It hardly seems like it is a holiday haha just because as missionaries we
don't have time to celebrate it. ;D The only way I remember half of the holidays
is by the lines in the grocery store. Isn't that pathetic? hahahaha I hope all
of you have had a good week. Mine has been a little intense. To start off we had
interviews with President Hall. He is such a wonderful man and I truly respect
and admire him. I have been really struggling emotionally the last transfer. Of
course I told him what I felt was a concern. He had us take a walk around the
church building. He asked me to tell him what I felt, thought, smelled, heard
etc. It was a beautiful day. One with a rare cloud cover. I described everything
he asked me too. He showed me how to identify a eucalyptus tree by the leaves.
Which smells amazing I might add. We also admired spider webs....ew. The point
of the walk was to take time out of the day and relax. To just breathe... We
went back inside and talked more about me. He once again showed me about myself
things I knew but wasn't aware of. He explained to me why I have been feeling
exhausted so frequently, because I have a companion who snores, I have to work
harder to fill an emotional void of socialness because my companion is half deaf
and doesn't hear anything I say, I have to constantly try to compensate for
differences in personality with my companion, I have a hard area, I go on
exchanges twice a week, and I'm not sleeping like I need to. He simply stated,
"No wonder you are so tired! Look at what you are dealing with!" I was given
strict orders at that point to sleep in till 10 am for a week! I negotiated it
down to 9 am since I know for a fact I have never slept past 10 am without good
reason. ;D So far I have only had a couple days of it and waking up not feeling
exhausted is wonderful! My mood does improve with sleep ironically enough and I
am better able to handle stress. However I am still struggling with the other
things. Its just going to take time and effort. NO problem will ever be
automatically solved and I know that. As for the void I have felt so strongly
during the last 3 companions, Pres. Hall encouraged me to let God's Love fill
the void. He asked me to take the time to "take a walk all by myself" obviously
my companion will be there but just to be by myself mentally. He also asked me
to make sure I was taking the time to play the piano as my de-stressor since I
don't have my violin. He asked me how I felt about exchanges. I replied that
I love them. Why? Because it allows me to feel the strength of the other
sisters. Pres. Hall was very quick to understand what I meant from my view point
of life right now and asked me to "cleave to your exchanges." I keep getting the
thought I will be a Sister Training Leader for quite a while. Which I wouldn't
entirely mind at all. He told me that a lot of the exchanges I go on he gets
good feed back from the Sisters I help train. Which is a huge relief. You know,
thinking about exchanges just a little bit more, it suddenly makes sense why I
am so happy on exchanges and then become very sad when the exchange is done.
This is the case because I find enjoyment and a feeling of accomplishment when I
am on the exchange....hmm. Anyway, when I walked away from my interview I felt
as if I had a deeper insight into Heavenly Fathers love for his children. There
have been very few moments of profound learning experiences for me during my
mission but this was one of them.
Does anyone know what a bed bug is???? Let me tell you...they are the
devils angelic demons!!!!!!!!!!! AGH! and they are in our apartment again hahaha
Actually I don't think they have ever left. Right before I came into the area
the apartment had been treated for them. I got bit by one the very first night I
was here. Its like a mosquito bite that gets swollen and itchy and red and
doesn't go away for like a week then it leaves a scar regardless if you itched
it or not. lol Anyway every two weeks one of us gets bite. I got three bites
last week on the back of my foot. Then yesterday morning I woke up and received an ear full of how
much my companion hates bed bugs. And rightly so. She has had bed bug problems
for the entirety of her mission so far and she has been out for a year. I looked
down at her legs, the poor thing. She is allergic to the bites and her skin
welts when she gets bit. In 3 days she has gotten bit 7 times!!!!!! Our
apartment is a disaster with baby power and bug dust. We called President yesterday, and I am sure he just sighed
when he heard. I don't know how to help my companion other than just listening
when she needs to vent. Its been a hectic 48 hours. All I can do is smile and
roll my eyes because now its getting funny. hee hee hee ;D
I know all the above is somewhat dark and gloomy but things are getting
better. And I am doing better.
The miracle for the week on top of everything that is going on is that we
set a baptismal date with our investigator!!!! HOORAY!!!!! She was very
enthusiastic about it once we cleared her concerns and then stated "But first I
want to feel the tingly feeling." In quickly reviewing our discussion I figured
out she was talking about the Holy Ghost. Totally a fair deal. However neither
of us said something about a tingly feeling. That leads me to believe she
has felt the influence of the Holy Ghost which is such a wonderful experience. I
continue to pray every night that she will receive her answer that God is the
"something" that exists, which she believes in. I know that once she gets her
answer she will have no problem believing the rest of the message we
teach.
Our zone had 4 baptisms yesterday and the 3 that we attended all had funny things
that happened:
#1 He is a 56 year old man and is so sweet. When he went down the first
time to get baptized his feet slipped and he didn't make it down all the way so
they had to re-do the baptism. When he went down the second time the person
baptizing him held him down there for a couple seconds. Suddenly we all heard
bubble sounds from the water.....hahahaha instead of getting dunked he got
soaked.... we all burst out laughing and it was memorable.
#2 A 12 year old kid. Sister Scrinver and I had met him the day before. His
mom had recently been baptized too. He has a younger brother probably around the
age of 6? Anyway when the kid being baptized went into the font the little
brother got really excited. When he came up from the water the little brother
suddenly yelled "YAY!!!!!!" It was so cute!
#3 This young man is 19 years old. He is a fairly tall boy. When he was
being baptized he didn't bend his knees and arched his back instead. It was
weird looking for sure but what ended up happening is that he landed on the
bottom of the font with the brother that was baptizing him!!!! They both got
dunked...hahaha Obviously they did it over and it was perfect the 2cd time.
Just the funny little things that happen hahaha
Anyway this week is going to be busy again. Transfer calls come on Saturday night....I have stopped trying
to guess what will happen. To many crazy transfers have happened lately. All I
know is that no one is safe to assume they are staying in an area longer than 6
weeks lol
Well I hope you all have enjoyed your holiday!!!!! I love you all lots!
Hurrah for Israel!
Love,
Sister Cottrell
