Wake me up when September Ends

Well, ladies and gents. I'm sitting here staring at my computer screen, not really quite sure what to say, seeing as I'll be seeing a large majority of you in four days, unless you don't love me enough to be at the airport at 11:15pm (; Haha just teasing. 

So I've decided that I couldn't put it into words any better than the great Billie Joe Armstrong already did, "Wake me up when September ends." 

September's over, and I'll be home Friday night. 

Obviously, I still have a few days left to be a stellar missionary, and that's just what I plan to do, amidst all the packing and crying and saying goodbye. 

But instead of going through my week, play-by-play, I've decided that I'll share with you what I learned the most from my mission, along with a few really neat highlights from this week and probably a bazillion photos. Depending on if the myldsmail.net can handle that. 

Here goes!

During my exit interview with President Miles, I was a little.... well, distraught might be too strong of a word, but it fits. We'd just gotten out of a lesson with an inactive member who'd told us basically every point of doctrine that caused her to leave the Church. We literally left her house and walked straight into my interview, so I was little shaken up. I felt like all the security I'd gained in my testimony was slipping away in the few days I have left as a full-time missionary, and I openly expressed that concern to President. 

He gave me some of the greatest advice I think I've received my whole mission. 

That if I go home, and I look for reasons to leave the Church, I'll find them. 

But if I go home, and I maintain the habits I've gained on my mission, focusing my attention to the basic and true doctrines and principles of the gospel, my testimony will strengthen and be able to withstand the blows of the adversary. 

I basically cried the whole interview, which is saying something because that's not my thing, to cry a lot, especially in front of people. 

But I just want you all to know how much my mission has meant to me. 

I came on a mission, not really sure why I was here. I knew that I needed to go, but I wasn't sure what the reason was. My testimony was okay, but it wasn't much. Over the past 18 months, however, it's been stretched, pulled, pushed, squished, stepped on, shot down, built up, tested, all of those adjectives that imply opposition. And I look at it now, and I think, "Dang. I'm nowhere near the person I was when I left." And then I think, that's exactly what happens to us every single time we're faced with opposition in life. When we're being pushed or pulled, we're growing. It's like when your sister borrows and stretches out your shirt. Except you want to grow, unlike your shirt... you don't really want that to grow... okay, bad example, but you get what I'm tryin' to say. 

I've had so many experiences where I've had the opportunity to testify of Christ. My trainer just emailed me and reminded me about a time that President said we should speak of Christ everyday, and then shared an experience where she did just that in class the other day and the Spirit it brought. I know that to be true. We can be great at paying our tithing, or living the word of wisdom, or even doing our home/visiting teaching. But if we're not centered on Christ as we do each of those things, there's no point in doing it. Christ is the reason, as cliche as that sounds. He really is. This is His gospel. Relying on Him is what will get us through everything, and I've definitely seen that thus far. 

I'd planned on telling you some neat things from this week, but I'm running out of time so I'll give you a brief synopsis. 

We got a new investigator this week! Her name is Karen. Hehehe. She was a referral the other sisters got and passed off to us because she's in our area. We contacted her and shared the first part of the Restoration, leaving her with a copy of the Book of Mormon. She has had some crazy life trials in the last few years, and as we talked about Christ and the relief He can give her, her eyes filled with tears. See? As we speak of Christ, the Spirit is there. So amazing. 

Conference was amazing, including the General Women's Broadcast and the Priesthood Session. Cool story, John Larson that President Monson told the story about in the Priesthood Session is Sister Romney's grandpa! I was sitting next to her watching it and next thing I know, she smacks my arm and goes, "Shut up, THAT'S MY GRANDPA!!" And then she cried. So that was neat. 

But I just loved the spiritual uplifting we were able to receive this weekend. It was amazing to me that every single talk, I felt could be applied to me, or to someone we're teaching. Crazy how the Spirit works. 

Last night, some of my favorite members threw a surprise going away party for me, and I was able to see some of my other favorites that came down from Airdrie and Lethbridge! So sweet. Along with being able to teach and testify of Christ, I've made some amazing, lifelong friends and saying goodbye to them is brutal. But it makes me love them that much more(:

Well, folks. I sure do love ya! (that's a Canada Calgary Mission joke because President literally says that every single time he says that in his Utahn accent)

Thank you for all you do. Honestly, there has been so much support to me and my family and I know the Lord will bless you all for your loves and support and service. 

Love you!

<3 Sister Pipkin 

1) a photo I took of my nametag in Waterton last week

2) WARNING: trunky photo -- I expire before my milk does... hehehe 

3) Brother and Sister Geddes made us these amazing blankets! 

