Owee for Sister Kelly

7 September 2015

Hello!

So, two years ago today (7 September 2013), was the day I punctured my foot at the river in Rexburg. I had no clue that two years later I would be on my mission. Or, that I would be in California. Or, that I would be training a new missionary. I can't believe how much has changed! Or, how one little event (okay, it wasn't little, but you get my point) can change my life so much. 

  

How are you all doing? This week was definitely an adventure. A little challenging work-wise, with the holiday coming, but it was an adventure. Speaking of the holiday, they are expecting at least a thousand people coming in! So, Sister Kelly and I are not going to be in Santa Cruz much today! 

On Monday, we mainly relaxed at home. It was nice. Plus, I got to take a nap. :D After P-day, we had dinner with Lillian. She took us out for pizza. She also fed us on her birthday, so we celebrated her birthday, too. It was really fun! After that, we went to the beach for FHE. They had a bonfire on the beach. It was fun.

On Tuesday, we had district meeting. It was really fun. I got to teach some of the missionaries a fun game that I learned in my first district. :) We had a lesson all about our purpose as missionaries. It was great. After district meeting and lunch, we had some training. I was training Sister Kelly about the Book of Mormon (how to use it, how the Book of Mormon and the Bible work together, etc.). It was fun. I remember when I was doing that part of training. We then had an appointment with Nicolette. We are almost done going over the commandments with her. After that, we went back home so Sister Kelly could rest (she was sick). We then met with a less-active named Karen (the elders asked us to see her). She was great. She actually had a lot of the same interests as Bre, so I knew how to talk to her! :D After that, we had dinner at home and did more finding. 

On Wednesday, Sister Kelly wasn't feeling well, so we continued to take it slow. A lot of the people we wanted to see, however, weren't home. *sigh* Later that afternoon, we decided to go see Nancy Jo. We went to her house, knocked on the door, and no one answered. So, as we were turning to leave, Sister Kelly did something to her knee. All I knew was one second she was turning and then she was sitting on the front step holding her knee and crying. We sat on the front step for a while and then we called Sister Conner, who suggested we go to an Urgent Care. So, we went to the Urgent Care (the same one that I saw for my hand, she even saw the same doctor I saw!). After waiting for a couple of hours, we were finally seen. It turns out that Sister Kelly bruised her meniscus. Thankfully, all she has to do is ice it and take pain medicine if she wants. We got our of the Urgent Care late and had to run home and inhale a fast dinner before running off to our appointment with Krystal. We had a great lesson with Krystal about forgiveness. It was an interesting day. 

On Thursday, we saw Glenna. We shared Elder Bednar's talk "Therefore They Hushed Their Fears". It was really good. I enjoy going to see Glenna. :) After that, we had lunch and then tried to visit people, but they weren't home. Drat. Later that evening, we had dinner and then went to see Brenda. Her Visiting Teacher, Sister Pearson, came with us. Brenda is doing better than when we last saw her. Things are really starting to look up for her! :D We had a great lesson with her on Trusting in the Lord. She loved it.

On Friday, we didn't go to the soup kitchen. We figured Sister Kelly wouldn't be able to stand for that long. So, we weekly planned. After weekly planning, we had lunch and then tried to see someone, but they weren't home. We then did some finding before going to our appointment with Carol Beth. We have decided to drop Carol Beth. :( Anyways, we had a lesson with her and we have now dropped her. I am sad about it, but it needed to be done. We then tried to visit some people before going to see Rhonda and her sons. We had a good lesson with them about families and listening to eachother. After that, we had a rally fun dinner appointment. We had dinner with a young couple in the Santa Cruz ward. They are both students at UCSC (University of California Santa Cruz), actually. (Fun Fact: The mascot of UCSC is the banana slug. I have no clue why...). Anyways, we ate dinner with them and their neighbors, who aren't members of the Church. The neighbors couldn't stay for the message, but they asked the couple feeding us to tell them all about it. :) After that, we did more finding. 

On Saturday, we did some work in Capitola before going to SLV. First, we went and saw Alice. She is doing so well! We talked to her about her trip to the temple a couple of weeks ago. She loved it and she wants to go back. I encouraged her to get a "temple buddy". It helped me to have someone who already went consistently! :D We then went and saw Sister Dallenbach and helped her put some more puzzles together. She was doing better this time. She had less that she was worried about. It's always fun going to see her. :) After that, we had an interesting dinner situation. So, our ward mission leader had a brilliant idea. There was a couple he asked to feed us and they said that they couldn't because the wife isn't well. So, he asked if WE could bring dinner to them and all eat together! It was awesome! So, after seeing Sister Dallenbach, we went to the restaurant that the ward mission leader told us to go to and we ate there before taking the rest of the food to them. We then sat on the front porch and talked to the husband for a while. I found out that the husband speaks some French, too! It was fun to talk to him! I hope we go back there this weekend. :) 

Fast Sundays are always hard. However, two of our ward councils cancelled, so we didn't have to leave sacrament meeting early this time! So, we tried to sit in the congregation. Nobody really sat by us, because a lot of people were out of town, but we tried! :) So, we had our first sacrament meeting at 9h00 and then we went to sunday school at 10h00 before sacrament meeting at 11h00. During that meeting, a Bishop from out of town bore his testimony and told us all what we need to do to end the drought. I looked at Sister Kelly like "Didn't we just hear this?" Oh well. A lot of people were fasting for the drought. :) After that, we had Branch council at 12h00 and then our branch from 1h00-4h00. I learned a lot, but I was so tired by the end of it! We also stayed for Break the Fast. It was Mexican themed. People brought enchiladas, tortas, and all sorts of great food. :D 

Today is going to be a great day. As I mentioned, we are going to be leaving Santa Cruz. The sisters in Seaside (Monterey) invited us to come down for the day, so we will be going down there. We plan on getting lunch together and then going to the aquarium. I am super excited! :D 

Have a good Labor Day. Have a wonderful week. I love you all so much. *big hugs*

Love, 

Sara