Errybody's gettin Murried

​

​We basically helped with weddings all week, so 

that was a fun reminder that all my friends are

 getting 

married without me. Rude
. #ShoutoutToEmilyandCami

But it was also really cool to see how the
 gospel is so crucial in everyday application.
 I'll explain in a second. 

Monday: Was the 4th and all of the
missionaries in our

 zone, except for three, are from the States.
 So we

 celebrated. One of the ways we did so was
 by blasting

 God Bless the USA basically everywhere we
 drove.

 Idk if that song is mission legit, but I sure
 felt the Spirit. So we had a little bonfire
 with all the sisters in the zone and roasted
 marshmallows and made bread 

twisty things that one of the sisters made
 dough for. Played some games, got to
 know the sisters better while the elders
went golfing. Then we gathered as a zone and 

had a weenie roast and played sand
 volleyball. It was a ton of fun. Surprisingly
 enough, everyone did their part in

 bringing their food assignments, so it was a
 great little picnic we had! We then took a
 zone photo with an American flag, which
 I don't have because it's on one 

of the zone leaders' cameras, but I'll get it next week. 

We had FHE with a family and did an object lesson with

 keeping the Sabbath day holy. We brought individual 

ice cream cups and then put nasty toppings, such as mustard, soy sauce, etc., to symbolize things we shouldn't

 do on Sundays. Then we talked about things that are a good use of our time on Sunday and how we can build

 our testimonies and then gave them their own cups of ice cream without the nasty toppings(: 

On our way home, a member stopped us and gave us a whole tub of raspberries she'd just picked from her back

 yard! We used them all week on our oatmeal. I love members :D

Tuesday: We had district meeting and then lunch with our district. Sister Black was dared to eat 10 powdered 

donuts in under 5 minutes so the elders would sing the Star Spangled Banner for us. She almost died. But it was 

a sacrifice I was willing to make. Haha. We had a lesson with our member getting ready to go through the temple 

and talked about covenants. We got the idea from a girl in our Young Womens to do this cute thing with a KitKat

 to help people remember their baptismal covenants. We did that and tied it in with making new covenants at the

 temple. 

Then we went and visited some people who have lived in Raymond forever to try and get some help with who

 lives in our ward boundaries. That took a while. We tried to visit some of the new bishopric members, they were 

doing bishopric training, a.k.a., leave us alone for a bit, sister missionaries. Haha whoops. 

On our way to an appointment, a member stopped us and asked us if we had supper. We said no, and he invited 

us over. He and his wife were having the other sisters over for supper that night, so they had us join. He then posted on Facebook that we didn't have supper appointments for the rest of the week and within the hour, we had people sign up to feed 

us for the rest of the week. Now, normally, our ward mission leaders do the meal calendar, but since they just redid

 the boundaries, we kind of don't have any ward mission leaders. Except for one, but we thought he'd been

 released so we didn't ask him. We were stoked to hear he was still our WML. Don't worry, guys, we're definitely

 getting fed here :D

Wednesday: We visited a member in the retirement centre and sang some hymns for her. She cried. Guys, I feel

 so bad and awkward when people cry. I never know what to do. Anywho. We then printed off some Book of

 Mormon reading charts to give to some families that we'd extended the invitation to read to. Then we had

 interviews with President. He stressed the importance of being diligent to the end of my mission and not

 slacking on the work just because I'm going home soon. So that was good/scary. The end is nigh. Ah. 

The family that fed us the night before, the VanDuyse's, had done a clothing drive and needed helping moving 

all the bags of clothes, so we helped with that with the elders. They let us borrow their bikes for the summer! I'm

 tellin ya, members rock. 

We had a lesson with a recently baptised kid and we did the same Sabbath day object lesson with him. He 

absolutely loved the ice cream haha. He's nine, so we're hoping that concept will stick with him. 

We had supper with a family in the other sisters' ward and then started walking to an appointment. On our way 

over, we met this Vivint guy. I said to him, "Good luck!" He shouts back, "Do you know how to get to Lethbridge?"

 My companion and I looked at each other and said, "yeah, it's about 30 km that way." "Is there anywhere I can

 get a taxi?" Dude, there's 4000 people in this town and no taxis. Anyways. We started talking to him and found

 out he's an ex-Muslim. He kept asking all these textbook questions that we had the answers to, but he wasn't

 doing too much listening, just talking. So we gave him our card and he said he'd check it out. It was so strange

 to actually talk to someone on the street because everyone here is members, but it was great. Maybe he'll get

 baptized someday. 

Thursday: We did weekly planning basically all day and correlating with the other missionaries in Raymond to 

try and figure out who lives in our boundaries now and whatnot. So that was the majority of our day. After supper,

 we did Scriptures with Friends and acted out Nephi building the ship. The person we had coming to unlock the

 institute building for us so we could do it in there forgot, so we did it outside, but the kids loved it. And the treats 

the elders' WML brought were super good, too. That always helps. We correlated with our WML in 1st ward, the

 only one we have left, and then his wife drove us home. 