4) during conference, I cuddled with the Nickle's cat... even though I hate cats. This one was nice, though. 

5) Sister Brignone and I have a mouse in our kitchen, so this is me on the counter and her on a chair as we tried to set up traps to catch it... no luck yet, any advice on how to catch this smart little fart head will be greatly appreciated 

18 months

Yesterday, I hit eighteen months since I entered the MTC. That was weird. Still not sure how to process/deal
with it all, so I don't. :D I just pretend that I'm not going home and go throughout my day like I normally would.
Which is really hard. Especially when you're sitting in meetings and they're like, "We're going to do this and this
and this on this day,"
and I'm trying not to think or say, "I won't even be here for that..." But all is well!!!! We had a fantastic week!!!

Monday: We went to WATERTON!!!! It was so much fun. Sister Jardine and Sister Kanyo, two of the
 most hilarious
ladies ever, took us to Waterton and it was a blast. We coordinated it with the other missionaries so
we could all
 go together. The other Raymond sisters had their ward mission leader take them, we took the Magrath
 sisters
 with us, and the Raymond and Magrath elders were able to have one of our members from 3rd ward
 take them.
We hiked Bear's Hump and it was so beautiful! Aside from the fact that I wanted to die because I'm
  sooooooooo
out of shape, it was a blast. I took some fun photos, but unfortunately, I left my camera in the Jardine's
 truck
 and can't get it back until tonight. So... I'll send them sometime. :D 

That night, we had supper at the Graves'. Their dad is going up north to work until the day before
 I leave, and
we weren't sure if we'd get to say goodbye before then, so I said my goodbyes that night at supper
. We also
 burnt one of my dresses for my 18 month mark. Don't worry, Mom, this dress needed to go. It'd seen
 its days.
 It was quite the party. 

Tuesday: Was the day of MIRACLES!!!!!! 

Ok. 

To start, though, we had a huge scare. 

We're in the middle of district meeting, and this guy walks
into the church and starts walking towards our room. We have
the door open, so we can see him as he walks in, and he's walking so.
 Slow. With dark sunglasses on and a dark leather jacket. As he gets
 closer to our door, he reaches into his jacket, and my heart
 LITERALLY FALLS OUT OF MY CHEST. I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness.
 It's happening. This is happening. We are going to get shot up on
da block in Raymond, Alberta. All ten of us missionaries are going to
 get shot and no one will know because we're in a church on a
Tuesday morning and we're all going to be dead.  WE'RE GOING
TO DIE AND I GO HOME IN TWO WEEKS"

But then he pulls his hand out of his jacket, without a gun, and
unbuttons his jacket, and then asks our district leader where the
funeral is for Ken Williams. 

I guess that would explain why he was dressed so darkly. 

And why he was walking so slow. 

Because he was confused where everyone was....

.......

Yeah. 

I overreacted. 

Anyways. 

We have this less-active woman we've been working with, and usually, we share cute object lessons with her kids,
and that's how we get in with her. Her kids weren't home when we stopped by, but she let us in anyway, and we
had a good chat. We then asked if we could leave her with a brief message, even though her kids weren't home.
She agreed, and we shared 3Nephi 28:4-6 where Christ asks the three Nephites what it is they want, and how He
already knows their thoughts, but wanted to give them the chance to ask. We talked about how He does that wit
h us. He knows what we want, and more importantly, He knows what we NEED. This led to an amazing, heartfelt
discussion. Previously, we had struggled to get her to open up to and talk with us. But today, she shared with us
her personal conversion story, and it was so amazing and sincere. She proceeded to then tell us about some of her
 friends and how we could help them, and told us some of the concerns she had with them. It was really neat,
because some of these concerns she was expressing for her friends were concerns we had had for her. It was
neat to see that change of heart for her. 

AND THEN. 

We went to the Ackroyd's to talk to them about their daughter's friend, Autumn, who had said she wanted to
take the discussions. We said to Sister Ackroyd, "Is Becky here? We'd like to ask her about Autumn." Sister
 Ackroyd says, "Well, why don't you just talk to Autumn? She's here!"

That was a miracle in and of itself. 

We talked to Autumn about taking the lessons, and she wants to so bad, and she already wants to be baptized.
She's come to church with Becky a few times already. 

Now, she's 9. So we have to make sure it's all okay with her parents. 

That was her commitment we left with her, to ask her parents if she could take the lessons, and if they'd be
interested, too. 

And then we were able to have a lesson with her about the Book of Mormon, as simplified for a 9-year-old as
it can get, and it was so awesome! SHE BECAME A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!! And then she was at church on Sunday!!!!! 

