78 - The Grand Finale

My last full week as a full time set apart missionary... crazy!

On Monday we basically spent the entire afternoon and evening at Tanya's apartment for Tanya to do Sister Lewis's hair. 

It took five hours total. 

I had her pretend to be Medusa for me. 

lol

Fu Fu and Lamb

But hey! Bruce made fu fu and lamb meat stuff and it was super good! 

This fu fu was like weird potatoes-the consistency is more like dough, you have to cut it or rip it. 

It was super good and not too spicy! 

Everyone makes it different, but this one was awesome!

I basically wrestled with the African kids that were there, haha. And I never realized this, but they call us (and me) Churchy! So cute!

Whip My Hair!

After dinner we drove to meet the Minot Sisters halfway to do exchanges. 

And guess who I was with again!

Yep, Sister Clegg! 

Who I will see again this Thursday because we are both going home! 

It was a really good exchange for her because we could just take a day and express our mutual trunkiness, aka our excitement about going home. 

See it's really nice 'dying' together because you can talk freely about your feelings because the other companion is in the same boat and you don't have to feel bad. 

But Sister Clegg doesn't have that luxury. So it was a really awesome and productive exchange.

This week was all the baptisms. It's crazy, I thought it was absurd those people who you looked at their teaching record and they were only taught like five times before they were baptized... WELL! We only taught Memory three times total. And Mr. Kiwi a little more than that. So my perspective has changed. If they are ready to have the lessons kinda all at once, then they're ready! Sister Lewis taught Mr. Kiwi the rest of the lessons while I was in Minot for exchanges. It went well from what I heard.

One Thursday we taught Memory the rest of the lessons and got the baptismal program and record info and then we went right over and she had her baptisimal interview with our district leader, which I interpreted. So cool to interpret your investigator's baptismal interview! It was really simple. He just asked her the questions, simple as that, with like one more question at the end. Elder Reynolds favorite part though was when he asked about the law of chastity and was about to move on when she added "No Porn!!" hahaha.

And we saw Korwa! We haven't seen her in awhile! And Flinn was there just getting up for work and he helped us set up the DVD player to watch "Finding Faith in Christ" with her. It was super good.

We then had an appointment with Elias and were praying before going in and we opened our eyes and... the jerk! He was driving away! What!?  So we were mad at him. And we were yelling at imaginary him, but then when he got there we tried to be really mad, but you just can't. lol And Mr. Kiwi, he started talking about how he has a fiance in Liberia and he wants to go marry her in February and he wants us there and we yelled at him saying he needs to get married in the temple! And then he called his wife-to-be and had us talk to her and explain! Super weird and awkward. But she was nice I guess.

FRIDAY

We had the most trunky district meeting ever!


Elder Reynolds didn't even bring his notebook. 


All we basically did was 'we' bore our dying testimonies.





It was Elder Mangum's birthday the day before, so we played super frog, like we did when Sister Lewis and I first became companions, cuz Elder Mangum was the one that started that game and he was super frog for the majority of the time. lol 



I'll miss our crazy district.

After that, we went and helped a sister (who is like our Williston grandma) to fill her pill cases. 

She fell and broke her pelvis on Tuesday! 

How sad is that! 

Sad face. 

So she asked us to help her.

Then Mr. Kiwi had his interview and that went well. 

And Charity finally was able to come do her interview! About time. Crazy. 

First it was just a long day, then she locked keys in the car and stuff, so yeah, finally got the information for the program that day from her, the day before their baptism.

Yay! All the interviews and information squared away! Now they just had to be on time for their baptisms.

That night, our ward mission leader and his wife hosted at their house a goodbye dinner for us. Brother Jolley cooked the food. YUM!
 

It was a great turn out. 

We invited a bunch of our investigators and recent converts, but only one came. 

Way to go Mr. Kiwi!

Then, it was Saturday.

