Biking through life

Sister Donaldson

I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Donaldson, she grew up on a ranch in Utah, and we're basically the same person. President Wheeler might have made a mistake (just kidding, I trust him) in putting us together because we might accidentally wreck this area. Both of us have a really hard time paying attention to where we are, and we're both always running late. But we do flow pretty naturally when we teach. She has quite the talent for listening to whatever people have to say and relating to the gospel. I plan on keeping her.

 Some other changes came with transfers. The first of which being that THEY TOOK STONE CREEK FROM ME AND I AM BITTER. Sister Rowley and I had been working so hard, and just as we were beginning to see success, they gave it to our zone leaders. Rude. But there were area changes in several places, so Sister Donaldson actually brought the YSA she'd been over with her. SO NOW WE HAVE A YSA, AND I AM SUPER HAPPY ABOUT IT. I had my first Sunday there yesterday, and it's like every other YSA out there. Hilariously awkward with new faces all the time. We share the YSA with our zone leaders, and we had a correlation meeting with them and our ward mission leader, and he told us that his goal is to help us each gain 50 pounds in the mission field and as such we have ice cream at every correlation meeting. I don't know if my frame can handle 50 pounds,

but I guess we'll find out.

 Onto the zone leaders (the thieves that took my Stone Creek). One is from France (that's nice), and the other one is from somewhere and was a former assistant to the mission president. Are you ready to hear about how this particular AP scarred me? I had been in the mission field only two days when I went to a training put on by the AP's with my then companion Sister Rowley. There were a bunch of relatively new missionaries in the chapel being taught by Elders W and F (the AP's) when Elder W asked a stupid question-- "who's feeling brave?" Literally, no one when you ask it like that. His question was greeted by the sound of crickets. I'm two days in the mission field, surrounded by people who've been there a whole transfer or two and no one says anything. Silence. Awkward silence. So what do I do? I raise my hand. Because I have a death wish.

 "I'm definitely feeling very brave right now." (I said slightly sarcastically and not very honestly.) 

 "Come on up, Sister Barlow." Elder W says as if he's not aware that's he's slightly terrifying. (Listen, the AP's are almost done with their missions, they have so much experience. I was two days in. What the heck why did I say yes?)

 (uh...no thanks.) "...ok"

 Up I go to the front where the twin towers that are Elders W and F stand. (Seriously, they're both super tall.)

 "Stand over here" (demanding much? ok it was a polite request but still)

 (oh no what are they doing to me??) (I accidentally said that thought out loud whoops) They were all "nothing, nothing, just stand there."

 And then, the tree of an individual that is Elder F looms over the bush of a person that is me and says "Teach me the Restoration."

 "What." (What. What. Whatwhatwhat WHAT. WHAT is the Restoration? I can't remember.) "You want me to what?"

 " Teach me the Restoration."

 "Uhh...ok. Uhh...God is our loving Heavenly Father (please stop staring at me Elder F I'm uncomfortable)... Families are great ( this is a pop quiz, and I'm totally failing it aren't I?)...Prophets are a thing (listen, mister, you've been a missionary a lot longer than I have don't you dare judge me I will fight you)...uh...uh... (oh dear heavens what comes next??)..."Elder W what are you doing with that chalkboard??" ( HE WAS WHEELING IT TOWARDS ME I KNEW THIS WAS A PLOT TO KILL ME) "nothing nothing just keep teaching" (there's a problem with that idea elder I LITERALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT COMES NEXT because I'm two days old.) "Ok...where was I... ah yes, prophets. prophets are great, aren't they? And they exist for important reasons..." *awkward twirl as I try to think of what comes next* My mind was still annoyingly blank. And then like an angel Elder W wheels the chalkboard in front of me and finally puts a barrier between Goliath and I. The AP's wanted to demonstrate that if we as missionaries were to simply recite words to those we were teaching it would be as if we were teaching a chalkboard and not a real person. Get it? I didn't know at first, I was too busy singing the hallelujah chorus to myself.

 Quick miracle: we show up to church yesterday for one of our wards in there's a whole row of non-members who had heard about the church and swung on by to see what it was about.

We got an address and will begin teaching soon enough!

 I hope you've enjoyed story time with this sister missionary! Before I go, please appreciate these rewritten lyrics for the song "Dancing Through Life":

 BIKING through liiiIIFe

 SWeAting and Crying

 and never keeping CooOOoL

 Life is fruitless when your purposeless

 Why drive at all when it's so soothing (not really)

 BIKING THROUGH LIIIFFE

  

Thank you, thank you very much. More to come at a later point. I love you all!