Wednesday: We had some lessons, but nothing super exciting, and I can't remember anything funny that
 happened. Except for these wooden shoes I found on someone's porch that we went to contact. Hehe. 

We were asked by the relief society in the elders' ward to come and share why we came on a mission for their
ward relief society party. It was so neat to share my testimony of my mission, and to hear the testimonies of the
other missionaries I'm serving with, to hear how much their mission means to them and the changes that have
taken place in their lives. 

Thursday: We had a pretty cool lesson with Roger and Mavis Stone. We've been reading a chapter a week out
of the Book of Mormon with them and having them read a chapter in between our lessons, and it's been slloooowww. But on Thursday, we were talking about the chapter that we'd just read with them, and Mavis had some neat questions. As we were
 closing, Roger totally bore his testimony without even knowing it. He's felt the influence of the Spirit as he's been
 trying to read the Book of Mormon more. He knows it's true, and he wants to progress and be better. It was so
neat to hear him say that, and hopefully it had an impact on Mavis. 

Friday: Was the day of dessert. We had a few lessons in the morning, and then had lunch with Tekarra. For dessert
, she fed us Ghiradelli brownies and ice cream. Then we went to Good Sam's, and the treat was spice cake with
 tons of whipped cream. Then, the elders invited us to a member's of theirs who had made homemade donuts.
Well, we couldn't turn that offer down. We did service for a potential investigator, and then at supper, we had
donuts for dessert again. Then, we had a lesson with the Geddes' and his birthday is the next day, so they had
Dairy Queen ice cream cake to feed us! 

I'm only kind of joking when I say they're going to have to roll me off the plane. 

Saturday: We spent the day helping a family move out of one of our wards and into another of our wards.
Then we baked with Sister Lacey. We put together goody plates to deliver to less-actives and people that we
felt needed to feel loved. Let me tell you something, when Sister Lacey decides to do something, she goes hard.
There's no "Go hard or go home," going home isn't even an option. You just go hard. So these were some insanely
 good goody plates. Also, Sister Lacey is the bomb. 

We had supper at the Steed's and watched the General Women's Broadcast with Sister Steed and the other
Raymond sisters. What a privilege it is to be able to hear from the apostles and general women's authorities.
They are so inspired in the counsel they give. 

Sunday: Was my last sacrament meeting as a missionary. That was kind of weird to think about. It was also
 fast and testimony meeting, so I decided I was going to bare my testimony in all. Four. Wards. That was quite
the commitment, let me tell ya. Even after having gone three times already, I was still nervous getting up the
fourth time. But it was so amazing to look down at the faces of so many families I have grown to love while
serving here. 

Something really neat that I learned today (that I kind of already knew, it was just reaffirmed to me this morning)
is that my mom is SuperWoman, SuperMom, SuperSuperDuper. 

Late Friday night, she rolled her car on her way back from Salt Lake. While she's completely fine, that's kind of a
crazy thing to experience. 

But instead of turning inward, my mom turned outward, just as Christ does. She got up the next morning, and
 played the piano for the ward's primary program. In her email this morning telling me what had happened, she
included one line about the accident, and the rest of her email was asking me questions about what she could
do to help me upon my return home. She even asked me what my favorite scripture was this week.

My mom is such an example of true Christlike character. I'm grateful for all she and my dad do for me and for
our family, and for the examples they set. 

Thank you to everyone and all your love and support to me over the past 18 months. Thank you for all the
prayers and love and support. You're all amazing(: 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

1) This photo is mostly a joke. I always make Sister Romney give me piggy-back rides, so I figured we needed
a photo of her giving me one on the top of a MOUNTAIN!!! :D 

2&3) The burning of the 18-month dress. This is also the dress that I lost WhatAreTheOdds to Sister Black with
and had to wear every Sunday for a whole transfer. It needed to go...  

4) My Graves'. They're all taller than me except for the 8-year-old. Huzzah. 

5) The shoes

6&7) The goody plates we made at the Laceys 

• 7 Attachments
• View all
• Download all

My Plan is dumb

My Plan: My Plan, a new online course designed to strengthen returning full-time missionaries, set and achieve
 goals and consider how a mission can become a spiritual foundation for a righteous, successful life. 

Sounds great, but really, it's just a continual reminder that "You're almost a returned missionary!" Literally,
it says that just about every 5 minutes. It's rude. 

So I decided I wasn't going to do it. They can't make me, right? 

Wrong. 

I told my companion that it wasn't showing up in my portal, and she emailed President and asked him
why it wasn't showing up. The next day, I got a call from the mission office asking me if I had been able
 to log into My Plan. I glared at Sister Brignone and said, "You emailed President, didn't you..." 

