She really does love animals.

Hello blogosphere! Today is a lovely day, and my zone took advantage of it by going to the Sacramento Zoo. As you can imagine, I loved that. I was thinking as we walked around that it would be nice for my family to make a donation to a zoo or an aquarium if I die anytime in the near future. Then I could have a plaque on the sidewalk. Or a bench if you pay enough money. Here is what it could say:

IN MEMORY OF SARA FOSTER
She loved animals.

Because that's the truth. Today at the zoo we were hanging out at the monkey exhibit, which is surrounded by a chain link fence with wide gaps. I was watching a mama chimp groom her baby when all the sudden I heard Elder Brimhall say, "Drop the poo. DROP THE POO." I looked over just as a chimp threw an enormous handful of poop through the fence at the elders. One elder came this close to getting a faceful. That would have been exciting, and horrible.

This week we had a disappointment with the Fagapuleias, who don't seem to have any desire to come to church. For cultural reasons. It is difficult to explain and my time is short. But we added a new investigator, Filiga. She is married to a less active member. Sister Coffin and I gave her the full first lesson, and the spirit was so strong. Filiga seemed affected by it, especially by the recitation of the First Vision. I hope she's been reading the Book of Mormon. I guess we will find out soon enough.

This week we dropped a TON of investigators. People like having us in their homes because we bring the spirit and they feel good around us, but most don't have any intention of keeping commitments. It is hard to drop them though, because when we don't have anyone to visit we have to knock doors for hours and hours every day trying to find new people. And it's been freezing and rainy for the last week. I was actually quite sick this weekend. But we are persevering! Keep us in your prayers!

Congratulations by the way to COREY AND ERIN TINGEY! I love you guys and I am so happy for you.

That is all for today. Be good everyone.

Update!

Hello friends. I hope that you're all well. I'm doing all right myself. It is slowly getting easier, although missionary life is certainly an adjustment. But when things are good, they are really really good. We are teaching a part member family right now, the Fagapuleias. We meet with them almost every day and they're very interested. It is so wonderful seeing things click for them, and I just love the family to death. I really hope that they get baptized...The only issue is getting them to church. They don't have a car and the people in this ward are notorious for not giving rides. We're working on it though.

This week in weather was certainly not California's finest. Rain, cold, and hail-storms almost every day. I broke no less than two umbrellas this week in the wind. One stormy day I was thinking, how can this day possibly be salvaged? And the next moment we stepped back outside and saw that the sun had miraculously come out and there was a MASSIVE double rainbow in the sky. And this of course was lovely, but mostly it made me smile because I thought of the double rainbow youtube video that I loved so much last summer. So that was wonderful.

Here is something. I have seen more vanity license plates here than anywhere else. Here are a few I have seen:

OK 2 AGE

DA A TEAM

DETHBAT

THA KING

And many more that I didn't write down. I will continue writing them down though because I like them very much.

So that has been my week. I hope that you are all having marvelous weeks doing whatever you're doing.

California!

Greetings from California! When I first arrived last Tuesday it was in the 60's and sunny as can be. Such a nice change from the bitter cold I left in Utah. They drove us around for awhile to get us acquainted with the area and to show us the temple. It is a little baby temple! It's apparently the busiest small temple in the world, or so they say. I saw various other interesting things as we drove around, including two herds (flocks?) of wild turkeys.

Missionary work has proved to be quite difficult for me, but I'm trying. The very first door I knocked on when I arrived informed us that we are in a cult and that we're deliberately misleading people. Fun! Most people aren't that mean, but most aren't too nice either. To top it off, in this mission we are supposed to invite street contacts to be baptized. That means that we are supposed to invite someone who we have talked to for less than three minutes to be baptized into a church they know nothing about. I have had some difficulty with this, but I'm trying to be obedient.

I love my mission president, and I love my companion as well. Her name is Sister Coffin and she is straight from Samoa. We're in a Tongan ward, which is very interesting. The whole service is in Tongan usually, and the ward is SO nice. They try to feed us so much, even though some of them barely have food to pass around to their whole family. I must be the only person in the history of missionary work to lose weight in a Tongan ward, and this is only because I'm always so stressed that I can't seem to eat much. Sister Coffin and I teach only Tongans, Fijians, and Samoans. I can exchange (very) basic niceties in Tongan and Samoan now, and I'm going to try to bear my testimony in Tongan at the next fast meeting.

In this mission, every new missionary is given a blank Book of Mormon and we are supposed to highlight everything in it that has to do with the Savior in red, and every gospel principle or doctrine in yellow. It's a very cool project. I started the Book of Mormon a few days ago and I'm on track to finish by the end of this transfer (6 weeks from now). I've never read the Book of Mormon that fast, and I like it--you can see the whole story better if you're reading 20 or 30 pages a day.

Anyway, so that's what I've been up to. It's hard, but I am really trying. Please keep me in your prayers. You're all in mine.

Greetings from Sister Foster!

Hello friends! I have been at the MTC for two weeks now and time is absolutely flying by! I will be in Sacramento in 6 days, which terrifies me beyond belief. I feel so unprepared. Remember me in your prayers.

 

Life in the MTC is wonderful and interesting. There are 2000 missionaries here right now, and so there is lots of good people watching. For instance, during my gym time I can always count on one relentlessly determined Elder to run around the track, breathing loudly and painfully and counting the lap number to himself loudly: "THIRTEEN....THIRTEEN...THIRTEEN..." He sounds like he hates himself and the world, and it is very interesting to me.

 

Speaking of gym, my companions and I used to hate gym. We dreaded it every day, and we mostly just walked around the track talking. Until the day we discovered 4 square. There is never an accomplishment that makes me more proud of myself than when I am in the king square of the court, even if it's only for a moment. We've become very good friends with the district who usually plays 4 square, and it's nice to have new friends.

 

My cousin Elder Christensen is in my district and he is a character. His family raises cows and turkeys and he breaks horses. He was telling me about birthing calves the other day: "Sister Foster, you just go on out at 6:30 in the morning when the ground's a little damp and the dirt smells nice, pull a calf-- funnest thing you'll ever do." I love the guy, I really do.

My branch president called me to be the coordinating sister of my branch, which means I do the things the zone leaders aren't allowed to do with the sisters--room checks, counseling, interviews, etc. I had to go to a few hours of training and meetings and it was so weird to not have companions. I thought that i would love being by myself, but mostly I just felt uncomfortable. I guess I am adjusting to life here. 

I wish I had more time to write but it will have to do to say that life is good here. I will be very sad to leave actually. But I'm looking forward to the next phase. I'll keep you updated. I love and miss you all.