The misty forest by the Church--it was a super cool day.
Our humble abode complete with the Millenium Falcon.
Demaris with little Emmanuel--we've been teaching her for a while now and she always makes us tasty Dominican foods.
Babby and Peanut from Fardale. It was so fun to see these two.
Sister Barrett and Sister Cope being goonish.
My last day with Sister Cope before she leaves us on Wednesday:(
Sister Elaina and Sister Pichardo from Emerson Ward with Sister Pichardo's famous flan.
Gabriel and Nicholas--Gabriel just received the Priesthood and Nicholas is still thinking about baptism. They are super awesome Brazillian tweens.
Dearest Family!
Ooh, it's so fun to hear about the goings on! Sarshneef and company, send me pictures of your new abode! And Sis and Mike as well!
This week was pretty awesome. We have been struggling to hit mission average for numbers, but this week we taught 19 lessons (we're supposed to hit 20)! And we had members at a lot of lessons! It was so neat.
The other day we were all feeling pretty down and we walked about to find someone to teach. A member opened her door and pretty soon we were spilling our emotions out to her. She's a returned missionary from Jordan (the country, not the city in Utah) and she helped us through. And then she asked if we'd had lunch (we hadn't), so she took us to a super fancy Turkish restaurant and we tried Babaganush and hummus and shish kabob and baklava! It was delicious! And it really helped to talk to someone who understood what we were going through.
Also, we heard an amazing story the other day. Picture it: New Jersey, Sunday evening around 8, chilly. A Trinidadian woman in her home making banana bread. She's mixed everything together. Now she just needs to add the flour. She puts the scoop in the flour tin and is barely able to scrape out a cup of flour. But she's two cups short! She needs to bake this bread as it is her family's breakfast for the next three days. She calls a neighbor--no answer. She walks down to the basement and asks her ten year old son, "Donovan, would it be okay if I went to the store today. I know it's Sunday, but I need flour." His reply, "Absolutely not. Did you call ALL the neighbors?" And then...ding dong. "Someone brought you flour." She opened the door and the missionaries were standing there.
"Hey, we brought you cookies because you are awesome. Is there anything we can do for you?"
"Are you kidding? Wow, not unless you have flour in your pockets!"
"Well, we only live a skip away. We'll go get you some."
"Are you serious? It's like you answered my prayer! This will come up in a talk in Sacrament Meeting some day!"
Well, the missionaries got the flour, returned, and the woman finished making her bread. And family, I was one of the missionaries, along with my companions. That was dramatic! But it did actually happen. And the funny thing is that we got home and only had a cup and a half of flour, so we had to borrow a half cup from our upstairs family. Either way, it worked and the bread was super tasty!
Also, I went on exchange this week back to my old area and saw some of the people I taught! It was so amazing to see them and how they're progressing. They had a lot more of the spirit in their house and there's a LOT less yelling and swearing. And they've got a picture of the Temple up--which will hopefully help keep the peace.
And lastly, 4 Nephi could be my favorite book in the Book of Mormon. It's only one chapter long, but it has some really great stuff. It goes from the best the Nephites ever were (which lasted roughly 300 years--and that's was when they were following Christ's words) to the absolute worst they ever were (when they stopped). The main things that brought happiness to them was 1) Getting married. 2) Fasting and praying. 3) Attending Church and listening to Prophets and Apostles. That easy--and they were super happy. Done!
Lastly, I'm being transferred again:( I'm gonna miss the troup: Sister Torgerson (Kirk), Sister Barrett (Spock), and me (McCoy). We had a good run. For exercise today, we played Adventure Squad on the playground one last time. I'm gonna miss that. Hopefully, my next companion will be just as amazing.
Well, I love you kids! Keep safe and travel safe and stay warm. Oh, on that note: I think New Jersey decided to just skip winter weather. It's freezing as ever, but I don't think it's gonna snow again, because it's starting to look Springish.
Love you!
Sister Mistipher