I've since started My Plan, and I'm a few weeks behind, which means instead of being reminded once a
week that I'm almost a returned missionary, I get to be reminded just about every other day, aside from
people asking me all the time how long I've been out...

I don't even know if any of this has made sense, but there's my rant for the week. 

My Plan is dumb.

Monday: Was pretty chill. We got groceries and emailed and stuff, and then I got ma hurr cut. 

We had a member lesson with the Hills in the 3rd ward. Her husband passed away suddenly in June in a car
 accident, and we were just sharing a message about how Christ knows what we need, and she's got us all
crying right there. Now, I'm an emotional person, but I don't cry very easily. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've only
 cried once during a lesson my whole mission. So that was sad. 

We had supper with the Nalders in 1st ward, and they invited all 6 of the Raymond missionaries and a set of
 elders from Magrath, as well as the Bennett family from down the street. We had Nalderburgers. 

Now, Nalderburgers are a Raymond delicacy. Way long time ago when Brother Nalder's dad was growing up
, his family didn't have a lot of money, but they had lots of boys. So to make food go further, they added certain
 things to it. Like peanut butter. And bananas. So these Nalderburgers have peanut butter on the bottom bun,
 and then bananas. And then the patty and whatever other toppings you like. And then you wrap it in a giant
 lettuce leaf because everything will fall out if you don't. And it's divine. I loved it. I would've eaten three if there
 was room in my tummy. None of the other missionaries were fans, but it reminded me of Pad Thai. Don't ask why. 

Tuesday: We had Zone Training Meeting in Cardston, and one of the sisters made cookies for everyone.
 Mmm. We talked about asking the Lord to see miracles, and having the faith to recognize them. Which was
pretty cool because on Wednesday, we had some miracles, but I'll get to that. 

That night, we went to mutual for 4th ward, and they played giant Jenga. We got super duper close to winning,
 but the kid on the other team was some sort of Master Ninja Jenga Warrior. It's all good, because everyone,
 even the losers got root beer floats. 

We visited the Nickles in 10th ward, and talked about how we can help our investigator, Tracy, progress. The
Nickles are some of her main fellowshippers, and we've been struggling to have another lesson with her, so we
 brainstormed on how we could move forward with her. We had a pretty sweet spiritual discussion with them,
and I felt as if I was sitting with my own parents, counseling with them. It's amazing what the Lord can do to
 comfort you. 

Wednesday:  Was the day of miracles. Although, we didn't see it as that at first. 

Within the first two hours of our day, everything we'd had planned, including our supper appointment,
 cancelled. I thought to myself, "What the heck, Heavenly Father? Where are we supposed to go?" Well, ask
 and ye shall receive, my friends. 

We were able to visit with Sister Scoville, whom we hadn't been able to visit for a few weeks, and she'd had a
 conversation with a friend just that morning that had really bothered her about this friend's activity in the
 church and she'd really needed to talk to someone about it. 

We then were able to visit with Sister Paxman. She'd just gotten home from work, and we'd previously struggled
with finding a time to catch her at home. 

THEN, our supper appointment had planned to invite Tracy and her family over for supper, but had cancelled.
 However, Tracy had offered to feed us anyway. Now, we haven't been able to have a lesson with her for like...
a few weeks, and it's been frustrating trying to set something up with coordinating schedules and stuff, so this
 was really awesome. The song that we sang in sacrament meeting was about the Atonement, and the lesson
we'd planned for her that night was on repentance. We sang for her and her kids and the Spirit was SO STRONG
 in that room. It totally set the tone for the whole lesson and helped them feel the Spirit and the importance of
repentance in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thursday: We did some yard work for a potential investigator whose husband is really ill and getting near
the end. She's got kind of a course exterior, so we weren't really sure how well it would go, but after about an
 hour and a half of helping her dig and move dirt and lay material and rock, she began to cry. She was so
 grateful because there was no way she could've done it without help. Blessings. The Lord loves all of His
 children, members or not. 

Friday: We had a few lessons in the morning, and helped Sister Andrews make cupcakes for her grandkids'
 birthday party on Saturday. We were also participating in a mission fast, so that was pretty difficult to refrain
 from, especially her cupcakes. 

At Good Sam's it was Pirate Day, so we got to dress up as pirates and play pirate games and activities with the
 residents. 

