June 3, 2014

We had transfers and boy was I wrong- in a very very good way! I thought I would stay with Sister Maile in the basement of the Hatch house. We all went to the Seventies Hall for transfers and President announced the new companionships. When he got to me, he started talking about Teaching Center (previously named Call Center), the significance of it, etc, and I have got major ants in the pants at this point. Get on with it! Then he announces that Sister Etherington and I are companions!!! Get OUT. She was my companion in the MTC and now that we're "real" companions, we'll get to hit our year mark together. And my twentieth birthday (which is on the 15th ahem). The picture is on our first full day being companions and we were walking home from the Visitor's Center. Believe it or not that was at like 8:30 at night.

On Sunday, we went to Carthage (how it normally works is the Carthage sisters will come up to Nauvoo to serve in either the VC or sites and some of the Nauvoo sisters will go to Carthage and some will stay in Nauvoo. A lot of things in this mission are complicated so I hope I explain and represent them correctly) for the fourth week in a row and it just so happened that it was the very first Sunday that the YPMs were performing their Carthage vignette. It talks about the events after the martyrdom. They did it three times in a row so everyone could see it and I cried my eyes out all three times. Good Ghandi it was so spiritual. After the second time, Sister Etherington mentioned to me how she wished a non-member would come to see this. And who else but a non-member comes for the last performance? A young guy named Dan happened to be running by the jail and thought he would stop and come in- just in time for the vignette. After it, he enthusiastically agreed to coming on a tour with us- it was great! We gave him a Book of Mormon afterward and we got his phone number. He said he didn't want to be converted (he's a strong Catholic) and we explained that our purpose as missionaries is to, first and foremost, strengthen peoples' faith in Jesus Christ. He was chill with that.

Sister Etherington and I work so well together. Sunday (at Carthage) and Monday (at the Visitor's Center) we've just been busting our tails and seeing miracles right and left. I'm so stoked for the rest of the transfer!!

PS this cat used to come to our house in the mornings and go running with us. Seriously. His name is Alfredo because of his color. He disappeared a while ago and we found him on our walk home!