I woke up, and it kinda felt like Christmas with that feeling of excitement and anticipation of what awesomeness the day will bring!

We went to the church that afternoon to fill the font, cuz we had nothing else goin' on! 

Baptism day! 

WOOO!

As you can see, we had fun setting up chairs and taking pictures.

And then, 3:00pm hit. 

It was time for the baptism of Memory and her granddaughter, Sister Far's oldest girl.

What an amazing experience for us all.

I interpreted for the baptism.

The other person in the ward who knows sign interpreted my song, "To Be Baptized."

Then it was time for the baptism, which I interpreted as well. 

I didn't get through the whole prayer either time- I got to "In the name of the father-" but, hey that's close right? 

But wow, it was the most touching thing. As soon as Memory came out of the water she was laughing and waving her hands in applause because of how happy she was. 

We, as humans, feel the same feelings as she did, but her expressions were unrestrained because of her deafness. The spirit was so incredibly strong.

And it was so cute. The little Far girl, her knees were bent the whole time and she was just floating on her dad. So cute.

And, also super cool, the other person who knows sign language signed the talk on the holy ghost while I voiced for her. 

SO powerful! 

And she did such a good job.

Fidgety Boy, So Cute!

One baptism down, still one to go. 

During the five o'clock baptism, which was a child of record from Watford (they don't have a font), we went and dried the dress that Memory was baptized in for Charity to use at 7pm. 

But then... we realized that the man doing the 5 o'clock baptism used the suit we picked out for Mr. Kiwi! So we rushed over and dried that suit as much as we could and it was only a little damp when we had to leave.

We RUSHED to the church to get everyone their clothes and in the craziness, our keys were misplaced! AH! And Mr. Kiwi locked his keys in his car! AH! AHHH!

But we went on with the baptism. 



Salvation is most important after all.

Charity was baptized first by her father-in-law.

She was so stunning in that water. 



It's a moment that I've long anticipated and it's almost hard to believe that my desires for her to be baptized have actually come true, even as I witnessed it! 

Brother Brown, Elias, Mr. Kiwi, and 2nd councilor

So amazing!

And Mr. Kiwi was then baptized. 

His countenance has changed so much. 

It is truly miraculous to see.

And then, as they were changing back into clothes, the Elders found our keys! 

They were in the men's room! 

How many priesthood holders does it take to find the sister's misplaced keys? 

Like, eight! haha.

Orlando gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and it was awesome and it was totally him. 

And then we bore our testimonies, Sister Lewis and I, it was one of the most special things in the world. 

And Sister Lewis totally called Mr. Kiwi out by saying. "You need to marry in the temple, not just some pretty lady with an African *accusing look*" It was really funny.

And Charity got a nice gift from her mother in law at the end! It was truly a spectacular night.

Saturday NIGHT

We tried to work things out with Mr. Kiwi and his key situation. Some sisters who lingered gave him a locksmiths number and we instructed him to call in the morning.

We went to Walmart real fast- it was an emergency! We needed to print out pictures of all the baptisms before church the next day! And on the way to the printing spot, we saw the "Awesome" boys in the little video game man cave that was set up in the store. We said hi and we explained to them about ours and Mr. Kiwi's key situation.

"How many priesthood holders does it take to find the keys!? lol" we joked.

"How many brothers does it take to pick lock keys out of a car?" "In less than three minutes?"

"...Are you serious right now... Really!? GO! GO DO IT!!! YEAH!!"

THEY DID!! I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but they got it done under three minutes! We called Mr. Kiwi and he was so grateful, "Oh thank you! Please! I want you to marry my son!" Oh boy. First Elias. Now Mr. Kiwi. lol

SUNDAY

Well, Sister Lewis did it. All the pictures were done before church. They look so nice!

We got to church man, Satan works so hard on people. I have not had one person that was baptized show up 'on time' to get confirmed in sacrament meeting. 

Mr. Kiwi almost didn't come because of a fiasco with his son, 

The Far family was stuck in traffic.

