The Eclectic Blog post

The Rapid City Trio

Ten MINUTES left on computer time:
 
I am sure that everyone is dying for a foot update: My feet are looking really good this week! My toe is on the mend and the grandma feet are gone...GONE!  I have packed away the shoes that seem to make my feet sweat the most, and the one pair that hurt my toes (her Keens) and now I am using smart wool socklets.  Also, guess which shoes are my favorite? The first pair that my mom and I bought at REI which my mother insisted on gettng, that I didn't think I would like. Depending on how they fare in Rapid City, I may want to get another pair before heading down to RIO. Also....the Costco skirts, that I intially hated but my mother promised me would be my favorite,  are my favorite.... When will I learn to trust and listen to my mother?

Best split partner ever- Hannah S.

Okay. So we've been doing lots of splits recently, and I've been with Sister B, and then with Hannah S. (who is a recent high school graduate from my home stake, and former ward in Spokane!!), which is a HUGE blessing (ie, a nice break from companions). Hannah is earning money in Rapid City while she prepares for her mission. I've decided to take a gung-ho attitude when it comes to tracting, and for whatever reason, my door approaches work! We've been able to find L. and M., who are very sweet ladies. L. is in her late 60s, and SB and I found her. She is a TALKER and has a really beautiful story. She's deeply religious, and really does have an aura about her. She LOVES us a lot already, and we've taught her twice with a return appointment. I found M, and we have an appointment to teach her again on Thursday. She's an older native american woman who lives very humbly, and has recently had family members die. She's really ready to accept the gospel, I just hope she lets us back in! SO, moral of the story: tracting does work, you just have to believe every minute that it will work, and be led by the spirit to specific houses!

Trio life...hard. I'll write more about it later!

At the beginning of last week (ie, monday-wed), we had ZERO lessons taught. ZERO. SO FRUSTRATING. Luckily, we were somehow able to get 7 lessons taught before Sunday, found a new investigator, and had return appointments with several LAs and investigators. SO, persevere when things are rough, because they will get better! 

We do a lot of role-playing here, soooo we made Juan Pedro! He's pretty quiet, but he's a great investigator 

Juan Pedro

We were caught in a crazy hail/rain/thunderstorm last Friday, and we contacted an atheist who was set on "deconverting" us...luckily, other elders from another area were also there, and so I shifted my focus to getting to know them! One of them (Elder R. sp?) is also a visa waiter! He's from Sandpoint and is in the EXACT same boat as I am! We got to speak Portuguese for all of about 2 1/2 minutes,  but it was definitely a highlight of my week. I miss that language so stinkin' much. It's crazy.

We had a dinner appointment with a PM family. She is a member and has a bunch of little kids. One of them kept sticking a car down his underpants and then pulling it back out, and then putting it in his mom's face. It was gross, but really funny! haha! Kids.....

Side note: there are a LOT of home schoolers here. it's pretty cool because once I tell them I was home schooled, there's and instant connection. It's awesome.

OH, a HUGE thank you to the packages and letters recieved this week! I've been out of stamps, but I promise that I have/will write back. They are VERY much appreciated!!!!!

Okay, I'm about out of time, but I really really love you all, and I AM happy here, despite the challenges. 

Sister Colvin

Questions that we have for the missionaries: Taylor's answers are in blue.
 
