I really did catch the Black Death... Well, maybe. I think I could have. Well, I didn't. But I could have! Story to come later in the email.
Update on my new companion!
Sister Sleigher. I think I said a little bit about her last time... But she is a spiritual powerhouse! So legit! Best companion ever. She has had a ton of... well... bad experiences with her companions in the past. She's only been out one transfer longer than me (came out in January). Long story short, her trainer went home early and her second companion had anxiety/depression. So, she's been pretty down the last few transfers. Finally President Cannon asked her what he could do to make it up to her. So she responded with, "President. I just need a companion who is a hard worker, positive, and normal, without any problems." So... *drumroll* SHE GOT ME! Ta-Da! haha I guess that's a compliment? haha But we are getting along awesome. We have taken our ward by storm and are doing fabulously. We're still struggling with getting new investigators... but those will come with time. We've been spending time tracting, doing service, and trying to get referrals from members. Still nothing. But it'll come eventually.
A few nights ago, I had a nightmare that at the end of my mission, I was one of those missionaries that moved around and never had any investigators. Since that's how I've been spending the last couple transfers. haha! We have 2 investigators, but they don't live in our area, so it's been a little tricky seeing them. Grrrr. The joys of missionary work. I actually asked our district at our district meeting for suggestions with what we could do to find people to teach. I told them all what we were doing and how awesome our ward council is- and the only response that the other missionaries could give us was: "PRAY. And then wait to be transferred." HAHAHAHA! They were kidding of course. But really, all we can do is pray and keep working our very hardest. If we give our 100%, the Lord will make up the rest. I actually asked President Cannon for some helpful hints and he responded with, "Do you know what President Monson told his missionaries when he was a mission president in Canada? After you've knocked on every door- go back and baptize them." Thankssss President. haha We'll just try again.
Health update: Man. My shoulder has been killing me. So much. I might go to a chiropractor sometime... Problem is, I don't know if it's my muscle or if it's with the bones and stuff. Bleh. Well, I haven't been able to sleep well for the last couple weeks. So, whatever it is, I hope it stops soon! It hurts to carry my bag around... So good thing we have a car!
I've had this quote stuck in my head all week: "See a need, fill a need!" From 'Robots'.
So, for about 3-4 weeks, we had lost contact with Jackie and Danny. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get them to answer the phone or commit to have another lesson with us. It was terrible. Danny was supposed to get baptized on Saturday, but of course, that didn't happen. But then we got notice from Sister Lords (a woman from the ward who has friendshipped Jackie) that Jackie wanted to meet with the Bishop. That was... interesting. I had never heard of an investigator expressing interest in meeting with the Bishop of the ward. But okay! I was all for that! The Lords set up the meeting and we waiting for Jackie to arrive after church.
Jackie introduced herself to the Bishop as the world's longest convert to the LDS church. haha! She's taken the lessons "at least 100 times" and hasn't gotten baptized because of "the commitment it takes to be LDS".
Danny had decided not to be baptized because his Dad is very anti-LDS and his Dad let him know that opinion. So, Danny was very afraid of losing his relationship with his Dad... even though he hasn't been much of a father figure to him throughout his life. He's the only Dad that he has. Jackie has been worried sick because she doesn't know how to help him through this situation and still make sure that everything is Danny's choice.
Long story short- Jackie has only thought about Danny her whole entire life. (That's the life of a Mother.) And we told her that she needed to take the time to take care of herself. She admitted that she knew that the gospel is true. And we committed her to taking the lessons FOR HER. Not for Danny, not for her friends, but for HER. And as she lived the gospel, and became a happier person, her children would follow after her example.
It was an awesome meeting. I wish I could explain it better.... Sometimes I feel like Moroni. My writing is terrible.
Okay, now for the juicy stories.
My companion always laughs at me because every time something awkward/uncomfortable/weird happens, I always say, "SWEET! Something to write home about!" and then immediately make a note about it in the back of my planner. haha! Hey, you've gotta stay positive, right?
Here in Kuna, they have a Spanish Branch. And the Branch President (Hernandez) actually lives in our ward. We had committed him and his family to contacting their neighbors about some questions they had about the church- to which they accepted and told us "Come by Sunday at 8 pm and we'll report on how we did! We'll even have some homemade re fried beans for you!" Awesome. Sounds like a plan.
So Sunday rolls around, and then 8 pm rolls around. And we pull up to their house and there are a million cars there. Awkward. But we had scheduled a meeting with them, so we couldn't NOT go. So we walk up to the door, ring the door bell, and President Hernandez answers, "Hola, Hermanas!.... [other spanish words that I couldn't understand]..." Awkward. My companion says, "Uhhhh... BIEN!" and then walks in. haha.
So we walk in and they're having a branch missionary meeting!!! The Spanish sisters and Elders from our district were there and were laughing at us, "What are you doing here?!" There are a ton of people there and the branch mission leader is giving a training in spanish... So we just sit in the back of the living room and listen for 45 minutes. And then joined them for refreshments afterwards. Awkward. haha!
We just wanted to follow up and get some re fried beans!!! Is that too much to ask?! Instead, we walked into a fiesta! haha
One last story- about the Black Death.
We woke up Saturday morning and went to help the young women to clean the church building. (Ever since coming on my mission, I've taken those cleaning assignments super seriously. I clean every corner of that building! What if non-members want a tour and there are finger prints and trash all over? I can't stand a dirty building. Anyway...)
It was fun to be with the Young Women. But we got a call at about 9 am saying that some Sister Missionaries got sick and needed to us to take over their service project. They told us that a ladies kitchen burned down and that she needed help cleaning it. No problem! We asked the YW to help and 3 of the Laurel's volunteered. We met at the church at 10 am and drove to the ladies house. This was going to be totally awesome!
NOT.
It wasn't just that the ladies kitchen had burned down... her house was filled to the ceiling with boxes. Millions of boxes. And there were dogs running loose and peeing over everything. The lady told us that she had left the house abandoned for 2 years and it had become mice and dog infested. The smell was... deadly. The Laurels were put to work cleaning the kitchen (which was the, if you can believe it, the cleanest part of the house). And Sister Sleigher and I were put to work upstairs, cleaning her daughters bathroom. Now, try to imagine the slums of New York- abandoned apartments that were full of graffiti and mice droppings... Yeah. That's what it looked like. There were weird stains on the floor and suicide notes written on the walls... Yeah. You heard me. Suicide notes. And we opened the cabinets to find mouse poop ALL OVER. Sister Sleigher and I looked at each other, opened up all of the windows, put our gloves on (we didn't have masks), and said a prayer that we wouldn't get the Black Death from cleaning this ladies house. We took an hour on the bathroom, and then started helping her move things around in her house, and clean the kitchen. We worked for 4 hours and barely made a dent in the place.
Oh my goodness... I felt so bad for dragging those Laurels into that situation. They were terrified! (2 of them wanted to go on missions... we'll see how they feel now. haha) And then were disgusted with the job. How do people let their houses get that bad? It's great to do service work... but... you know.
Afterwards, I felt terrible for taking the Laurels into that situation. And they were pretty grossed out. So we took them to lunch at Arctic Circle and I paid for each of them to get food and ice cream... Dad, that's why about 50 bucks came off of my debit card. Man, I felt so bad. But at least it's done! *whew*
That was my week. haha
Hope everyone is doing awesome!
--Sister Gubler
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