Friday: We helped set up for a wedding at the stake centre for a good part of the day. We did service at the 

retirement centre, and then had a lesson with a less active. She's so random. Literally goes off on tangents, but

 we love her. The family that had signed up to feed us supper had a sick kid, so they gave us food and then we

 took it and ate on the Steed's front porch. We used to live with the Steeds and they just redid their porch, but

 they weren't home, so we just sat and ate pizza on it.

We visited Cathy and she fed us Naan bread and we

 helped her pick currents. Then we had a lesson with a

 family 

in our ward on the Holy Ghost. We're starting to have

 every family we visit make their own family mission plan, 

so that was one of the main focuses of our visit with

 them. 

Then we went home and after we planned for the night, 

we made t-shirts for our Friday Night Date Night. :D 

Saturday: We went to a baptism for a little girl in our

 ward and then spent basically the rest of the day helping 

with weddings. The first one we went to, we were helping

 with the food and they only members there were the

 parents. We were only there for the first half hour to help set up the food, but the atmosphere just felt so...

 different. After that, we went to the other wedding, the one we helped set up for the day before. We helped 

set up the desserts, but the feeling from one wedding to the other was so different. Even though it was a wedding,

 you could just feel the Spirit. That's when I realized how important the gospel is in our lives. Not just on Sundays

 or when we're on our missions, but from day to day in our conduct, in how we treat people, in the way we interact

 with our families. It's so important. 

Sunday: Was our first week with all four wards. We only had sacrament meeting because they're still filling callings,

 but it was so. Long. It's going to take a bit to get used to haha.

 Four sacrament meetings. I'll be honest, I totally fel

l asleep in the last one. It's pretty draining. But it was neat to see 

who all is in our wards and who we get to serve

 with. I love people. 

We had supper and then went and visited the Searcy's really fast. 

They're the family we invited to start a family 

mission plan, and they'd already started it! It'd only been two days! 

They rock. We went and helped a member

 pick raspberries. He said that if they didn't pick them, then they

 wouldn't produce next season. So we spent 

about an hour picking raspberries and then he let us keep it all. He

 said it'd be a great idea to give some to our

 investigators! So we're gonna do that(: 

Anywho. Gotta go! We're headed to Writing on Stone, a provincial

 park about Indians? Idk. I'll find out when we 

get there. 

Love you all!

<3 Sister Pipkin 

Happy Canada Day!!!

Being a missionary in Raymond during this time of year has its perks. One of which is that the Canadian pride, but more specifically the Raymond pride, is unreal. So they went all out for Canada Day and we got to help with most of the celebrations. #service4dayzz. Which meant we weren't bored out of our minds trying to visit people on the holidays that didn't want us to visit them. So this week was a blast.

Tuesday: We had a zone meeting and it was really neat because we talked about how when we fulfill our purpose as missionaries, it's helping us change into the type of person we want to be for the rest of our lives, not just the kind of missionary we want to be for the next few months. Then we took a zone photo in front of the Cardston temple. Ah, it's so pretty. I'm a little partial to the Calgary one, but I like this one too. 

We had pizza for lunch and it was dang good. And then we went to a lesson with our member who's shooting for the temple in a few months. We did our hide-n-go-seek game with the Holy Ghost with her and invited her to pray to know what she needs to work on to help her get to the temple and then heed those promptings from the Spirit. Remember that talk given in conference in October, What Lack I Yet? That's what we're going for! Try it(: 

We had a couple of other lessons with some families we stopped by. We're really pushing for people to read the Book of Mormon as a family right now. It's definitely something that will strengthen us personally and as a family unit, so that's the main focus of our object lessons. 

We went to heart attack a girl in our ward and she walked out on us while we were doing it. And it was super awkward. And we tried to get her to go back inside... It didn't work. So when she finally did go back inside, we stood there and waited for a few minutes and then finished hear attacking her hahaha. 

And then it started poooouuuuring. Like, buckets. So, we're walking to our next appointment and this car pulls over and offers us a ride. 

"Where you goin?" she says. 

"Uh... your house. We have an appointment with you, remember?" 

Hahaha she didn't. She'd forgotten it was her daughter's birthday party and it was recked because they'd planned to have a camp-out in the backyard but it was pouring and all the 9 year-old girls she'd invited were bummed. So we went over and made a fort in the basement for them so they could still have a "camp-out." We helped them roast marshmallows over the fire that was still going despite the rain, and helped them brush out their snarled, rain-soaked hair. It was a blast. 