1. How are you surviving the HEAT WAVE? The news says it is pretty bad! It's not that bad--we have a car with AC, and I have a wardrobe for Rio! It gets up to 100, but there's usually a consistent breeze.
2. Taylor, are you walking, biking, or driving? Driving and walking! It's a pretty nice combination, though I am always in the backseat and I tend to get carsick....also, Sister Horan is kind of a scary driver... 
6. Taylor, have you had problems keeping weight off? Nope! Portion control is the key. I also make sure to either a) not have dessert at a member's house, or b) have a very small piece. It's kind of a touchy subject, I just try to keep my mouth shut.
7. HOW’S the toe? And the feet? Good! No big problems this week.
8. I am curious as to whether or not the packing list and method actually worked for you? YES. It worked VERY well. I haven't used the list very much, other than to figure out which heavy stuff to put where. But the cubes are AWESOME, and I keep all of my garments in those bags, which makes my drawers very organized and neat.
9. Do you get to listen to music? Only between 6:30-8am and 10-10:30pm, and then on P-days. It's rough.
10. Do you get to read church magazines?  Do you want me to sent you some? We sure do! The mission actually gives everyone a copy of the Ensign, which is a huge blessing.
11. Is there anything that you forgot that you wished that you had? Nope, other than maybe a seat cushion because these chairs are KILLING my butt. I've been sitting on my pillow on the chair for my FOUR hours of study a day.
12. How do you send emails when the library is closed on federal holidays? You don't! Hence, emailing today!
13. Are Sundays extra tiring on your mission? (Levi’s question) Yes and no. I don't think it's as busy as it was in the MTC, but we have correlation meeting for an hour, then church, then talking or teaching at the church afterwards, visiting a less active, dinner, and then visiting an investigator or less-active. It's busy, but it's really nice to listen to someone other than your companions talk for three hours, and it's nice to be reminded that there are many members that love you!
14. How are you getting along with your companions? ...............mostly really well
16. How does the whole meal thing go for you, do you fix breakfast for yourselves/companions? How many nights a week do you get meals from members?  We now get to feed the missionaries every night in the Spokane mission! We get about $50 a week for our needs, which is plenty for groceries when you're just getting breakfast/lunch. Everyone makes their own meals, and then we have dinner appointments every night. I feel a little needy as the members are feeding us so often, but it is a really good chance to build that relationship of trust, so that they feel comfortable letting you teach their friends.
17. What has been the most surprisingly easy thing for you to adjust to on your mission? Just jumping right in and teaching. I'm really well prepared. I haven't ever felt awkward or uncomfortable knocking on doors or striking up a conversation about the gospel.
18. What has been the most surprisingly hard thing for you to adjust to? TRAINING.
19. What are some of your unique mission rules? (another Levi question) You have to have someone outside of the car in order to back it up. No eating in the car. You can't do laundry any other time than p-day, even if you have a washer and dryer in your house....
20. Do you get to read any blogs online on your pday? Have you seen your own blogs? I read mine today! That's about all I have time for....
Great questions!!! Keep them coming!
 
Sister Colvin


PS PICTURES:

 This is the "City of Presidents" and so there are these super cool bronze statues all over downtown. We got to take some pictures with them yesterday,  and my goal is to get all of the presidents before I leave! (Also, we stopped into the president tour/guide/museum place, and I got to impress the old guy there with my knowledge of presidents! We also contacted him, and he LOVES the MoTab (like, he listens to "love at home" when he's having a bad day.) We gave him a mormon.org <http://mormon.org>  card, and encouraged him to check it out. There was also an older man visiting from London to be a cowboy for a few weeks, so he and I got along great! He was also very curious about church, and I gave him a temple card and encouraged him to go to Mormon church to learn more. Missionary opportunities everywhere! Also, people LOVE talking to us for a LONG time. I think it's something about being a missionary--we really do have a different spirit, and people recognize that and want to talk to you about it. 

This buck was lucky Freckles wasn't around!

Mighty huntress Freckles in Spokane.

-we were startled by this visitor outside of our window during personal study! I caught myself yelling, "Freckles get the deer".

 

-Just typical roads here...another day of tracting....

Becky Smith sent me a care package...she is the nicest mother-in-law-of-my-sister ever! It made my day, my week, my entire month!

    
-birthday with John B...we LOVE this family. They have a daughter (Hannah) who left 2-3 weeks ago for her mission to Denmark. They are an AWESOME missionary member family, and we've already taught 2 of their family friends. MISSIONARIES LIVE FOR PEOPLE LIKE THIS. Brother B is awesome and hilarious.  
 

Mummified by bug spray

Bug spray caste  of the spider

         We've had quite the spider epidemic lately.....the one that's white is that way because my companions were too wussy to slay it, so they sprayed the crap out of it....which I then got to clean up. We then did a sweep of the apartment, and I got to slay like 15 spiders. Grossss. 

 Art Alley in Rapid City, looks sketchy but isn't.

 

Rapid City Week ONE!

2:30 A.M. departure

Goodbye MTC!

Okay, wow. I feel like I have so much to write about! I'll start at the beginning, and hope that my fingers can type enough to include everything.

First off, they shipped Elder E and I out of the MTC at 2:30am...TWO THIRTY AM. I was sooo tired, and since I'm already a sleep sensitive swamp beast, it made for a really long day. We spoke in Portuguese a bit on the way there, and then got bagels at the airport together, but saying goodbye to the last member of my district in the airport was really hard. They shaped the very beginning of my mission, and had such an overwhelmingly powerful influence on me.