And Orlando and Charity woke up at the same time that sacrament started, the sillies! Church is at 3pm!!!

And Orlando sent us a text that was all like, "we'll have to do it next week. We are so sorry." 

"No! That's not an option! Just get here before sacrament meeting ends!" Text! Sent!

Mr. Kiwi showed up first. And while he was being confirmed, the Far's showed up. 

Then Memory got confirmed. It was SO neat to interpret that blessing for her. There were tears in her eyes as it was expressed how much of a light she is and how proud Heavenly Father is of her.

The other person who knows sign was actually at church to help me interpret, it was really nice and cool. 

Charity and Orlando showed up right at the end of sacrament. But thank goodness, Bishop allowed them to get confirmed during third hour just in his office.

So there it is! One of the most successful weekends ever! 

The Wonders of Photo Editing!  And, yes, that stone says "SONDERSEN"

Perfect way to leave the mission.

Speaking of which, we had lots of fun taking 'dying' pictures.

I love that I look like a devil and Sister Lewis looks like an angel lolol. 

I think it's awesome.

As my mission is at it's close, I would like to list a few things that my mission has done for me. 

My mission has helped me learn how to:

Rely on the Spirit

Invite others to come unto Christ

Prepare to be a wife and a mother

In other words, my mission has helped me learn how to "rest in peace!"

I am excited to go home and see my family and friends. A song comes to my mind. It's hymn 292 O My Father, though I've changed some of the lyrics.

...
When I lay this mission by,

Father, Mother, may I meet you

And we'll share a joyful cry.

Then, at length, when I've completed

All you sent me forth to do,

With your mutual approbation

Let me come and dwell with you.

(At least for a little while.)

I've loved the mission. It's now time for the next chapter of my life.


(Okay, just couldn't help putting in this "random cuteness"!)


And here is a "heartfelt" tribute to the companionships that I have been a part of during my mission.

77 - About to Expire and Raining Baptisms!

That moment when the expiration date on milk is significantly before the day you fly home from your mission... CRAZY!

Really though, we should go home more often. 

You know why? 

Everyone wants to be baptized before we leave! 

We have three convert baptisms happening on Saturday! 

WOW! 

But now to tell you about this week.

Monday:

We went over and saw Sister Awesome with her newly adopted girl that she's been working for two years to bring home from Ukraine! 


And she's here now and has been adjusting well! 


She has down syndrome and institutional autism, and she yesterday was her first day at church! 


She did very very well!

And we saw Jaffar! He's alive! We'd been so worried about him! My goodness.

Tuesday:

Look how cute, Sister Near taking the little Azonto boy to preschool.

Sister Lewis's ear was hurting, so she bought these ear candles, so Orlando's parents helped us use them!

We were birthday cakes! lol

It's gross, all the stuff that comes out of your ears. But yet so cool.

Finally, here's a picture of Charity and Orlando, who are doing very well. 


Sister Lewis drew them a picture to go along with the lesson we taught them that night.

Wednesday:

We met with a few new people that we hadn't ever taught before. One of them was native- the first native I've really met here in Williston!

And we had dinner at a member's with Elias and he was trying to set us up with this Nephew in Africa, so that was awkwardly funny.

And then we were supposed to meet with Jaffar, but that didn't work out, and the Lord just knows and takes care of people because we visited the Azotohs instead and they got a letter that afternoon that they didn't really understand. We were able to explain it to them. It was a letter saying that they violated their lease agreement so they need to either reapply for paying full rent instead of part or they need to move out...

Thursday:

We still needed information for the baptism from Jaffar, so we tried to see him on his lunch break. We found him (he works construction) but he didn't 'actually' get a lunch break. But we went and bought him lunch for later and went to our next appointment.

We went with our relief society president to see Tanya Azonto to help her out with the situation. I seems like they might have to move out in the next 30 days... So that was depressing.