Wednesday: We helped lay sod. So, I didn't know dirt and grass could be so heavy...??? Well, It was. So there's that. 

We had correlation/lunch with our stake Mission Leader and it was my first time meeting him. He's pretty cool, Brother Bridge. Very missionary minded and ambitious with getting things done. I like it. Also, the Raymond stake is being rearranged, ward boundaries and such, on Sunday, so we talked a lot about that. 

We had a lesson with Julia, an older less-active-ish in one of our wards. We did the BOM object lesson with the can where you smash your finger but it dents the can instead and she freaked haha it was great. But it got her to commit to reading every day! 

Then we packed. A lot. Because -- Surprise! -- we're moving! We just moved apartments because where we were living was just temporary and they finally found us a permanent residency. So that took a ton of our day. We also helped a member clean her house in preparation for the Canada Day festivities. 

Sister Taylor and Sister Romney's 82 year-old investigator got baptized, so we went to that and it was so neat to be a part of. People can change, guys! 

Then we went to our ward BBQ and our family that's investigating came! They had so much fun! We got all the kids to play Red Rover and Capture the Flag after all the eating was done and it was a blast. 

Thursday: We did weekly planning and finished packing and then actually did the physical process of moving. All the appointments we had set up fell through, so none of them happened haha. We did service at City Hall passing out donuts after a concert and there's an A Capella group with a bunch of kids from our wards that sang to us afterwards. They're adorable. We gave them donuts. 

Friday: Was Canada Day!! 

We started off by being in the parade on a float for one of the wards and it was lot of fun. We ran out of candy halfway through... Oops. But we got our royalty wave down pat. While on the float, I saw a ton of people from previous areas and it was so cool to see those familiar faces that I wasn't expecting at all! 

We went to a couple of families houses for lunch (we got fat) and then went to help out at the rodeo. We were in charge of the Lil' Buckaroos for the little kids and that was a lot of fun. 

We had supper (leftovers from lunch) with a family in the elders' ward and they made homemade donuts. Holy heck, they were so good. No leftovers after that. Then we went uptown to the street fair where we ran the bouncy houses. That was a lot of fun. We basically were in the sun all day long and so we have been applying aloe vera like our lives depend on it for the last few days. But it was so fun to see this little bitty town of 4000 explode to around 10,000 to celebrate Canada Day. 

Saturday: We helped with the pancake breakfast they had after a relay run. Lots of people came through and if I had a dollar for every person that asked me where I was from and if I knew someone, I'd have so. Much. Money. But it was a lot of fun. I love getting to meet new people. It's a blast. 

So we helped with that for a few hours. We had lunch with a member, and then we helped another member plant lilac bushes. And move railroad ties. They're heavy. 

We had a few lessons with members, but our investigators weren't able to meet with us, so we were sad about that. 

Sunday: Was our usual 9 hours of church. Bishop and Sister Steed, the members we used to live with, saved us Chinese food leftovers from the night before and gave them to us so we had lunch for Sunday. We pigged out on that after we broke our fast, and then we headed to the big stake meetings where they rearranged the ward boundaries. So, we now cover four wards and the boundaries are completely rearranged, as well as the members in them. So, what little I've figured out about our areas and the members, I've thrown out the window. Woo hoo! But it'll be fun to meet more new people. I'm excited for this next adventure! 

Something I learned from the stake rearrangement is that, change happens. That's part of life. And resisting change slows the progress of the Kingdom of God. We've been sent here to learn and to grow and that all involves change. We are meant to eternally progress and the Lord knows what we need for that. Change is good! That doesn't mean it's easy, but it's good for us. 

Also, the Church is true no matter where you go. #micdrop 

Love you all so much! Hope you have a happy and safe 4th of July! Take lots of photos for me and then... and then send them to me(: 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

Sister Black is white

She is, just in case you were wondering.

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 

Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked

AAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDD WALKED

My mom used to sing that primary song to us as kids all the time. I'm not sure why, but she did. And that's what we did this week. All week. And I have a killer tan line on my feet from my shoes because of it, so that's pretty exciting. Also, I definitely sing while we walk. Very loudly. Because there's no one around in Raymond to here me burst into Frozen. :D 

So, here in Raymond, Sister Black and I cover three wards, so we're kept pretty busy, which is awesome. It's a cute little town, I'm lovin' it! (Ba da ba ba ba!) It's so funny to me that there's three sets of missionaries in this tiny town, but then again, there's 9 wards and rumour has it they're making a tenth. Like, that's just comical. I love it. 

Anywho.

Tuesday: We had district meeting in Magrath and got lunch at this cute little burger shop that took forever. While we were waiting, I lost What-Are-the-Odds and had to eat at on of salt. Yay, me. 

We had a lesson with a returning less-active who's preparing to go to the temple! Yay! 