My flights went smoothly, though I was stuck in the very farthest back seat of the plane. I was able to speak to the people sitting next to me about what I would be doing on a mission, and one woman seemed interested. I gave her a pass-along card and encouraged her to find out more. I then landed in the smallest, most outdated airport ever. They literally have paintings like the Womapoke Indians in Parks & Rec. It's pretty funny. I was B-lining it to the restroom to clean up, and potentially de-poofify my 2:30am hair, when I was mobbed by two sisters. Auuugh.

Sister H, the redhead next to me, is one of my new companions.

I clenched my bladder, and smiled and attempted to remain coherant as they spewed a ton of information about the mission. They really were quite sweet, but at that point I was starving, in zombie-mode, and really ready to sleep for about 3 days. They took me to the library (it was their p-day), and I was able to send a quick note home. Afterwards, we went to their apartment, mosied up to the mission home, and waited for quite a while until other missionaries showed up. There are a TON of new missionaries here--I think 31 or 32? It was their biggest group yet, and so chaos and disorganization ensued. I spent a large majority of that night wondering where I was supposed to be, or wondering if they would realize that I didn't have a companion or a travel partner...no big deal. Oh, and he interviewed everyone...but forgot about me until one of the APs said something...no big deal. I'm not supposed to be here, I see how it is! Haha jk, I know there's a reason why I'm here, I just have yet to discover exactly what that reason is!

Okay, so mission training....long. and boring. I'm just keeping it real. I don't know why they attempt to train missionaries who are running on 1-2 hours of sleep, because I definitely didn't retain much. I even had to stand up during the "how to drive a car and stop at stop signs and not hit pedestrians" video. It was a long night. That being said, my President Anderson and his wife are top-notch. I really like his drive and directness, and she is a really really sweet woman. All of the mission office sisters are also really sweet, and they make us feel like we have mothers and grandmothers wherever we go! It's great.

The next morning wasn't much better. We didn't get to our place to sleep until 10:30, then I had to soak my foot until 11, and Sister M (one of the senior missionaries) woke us up at 5am to get ready. Noooooo. I need my beauty sleep! Anyways, more training, more confusion on where we were supposed to be. President Anderson asked for a volunteer to do a demonstration teaching in front of the missionaries, and since all of the stateside people are megawusses, relatively new to the mission, I raised my hand. We've done TONS of role-plays in Portuguese, so this one actually went pretty well, and he commented on my "Emmy-award winning acting," whatever that means. I think there really is something to be said about learning a foreign language. Sister T and I really discovered that we had to teach simple, and concisely. It is a lot harder to do in English!

Taylor Avenue

Side note: this mission is massive. A lot of people had to drive 8-16 hours to get to their areas, and often times they go months/their whole missions without seeing the mission president. It's pretty crazy. I'm stationed in Rapid City, which is the booming metropolis of South Dakota. We have a "huge" ward for this area...it will definitely be a culture shock going from the RCSDM to a city of 9 million.

Okay, so I won't bore you with all of the awesome members and less actives that we've visited, other than saying that every single member has been incredible, has fed us incredibly well, and are striving to have missionary experiences! We had two women share Book of Mormons this week, a man invite his friends to have dinner with us, children pass out pass-along cards to their friends, and other people giving us a few referrals. I have a feeling that we will be able to work really well with these members!

 

Sisters Colvin, SB,SH

I'm in a trio with Sister H, and Sister B. SH is from Colorado, just turned 20, is a firey redhead, has been out for 6 months, and is my trainer. SB is from Gilbert, Arizona (shoutout to my district Elders!), is 22, 4'11", and reminds me a little bit of a squeaky toy. She's so cute, and she strives to find positives in every situation. She laughs a lot, and makes this adorable squeaky voice sometimes that cracks SH and I up. We laugh a lot, which is good, because there have been some weird situations so far! I love both of my companions a lot, and feel incredibly blessed to have another set of awesome, hardworking, obedient, and loving companions. Trios are hard, but so far we've worked really well together and our personalities seem to be meshing well. BLESSINGS!