We'd received a referral from Brother Bridge, our stake mission leader, of a guy who is living with one of our
  less actives in 1st ward. We went over to contact him, but they were on their way out the door to have a
 celebratory supper because THEY'RE ENGAGED!!!! Which is awesome, because if it ever goes anywhere with
 us teaching him, that'll be one obstacle out of the way! :D 

Saturday: We helped our ward mission leader in 1st ward and his family out on the farm where they keep
 their horses. Lots of hay and horse poop and wind. So fun. We did have fun, though, don't get me wrong.
There was an old antique car that we took photos on haha it was awesome. 

We had lunch with a less active in 3rd ward and the other sisters came as well. He fed us stake and creamed corn
. So yum. 

That night, we had a lesson with Brother Geddes on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We drew a diagram for it, and he
 put it on his fridge! I made it to the fridge :D

Sunday: So, Sister Brignone is allergic to oats and soy. Like, she'll throw up and die, sick. We're sitting in
 sacrament meeting in our first ward, and she goes, "Man, it's already the first sacrament and I'm already
 falling asleep." So I handed her one of those cheese and cracker things for school lunch and she ate it.
About 10 minutes later, the sacrament comes around and she doesn't take it. I'm going, "uh.... what's
 happening here?" But I don't say anything. Our second sacrament comes around and she passes it up again.
At this point I'm thinking, WHAT THE HECK. She hands me a note that says, "I feel really sick, I think I'm gonna
throw up, we need to go home." So as soon as the meeting was over, we left and headed home for our lunch
 break. She looks at the ingredients for the crackers and cheese I gave her, and they have soy in them. Oops
. I tried to kill my companion. She rested during lunch and then felt better, so we went back for our last two
 sacraments and all was well in Zion. Phew. 

In the chaos of that, we missed 10th ward's ward council, though. Oops. 

And then we had supper with 10th ward's bishop and his family. So he teased us about that throughout supper. 

And we finally got a ward mission leader in 3rd ward! Yay!

This week, we've been trying to pray for miracles and being able to work them and see them. Wednesday was
 evident of that. We had no idea what we were supposed to do, but so many things fell into places. We were
 where we needed to be for those people, and it was so amazing to be led by the Lord in His work. 

And now we're off to Waterton! Woo hoo! Love you all! 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

1) The leaves are starting to change and it's pretty. My camera is lame, otherwise you'd be able to see how REALLY
 pretty it is. 

2) The massive Jenga game. 

3) "We are the pirates who don't do anything, we just stay at home and lie around!" (jokes, we're missionaries,
  of course we do things)

4&5) Lololol 

6) Brother Geddes and I with our diagram 

7) Sister Brignone and I had to return some bikes we'd borrowed, but they didn't fit in our car. So I drove slowly
 with the hatch open and she held onto them.

The Last Zone Conference and Last goodbyes (for now!)

This week we had zone conference, and I, along with three other sisters I came out with and am now serving with, realized that it would be our last one. So that was sad. I played the guilt trip card with them during the testimony meeting and made them all go up and bare testimony after me because it's our last one. They'll thank me later(: 

But at the close of the conference, I had to say a lot of final goodbyes, at least for the next year or so. A lot of missionaries I've become friends with won't be home for another year, so I did the best I could with a good handshake for "K, see you next year!" Rough. That was rough. 

Anywho. 

Monday: Was another day of goodbyes. We went into Lethbridge for shopping because everything in Raymond was closed for the Long Weekend, and I ran into a bunch of other missionary friends, that while it was good to see them, goodbyes sucked. Again. Gosh dang it. 

As we were walking into WalMart, a member walked up to us and handed us a $50 and said, "Here, Sisters, it's all I've got!" 

Oh my heck, so sweet. I can't believe the kindness of the members. 

And it was such a blessing because as we're checking out, Sister Brignone turns to me and goes, "I forgot my wallet." So that really saved us!

Tuesday: We helped Sister steed harvest and process some garden produce, carrots, and beets. Everyone here is so into gardens. It almost makes me want to have a garden when I go home. Almost. 

We got lunch with our district, and then visited the Ackroyd's. Their 9-year-old daughter has a friend that apparently wants to be baptized, so we went over to talk about how we can start working with her and her parents. Our ideal goal is to teach the whole family instead of just the daughter. It makes retention so much easier when they have the support of their whole family. 

We had a lesson with Kendra and talked about setting goals to help her go to the temple, and then we started walking to another appointment we'd set up. Our route took us past the school, but we didn't know everyone was letting out of school at that exact moment. It took us 20 minutes to get around the block because of all the little kids running up and hugging us and yelling out their bus window at us. I felt like I was on the Red Carpet or something! Missionaries are like celebrities in this town, I just love it. I'll definitely miss that. 