But then we went to Grenora, the last time Sister Lewis and I will go there, and saw Michelle, the one with the two kids and that was fun, and we went and saw the Far family for the second time, and after teaching the plan of salvation to Memory, the old deaf lady, I asked about baptism, and she's ready to be baptized!! THIS SATURDAY! As well as Sister Far's daughter, who will be a child of record since she's still eight!

We went back to Williston and were able to meet with Jaffar at that time.

Friday:

We drove to and from Minot this day for our last zone meeting. So that happened.

That night, we finished teaching Jaffar the lessons and he had his baptismal interview.

Saturday:

This is Elias and Mr. Kiwi. Mr. Kiwi has been Elias's roommate from when Elias moved here in July. They used to live in an apartment with a few other people and everyone poked fun at Elias for meeting with us and converting. Mr. Kiwi always joked about him being baptized and played it off like he wasn't serious. But now that the other people are out of the picture and it's just Elias and Mr. Kiwi living under the same house roof, he totally really wants to be baptized, and for US to get him there! His heart has been softened! It's so cool!

We had a sweet lesson on the plan of salvation with Mr. Kiwi. He LOVED the doctrine of the kingdom of the sun and also of eternal marriage.

And then!

Jaffar was baptized! 

But the silly! 

He was all going to be super late for his baptism. 

But we told him that couldn't happen. So he was only a little late. 

Silly silly man. Oh well. 

It was a great baptism.

Sunday:

Everyone who is getting baptized on Saturday proved themselves- they all were at church! 

And consequently, I interpreted all of sacrament meeting and gospel principles, AND relief society! 

Because the other person who can sign is super pregnant and was probably sick.

So yes, I interpreted all of church for Memory. It was an incredible experience. I'm making my ASL interpreter of a mom proud! 

So it's been a great week, and we will go out with a splash! The sound of multiple baptisms!!!

75 - Miracle of General Conference

General Conference weekend. You know what that means if you are a missionary. INVITE EVERYONE! Prophets! All day every day!

It was great inviting everyone to conference! We made up little flyers with all the times on it to pass out to everyone. Sister Lewis has been sick with a cold though, and it's been getting worse throughout the week it seems, so I went on splits with Kristen's daughter to hand them all out. Very successful! And we sent out mass text reminders as well! We don't know how many people watched it. We can only do so much reminding and inviting. Not as many people showed up to the church to watch it as we hoped, but oh well I suppose. We still had people come.

There was a dumb thing that happened in passing out one invitation though. We hadn't seen this investigator in awhile, just because of life. She's an investigator that Sister Barrett and Sister Schoenfeld tracted into in a trailer park by the church.

Well, instead of the investigator coming out, her friend came out, and... yeah. When we asked about our investigator she dodged the question, and she told us 'she' was her christian friend and that she's never going to convert and that we don't need to come back and not all Mormons are Christians and blah blah blah. It was just one of those interactions that made your stomach sick.

We were really angry. Because that whole thing was really dumb. SO we went and played with kittens at Kristen's house!

And we ARE going back to that investigators house. We aren't taking just the words of her friend.

We've taught Jaffar a few times this week. It was so funny. We were going to his place to have a lesson, and both Jaffar and Brother Witt were stuck in the lobby. (They just started locking the doors of the 'African apartments' as we like to call them, which is really lame.) We walked in and wondered if it was planned - Brother Witt doesn't live there after all!

"Brother Witt! Are you here visiting Jaffar?"

They looked at each other and it finally clicked that they knew each other from church from Brother Witt giving Elias the priesthood! Super funny. Brother Witt was actually going to visit the Azonto's. Everyone thinks that Brother Witt is the bishop because our bishop has been out of town so much and seriously hasn't been on the stand for a month now.

Jaffar is still on for getting baptized on the 17th.