Sooooo.....we're pretty much opening the area. This area used to be covered only by the APs, but they are gone ALL the time, and haven't been able to hit a lot of the areas. We're the first sister missionaries here in about 10 years, and I tell you what.....the members LOVE us. We share the area with the APs now, and I don't mean to sound biased or snooty or anything, but they're way more open with the sisters than they are with the elders....and we're the ones getting referrals. Yesssssssss. I'm trying to tame my hyper-competitiveness, because that's NOT what a mission is about, but I'm very grateful that they feel comfortable with us, and willing to have us teach their close friends.

Okay, into my bulleted items:
-our apartment

Kitchen

Bathroom

Bedroom

My Desk/table

-our apartment/place of living is in the basement of a member's house--we're the first missionaries to live there. It's an awesome apartment .....but we don't have any carpet, there are a LOT of spiders...and there are some weiiiirrd smells. Tuesday we were all praying, and after the prayer SB and I just looked at each other, made the same disgusted face, and realized that the large area rug REEKED of cat pee. I'm not talking just a little bit, but a LOT. We don't want to offend the owner of the house (a single mother recent convert of 2 years with 5 girls)....so we rolled up the carpet, and stuck it in the farthest corner of our kitchen. (you can see it rolled up in the picture of the kitchen I'll send you).

-my poor feet....they're so weird. I've been religious about soaking them and doing my daily routine, but I don't think my toe is healing super well. Also, now I have hyper dryness of my plantar fascia! awesome. not. I haven't applied drysol for over a week, but my skin still has been sluffing off from dryness. It looks better today, and I'll keep applying lotion at night to help with this problem.
 
-I love eating at member's houses! It's always a little awkward because they don't know you and you don't know them, but members here are awesome and super welcoming. We ate with several families this past week who have daughters on missions! I think that when you have children out on missions you're a little more conscious of missionary work, and those mothers are having some great missionary experiences. We also ate at a house with a bunch of little boys, and one boy was literally scooping sour cream and licking it off of a spoon. It was pretty funny....and kind of gross too haha. I love children.
 

7 hour wasted planning session

-since we're opening the area, the area book is basically nonexistent. We spent most of our weekly planning (ie, 7 HOURS of planning), discussing members, less actives, former investigator's, the map, etc. It was much needed...UNTIL the APs called us and let us know that instead of sharing the area, we'd be splitting it. uuuugggggghhhhhhh. AFTER 7 hours of planning. Oh, and they weren't going to get us the new boundaries for another day and a half. uuuggggghhhhh. Sometimes Elders are not the most thoughtful creatures in the world. My companions and I were all equally frustrated, and we had many exasperated sighs and groans after that phonecall.

Tracting FUN!

-we've mostly been working with less-actives and part-member families, but we've done a little bit of tracting as well. No one will directly come out and say it, but tracting really stinks. It's a terrible method of finding people! Very few people are willing to let you in, and it's awkward if they do! That being said....I have a story.

On Friday we were trying to contact a former investigator. We walked to where her address was supposed to be and it appeared to be abandoned. SB and I decided to be bold, and we opened her gate and marched up the porch with the courage and boldness they try to instill in us in the MTC....only to have a scary DOG NOISE come out of NOWHERE. We seriously had no idea where the heck the dog noise was coming from, and we booked it from the porch as fast as possible. I did NOT want to go back in there, but as an ancient dog with probably blind eyeballs and a bad hip came limping out from under the porch, SH decided that we had come this far, and we were going to go in....so once again, I mustered up all of my courage, and went up and knocked on this scary house. A larger older lady answered the door, beaming at us with about 7 teeth, as MORE DOGS swarmed us. I think she had like 6 ginormous dogs, and only one looked like it would potentially eat our face off. We said that we were there to talk about religion and discover how people come close to Christ, and she let us in.  We were able to get to know her, share the message of the restoration, and challenge her to read the Book of Mormon. Her name was Z, and she was a 7th day adventist who actually had mormons come and teach her about 10 years ago.....they had clearly either taught her very poorly, or she just didn't understand, because she had some wild ideas about what we believe! We were able to clear up some questions, testify, and invite the Spirit. We're headed back tomorrow for a follow-up, so we'll see how it goes. Also, her son's tiny Asian girlfriend, T, came in about 2/3 of the way through the lesson, and said that she had actually gone to our church when she lived back east, and that she really liked it and would like to go back. SO, 2 potential investigators from being bold and entering a sketch place.

K, one more funny story, then I need to send pics.

