To Nowhere and Back

 Hello my lovely friends and family!! I hope you know just how wonderful you all are :)

Hunting for Arrowheads

We went to a place called Brown's Hole last Monday and went hiking again! Actually it was more like an arrowhead hunt...an unsuccessful one...but it was way fun! These members have some property over there and they showed us where to go and gave us landmarks to not get lost (they were old and couldn't come with us). At one point I lost Sis. May, which was TERRIFYING to be in the middle of nowhere without a companion. I mean it's bad enough when you are on a family hike and can't find your family (I assume) but when you have a companion that you're supposed to be with 24/7...it's terrifying. I highly don't recommend it. But I found her and it all worked out okay :) I got some more dinosaur bone out there and some rocks that look like arrowheads, but supposedly aren't. I'm convinced that one of them is though...

So yep! Sis. May was still sick when we went hiking (bad idea) but we made it okay, it just put her down for a couple more days. But she's finally better!! Thank goodness. But on Wednesday (before she got better) we went to the Senior Center early because I was asked to help serve food (since I have my Utah food handlers permit from when I worked concessions at BYU that one time). Well, because Sis. May was sick, they told her she couldn't be there. So we called up some members, and Sis. May went to a member's house while I stayed and helped and the member waited til we were done. It was CRAZY to try and find people to come help so quick. But it all worked out! Sis. May got to go sleep on this member's couch while I worked, and then when I got there I indexed with the member and Sis. May continued to sleep. It worked out perfect!!

It snowed this week. I think it snowed on Saturday night (after we got home from Paradox...the drive to Paradox is a super windy mountain road that I do not look forward to driving when it is covered in snow) and then it stuck...and it's still here this morning. Gross. I learned how to drive in the snow with Sis. May coaching me through it and telling me how to handle it since California prevented me from ever learning such things. It was scary but fun, and I'm grateful I get to learn!

We had interviews with our Mission President this week! Those were great. I always love getting to see President and Sister Batt. We then went to have lunch and Sis. Batt followed us to this restaurant that she loves, and then payed for it! It was so good, too. I love them both so much :) Not just because they give us food of course.

So in crazy adventures this week, I had dinner with that lady who fed us soup with moldy sour cream again! She just fed us brussel sprouts this week and this stroganof stuff that was made with tomato soup. I don't think we'll let her see the dinner calendar ever again....

Also a crazy and awesome adventure was actually in Paradox this week! We went on Saturday to go to the Emergency Preparedness meeting (you have to have those when the community is so small and full of old people and in the middle of nowhere). Then we went to a member's house to practice some songs and made a quilt! Yeah I got to use a sewing machine and everything :) It was way fun. Then we decided that we wanted to find this less active lady named Sis. Moore that I had never met before. So, using a hand drawn map (courtesy of one of the members), we set out to find this lady. Well, we end up on this dirt road, sage brush on either side of us, and it's beginning to get dark. Finally we see this house in the distance and we thought oh shoot, it's got a HUGE fence around it, so we're probably gonna scare this lady's pants off. Well there was no place to turn around until we got to her house pretty much, so Sis. May got out to back us up and we hear this "Who's there!?" It was terrifying. But she told us to come to the gate and so we did and we met her. She let us into her house (yes, it was the right lady!!) which was actually a hogan. Hogans are what Natives live in, and this lady was white through and through. They are in the shape of an octagon, and only have one room. So it was small. I looked for a shower...there was none. But we met her and she told us that we could come back and visit her (we only had about 5 minutes before we had to go to our dinner appointment). On our way out, she told us she was allergic to "chemical scents" and asked us not to wear perfume or deodorant when we visited her. But she's cool, and I'm excited to get to work with her some more!

We also got to meet some other less actives that I've never met before this week! They all live in crazy places, but it's way fun and I'm hoping that we'll be able to start helping them get back to church. Bro. Stocks, the man that Sis. Fackrell and I brought back to church, hasn't been coming the last couple weeks. And we haven't been able to meet with him. But, we'll keep working on him, I promise!!

Random update: Kirtland 1st ward, the ward I was over, got elders this last transfer. So the two other areas I've served in are now covered by elders. That's a weird thought.

Singing has been going good! As far as practices go at least. So keep praying for me and that my voice will get better as I go!

Shout out to my nieces for these cute
Thanksgiving peeps!

Your challenge this week is to do something you wouldn't normally do. For example singing! Or running a mile or talking to a stranger. Whatever you can think of, just do something out of the ordinary :)

And your scripture is Alma 26:2 :)

I love you all, and I hope you have a fantastic week! Start praying that members won't try and overstuff us on Thanksgiving, because we're sure going to need it!!


Sister Garcia/Gonzalez/Gomez/G-Money (all names I have been called so far...not including being mistaken for other sisters)