LAST BLOGGGGG

I'm going home to be a civilian again in 2 days. It still hasn't really sunk in yet and I don't think it will till I get on the plane and California starts moving away from me. Some memories from the last 18 months of my life:

 

--MTC days, laughing with my companions Sister Everett and Sister Braithwaite, going to the MTC Bookstore every day and buying candy, drinking Fresca at every meal, intense four square.

--North Sacramento, Tala'ofa ward, tracting in the rain every single day my first transfer and learning to do hard things. Having to let go of the Fagapuleia's, which broke my heart. Teaching Filiga and realizing that this was going to be okay.

--Manteca, relaxing and getting used to mission life, talking about Lord of the Rings and Batman with my companion and roommates, ongoing Easter egg hunt. Walking and talking to people on the streets for hours every day because the sun was so nice, Sister DuQuette and I promising each other we would never become less active. Loving Sialei and Leah and realizing how attached you can get to your investigators.

--Stockton, hot, busy, teaching constantly, learning ASL, being amused but frustrated with Greg and Brandy, trying to figure out how to be a senior companion, the miracle of Maria, loving life.

--Fair Oaks, tracting and walking in the heat every day and learning to do hard things again. Training my lovely baby. Getting thicker skin.

--Folsom, stepping up and helping Jo realize she was ready for baptism, getting to know and love Jessica and her family, Jessica's text on my birthday that said she was ready to set a date for baptism, going on runs on the forest trails, Amy's unexpected decision to meet with us, Amy's beautiful baby girl, Tina's readiness to move forward, Zack's miracle baptism, fun families who loved us like daughters, great zone, praying every day that I'd be a better missionary than I was the day before.

 

Goodbye California Sacramento Mission. It has been a pleasure.

6/18

Hello there! I'm coming up on my last full week as a missionary, and I'm determined to use it to find some new investigators so that Sister Agavale will have people to teach after I'm gone. It has been very difficult for us to find investigators here in Folsom, but we've come up with some new plans. We've worked really hard to come up with some non-member friendly FHEs, and we sent around a (very cute!) "FHE with the Missionaries" calendar for members to sign up on. Our plan is to call the members who've signed up a few days before their FHE and challenge them to invite a friend. We've had great participation from our wards- 15 families signed up for this month and next, and we have our first one this week. We're excited to see how it goes, and I'm hoping that this brings us some new investigators. Great week ahead!

6/12

Hello world. Greetings from Folsom. I still love it here. I still love my companion Sister Agavale. I still love my wards, Folsom 3rd and Folsom 5th. I still love the hills and the trees around here. These are all things I will miss. But I don't want to dwell on that right now. We were able to pick up 2 new investigators recently, which has been great especially because we lost Zach, our teenage investigator. We found out that he lives JUST outside of our boundaries so we had to turn him over to the elders this week. So sad (I guess it's only sad because I'm being selfish and want all the investigators to MYSELF). One of our new investigators is Tina. I think we're kindred spirits. She is married to a member and she comes to church with him every week, but she was scared off by the missionaries last summer because she says they were pushy with her. She's decided to give us another chance and it's been going great so far. I'm so excited to teach her this week. We have some good things in store. For her, and for our area in general. I want to leave this place in ship shape for Sister Agavale, so we are working on filling up the teaching pool again. Wish us luck!