We walked clear to the other side of town (which is, like, 5 blocks) to the retirement center because someone told us this lady wanted us to teach her the lessons. So we get there and she says she'd changed her mind. It was so stinkin' windy that day and we'd walked and I was like, uhm, no, lady. We're gonna share a message anyway. And we did. And she liked it. So there's that. 

We visited this other lady who's just lonely. And then we had supper at a member's who brought their granddaughter who is getting ready for baptism. But she's scared of the water. So we did a cute little object lesson with her about baptism and explained why we are baptized. After, I said, "Are you scared of baptism still?" Luckily, she said no. I don't know what I would've said if she's said yes haha. 

Wednesday: We visited a lady who neither Sister Black or I had met before, so we assumed she was the lady we were looking for. We go to say the closing prayer, and Sister Black says, "Please bless the Walkies." After the prayer, the lady says, "Honey, I'm Sister Garner." LOL AWKWARD. Haha poor Sister Black, she was mortified haha. 

We had a couple of stop-by lessons and then as we were walking to another appointment, this lady pulls over and asks if I'm Sister Pipkin. Obviously, I said yes. Turns out, her son is on a mission serving with my friend Graham Lowe, and they live in the same apartment! Somehow, he found out I'm here and told his mom to find me and say hi for Graham. So that was really neat. 

We had some amazing Mexican food for supper at a member's house and during the object lesson, the granddaughter snuggled right up under my arm. When we went to leave, she tried to come with me haha. 

Thursday: We did weekly planning and I made guacamole. Mmm. We went to the retirement center and helped with watercolour painting. There's this one resident, Eddie, who's hilarious. He literally only says whatever, and he says it after everything you say to him haha it's hilarious. We had a lesson set up with some girls who can't get baptized until they're 18 and we were going to do Personal Progress with them, but they didn't show up. So we did Personal Progress with the member we had come to our lesson. That was neat to be able to remember some of the value projects. 

We had supper with a family of 5 kids, all their names start with H. 

Then we went to the seminary building for Scriptures with Friends. That's a neat idea Sister Black had, where we invite the youth to come and we read and act out a story from the children's' picture Book of Mormon. We only had three kids show up, but we did the First Vision with them and it was so fun. Plus, the treats that were provided were so stinkin' good.

Friday: We visited a few people and had some lessons with less-actives. We went to the retirement center again to help with some father's day activities and serve treats afterwards. Had another lesson, and then headed to supper, which was way in the middle of nowhere. But we got there and they have this castle playhouse thing in their backyard! And puppies(: We had breakfast for supper and it was soooo good. They're having us over again for supper on Tuesday for Sister Black's "greenie meal." Stay tuned for next week's email to explain what that is(; 

We had a lesson with our investigator, Tracy. We're teaching her and her two daughters and we taught the Word of Wisdom. She's so amazing, I just love her. She committed to living the Word of Wisdom and so far, she's only had a cup and a half of coffee since our lesson on Friday! Woo hoo! 

We then stopped by a lady in our ward who is super young and has four little little kids and not much else. Those little kids were stuck like glue to Sister Black and I. Kind of broke my heart. We shared a little object lesson with them and offered service of any kind. It was really humbling to be in their home and see the little material things they had, but realise the love this single mom had for her little kids. Ah.  So strong. 

Saturday: We helped a lady bake for her kids' birthday party most of the morning. I also ate a lot of raw cookie and brownie dough. And didn't read the instructions for the brownies I was making so I did them wrong.. but we went back yesterday and ate them and they still tasted pretty dang good(; 

We helped the bishop and his wife in 2nd ward, the members we live with, stain the wood for their new porch and then we took pictures for  Father's day cards wanted to make. And then we made the cards. And then we made cookies to go with the cards. And then we delivered the cookies and cards. And then it was time for supper. So that went by super fast haha. We had correlation with our ward mission leader in 1st ward and he and his wife are just so missionary minded, it's sweet. They're so willing to do whatever is needed to help with the missionary work. 

Sunday: Was exhausting. We cover three wards, right? Which means three ward councils. Luckily, they overlap a ton, so we don't go to all three meetings of all three wards. It still turns out to be nine hours of church, though. Which, I did in Airdrie, but that was a long time ago, so this is going to take some getting used to. 

We delivered leftover baked goods to families who could use love from the baking spree we did the day before, and then we had to put air in our tire because it was super super low. But we didn't have a loonie (dollar coin) so we had to go into the gas station and exchange four American quarters for a loonie. As we were leaving, our ward mission leader pulled up and gave us heck for it haha.