-we helped a L. move on Sat....as we arrived, she exclaimed, "OH MY GO*(not missionary appropriate), I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE HERE!" She then proceeded to grasp our hands, kiss them profusely, touch our faces waaay too much, and clasp our hands and say, "I NEED TO PRAY." She then started sobbing, and said, choking her words out through tears and over-emotionality, "Thank you Jesus, that's all I can say." Uuuhhhh. We hadn't even done anything yet....and she really didn't have us do very much. She was an interesting bird. We were going to share a message, and were all piled onto her tiny couch, and she ended up talking to us about a screwdriver for like 15 minutes. I think we need to get better about taking control of the situation....especially since she hugged SB goodbye for like 5 minutes, while kissing her hands and neck. Afterwards, SB just made her squeaky toy voice and said that she's never felt so uncomfortable in her life.

-Portuguese. Oh man, I didn't realize how much I love Portuguese. I say all of my personal prayers in Portuguese, and I relish my hour of language study every day. I've been able to maintain a lot of what I learned, and am striving to memorize at least one scripture a week, as well as several vocab words a day. I hope I'm able to continue to maintain it....

Well, I love you and I miss you all! This mission has been really fun, and I'm excited to serve TWO missions. Thank heavens I got out all of my emotions of doubt and distain towards a reassignment in the MTC, because I love it here! Every day I just work my hardest to make it count, which has been great.

I have such a testimony for this work, especially for the Holy Ghost. He is such a guiding power in my life, and all people can feel touched as we invite the Spirit into their homes. It's awesome.

Love you all!

Com muito muito amor e felicidade,

Funny Friday

Rapid City, South Dakota

Ola familia!

Sister Colvin with President and Sister Anderson

Okay, so my flight here was EARLY. We reported to the travel office at TWO THIRTY A.M. (I'm on 2 hours of sleep...), were bussed the 1hr to SLC, we were able to call our parents in the airport (*literally* the best thing ever), and then I flew to Denver, had a 1 1/2 hour layover, then flew here! Luckily it's P-day, so hopefully I can take a power nap or something.
 
Man. I made it to South Dakota! There are lottttsss of cows, fields, and wide open spaces. I think I'll get along just fine here! I saw a small herd of horses as we drove in, and just about peed myself. SO. MANY. ANIMALS. It's awesome. I'm running on about 2 hours of sleep.....hopefully I don't say anything dumb when I meet my mission president at lunch! The sister training leaders picked me up from the Rapid City airport--think 70s carpet, tile walls, and Parks & Rec-esque wall murals. It's tiny. There appears to be very few people that actually live in South Dakota haha!

I just found out that I'm being put in a trio...............noooooooooooo. Thank heavens the MTC helped prepare me for that one! (Though it'll be hard to top Sister G and Sister T :'[ ) Trios are hard! There are so many feeeelliiinnggs, and girls (er, sisters) just want to talk about their feeeeeelings. I'm sure it will be a growing experience.

I love you all so, so much. Thank you for your love, kind words, prayer, and support. It certainly is felt on this end! Please please please write letters! I love getting them a lot! Btw--my address is the mission home address:

South Dakota Rapid City Mission
2525 W Main, Suite 311
Rapid City, SD 57702 
 
45 seconds! Bye! Love you! Love this church!

Com amor,
Sister Colvin

PS.  My very nice mission president, President Anderson, is the brother-in-law of our friend and colleague of Kyle's, Dr. Reid R.  

District Reassignments

My two missions!

Friends and Family, (and Mormon missionary mommy blog stalkers)
 
Gosh, I don't even know quite where to start with this email because SO MUCH has happened since the last time I wrote.
 
First, a set of thank-you’s:
-Mom, you are the best mom ever. Seriously. Thank you for being honest with me and explaining my depressing visa situation so clearly. I had a down day, and have definitely bounced back. Thank you for sending the MANY care packages while I have been here. Every time I got a package for my weird feet it was a reminder of how I have a personal cheerleader in Spokane, working her tail off in order to continue to take care of me. You are awesome. I loved the pie, and it definitely helped lessen the blow haha.

-Dad, thanks for your work on the visas as well! I signed my FULL NAME without even having to read your DearElder! (unfortunately her brother did not.)
-Levi and Sawyer, thanks for sharing your EFY experiences! I looooved reading them and hearing your different insights! I am planning on handwriting you back, because computer time is soooo short, and there are like 10,203 things to do in the next two days.