Someone else that is on for getting baptized: We thought it would be Zazu, but plot twist! It's Charity! We met with Orlando and Charity at the beginning of this week and she had been thinking a lot about it and she wants to be baptized before I leave! And Saturday was the day they picked to quit smoking and do the whole grapefruit juice and cinnamon mouthwash thing of the stop smoking program!

I told her that that's great that she wants to be baptized and that she wants me to be there, but that she NEEDS to stay active in the church! She says she understands. I want her to be baptized... but they need so show that they will be faithful at attending church and take their own personal initiative, not wait for the other to step up. And Satan knows it.

We were totally going to watch the afternoon session with them on Saturday, but they texted that a friend had an emergency that they needed to help out with and we tried to set up watching it with them on Sunday, but they never answered their calls or texts... But Orlando's father gave them both a blessing still on Saturday for strength so they can quit smoking. They are so up and down...

A story that I failed to mention, there's a Mexican investigator that we'd only been able to teach once because we just never managed to set up a return appointment that worked out because his work was so crazy. We were trying to meet him on Friday nights. Often he would text us that they were still working, but we kept trying.

Well. Friday came around. And we forgot to write down to try and see this Mexican investigator. When we got back to the apartment, we read a heart breaking text.

"Hi miss sanderson how u doin i hope u did have a good day today i got back 20 till 8:pm at tha house today n i was waitin 4 u! :'( "

We were crushed! But it's ok, because we were able to set up an appointment with him for the next evening! And it actually worked out, and it was a great lesson! And then he could know Sister Lewis and not just me! Or so we hoped.

We hoped he would stop texting 'miss sanderson,' but he never did. There were just too many red flags through his texts that he was too attracted to me instead of the gospel. I hate it when that happens! So. We referred him to the Spanish elders.

Elias didn't get a job, but he did get moved in with his one other roommate to a little house. Our relief society president is a saint and she was able to donate some dishes and sheets and towels to them. They were super grateful.

Elias has been frustrating us though. We wanted him to come to both sessions on Sunday, but he wasn't ready in time for the first one and he made his ride come back for him and he still wasn't ready. So he made her miss much of that session. He was ready for the last session. But it was still lame. But it's ok. The atonement is real.

You know what's super cool? President and Sister Hess coming through Williston and taking us all to lunch and Applebee's!!!

SO Awesome! And we all got to talk to President Hess about our areas and what they need and what we could use and it was awesome! Elder Reynolds put in the suggestion of having a set of sisters open and area in Ray, and have them cover the three small cities of Ray, Crosby, and Noonan. That would be GREAT! And then we were able to express that we have two much work for just one set in first ward, so we could totally use two sets of missionaries, AND that we NEED sisters!

And when we went to the church to take a picture, President and Sister Hess met our relief society president, Sister Clean, who had tears in her eyes talking about how much she appreciates having us sisters and how she will be so sad if she doesn't have her sisters to work with. President Hess told her we would be getting a set of sisters back. How cool is that! And, Sister Hess and our relief society president know a lot of the same people! 

Now to talk about general conference.

When the new apostles were called, we were sitting on the edge of our seats! Elder Rasband! Elder Stevenson! And Elder......... RENLUND! 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! WHAT!? OH MY GOODNESS!!!! WHAAAAATT!!! AAAAHHHH!!! SO COOL!!! IS THIS EVEN REAL LIFE!!!??? OH MAAAN!!!"

I met an apostle just a month before he got called! And had a personal interview with him! What!? I am so so humbled! And the story that he gave in his testimony (Elder Runland's Testimony), he totally told that story to us in the meeting. AND the mother of that story is actually Sister Halliday, who works in the North Dakota Bismarck mission office! How insane is that! SO crazy!

I loved the emphasis this conference on mothers, and on new and old prophets, and on the holy ghost and striving to 'use' that gift of the spirit that we all receive after baptism. I LOVE CONFERENCE!!!

We are ponderizing 1 Nephi 15:11 this week. What scripture are you ponderizing?

Until next week!