We had steak and potatoes for Father's Day supper with the Steeds, the members we live with, and then went to correlation for 5th ward. Also a super missionary minded couple. Love it. We then dropped cookies off at some less-active fathers that we wanted to feel loved, and then visited a family. We challenged them to read the Book of Mormon this past week, and they didn't think we would actually follow-up, so they didn't do it. So when we showed up and followed up, they were super surprised haha. So we did another object lesson on the Book of Mormon and re-invited them to read it. The object lesson we did was the one with a can of corn or something, and you press your finger firmly in the Book and then smash your finger with the can and it dents the can. You have to do it right, though, or it will really hurt. Trust me, I know. I did wrong the other night and had to pretend it "didn't even hurt." Anywho. They freaked out with that one. It was pretty funny their reaction. And then they made me go get their 13 year-old kid and do it again for him. Needless to say, they committed to actually read this week(:

So, this week, I've been having a freak-out in my brain just about every single day when I have a moment to myself to think. Mostly because I have just over three months left on my mission and that's scary. So I just want to bare testimony super fast that I love this gospel. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and to share it with others. Some days I wonder if I'm even doing anything or having an impact on anyone while I'm out here. Some days we just walk and no one's home and all of our appointments fall through and it's tough and I wonder what I'm needed here for. And then I remember that the Lord works in mysterious ways. And there's no way of ever knowing why He does all that He does. But we can trust in Him and know that all that He does is because He loves us. Sometimes we get offended, and sometimes we get tired of fulfilling our callings and coming to church. Sometimes, life is really hard and we can't figure out why God would let things happen to us. But we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He loves us. He's provided a way to be happy through it all. What He asks of us is to keep His commandments. And sometimes it's super duper hard, but I promise, it'll be super duper worth it. 

I love you all! Thanks for all you do. 

<3 Sister Pipkin

I came here to die

Well, ladies and gents. This is it. This is most likely my last area. 

Tuesday evening, I got the call that I'm going to Raymond with Sister Black! So here I am, and we're pretty sure it'll be my last area before I "die" or go home from my mission. Which is kind of a surreal thing to think about. It's so strange haha. 

Anywho. This week has been super crazy. Ah, I think I lost my brain somewhere there in the mix of everything. 

Monday: Was our last p-day as a zone before transfers broke us apart forever. So sad. The Gardiners, the senior couple in our zone, brought food for us all and it was fun to spend some of our p-day with them. They're so sweet. We did the usual stuff, groceries, played games as a zone, yada yada yada. For FHE, they did a BBQ/clean the institute parking lot. So that was fun for my last YSA thing before transfers. Got a ton of photos and it was super hard to say goodbye to some of them. It's like leaving my friends all over again. Man, I love YSA. We also went and said goodbye to one of my favourite families from the area. Ah, goodbyes. What a drag. 

Tuesday: Was our last district meeting before transfers broke us apart forever. SO SAD. Transfers are the worst, you guys. Gah. Anywho. We took tons of photos, again, and then a member from Airdrie came down and took us for lunch. She was in our ward, but the elders, Elder Parker and Elder Jewkes, lived with them. Neat enough, both Parker and Jewkes are in my zone, so we all met her for lunch and it was a cute little reunion. So fun. 

We took our recyclable bottles to the bottle depot and made like $35. That was cool. We heart attacked a girl for her birthday, and then went and watched our recent converts, Kelsey and Scott, do baptisms in the temple. That was so fun(: 

We had supper with Brendan at his mom's house and then I had to kick my rear in gear and get to packin'. Let's just say, I didn't sleep very much that night. Or Wednesday night. Yikes. 

Wednesday: Was chaos. We went and picked up the new sister that Sister Sears is training. My little grandbaby has RED HAIR!!! She's the cutest thing ever. We ran some errands, made sure she had bed sheets and all that jazz, helped her unpack and make her bed while I finished packing. We took her to Brendan's house for our last lunch with all the sisters and we took some posterity photos. Me with both my "daughters" and my new "granddaughter". So cute haha. We then took her to the Pitcher's house where we pretended Brother Pitcher, this 84-year-old man, was a referral we were going to contact. We let her do the door approach and he challenged just about everything she said. She held strong, though, she stood there and testified. What a gal. She's gonna do great. Anywho, she passed, and Brother Pitcher let us in and it was all fun and games. We went and took photos with Kelsey at the temple and then had a lesson with J.R. My last lesson with him! He bought me this sweet bracelet as a parting gift, and we took some photos. He's progressing great, I'm so sad I'll miss his baptism, but it's going to be great for him(: 

We had supper at the Heinzlmeir's and Lewis spent, like, forever preparing this awesome meal for us. What a guy. Love that kid. It was rough saying goodbye to their family. Heck, it's rough saying goodbye to everyone. YOU GUYS I HATE GOODBYES. We met Brendan at the temple and he had a bag of parting gifts for me. Aww. Not to mention, my most favoritest cheese buns in the whole galaxy. Mmm. You'll be missed, BMD. #shoutout. And then we went home, got the grandbaby all settled in for real and then I really really finished all my packing. And, again, I didn't sleep a ton. Especially because I was on the couch. Roughin' it. haha. 

