We got transfer news last night. The four of us coast sisters will be staying here!! Which translates to me "killing" my companion, Sister Peterson, and Sister Mitchell spending seven and a half months here (which for her is over half her mission, because she was apart of the group that got shafted some time in the beginning of COVID). We're getting two new Elders on the Coast though (since our District leader got shipped off to Africa last week).
The clothing exchange had been getting a LOT of donations, I think because people are forced to stay at home, so they've decided to get rid of a lot of stuff. Unfortunately the clothing exchange is only open one day a week (I don't know why and I won't pretend like I do) so not enough is being taken to compensate for how much is being donated. The entire warehouse was full last week (it had been getting close in the weeks prior), so they asked us to sort through it and to only keep the nicer things. The rest would go to goodwill. This was only four days after the hoarder situation, so the three of us ended up PURGING everything! Soon enough they had half as such as they used to and still more than necessary. The pile of bags for good will was overtaking the room by the end.
On Wednesday the FHAM Elders came up and filmed Brother Fitzsimmons' testimony. It was so cool, he did it so good it only took one try. The Elders told us that was the fastest member video they had ever done! Hopefully they edit it soon so we can see it, it was so powerful!
We had an apartment inspection this week, which apparently is a thing? So, we cleaned our apartment and left a note asking if they'd fix the blinds for us (one of the blinds over the sliding doors in the back fell off), and of course leaving out some Book of Mormons. When we got back to our apartment (on a spiritual high from filming Brother Fitzsimmons testimony), we couldn't get in. We've only ever locked the door handle of our apartment, but the people that "inspected" our place locked the dead-bolt. Which we had never had to unlock before, after trying all three keys on our key ring, we admitted defeat and drove to the Yachats apartment and did our studies there. Thankfully, I remembered that when we changed cars there had been an envelope in our glove box that said "Waldport Spare Keys"; so later when we went back we were able to get back. Which was a small miracle that I am very grateful for.
Unfortunately though when we got inside we had some other issues. First off, no one took a Book of Mormon, disappointed but not surprised. Secondly they had pushed all of our clothes to the sides of the closet and then left some weird foam stuff all over the ground off our closet. That was a bit suspicious, but I was willing to overlook it, until I went into the kitchen. Not only had they not fixed the blind, but they had broken ANOTHER one and just left it there, with a sticky not that read "He uhh... broke it." For obvious reasons I had to have a minute to just lay on the ground and stare up at the ceiling. Especially when you add on to this by the fact that right before this we had just had a "trash can on fire" kind of lesson with a non-member. BP brought us chocolate milk though, and all the sudden I was over it; he's 100% the MVP of this story.
On Thursday we had another lesson with Geoffrey (the one who got high and saw Jesus). It didn't go as well as last week, mostly because he talked for most of it, and we could barely get a word in. It wasn't that bad though, until it was; so Geoffrey always tells us that he prays for us (he phrases it "prays over us" but I assume he means the same thing). For fifteen uncomfortable minutes, he told me about how he views my soul, and prophesied about where he sees me going in life. I really wish I could give you more details, but I'm pretty sure that Heavenly Father did me a solid and blocked most of it out of my memory. As soon as we got in the car I put my head in my hands and just heard Sister Peterson laughing.
For new missionary training I was working on teaching the law of chastity this week, which is as much fun as it sounds. Hermana Hawkins and I (the two newbies) role-played a lesson with BP and his son. They asked every question you don't want to get, and some I've never even thought of in my life ("Is Michelangelo's "David" considered porn?"). BP goes by Fred during role plays and Fred has an open marriage, so we had to navigate that which was really fun! The bright side is that after that teaching it to the people at our NMT was a piece of cake.
BP came with Sister Peterson and me to go see a lady named Peggy (we're not allowed to knock on people's door without a member), she used to have lessons with the missionaries, but doesn't anymore. She wasn't there (turns out she's living somewhere else for a while), but her neighbor came out and talked to us for almost an hour. I think he managed to tell us his entire life story, my companion brushed off her old tracking skills and pulled out a Book of Mormon. He took it, I don't get the vibe much will happen there, BUT it was the closest thing to tracking I may ever get to experience!
Every Saturday we go to Jeffery's (new member, not to be confused with the Geoffrey who gets revelation about my soul). For those of you who are unaware, I have to pee A LOT. The other coast sisters think I should go see a doctor, but I just told them this is how it is. I pee before we go anywhere, because I know I'm a ticking time bomb; so I peed RIGHT before we left for Jeffrey's. Jeffery, as almost everyone here, is a TALKER. He loves to talk, about anything! We actually had a pretty good lesson with him, and it was on topic for the most part! It was going very well, but I really needed to pee. As we started to close up our lesson it started to get really bad, but we were closing the lesson so everything was going to be okay. Of course I should have known that wouldn't be the end, not in this ward. Jeffrey started talking about his usually things: his wife, books he's read, covid, etc. Now I've heard all topics come up about five times now, so I knew that we weren't leaving anytime soon. I was right. Eventually Sister Peterson and I managed to have the closing prayer (I quickly volunteered) and leave. Once we got in the car I told Sister Peterson we needed to high tail it home. Two miracles come to light from this story: one I made it home before, and two, we somehow managed to keep a lesson with Jeffrey under an hour and a half.
Stake conference was Sunday, which was really good, until the broadcast broke down RIGHT when the stake president went to speak! We also had our outgoing missionaries devotional; I only knew two people on there, but it was still pretty sad. It was really cool to see all the missionaries on there that were going to their original assignment (one was even going to LONDON!!!). For those of you wondering Hermana Hawkins, Mitchell and I have still heard absolutely nothing about Spain; so you'll catch us chilling on the coast!
I've been reading the Book of Mormon with the institute manual this time through, and that thing is low key a gold mine, do it! Also read through the new testament with it, I just read through Matthew 14 with it, and it was super cool. I do have issues with the fact that Matthew 14 has three incredible stories and has the audacity to only be 36 verses, but I'll get over it one day. We have a bible study set up for tomorrow and we're talking about said chapter, so we'll see how that goes!
Anyways that was my week, we put out a service add on the Waldport buy and sell page and have been getting replies, and setting up a lot of service; so hopefully those will provide some people to teach as well as a more interesting email next week!
Much love, Hermana Shelton
PS: Concerning the attached photo: Just thought you should know that Oregon is Oregon, but at least it's closed on Sunday....
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