Wednesday: We had a meeting with Brother Bridge, our stake mission leader, and talked about how all the missionary work is going in the stake. He's so awesome and dedicated to helping the work progress. Plus, he and his wife have us over for lunch every other Wednesday. :D 

We then spent a while practicing music for zone conference and for a musical number on Sunday. I was asked to put together a number with the sisters from our zone, and we did Come Thou Fount, so we worked on parts. And then Sister Brignone and I were asked to do a musical number in church on Sunday, so we practiced for that. That was actually a pretty cool story. I've been thinking for weeks now about doing a musical number, but we cover four wards and I just wasn't sure how to make it work or who could play piano or anything like that. And then the other night, Sister Smith in the 10th ward who's the music coordinator calls us and says, "Sisters, I feel weird asking you this, and it's okay if you say no, but do either of you sing? Can you sing on Sunday? I'll play the piano and I can play anything you want, but will you sing on Sunday? I just feel like I needed to ask you." HECK YEAH WE SING!!! So we put together a piece and started working on it with her Wednesday evening. 

We had a ward BBQ for 4th ward, and one of our less-actives came! We were pretty excited about that because she hasn't been out for a while. Slow and steady(: 

Thursday: Was our zone conference. Oh my goodness, I wish I could copy and paste the notes I took because it was just so amazing. I love zone conference. I love President and Sister Miles. I love other missionaries and feeling the Spirit and sharing testimony one with another. I just love it. 

Our musical number went well. Kind of.... Our practices that morning went really well, and we had 10 sisters singing 4 parts, and I was super stoked. But I didn't think we'd be able to get the key changes without someone playing our parts, so we got the Senior Sister to play for us, but she didn't get there early enough to practice with us. So we just got up and sang our song, and she was missing half of the music! So part of it was a train wreck, but part of it was really good. It went pretty well. :D 

Friday: Was grandparent's day at Good Sam's, so we played some games with them about grandparents and families, and then had banana cream pie cake. Mmmm. 

There's a couple in our stake called as LDS Services missionaries that run the Addiction Recovery Program, and they invited all the missionaries over for a brief seminar on it to better learn how to teach our investigators about using the Atonement, not just in overcoming addictions, but for everything we are to overcome in life that we're faced with. That was really neat to learn more about and realize that any challenge we've been given in this life is for our learning, but we can't do it all on our own. We have to accept Christ and allow Him to help us. 

Saturday: Was a little bit crazy. We started out trying to help a family side their house, but there was a bit of miscommunication, and the dad wasn't there to tell us what to do, so we couldn't really do much. His wife gave us cupcakes for our trouble, though. It was pretty funny because a set of elders rode their bikes to Raymond from Magrath. That's a good 15-minute car ride. And it was windy. Sucks to be them. 

We got lunch and then Sister Scoville called and asked if we could come help in their garden. We were already in service clothes, and we've been trying to work with their less-active son, so this proved to be a good opportunity. And then they fed us after. 

It might sound like I'm getting fed really well here. That's because I am. Don't be surprised when you see them roll me off the plane when I come home. #Fatty4Lyfe #SorryNotSorry 

We rehearsed one last time with Sister Smith for our musical number, and then we weekly planned, since we didn't get to do that on Thursday. Then we got asked to come help move a piano. And by that, I mean we supervised. We got there and they still had to go get the piano, and the husband jokingly said, "You can stay behind and clean our kitchen if you want." Now, I hate weekly planning, so I used that as an excuse to take a break from it. We cleaned their kitchen. :D

Sunday: We had way too many meetings to be at, so we went on splits. We got the Tatlow girls to come with us, I went with Shayla for the day, and Emma went with Sister Brignone. I should've taken a photo... dang. Anyways, those girls are troopers. 7 1/2 hours of church is not for the faint of heart, especially on your first time going on splits with the sisters. Bless their souls. 

Our musical number went really well. I got a video of us practicing a few days ago, I'll try to send it. 

We had supper with the Cahoons in the 4th ward, and their 10-year-old girl was quite the connoisseur of bad jokes. Funny jokes, but only if you understood the punchline, which I didn't half of the time. 

We attended a YSA broadcast that Elder and Sister Cook spoke at, broadcasted from Washington D.C. there were a few things that I loved from their talks that I felt I can apply to these last few weeks of missionary work, but also to my next life when I go home, the After-Mission Life. :P

1) The best medicine for loneliness is work and service on behalf of others. How true is that! Every time I serve someone, I feel SO GOOD! After helping that family clean their kitchen the other day, I was ready to go out and clean the whole world's kitchens!

2) "Being sincerely Christlike is an even more worthy goal than being authentic." -Quentin L. Cook. He applied this to social media and how we interact with others on it, but I think it applies to every aspect of our interaction with others, especially with those who know and identify us as members of the Church. 