Thursday: Was insane. This week was insane, you guys, in case you haven't caught on. The AP's didn't want Sister Sears and Sister Lane (that's my grandbaby) to drive all the way down to transfers and use their clicks for no reason. So they had me go down with some other sisters, but they didn't have room in their one car, so we had to go get their other car, go back to our pad and get my luggage, and then book it to the transfer station. All before 9am. So that was fun. We got to the transfer station, gave hugs and said goodbyes to missionaries I'll probably never see again (sad) and then headed down to Lethbridge. On the way down, we convinced Elder Thorely, our fleet coordinator, to stop at the 7/11 and get fried chicken. Woo hoo! Got my new companion, Sister Black, and headed to good ol' Raymond! And then some other stuff that I can't remember because my brain got lost in the mess of transfers. 

Friday: I can't remember. I think we saw some people. I don't remember any of them. Yet. I suck, haha. But there was this one lady who has all these collectable Barbies. So that was neat. 

Saturday: WAS SO COOl! President Nelson came and had a conference with us and it was just the coolest thing ever. I love him. He's hilarious. I wish I had time to include all the things he said, but I don't. It was great, though. We watched a fireside with his wife and it was great, as well. She's from Raymond!

Sunday: We had a stake conference with President Nelson. He's seriously so cool. I just love him. Got to shake his hand twice! His hands are super soft. So that happened. 

And last night, to celebrate P-day eve, we roasted marshmallows and made smores. Over a candle I have from Bath and Body Works. hahaha. 

Ok, so sorry, this is super brief, but I love you all and am running out of time. Idk where it went. Awkward. 

I love you all so much! 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

Raindrops keep falling on my head part.2

RainRaindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head pt. 2

That awkward moment when I accidentally send everyone in my whole email list an unfinished email. Like, I don't think I'd even started typing yet. Sorry, guys.

Take 2.

I think it rained every single day this week. 

Good thing we're not in a walking area, haha, suckas!

But the rain was much needed. Every time I sit down on the grass, it stab me because it's so dry here. That will hopefully be changing soon(:

This week went by really fast and I can't really remember what happened because of how fast it went by. So... bare with me, here. 

We taught quite a few lessons, it was a pretty good week. We gave J.R. a church tour because he's never actually seen a normal church building. He's always only ever seen the institute building because that's where we have church on Sundays. So we toured him the church across from the temple parking lot and then after that, we took him into the waiting room in the temple. Basically, the Spirit taught. It was so freaking awesome. We just sat there and let him feel it and I'm pretty sure he got a little choked up, he felt the Spirit so strongly. IT WAS SO COOL.

We did quite a bit of service. Luckily, most of it was in between rain showers. 

Except for the one that wasn't.

The zone leaders had signed up to help with this big community service project where people would come and have their personal documents shredded in these huge shredding trucks, and they needed people to help with that. But then the zone leaders called us a few hours before it started and told us they couldn't make it and they  needed us to go for them. 

If I had a dollar for every time we covered their butts, I'd be set for when I go home. But that's beside the point. 

We get there and all the trucks had left to go dump because they were full, so we were waiting for them to come back. Meanwhile, this massive school parking lot is JAM PACKED with people who are angry because they've been waiting forever for their documents to be shredded. Like, people, it's just paper. Chill. So we tried to make them happy. It didn't work. Until the trucks came back. Then we were back in business, helping people unload their huge totes and tubs and boxes FULL of paperwork. Like, holy cow!

And then. 

It started raining.

Luckily, it doesn't really rain in sheets that you can't see through here, like it does in Missouri. But we were outside, in our proselyting clothes (skirts) and these trucks we were dumping papers into were dirrrrrtyyyyyy. 

So that was fun. But acutally, it was. My shoes are ruined, but I was getting ready to toss them anyways, so it just gives me motivation to actually go and buy new ones. 

So that happened. Photos attached below. 

One of the girls in our ward had us over for breakfast this week and fed us waffles and bacon and had homemade whipped cream. She tried to make it a surprise, but we kind of figured it out haha(; what a sweet girl. She also drew Sister Sears and I as Anime characters. So stinkin' cute. I just forgot to take a photo with mine. I'll do that for next week, promise.

Oh, we also recorded a music video for my rap. 

Wait, I haven't told you about that? 

Let me 'splain.

Two weeks ago, for FHE, one of the family groups did a poetry slam. And then one of the girls threw me under the bus and said I had something to share. Which I didn't. But then I remembered I had a district leader who challenged me to write a rap about the gospel, and I'd written the rap. And for some reason I had that rap in my bag. So I shared that with everyone and a guy in our group dropped a beat for me and it was pretty fun. (Maybe I have told you about this, I can't remember) 

Anywho, there's a regional YSA activity coming up, the Golden Globes Film Festival. And some of the kids in our YSA decided that they wanted to record my rap, and make a music video to it and submit it for the film festival. 

