission

 and all that stuff

 and then we took a bye-bye photo, 

since Sister Black is getting transferred. 

We went to Amanda's and talked about

 effective study with her from PMG ch. 2 

and did bye-bye

 photos as well. Heck, all these bye-byes 

are dumb. 

Then we got the transfer calls. Sister Black

 is going to Lethbridge YSA on the West Side, 

and Sister Brignone is coming here with me. 

That was sad. I was hoping Sister Black 

would stay another transfer with me. I told President I wasn't happy and he just laughed. Rude. 

Wednesday: Let the packing and goodbye-ing begin. We did that all day, that and eating food

 at people's houses. And packing. Well, actually, she packed, and I got caught up on my journal

 because I suck at that. 

Thursday: SUCKED. I literally hate goodbyes. And since I only have a few transfers left, I had to

 say goodbye to a lot of people that were getting transferred North or way far away because I

 most likely won't see them again before I go home. WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD 

PEOPLE. But good things did happen. I didn't think I'd see Sister Blaser again after I left the west

 in Calgary, but she's my STL now! Same with Elder Jones, he's in my zone again, too! 

After transfers and once I got my new companion, 

we went to WalMart and got her some groceries,

 and then we headed back in to Raymond. We got

 lunch at Subway, and then went to Good Sam's, 

the retirement centre, and helped with an activity

, a.k.a, serving/eating cheesecake. Mmm. 

We went home and Sister Brignone (pronounced

 how it's spelled) unpacked and we did some weekly

 planning/going over the area. We had supper with

 Logan Heggie and his family and he gave me a

 package from my parents. It had my curling iron, 

some red and white glow sticks from the 4th of July,

 and a bag of waffles from my dad. The waffles, however,

 had gone bad, since he made them like three weeks ago.

 But it was so sweet to get that from my daddy(: 

Friday: We read Jacob 2 with Sister Kindt. She always

 talks about the woman with the issue of blood from 

the Bible that Christ heals. Like, every week. It's kind

 of hilarious, haha bless her heart. We had lunch at Tekerra's and decided to do a musical number 

with her and the other sisters sometime coming up, so that will be fun! 

We visited Linda at Good Sam's and Sister Brignone and I sang hymns to her. We harmonised and

 everything(: We helped with the activity at Good Sam's. It was Wacky Olympics. We did things like

 shooting paper cows with a toy gun, and hanging clothes on a clothes line, all in a wheelchair, so

 that was fun! 

Sister Andrews, whom we now call Nana, fed us supper. It was neat, because we called her around 

2 to ask if she could feed us, and then when we got there, her less-active sister with her non-member

 boyfriend showed up! They haven't visited her in a long long time, so it was neat to be able to be

 there with them. We shared a message at supper, and Brother Andrews told us at church on 

Sunday that he feels they really felt something. So that was really neat divine intervention. 

Saturday: We helped the Nickle's paint, as they are remodelling their house, and that was a 

lot of fun. Messy fun. 

We went to a baptism for a little girl named Macie. When I first got to the area, we had supper

 with Macie's grandparents, the Beazers, and Macie was there. She had just turned eight and

 was really nervous about getting baptized, so we shared a message at supper about baptism

 and talked about why we are baptized and the importance of it, and then she decided she

 wasn't scared anymore. So we went to her baptism, and it was awesome. What a sweet little girl. 

We heart attacked one of our bishops after the baptism. Since the boundaries just recently 

changed, all the bishops are super stressed out trying to fill callings, so we figure we'd give 

them some love. On our way to heart attack one bishop, we ran into a member who gave us a

 referral out of nowhere! We're super excited about that. 

After heart attacking one of the bishops, we had an awkward 20 minutes before we had to be

 at supper and we weren't sure what to do. If we went now, we'd be too early, and if we tried to

 stop by someone, we'd be late. So we started walking, and lo and behold, a member from our

 ward walks around the corner with her two dogs. We talked to her for a few minutes and then

 walked her dogs around the block with her and were able to get to know her a little better and 

uplift her. It was so neat to see the Lord provide in that small moment. 

We had supper with the Steeds, the members we used to live with, and they had invited their

 non-member friends over. It was neat to be able to visit with them and just be there. Hopefully

 they felt something. 

Sunday: We had a gazillion hours of church and it was exhausting and I totally fell asleep, 

but it was so good. We had a few of our less-actives show up and that was so exciting to

 see them. I had a neat experience with seeing how much I love the people here. I was standing

 talking to someone, and a sister in the ward walks up to me and says, "Can I have a hug?"

 I hugged her and then she started crying, and I still don't know why, but after she left, she

 felt better. It made me feel so happy knowing that she felt comfortable coming to me for

 that comfort, and feeling the love that not only I have for her, but that Heavenly Father has for her. 

I also had a ton of trunky thoughts throughout church. Idk, families and couples and all that 

stuff made me miss home. So I'm sitting in sacrament meeting, and I pull out my scriptures

 to read my section in D&C for the day and came across these verses. "1 For verily, thus saith

 the Lord, it is expedient in me that they should continue preaching the gospel, and in 

exhortation to the churches in the regions round about, until conference; 6 Now I give no 

more unto you at this time. Gird up your loins and be sober. Even so. Amen." From the Spirit

 to me, this said, "Sister Pipkin, your time as a missionary is not up, yet. You need to suck it 

up, and keep working until your time is over. The gospel must be preached and this work

 must go on." 

So that was some neat personal revelation I felt I wanted to share with you all. That

 whenever we have something on our minds that we are really worried about, the

 Lord WILL answer our prayers. He loves us! 

I love you all so much(: My parents have been asked to speak in sacrament meeting on

 Sunday about missionary work and I hope they can use some stuff from this email to

 make me sound good in front of the ward(; haha just kidding! 

Hope you have a great week! Remember who you are and what you stand for(: 

<3 Sister Pipkin