Goodbye to the Milkwick's and Sara (they gave me balloons and a giant cookie! I'm gonna miss them).
Sisters Herrera and Coley, and me.
Goodbye to the Andersons, one of my favorite senior couples! They're such amazing parents to all of us--I'm gonna miss them too.
My first night here--our sleepover away from the bedbugs.
Goodbye to Elder Boyes--quite the kindred spirit, that one.
A member who works at Mars gave us all this candy for being missionaries. So to divide the spoils, we did a series of challenges including: wall sits, balancing on one leg, hanging from the pull up bar since we can't do pull ups, staring contest, ninja, and rock-paper-scissors.
A stormy day in the country.
A mild day in the country.
A sunny and joyous day in the country.
Hey Family Dearest!
So, I am now serving with Sisters Bell and Torgerson (round two with the latter) in ...... SPARTA!
Because I'm serving in Sparta, I'll have spent the entirety of my mission in the northernmost part of New Jersey. I've now covered Sussex, Bergen, and Passaic counties--look it up on a map. I have never been away from the New York border, and now I'll be alongside the Pennsylvania border too. This area is still quite woodsy, but has a lot of farmland too. Lots of cornfields and rolling hills. It's quite beautiful! Maybe at the end of my mission I'll serve in a city, but for now I'll take the country.
The first day here my companions were recovering from bed bugs, so we spent the night spraying down our mattresses and apartment, and moved our beds into the living room for a sleepover while our room dried.
The people here are quite interesting. It's a lot slower moving, more laid back. Which is strange for the east coast. We visited a really great Italian member the other day who is quite exuberant. She just talked and talked. She taught us three or more recipes with actions. "So then you put the tomatoes in the pot (insert whatever else is in the recipe). And then you get youwa meatbwalls and put em in the pot. Then you chop, chop, chop, chop, chop (with chopping actions) the pwarsley. Then ya lift the lid, ya smell it, ya stir it, then badda bing! Ya eat it!" We learned about meatbwall heroes, meatbwall swauce, spaghetti and meatbwalls, and eggplant pwarmesan. It was fantastic. And then her neighbor stopped by to bring her a pie and she said, "Look at me. I've lwost fifteen pounds! Don't I look swaucy! Badda bing!" Also, she said "badda bing!" at the end of everything. At the end of our meeting she said the prayer and bore her testimony, and it was so sincere. So we ended on a spiritual note.
We had a Ward service project for Service Day this Saturday. We were at a sports field and had to spread mulch on both sides of the long driveway. There were mountains of mulch and it took us three hours. Much sweating ensured, but it was good honest labor. I felt quite proud at the end of the project. My back is a little less enthused, however.
A lady we've been teaching, Dawn, and her mother Judy, came to Church this Sunday! They loved it and really felt the Spirit and told random members they'd see that they'll be back next week! I'm so excited for that! There's a lot to do here. Most of the people we're teaching are part member families or less active families, which is just so great.
Well, I love you guys, and I hope your week is good and that you enjoy your Pioneer Day. They, the pioneers, were amazing! They are one of the reasons I'm out here. They sacrificed everything they had for the Gospel and I can too. I sure miss you kids, but I know I'll see you soon and I know the Gospel is true and that these people need to hear about it.
I love you,
Sister Yitter Fishy
