Week 21 - Trash, Ticks, and Transfers

 No, I did not die last week. I just managed to type of this whole thing then forgot to hit send and then pday was over! I'm brilliant  Week 22 is in progress.

Hello Friends, Family, etc!

This week was a bit more eventful than usual! Let's start with Wednesday. We woke up at 6 to leave at 6:30 to head into Bismarck. In Bismarck they apparently double booked missionaries for way too many service projects, so we got recruited to come help. We were told that we would be handing food out to people from a food kitchen, so that's what we came prepared for. Well lo and behold, the service project address we were given was actually to the landfill in Mandan, the city just west of Bismarck. How lucky is that?!? It actually really wasn't too bad. In case you hadn't heard, North Dakota is just a little windy, and so we were just picking up the plastic and such that had blown into the neighboring fields. It was actually kinda fun! It felt good to be outside working again! We did get a little sunburnt, but that's alright. While tromping through the tall grass, we also managed to startle a wild turkey mama who flew at Sister Taylor's face! Also found a deer carcass. How fun! 

So, being out and about in tall grasses, field flowers, weeds, and woody shrubs means two things: 1) allergies. I was not planning on being in a field, so I also did not have any allergy medications. Yeah, I only broke out in minor hives though. One of the elders with us also has allergies, but his whole face swelled and he could hardly breathe after a couple hours. I felt pretty bad for him. Then.... 2) TICKS. Ew, yuck, I do not like those at all. Nope. One of the senior couples invited all of us Dickinson sisters along with the Bismarck sisters out to eat at Panera for a goodbye-meal for one for the sisters who was going home, so we drove over to Panera, got there early, and went into the bathroom to do a tick check. Sure enough, found 2 on me, one in the car, one on Sister Van Hoff, two on Sister Sonnenburg, and one on Sister Combrink. Disgusting. Thankfully prayers were answered and none of the ticks had burrowed into us, so we just had to swat them off and kill them. Still not fun!!! 

Lunch at Panera was so much fun, particularly because I got to see my first companion, Sister Booth! After that, we picked up Sister Colby to come back with Sister Taylor and I for exchanges. It was a lot of fun having her around. While she was with us, we got a phone call telling us that Sister Isaacs was going to come and be our companion for a week. Wow! Not expecting that one. So we gave back Sister Colby and picked up Sister Isaacs. It has been SO fun having her here. I LOVE her. . She has taught me more about how to be a good person and how to be a good missionary in the past 4 days than anyone has in that short a time. I kinda hope she just stays with us for next transfer.

Speaking of next transfer! So, Sister Taylor and I are supposed to stay in Dickinson together, but we'll be swapping apartments with the other Dickinson sisters and will be serving in second ward instead of first ward. I'm super sad to leave this ward because I love them so much, but it should still be good. I'm sure 2nd word will be just as amazing in its own way. This will be my fourth ward in four transfers. That is a lot of change without much time to get settled in anywhere! Thank goodness I'll still have Sister Taylor. The joke between us has been that I get sent to a new apartment every transfer because I'm so good and cleaning and organizing them lol. The weird thing about transfers right now though is that NONE of them are official. We have gotten no transfer calls, nothing. Crazy times. 

Oh, also, President Howell came and joined our District Council on Tuesday so that he could do our interviews. It was so good to see him!! He also bought us lunch and I had made banana bread muffins for everynone for breakfast. I am always so impressed by President Howell's ability to listen to and hear the Spirit. I aspire to be as faithful as him. 

Another thing we worked on for EIGHT HOURS this week was a video. Man, I hate making videos. There's a musical fireside for our mission over zoom that we were making it for to participate, and it's a medley of "come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and "If You Could Hie to Kolob." As I can play the piano, I became the pianist, and part teacher, and my jr. high and high school choir experience pulled through to help them do some vocal warm-ups and exercises to improve the sound/blending etc. Thankfully once the audio was recorded, I was no longer the one people looked to for anything because Sister Isaacs is the videographer of the six of us, so I got to sit back and say "yes ma'am" to whatever she said! It finally is done though.... minus all the editing. Once again though, not my thing! That would be Sister Van Hoff. This thing is going to be amazing by the end of it though. 

Then we have Sunday, aka my birthday! It was pretty dang awesome. I spent 3 hours of it filming the dang video, but I also had two amazing companions to spend time with and funfetti pancakes. What more could a girl ask for? I also had so many people reach out to me with birthday wishes. I felt soooo loved! The party only continued today. We went to Medora, a cute little old-timey town and got to 1. meet prairie dogs 2. take cool pictures 3. go through gift shops and 4. go out for ice cream. Best day ever!!! It made today a little busy though, so if you sent me an email and I don't get back to you until next week, that would be why!

Have a great week everyone :)

Sister Balls