-Annie & Ken -- HOLY GOLDFISH! Your care package was AWESOME. I wrote you a thank-you today, but oh MAN. That massive package could not have come at a better time! It definitely helped raise our spirits, and my district devoured the gummy bears like nobody's business.

-Lee Ross -- your letter was so incredibly thoughtful, insightful, and inspirational. Thank you for your personal insight and advice! I smiled, laughed, and teared up a little bit as you shared so many of the difficulties that you experienced. (I'll have to try the thigh trick haha!) I also loved hearing Rachel's story--the church is true, and the power of the Holy Ghost is real!

-Jon & Debbie Rogers -- I can't even...you are the best. Seriously. There are not words to describe how helpful Jon's words were in aiding my shift in perspective. I definitely treasure that DearElder, and probably re-read it at least once a day as a reminder to have hope and faith in God's plan for my mission, and cookies make every problem easier to face.

-to all others who have written this week: thank you so much! It really does have an effect on the morale of a missionary. If you have a friend who is a missionary, WRITE THEM! It helps so much to be reminded that there are people rooting for you when times get hard.

Okay, let me give you the low-down of the week.
Tuesday:
After I sent a string of depressing emails and letters, I received two package slips from Elder S. What the what?! I don't ever get packages unless it's for pants or medicine to take care of my grandma feet! EXCITING! We then sprinted (as fast as you can when you have one companion in a boot, and the other with a progressively more painful ingrown toenail....) to the mail room before it closed, only to receive a MASSIVE 20lb package stuffed full of fruit snacks, goldfish, and gummy bears (thank you, Annie & Ken), and a pie from DearElder (thanks mom!). Though I was still working through a myriad of emotions regarding my impending 4-6 months in my reassignment, it definitely helped to raise spirits. That evening we had our devotional, and Elder Richard G. Scott spoke! (Hopefully you got my letter regarding my experience). That devotional, followed by Jon's sweet letter was a turning point in my perspective on the next few months of my life. It helped remind me to trust in God's will for me at this time. Elder Scott also focused on the importance of prayer, especially private, verbal prayer. It's really hard to get away from people in the MTC, but I found a custodial closet just down the hall from our room, and after everyone has gotten into bed, I sneak down (which is even more ineffective than usual because my feet are wrapped in plastic and it sounds like I'm stepping on 100 dry leaves every time I move) and close myself in the closet for a few minutes of private prayer....oh what a difference that has made! As a missionary, we pray about 100 times a day, but since being here, I have had very few opportunities to have personal prayer. Since making that time to have a private sanctuary, I've felt a lot more at peace, despite the troubles that have still continued

Wednesday: 

I woke up with a paradigm shift - though still a bit disappointed about the visa situation, I was actually at peace and really looking forward to getting my re-assignment!  After studying all morning, Sister W miraculously got all of us signed up to be hosts for new missionaries.  We got out of class (hurrah), were able to be separated from our companions (double hurrah), and we spent the next three hours OUTSIDE and welcoming the incoming missionaries, which was pretty much the most fun thing ever.  You guys would have been really proud of me...after 6 weeks I was able to help Sisters find their rooms without getting lost once! (okay...I did get turned around...but I pretended like I knew where I was. haha)

We practiced our duet together (I Know My Heavenly Father Loves Me),  and I also practices the musical number for our district to sing in sacrament meeting.  (I know That My Redeemer Lives). Actually, I practiced a lot last week, probably at least an hour a day.  It's such a blessing. Thanks for all the piano lessons!!!

Then to top it off, my bishop's wife - the lovely Debbie Rogers - sent me a box of cookies! Cookies can make any situation easier to handle. 

Irmao C went out of town this weekend, so he took pictures with everyone just in case we left on Monday. He and Irmao D unknowingly color coordinated! Precious. I love them. I'm going to miss them so much! 

Thursday:

Yesterday was in-field orientation............... Needless to say, it was a VERY long and boring day. Think of being in conference for 9 (yes actually NINE) hours, on hard chairs, hearing many things that you already know.  Our elders found a prop couch and camped out on it. It was lucky (I guess) that our trio had a myriad of odd things to get done on Thursday morning - between the travel office details, getting fingerprinted (whooohooo a field trip in a police car!!!), music practice, and Garrison and my audition, we got out of the first half of the day of in-field orientation.  Sister G was very appreciative that she didn't have to hear it all over again.  I felt badly about draggin my two companions around all day - it's a hard part of being in a trio. As a duo, you're only inconveniencing one person, and it's a lot easier to have a give-and-take relationship.  I struggle with feeling like a burden with all of my visa and foot problems this past week.  But, Sister T and Sister G are very patient and understanding. 