2) Focusing on the temple will help you achieve worthy and righteous goals you have set for yourself. 'Nuff said. 

And that's my spiritual thought for the week. It's been so good seeing the Lord bless my life. I love being a missionary. It's so amazing. 

Love you all!

<3 Sister Pipkin 

1) All the sisters at zone conference, including Sister Miles! 

2) Elder Robbins and. We're BFF's and he just got transferred to B.C. Ignore Elder Mahoney photobombing us. 

3) Sister Romney and I. No goodbyes here, yet, I just love her a lot

4) Elder Jones complained that I'd taken a photo of everyone else but him (even though we already have a photo) so I took one. He makes me look short. Really short...

5) My MTC trio reunited, Sister Anthian, Sister Trimble, and I 

6) The beauty of Southern Alberta

7) The ARP couple that we met with, their last name is Karren. Pronounced Karen. They have a little African doll that said, Karen. #Goals

We survived transfers!

Good news! I'm still in Raymond! Which means I get to spend my last five weeks among these wonderful people that I've grown to love so much!

Sister Brignone and I are still together and all is well in Zion. 

Except Sister Taylor got transferred from the other sister companionship in Raymond. That was sad. 

And the really sad part is when you hit a point in your mission where you realize you really won't see some of these people again until they come home. Rude. 

Anywho.

Despite it being transfer week, which is usually a gong-show, we had such a good week! 

Monday: We had breakfast at Tekarra's because we knew Sister Taylor was getting transferred, and transfers are on Thursday, when Tekerra normally has us for lunch on Fridays. So we had a goodbye breakfast and then for lunch, the Lacey's had us all over for a BBQ at their house. And then, Alicia called me! She'd gotten my number from some other missionaries (I think, Idk how she got it actually :P) and she came and saw me in Raymond. So that was quite the pleasant surprise. 

We had supper with the Stringam's and she made Cafe Rio imitation. Mmmm. I love it. We shared the soap and pepper object lesson on baptism because their daughter, Finlay, is getting baptized next weekend. Then we had FHE with the Wannops and we did an object lesson about the Book of Mormon. We have a piece of paper and we fold it, telling the story of the Book of Mormon, and then tear it once and it opens into a cross, and the remaining pieces spell LOVE and LIVE. We talk about how the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, how it is centred on Him and teaches us how we can be closer to Him. 

We then had FHE with Yosh and her kids. Her older kids aren't active, but they were all there and stayed for the message! We shared the Plan of Salvation and talked about everyone's favorite parts of this marvelous plan Heavenly Father has set for us. 

Then we started heading home, and it's that time of year where it's dark by 8:30, so we're walking home in the dark, on poorly lit streets, and we see this huge thunderstorm rolling in. The lightning is flashing pretty crazy and it's getting cold and windy, and we're thinking, "Heavenly Father, we're trying SO HARD to be home by 9, please don't let us get rained on!" We made it home on time, and not 5 minutes after we got in, it started raining. Boo yah!!! #Blessings. 

Tuesday: Was bitter-sweet. We were pretty sure we knew who was getting transferred, so we said our goodbyes for the most part during District meeting to the missionaries in our district we wouldn't see before transfers. 

We had a lesson with Kendra and talked about her reading in Jacob 5. She actually was able to apply things from her reading to her life, which I think is awesome because Jacob 5 is always a struggle for me haha. 

That morning, I had read in D&C 38 about seeking after eternal riches, things that will bring us closer to Heavenly Father. I thought about what all those things could be; our families, the temple, meaningful relationships with those around us, the scriptures. And then we stopped by Tosh and visited with her for a bit, and I felt prompted to share that scripture with her. After I read it and explained what it meant to me, she said, "It's funny that you say that because I was literally just thinking about that and really needed to hear that," and then she went on to explain what she'd experienced the last couple of days. So neat. I love it when things I didn't plan to study for teaching are applicable for others.

3rd ward had their ward BBQ, and after we had finished eating, they assigned us to stand around the salad and dessert table, waving paper plates to keep the wasps away.... I got bored. So I went and played basketball with the youth. Not only do I suck at basketball on a normal basis, but I also suck while wearing a skirt. :D 

Wednesday: WE GOT A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Idk, we haven't gotten a new investigator in Raymond since before I got transferred here beginning of June. So I'm pretty stinkin' excited. 

