Hello! <3

 

Yay pictures!  We went out to eat with the Johnsons, and that's ice cream! It's some kind of Italian kind; pistachio, cherry, and chocolate. It was delish. :3 They were mission presidents in Connecticut before, so it's always a pleasure to be with them. ^_^

 

I laughed about moving the snowblower from the shed to the garage. That's always how it works, isn't it? Haha! Also, funny story about the rain we've been having! Yesterday was the worst of the storm (in the morning at least) and we had to go out driving in it to get to church. Oh, the sacrifices we make. Anyway, we woke up and the power was out, but luckily the water heater was powered by propane, so I still got a warm shower. Phew. But we went out and the rain is nearly going sideways it's coming down so hard - and it's crazy windy so everything is just flying around. So we drive down the street and splash through some puddles before we find that the only road we know of to get out of the subdivision has a big ol' pine tree across the street! I gave up pretty fast and suggested to Sister Ripplinger that we go home and study and wait for the tree to be taken care of, and she says, "No no, it's okay! We'll park the car somewhere, climb over the tree and stand on the corner until we can call a member to come pick us up and take us to church!" She's enthusiastic, y'see. I was not happy at this solution though, so we call another member who lives by us and had left earlier, and he gave us alternate directions to get out. Phew. Except, this way was over a dirt road, so we went off-roading to get to church! There was a gate in the middle too, so I had to get out and open and shut it, so by the time I got back into the car I was drenched and dripping and my companion was perfectly dry. Typical. XD But we made it to church! And, despite the rain, we had five investigators there! Yahoo! So it turned out okay in the end. XD

 

@Transfers: we're both staying! thank you for not sending things to the mission home, they're holding things hostage to deliver it all at once for Christmas. Haha! So basically nobody gets mail for the next three weeks. Yay. *brick'd*

 

Oh! So yesterday was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, and when we were watching it I saw Bro. Smith! On bassoon! So I was really happy about that :) We watched it with Rose, the lady we live with, and when I told her that he was my teacher, her eyes got kinda big and said, "You must be really good then!" It was funny. You should write him and tell him I said hi! And that I saw him! And also our non-member landlady! :) It was really good though. n_n

 

Okay, so hysterical story. As missionaries we're not allowed to hold children, which is totally fine cos I don't really like children anyway. But my companion LOVES children, so she's been struggling every time we go to someone's house and there's a baby around. XD This week we were helping Mama Rose and her sons (they're older; like 23 & 26 or something) decorate the house for Christmas! So we went through boxes and sifted through stuff we needed to take upstairs (side story: we found a dead rat in one of the boxes. It was just a skeleton left. Creepy and gross! Sorry Lindsay. *brick'd*). In one we found this old baby doll that one of her sons used to play with when he was young, maybe 5 years old or something like that. Somehow it ended up in Sister Ripplinger's arms, and she cradled it and took care of it like it was real. In a second we thought about what would happen if we took it to district meeting with us and see all the Elder's reaction. So we do. :) We walk in and Sister Ripplinger has baby Jerry (that's his name) in her arm, and all the Elders start looking at it and each other like, "... ummm.... why's she have a baby....?" But we continue, regardless, until the middle of the meeting one blurts out, "Why do you have a baby?" My companion smiles and says, "I can't tell you yet!" Truthfully we just didn't have a reason, other than wanting to see how they do. Haha! So they drop it for a little while until we have to practice teach, and Sister Ripplinger says to the person who's evaluating, "I have to teach now. Will you take care of him for a second?" He's all, "Oh, yeah, sure!" So she carefully hands him over and he carefully takes it in his hands and sits with this baby doll while we teach about the birth of the Savior. Too hilarious :D Eventually all of them got to hold it, and it was really obvious which ones were comfortable with children XD So yeah. That's our exciting lives when we're around other missionaries. Haha!

 

On a more spiritual note, this week we had a really solid lesson with an investigator Lola. We were talking about the Plan of Salvation; where we came from, why we're on Earth, and where we go after we die. It was a really deep lesson, but since she's come to understand more about the Priesthood from our first lesson, she really seemed to take it to heart and really think about the message we were sharing. At the end we asked her to pray, and she said something like this: "Father, I'm glad the Sisters came over. I ask that you will protect them, for I know they have a supreme purpose in spreading your word and in coming to me. Help me to be more faithful, cos I know I need to be." And then it was like a bombshell of spirit :D It was so cool! We had no idea she'd thought that much about it, if at all, since we'd been there last (it'd been a while cos of Thanksgiving). But we were really excited about that!

 

Hum, I think that's about it. Thanks for your love and support! I'd ask y'all to send me letters since I'm jealous of all my companion's mail (*brick'd*), but even if you did write it wouldn't get to me cos it's being HELD HOSTAGE!!1 Very sad. But I'll get it eventually! <_<

 

Anyway, I love you all! Thanks always for your prayers, I know good things are on the way :)

 

LOVELOVELOVE

Sister Nelson