Our audition went well, but it was not the best we've played, and Sister N seemed to have a few quibbles with it. ( Picture the kindest quibbling ever, and you have this lady).  So, I thought that we would not be selected to play -- but the next day we got and envelope inviting us to play at the departure devotional - so cool!

Elder N had his birthday, which would have stunk if it was just in-field orientation, but we made him a birthday crown, decorated his desk, and then we got REASSIGNMENTS!!!! (We all thought they would for sure come on Friday--HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!) With the help of so many people, I am adjusting to my new call.  Garrison is happy with his assignment – he just wants to get out (of here) and into the mission field. 

Reassignment Day for District 220

Sis. M - Los Angeles, California
Sis T - Tacoma, Washington
Sis C - Rapid City, South Dakota
Sis W - Cleveland, Ohio
Elders P, N, M and S - Gilbert, Arizona
Elder E - Houston, TX
Elder F - Charlotte, North Carolina

Two of the original Twelve received their visa's in time to go to Brazil.  My favorite missionary, Elder Colvin, was reassigned to serve in the Missouri, Independence Mission.  

 Friday:

(Early Friday morning as I (Brenda) am ready to pull out of the driveway with my horse trailer loaded, I get a call from Provo MTC health clinic.  Immediately my heart sinks and I imagine all kinds of horrible things, like when my friend got the call that her missionary son had a mass in his chest. Anyway, it just turned out that Taylor was scheduled to get her ingrown toenail fixed and they needed our insurance information because she had forgotten it in her room. It was the first that I heard about the surgery.  I could hear Taylor’s voice talking in the background, but she wasn’t allowed to talk to me…something that I am thinking is just a cultural weirdness. So I tell the unknown caller to tell my daughter that I love her....more weirdness, and that is how my day started.)   

Before our foot problem, we got to do another TRC skype session.  We spoke with Marcos, who had the most beautiful voice i have ever hear.  His Portuguese sounded so soft and safe in his mouth.  I can't wait to get to Brazil!

THE FOOT SAGA: I figured that it would be best if I got surgery in the MTC especially because we were already going to the podiatrist for Sister G's foot later that day.  (Oh, another side note: ST & SG and I all fasted on Thursday for SG's foot and comfort, then Elder P gave her a blessing.  It was an incredible experience of fasting as it caused me to look outside of myself and imagine SG's pains every time I had a pang of hunger.  Also, EP is a really special young man.  He's only 18, but has been blessed with charity and wisdom far beyond his years.  I'd let any of my best friends marry him, haha!)  Anyway, we went to the foot doctor (yeah!!! another field trip).  I'll try to describe the scene...picture a small treatment room with two chairs and then a tall treatment chair.  The doctor kept going back and forth between SG and I.  When he asked me to take off my shoe he was just like, "oh yep," and that's ALL he said to me. The next thing I knew, he was jabbing a ginormous needle into my toe four times - Sister T is lucky that I didn't break her hand, it hurt so bad!  He then switched SG back into the chair, delivered her the bad news that sh had to stay another two weeks.  We switched back, and he proceeded to remove what seemed like half my toenail. Luckily my toe was delightfully numb, so I got to fully enjoy the looks of shock and disgust on ST's face as the doctor extracted what looked like the toe's equivalent of a molar from my foot. It bled so much!  He applied medicine to the nail bed to keep it from growing back, so he stuck a chopstick looking piece of wood into my toe. It stuck out like 18 inches! ST got a kick our of it (ie, she was way grossed out) SG and I laughed and laughed at poor ST's discomfort.  Minus the needles, it was a super fun experience.  SG was pretty bummed out, so we went back to our room and ate our feelings.   

My foot, post-surgery: There is no pain, and the toenail feels just fine, but I'm now suffering from dryness on the bottoms of my feet. Any suggestions for balancing hyperhidrosis and dryness? I'm down to using drysol 1x a day (at night, with my feet wrapped in plastic), and using Tinactin 2-3 times a day in between my toes. Should I only be applying Drysol to the balls of my feet, and not to the soles? (Fortunately she has learned that the "best" way to communicate in near real-time with us is to send an email message on p-day, then wait a few hours and go back to check the computer to see if we have replied.  She has enough time to do this 2-4 times in fits and spurts throughout the day.  So I was able to get an answer back to her on this problem. Reading missionary letters is really reading stream of conscious writing in that you never really know what time and place the setting is.)