Her name is Melissa, and she was a referral we'd gotten way back beginning of July, but never seemed to be able to contact her. Well, we finally contacted her on Wednesday, and her mom let us in and we had a lesson with her and she wants to learn more! We left her with a Book of Mormon to read and she's pretty interested because she's Native, and she knows that it has a lot to do with her ancestry. The member that referred her and another member whom she rents from, have told her a lot about the church and have had great discussions with her. While she's going through a lot of difficult stuff right now, we're confident that she's been prepared and this will richly bless her life. I"M SO EXCITED!!!!

That evening, we had transfer supper at the Ball's and they stuffed us with dessert. Then Mamma J had us all over for dessert pt. 2, and I just about died from all the dessert.

I said my final goodbyes to Sister Taylor. Sad day. Also, I look 12 compared to her in the photo of us. No laughing. I get short jokes out the wazoo here. 

Thursday: We weekly planned and made cookies at Sister Steed's because she provided the ingredients. Bless her heart. 

Then, Sister Gleason, who I came out with and go home with, got transferred to Magrath. She calls us and says, "Sister Pipkin, the AP's just told me we're not going home on the 7th, and this isn't a 5 week transfer." Needless to say, I flipped. I called those AP's, and they had no clue what was going on. So I called the mission office and they told me it's stil the 7th, and I can calm down. So I did. Kind of. Not really. Because after that was settled, my mom sent Sister Steed my flight itinerary, and I don't fly into IF until flippin' 11:15pm????? I'm going to be so exhausted. So if you still love me, please still come see me at the airport :D. And then we filled the dates in our planner and I realized that I don't really have 5 weeks, I have about 4 weeks and a bit, because that 5th week is transfer week. Which means pday on Monday, District Meeting and saying goodbye and crying on Tuesday, saying goodbye and crying on Wednesday, transfers Thursday morning, gone on Friday. 

Needless to say, Thursday was a freak out day. And if you know me, you know that I don't freak out quietly. 

But we had a block party with some of the members in 1st ward to try and fellowship some less-actives and new move-ins and it had such a great turn out! And Sister Wersey and I had matching shirts(:

Friday: We made cookies with the residents at Good Sam's. So fun. As always, Eddie provided much entertainment and I just love him. 

We had some really good lessons with a few of our less-actives, and most of them are progressing towards activity! So exciting. Brother Geddes is returning to full activity, and he asked me if I'd come back up when he goes through the temple! OF COURSE I WILL OH MY GOODNESS!!!! So that was exciting. 

Saturday: Was cold and windy. The weather is changing really quickly here. Which is too bad because I sent home most of my colder clothing. Oops. 

We played baseball with some members who had invited non-members and less-actives. Afterwards, we were able to share a message, and it was a really neat atmosphere. 

We contacted some people and set up appointments for next week, and then went and helped the Nickle's paint. I love Sister Nickle. She's like my mom. Literally, she reminds me of you, mom. We talked a lot about my stresses and anxieties of going home and it was really comforting and an answer to prayer to have some mom time until I can have my real mom. 

We had supper at Cathy's and she tried to kill us with some stuffed jalapeno peppers. She didn't know they were as spicy as they were, and they were really really good! But they made me cry. And then I paid for it on Sunday. Yahoo!

Sunday:  We had a lot of less-active members come to church, and it was so awesome. One couple walked in and I literally jumped up and said, "YES!" 

We had supper with Bishop Smith and his family in 3rd ward and did my favorite object lesson about the Book of Mormon with the can. And then the boys wanted me to teach them how, so I did. 

We had correlation with our ward mission leader in 10th ward, and then we visited the Steedman's. Tim's parents brought back some cheese from the states, the kind that they put on nachos at football games, and Tosh made some for us and it was so good, I about died. Mmm. 

This morning, I was studying in D&C 33 and verse 17 stuck out to me so much. 

"Wherefore, be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom"

And it hit me, that so many times on my mission, I've seen strong members of the church go inactive out of nowhere. I realized, that we don't know when Christ will come again. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or even later today. We don't know what trials we're going to face that could shake our testimonies. We just don't know. President and Sister Miles said that we should live our lives in a way that in five years, they can call us up and invite us to go to a temple session with them, and we'll be ready. We'll be worthy. Our faith is strong because we've been acting and building upon it, trimming our lamps and keeping oil with us. We need to do the things that will help us be ready for tomorrow, today. 

Love you all so much! Hope everyone's families are doing well and the start of school is going well! 

<3 Sister Pipkin 

 

1) Alicia came to see me!

2) I found this Buddah statue on someone's porch and had to rub its belly for good luck (;

3) Goodbyes with Sister Taylor!

4) I made Mexican corn for lunch during weekly planning. Mmm. They don't do Mexican food right here.

5) Sister Wersey and I, twinning!

6) My ridiculous tan lines from my shoes this summer.