Let's be real.
I'm not gonna be one of those missionaries that wants to go back and live where they served.
Sorry, I love the mountains too much.
And dry air.
And smooth roads.
But if anything were to change my mind about living in Indiana it would definitely be the
b e a u t i f u l
Spring season:
The sunshine, the blossoms EVERYWHERE, and just the very air smelling like flowers has got me like...
waiting for our investigators to show up has never felt so good
Honestly though, God (has) bless(ed) Indiana.
Once again, SO MUCH HAPPENED this week.
So let's hit the highlights:
[ z o n e s i s t a s ]
We got to go on exchanges with the Logansport sisters and since we live next to the other two sets, we all got to be together for a hot minute.
[ # p r i n c e o f p e a c e ]
How amazing was the Easter #princeofpeace??
We did a booth on campus aaaaaall about it: we gathered Ipads from members (when President says we're getting Ipads... over a year ago. uh huh.) stuffed plastic eggs with candy and wrote the scripture that went with each of the 8 Easter videos and put that in the eggs too.
People would come up (by "come up" I mean "get dragged over"), pick an egg and we would share the video their egg had and talk about how they personally find peace in their lives.
The experience of the booth sure didn't start out peaceful though.
Like at all.
Imagine this:
Sister Alexander and I are already frazzled from the prep of the booth, the other missionaries are no where to be seen, people straight don't care about us or Jesus, and the Logansport sisters are probs like, "This is the worst exchange ever."
You know how in the movies when things go wrong and the main character looks at the camera and goes, "Things can't get any worse." and then it starts raining?
Well.
It started raining.
POURING RAIN.
Sister A and I just had this moment where we looked at each other and were like, "Oh.My.Gosh. This is a disaster."
So we huddled under our sad little umbrella, in the middle of all the chaos, and prayed.
Would you believe, after that prayer, during that POURING rain, is when we found the most success? Our table was literally crowded (did they pity us? I'll take what I can get, thank you) and we found dozens of potential new investigators and set up several appointments with wonderful, God-seeking people for this upcoming week.
One of those amazing people, was our man, Darren. He was only at Purdue for the day (coincidence? lol.), doesn't believe in God, but was so touched by how kind and happy we were, even in the rain, that he said he couldn't say no to us.
Guys, smiling WORKS.
He lives in Chicago so for the first time on my mission, we had a lesson over FaceTime.
It was SO weird.
Serious props to all those Ipad missionaries out there. Keep rockin it, for real.
[ j i n g y e ]
Story time:
I had the great luxury of not being driven to the MTC by my family.
Wassup family. Promise, I'm not gonna put you guys on blast for too long.
I use to be kinda bitter about that because all the other missionaries I serve around had that "moment" at the MTC, ya know?
The one where you walk bags in hand, into the fading sunset that is the MTC brick buildings, and your Mom is weeping in the background and you try to look all brave with your chin up as your younger siblings cling onto your legs for dear life and then it just so happens that someone "spontaneously" takes a picture of that "candid" moment.
Whatever.
I didn't have that.
Buuuuuut
I'm so grateful I didn't.
Cause while my fellow February 24th 2016 missionaries were enjoying that moment with their fam, I was sitting in the backseat of the Shuttle, headed to the MTC where I would show up 3 hours late.
Well, my fellow travelers on that shuttle ride were 2 (very) old, classy ladies who were all RMs and who told me my outfit was not only "super cute" (thx) but also that I would be an amazing missionary and gave me all this pep and advice that I dearly needed.
One of which was: "Remember to keep it simple."
I didn't know back then how profound that would be to me now.
One way I'm learning that is with a recent convert, Jing Ye.
She's from China and is still learning English, but has the strongest desire to truly understand the gospel. Our Book of Mormon study sessions with her have been some of the most enlightening times I've ever had while reading it. We go through each chapter very slowly, carefully, and simply.
Along with those old lady homies, Jing Ye has definitely taught me that there is beauty in simplicity.
finished 1 Nephi hooooraayyy
[ m l c ]
"Elders and Sisters, I'm not saying you have to baptize thousands!!!
...Well. I mean. You could. That would be fine by me." - President.
This week, at MLC, I developed such a love for the leaders of my mission. Not just because President says some really funny things during meetings, but because I truly saw his and Sister Carlson's love and devotion as well as the devotion of the missionaries I serve with.
also. I <3 mlc because we get to see our bffs in other areas.
[ e l d e r s u m m e r s ]
Elder and Sister Summers are the two office missionaries that are over the cars in the mission.
Elder Summers is my best friend.
For two reasons:
1) *every pday while I served near the mission office*
*walk up into the office*
me: "ELDER SUMMERS WAAAAASSUUUUUP MANNNNN!!?! What's the sitch??"
him: *jolly old man laugh*
Every. Single. Pday.
By the end I finally broke him because my last pday in that area went like this:
*walks into the mission office*
him: "Sister Sollyeye! WAAASSUUPP!"
me: *annoying little girl laugh*
Reason numba 2) He hooked us up with a new Malibu this week.
no longer Coroll(in')a
[ s a m u e l ]
We were going through our potential investigators list from yeeeearrss ago and decided to call a guy named, Samuel.
Well, apparently we called only a few days after his Grandmother passed away and he was just blown away by the "coincidence" of it.
Heh. Nothing's a coincidence with da Looooooordd!
He was so touched by that sign from Heavenly father that we were able to meet with him and have an amazing lesson about the plan of salvation.
But.
Alas.
Samuel is from Korea. But don't let that fool you because he is a Hoosier through and through. Meaning Samuel can TALK, ohmygosh.
You'll often hear missionaries from Indiana talk about getting "hoosiered" (meaning people never stop talking in circles about the wackiest stuff that never pertains), but good, ole Sam taught us this week about being Koreaned.
But hey, still loving Purdue.
If you made it to the end of this post, bless you.
Bless you and all of yours' ten fold.
[ l o r d w o r k s i n m y s t e r i o u s w a y s ]
Also, bless you to all those complimenters out there who kept coming our way this week (not complaining). Seriously, you guys, my confidence has never been higher.
One instance this week:
*asks dude if we can share a pamphlet with him*
"You two are so uber attractive, I would love one."
Uhhh. I mean, whatever works I guess.
Also... who says "uber"?
Honestly, I mean.
Why wouldn't the compliments be raining in?
amirite?
Sincerely, Sister Soloa'i
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