Week 40 - Negative Results Are, Indeed, Negative

 Hey there everyone!

Did my last week's email even make it out? I was looking through my sent emails to try and figure out what week it was this week for my email's subject line, and I couldn't find it anywhere. If you got it, great! If not, I'm still alive and well.

So, Sister Astle and I got tested for COVID on Tuesday and we were certain the results were going to come back positive. Of the 7 results that had come back, all 7 were positive. Why would ours be any different? Because life hates us, that's why. We had been around EIGHT positive cases, in very close physical proximity with no masks and many shared surfaces. Maybe Sister Astle and I are the supreme humans and are going to be tested by the government! Who knows. Do I sound slightly pessimistic about not having the virus? Well, that would be because I am hahaha. If they had come back positive, we would be out of quarantine 10 days after getting tested, meaning we would be out of quarantine on the 23rd. But, with the test being negative, we have to quarantine for 14 days since we had close contact with a positive case, meaning we'll be out of here on the 28th. That's a big oof. For those keeping track, (aka me) we will be in quarantine for a grand total of 20 days. Are we going crazy? Definitely. We'll get through it though!

So, what have I done during this whole week besides getting tested for COVID? That's a great question, with a very short answer. Plarning (those plastic mats made out of grocery bags), Facebook messaging, a couple meetings, and a LOT of family history, specifically indexing. So much indexing, in fact, that during our mission wide devotional yesterday President Howell brought up how much indexing Sister Astle and I have done! We're part of the NDBM FamilySearch group, and he's an admin of the group so he has access to how great our contributions are. To give you an idea, currently the mission group has indexed 5,741 records. Of that 5,741, 4,638 were indexed by me and Sister Astle. Of that 4,638 we've done collectively, 3,863 of the records were indexed by me. Like I said, we have done a lot of indexing this week!

Something cool that happened this week is about Jordin. Jordin is a woman I was teaching back in Bismarck a few eons ago, and her and I have a great friendship and have kept in touch ever since I left. She had told me previously that she was still reading The Book of Mormon and praying, which is awesome! She also came and visited me a month or two ago when she was passing through Dickinson, and I told her she should go to church. Well, guess what I found out this week? She's been going to church since then and loves it! I was shocked. She isn't currently being taught by missionaries and her one ward friend she had back in Feb/Mar when I was there had moved, so she went entirely alone. Do you know how much faith that takes?? Her journey is a long one, but I'm sure that with time she'll choose to be baptized. 

Overall, life is good here. Yeah, we're quarantined, but we're also missionaries for our Saviour which far outweighs anything else. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else at the end of the day, even though it's tempting to give up when times get tough. I love you all so much!

Sister Balls