Smooches!

Monday – After we emailed our families and washed our clothes; we went and bought food. We had Pday in Davenport and we played basketball and then trash ball, which is kind of like ultimate basketball. We went on exchanges with the STL's – I went with Sister Marhrt and Hermana Pearson went with Sister Kimber. We pretty much just went looking for people and we had dinner with that Atchleys. There are some crazy tornado warnings going on. There are sirens going off everywhere and we have to go inside all the time. It's pretty sketchy – but today was a good day!

Tuesday we went on exchanges again. Sister Mahrt is so, so cute. She is super bold when it comes to talking to people. She is really quirky and I love her a lot. We tried a bunch of potentials, but no one was home and we could not find anyone to talk to us, but it was good. Sister Mahrt does not speak Spanish, so I had to talk to people all by myself! It was really, really scary. But, I did better than I thought I was going to do, so it was really good. Afterwards, we went to dinner at that Bringas family again (it was delicious) and then we came home and studied, and went to bed. It was a great day! Wahoo!

Wednesday – today was pretty chill. We didn't write letters, but we mailed some this morning. Then we had district meeting and our zone leader, Elder Jenkins, gave us some great training. He talked about how to incorporate members more into our lessons. We went to lunch at Sam's Club. I ate yummy pizza. Then we went and did Mormon.org for a while and I cried a lot because of the video about two old people. Afterwards, we helped the elders move one of their investigators into a house. Her name is Lea and she is really adorable. We had dinner with the Brushares, but, before that, we dropped a birthday card and cookies off to Elijah, Tisha son. Tisha was super happy that we did that because she thought we were coming to teach her and she was making all kinds of excuses. She was grateful that we were there to serve her son and she was really touched. After Spanish study we went to bed. Today was Muy Bien!

Thursday – Today was so cute! My family sent me the cutest package and I'm so grateful. It brightened my entire day. We tried a lot of potential's today, but no one was home. We visited a sweet lady that lives in an assisted living home. She is medically less active. We had dinner with Grandma Johnson, the cat lady.  We helped her clean up her house a little bit today. Seems like a more mellow day, even though we tried really hard this morning to find someone. Basically, we spent the day with cute little grandmas!

Friday was kind of weird! We had an appointment set up with Stephanie and when we drove to her house, we saw some Jehovah Witnesses go into her house. Say what? We said a prayer and went up and knocked on her door. When we got there, she was super awkward. We just said hi to her. She clearly forgot that we were coming over and they were just knocking through the neighborhood so she let them in because she is so nice. She was super apologetic and we just told her that we would come back another time. It was a little weird! Then, we knocked some more doors. Our car had a recall and so we took it in and got the oil changed and stuff. We did planning meeting while we were waiting. Later we went and visited a less active named Sister Schumacher. She loves the Scriptures! I don't understand why she doesn't come to church because she has such a strong testimony. She is really, really cute. We had dinner with a new convert, Sarah, and her daughters. They are really cute also. We did a practice lesson with them and role-played. We put sticky notes on Grandma Johnson's door because she broke her ankle and then we went and visited another less active named Sister Dunn. Another great day as a missionary!

Saturday – Today was the day I met my “grandmother”! My grandmother – Hermana Rodriguez!  She was Hermana Pearson's trainer! She just showed up at our doorstep knocking to surprise her. It made my companion so happy, even though her trainer had just come back to visit the mission since she left this last transfer. We went to Panera Bread for breakfast. It was super fun and super weird! It made us really grateful that we are missionaries! The world is always going to be there – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter but, we are growing and changing so much! It made us super grateful to be where we are at. Then we went and worked super hard! We knocked doors and planned. We met a funny lady named Nika! The mom let us in and was like "oh hey girl, what's up?!" Hermana Pearson asked her where she worked and she said Fazolis. I said that I really liked it and Hermana Pearson said she had never been there and asked if it was good.  Nika's mom was like "I don't know girl. I have never eaten there. If I ate there, my booty would be so big I would be knocking trays over and hitting white girl’s husbands in the back with my booty!"  We started laughing and she was all "girl, I ain't playing". She asked us if we wanted some food. She was like "girl, don't be playing with me. We have chicken and barbecue in the back, or cake!"  I told her I would love some cake and she said "that's right!" They were playing some crazy hood music and it was so fun. They were all so nice! I walked into the kitchen to put my plate away and her brother was there. He was like "hey sweetie!" And then he started checking out my companion, which made her feel super uncomfortable! I was all whatever! It was funny. Nika never came out and the mom said "hey girls, if y'all ever just want to come over and hang out you are so welcome. We are always barbecuing, you are always welcome to every party!" We told her thank you and she was like "girl, holidays around my house… You have got to come. We have turkey, ham, everything you can pray for. And it is so, so good!"  Then she said "When you come over, you girls just do you, just dress the way you are dressing. I have 11 brothers and if they see booty, please!?!  I'm just saying, they get crazy. Y'all just do you."  We said goodbye and she said "Y'all are just so cute! Smooches, Smooches!" She was so adorable and fun. Best part of today for sure!

Sunday was whack! Today was daylight savings time and we forgot, so we missed Ward Council, but we were on time for church! Last night this random number texted us and this guy told us he wants to join our church. We told him great, just come to church tomorrow. I honestly thought he was a weirdo that just wanted to talk to two girls. When Hermana Pearson called him, he was at the church waiting for us. His name is Ted (Theodorus). He is from Greece. He speaks Greek, Spanish, and English. I guess he got our number from some Latino guys he’s been living with. He seems like a really cool guy and he stayed for all three meetings today. We have never had a lesson with him and so he really didn't have any idea about what was going on. We invited him to be baptized and set up a date, and he was totally ready to go. We are meeting with him tomorrow. We are thinking he has a Word of Wisdom problem but we are hoping that it is going to gain a testimony, and try. It has really felt kind of like a miracle! Then we went and tried a bunch of potential's, and then we had dinner at Bishop Moose's house. We had really yummy lasagna. Hermana Pearson got a blessing from the Elders and we came home and did our studies. We worked on our numbers and now we are getting ready to go to bed. It is just so fun being a missionary!