Later that day Garrison and I got called out of class to renew an online application for my visa which had expired.  It was the very end of the normal world's workday/week so I know that Mom and Dad has something to do with that especially since I got a dearelder from Dad telling me how to do it shortly after I had just done it!  Thankfully, I did it correctly without Dad's instructions. 

Garrison and I were asked to perform a piano duet at the departing missionary devotional Sunday night--there will be around 800 missionaries there! Holy smokes! We're doing a duet of "I Know My Heavenly Father Loves Me." It's pretty, and it's definitely come together this past week.  We’re ready!

Saturday:

That brings me to today, the BONUS P-DAY!  We get to pack up and write emails! After gym, all of us hung around in a pack - no one wanting to say anything.  Then a miracle happened - it started pouring rain and we found a little place in the MTC to have a rain party and get completely soaking wet.  

After Rain Dance photos.

it was such a perfect stress relief and seriously one of the most fun memories I have of the MTC (though probably we weren't allowed to do that.) We were so soaked that we had to wash and dry those clothes, and my shoes still aren't dry. So great. A few music practices later, and we had class and a "Party" in our district.  Think popcorn, MoTab, and writing uplifting notes in each other's journals, and you have one pretty wild party in the MTC!

Sunday: 

Final district photos with Branch Presidency

A Natural Shot!

Man, yesterday was an emotionally difficult roller coaster of spiritual highs and emotional lows. Our entire district basically spent the whole day together (nothing new there...), and everyone was pretty solemn about the approaching farewells. I know that many MTC districts become very close, but I fervently believe that our district was extra special. Everyone went out of their way to make sure the members of our district were ok, and we all worked really hard to learn the language, and to teach with the Spirit. There were so many powerful experiences within our tiny classroom--too many to even begin to write about--like the time when Elder P gave a blessing of comfort, or when Elder S listened to my challenges, and expressed love during my off-week--or when we had district review meetings and everyone was moved to tears by bearing testimony to one another. We've spent every day together for the past 6 weeks. Every long, hard, emotionally draining, spiritually stretching, and humble moment together. To say goodbye to such a district is never easy. We held a testimony meeting last night in that tiny room...the spirit was once again incredibly strong, and once again those walls were sacred. What an awesome oppourtunity I have had to have such a strong, loving, and inspiring district as district 70-H. I love them all!

The departing district always sings a musical number in their branch--usually it's a simple piece out of the hymnbook, but being a music major (and not a boring person....), we did a special arrangement of "I Know That My Reedemer Lives." (in Portuguese) I wish I could have gotten a recording for all of you moms out there! It was beautiful! The sisters sang like angels (between choking down tears), and the elders sang beautiful harmonies as well. What an awesome departing gift they gave to me, as I accompanied them amidst struggling to choke down emotion as well...but you can't cry and play the piano as we all know.

After sacrament meeting, we took district pictures, ate our last supper together (so sad), and Garrison (er, Elder Colvin) and I had our sound check for the departing missionary devotional (why are there so many awkward parenthesis in this email? NAO SE. (also, I really wish I knew how to type accents right about now....) Anyways, I promised myself that I wouldn't cry in front of Elder Colvin before our musical number, because I knew that it would be very hard to play my part with tears in my eye. We held it together! It went so beautifully, and it was such an incredible experience to have one of our final moments together be so special.

Final Practce

Patient Sister G

 After that departure devotional, we had our Sunday night devotional with Vai Sikahema. (Tongan former American football player and television news reporter. The first Tongan ever to play in the National Football League, he played running back and kickoff returner in the league for eight seasons, from 1986 to 1993.) Anyways, he served his mission in RAPID CITY SOUTH DAKOTA. He shared mission stories, and it helped get me so pumped for my mission here! The church is true! I was the only missionary in the crowd of departing missionaries assigned to South Dakota.

Okay, so after the devotional, we had that powerful testimony meeting, then Elder Colvin and I had special permission to hug each other goodbye. That was sad. I cried. I'm going to miss my little squirrelly brother a lot. We've been through this whole process together, half marathon and all, and it's hard to picture my mission experience without him in it somehow.

Wow, they actually love each other (says the heart-warmed mother making this entry).

Ready to go!

 Sister Colvin