So we did that this week. 

I'll send some photos of the making of it and then when it's done, I'll send you the edited video. Hopefully. Actually, it probably won't fit, but maybe I'll send it home on a flashdrive and have my mom share it with ya'll. We'll see. 

So, yeah, that was basically our week! That and a ton of stopping by people and trying to contact potential investigators and all that fun stuff. This is the last full week of this transfer and training calls go out on Wednesday. I'm hoping Sister Sears gets a training call because I want me a grandbaby! Woo hoo (; 

I just want to testify really quickly about how much our Heavenly Father loves us and how divinely inspire His plan is for us. In one of our appointments, we invited the person we were teaching to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and promised that he'd receive an answer. And he said, "Eh, maybe I'll do it for fun or something." 

Mind you, this kid has been asking us all these crazy questions and blah blah bah. And then we told him how he could get his answers and he wasn't really willing to put in the effort. 

That's how we can be with the Lord. We ask for blessings, we ask for answers, we ask for relief from our trials and tribulations. And He gives us the tools, the resources, the ability, to have those things we've asked for, but then we sometimes say, "Eh, I don't like that answer," and then wonder why He isn't answering our prayers. You guys, I can testify that the Lord ALWAYS answers our prayers. But we have to be listening. We have to be willing. We have to be reading and praying and working and ready to act. Because that's how He'll help us. But it has to be His way. And when it is, it gives us a whole lot more blessings than it would if it were our way. It's a win-win. 

Anywho. Love you all so much! Sorry this week's email was kind of all over the place. If this is the first weekly email you've received from me in a long time, I'm sorry. I just figured out how to add people to a group and then use that group to send emails to every week instead of having to manually type in everyone's names. I know, I'm a bit inept. It's whatever. 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

1) One of the photos from our filming our gangsta rapppp

2) Leah made us Hungarian dumplings for supper last night. They were yummm

3&4) The recording of the audio for the gangsta rapppp

5) Oh yeah, I turned 14 months this week and Sister Sears made me pancakes in heart shapes and "14" :D

6) How I remember that we have to get gas because, let's be real, I'm an air head

7) Brendan brought me Taco Bell on p-day. They have, like, no Taco Bells here, and the only one I know of is way out of my area, so he brought me some. Aww. 

8) Janessa, our cute girl that made us breakfast(:

9, 10, 11, 12) The service we did this week.

AHHHHHH I love the Calgary Temple!

Aaaaahhhhh I love the Calgary temple. It's seriously so so so so pretty!!

This week, for zone conference, we got to attend the temple with our mission president and his wife and a bunch of other missionaries. Best thing ever. But I'll talk more about it in a second. 

Monday: We ran around doing a bunch of stuff before zone conference, mainly cleaning our car because we had car inspections during our conference. So that took forever. But dang, our car looked sooooo good after! I found out, however, that I'd been putting RV plumbing intifreeze in our car instead of the correct coolant. Awkward. Luckily, it's all good. No damage done. That we know of. We did not, however, win the cleaning inspections. Even though we left them fresh homemade cookies for them in the front seat. I think it was a rigged inspection, but that's just my opinion(; 

Tuesday: Was our zone conference. Ohhhhh my goodness it was so amazing. Like, there's nothing better than doing a temple session with a ton of missionaries and your mission president and his wife. Like, it was the coolest thing ever. The Spirit was SO strong. Over the past few months, President and Sister Miles have had us read a booklet full of talks by apostles and the prophet about the Atonement. As part of our conference, we talked about our thoughts from those talks and how it's helped us increase our understanding of the Atonement. You guys, the Atonement is so stinkin' cool. If you don't understand it, study it. You'll probably never fully understand it, because it's just not really possible, but we should always strive to learn more about Christ and His atoning sacrifice. He truly is our Saviour and Redeemer and loves us. 

So, we also gave President and Sister Miles some cookies we made to try and bribe the car inspectors. It worked on the Miles'. (:

We also took a ton of photos in front of the temple, and yeah, it was awesome.

Wednesday: We went to ESL again and had sandwiches. We also helped out with an activity at the retirement center for this cute little carnival thing they were putting on, so we got to wear these cute hats(: It was a ton of fun. I was in charge of the bean bag toss and some of those elderly folks get pretty competitive. They were trying to convince me to let them have a second turn and most of the time it worked on me haha. It was a fun activity. They even had deep fried Oreos, so that made it amazing. We had a lesson with a less-active and were talking about becoming temple worthy again. He told us about when he went through the Calgary temple for the open house, he felt the Spirit so strong. And we were like, "Do you want to take the steps to being able to go to the temple again?" After thinking for a bit and what we felt like was truly pondering, he said no. So that was that haha we're trying to decide if we should continue to meet with him, seeing as he has no desire to change or repent haha what a guy. 

Thursday: We had District Meeting. Normally, it's on Tuesdays, but we had zone conference, so it was moved to Thursday. Elder Schenk, our District Leader made us chocolate chip cookies. Aaaaah. So good. We did a ton of weekly planning, and then had a lesson with J.R. We'd planned to teach the Law of Chastity, but then he sat and talked for a straight hour. We literally didn't say a word. But it was what he needed. He had a lot of stuff to tell us about the changes he's trying to make in his life. Ah, J.R. What a guy. Has such a desire to make these changes and follow Christ. I just love him. 

After our lesson, we were talking to a member who asked if we had a supper appointment. We didn't. So he offered to take us out for supper and it was super sweet of him. We got greek food! Opa! (that wasn't a pun, that's actually what it's called haha). Then we went to ESL and it was just super fun. I LOVE ESL!!!

Friday: We had a meeting with all the sisters in the zone about finding ideas and then we had lunch with them. Sister Sears and I brought basically all the leftovers in our fridge and we made guacamole. It was a feast! We went on exchanges after that, I went to the Bow Valley area with Sister Trimble and we just had a blast and a half. I just love her. It's so weird to be with someone who's been out as long as I have, we basically talked about our plans for after the mission (which I have none) and all the fun things we plan to do together. It's so crazy how fast things go. After our supper appointment, we were walking to the car and this guy was walking behind us and Sister Trimble said, "Talk to him." So I whipped around really fast and he was RIGHT THERE and it was awkward and then I made it even more awkward, but it ended good because he said he wanted to learn more! It was SO COOL! We're meeting with him on Saturday and I'm stoked out of my mind! Woo hoo! We were at the stoplight and this Asian guy was walking across the crosswalk in front of us and it was raining and Sister Trimble goes, "What are the odds you give him a passalong card." And so I rolled down my window and screamed, "HEY! HEY YOU! COME HERE!!" He looks at me like, "who, me?" And I said, "Yeah you! Come here! Hurry! Before the light turns green!" He runs up to the car and I give him the card and screamed, "There's a video about Jesus! Watch it!" He gets this look on his face like, "Are you freaking kidding me. I ran over here in the rain for this? Yeah right." And walked away. Hahahahaha it was the greatest thing ever. I'll never forget that look on his face. 

Saturday: We did a ton of service and it was cold and rainy and that was basically it. And Sister Sears gave out her first Book of Mormon(: My lil' baby girl! So proud. We tried to do a finding activity with our ward mission. We had planned to watch Meet the Mormons in the gym at the institute building and invite a TON of people and have food and stuff. But the video didn't work. So we had a bunch of people there, eating and socializing and no movie. But it turned out great. They all had fun and ended up doing some other stuff after we left. It was great(:

Sunday: Was a good day at church. J.R. was there again, our awesome guy. After church, we had lunch with the Cuckows. Their daughter is on a mission, she just left two weeks ago, and their son is in our ward. Brother Cuckow is a family history nut and so we did some family history with them after and I found like 5 names that needed all their ordinances done!!!! Two were a couple that need to be sealed to their daughter, two were men, and another was a female I'm keeping for myself to do next transfer when I can go to the temple again. The other ones, I gave to our family history consultant for their ward family history relay, so they'll be done by the end of this week. I've been bit by the family history bug, I want to do more!!!!! So fun. We went to ESL and Elder Chen made me a necklace! A bit of a back story on this necklace. I was the oldest sister on the mission in the district when Elder Chen first came into the mission, making me his "mom." So he made me this necklace with the chinese character for "Ma". But It's Ma squared, with the little 2 up top, so it's ma-ma! SO CUTE I LOVE IT.

Probably the coolest thing about this week was the amount of reflecting I was able to do while on exchanges with Sister Trimble. We were companions in the MTC, so we can both see how we've changed so much from our missions thus far and were able to share with each other what we've noticed. It was really neat to see how we've both been able to apply the Atonement in our lives and change for the better, trying to become more like Christ. He truly is our Saviour, and He has led a perfect example for us to follow. What an amazing gift our Heavenly Father has given us(: 

I love you all so much! Hope you have a great week(: Hope your weather is warmer than ours, it snowed a few inches yesterday and it's been cold and rainy all week! Yay! Love you! (: 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

1&2) Sister Sears and I in front of the Calgary temple

3&4) the sisters in our zone

5) ESL

6) Sister Sears, Sister Trimble and I 

7) Sister Sears and I at the retirement center activity 

8) the necklace Elder Chen made me

9) Sister Trimble and I