Monday: The Brenham elders (Elder Hill, who is Sister Rainsdon's cousin, and Elder Anderson) came down to see what Caldwell e. We then tried to contact Amethyst, but no luck. She wasn't home. We stopped by the Gamble's to see how everything was going, and it looks really good. We helped Grace take some things over to Jenn's house and then helped make some ornaments there. I taught the girls some ballet moves, and told them a story about the "Special Ballet Shoes" (pointe shoes) and the time when Sister Shell got her first pair. After that, we went and ate dinner with Dan and Margaret. They're so sweet, and I love them a ton. Hilarious as ever too! And don't worry, Whiley wis like, and to sort of celebrate Sister Rainsdon's birthday which was Saturday, the 7th!
Tuesday: We finally contacted Linda, a woman Jason and Dan do some construction for. She has tons of animals, and there's a lot of work to be done at her place. She's super nice, and we told her to call us any time she needs servicas back to being a sweet dog.
Wednesday: We had Specialized Training, which was awesome. President Pingree said that he felt like he should share the story of the loaves of bread and fishes that were fed to the 4,000 people. He talked about how sometimes we aren't thankful for the few loaves and fishes we have, among other things. That really hit home for me because there are 4,104 people in Caldwell.
When we got home, we dropped off some cookies for Becky- red velvet, from that woman we met at the county Christmas thing. Red velvet just happen to be Becky's favorite! Heavenly Father really is in all of the little things.
Then we ate at Mary's. We got there a bit early though, and decided to take a walk on that old country road, hoping that maybe at least one of the houses wouldn't have a "No Trespassing" sign. Sister Paddock felt like she should bring a Book of Mormon. No luck finding any houses we could safely knock without fear of being prosecuted, so we turned around. When we were headed back to our parked truck, we noticed somebody sitting down by it, waiting for us. As we got closer, she stood up and waved. When we got there, she asked us why we were wearing skirts and dresses. We had a really good conversation with her, and handed her a Book of Mormon and a mormon.org card. She's currently in between faiths and has high moral standards. She's 16 years old, and her name is Chastity. She's a super sweet girl. After that, we had delicious dinner at Mary's. Chicken fingers, and rice. And by Chicken Fingers, I mean Soy fingers and rice. Tasted pretty good to me!
Thursday: We headed over to Beaver Creek. We read some of the Pearl of Great Price to Margaret, since its really hard for her to read with the way her eye sight is. After that, we visited Rosa and had a nice chat with her, and a prayer too this time! Then we went to the Gambles to do some service. We took out the floor in Henry's room, which was super fun. More wielding of the sledgehammer!
Sister Rainsdon, when the floor was gone, mis-stepped and fell through. She hit the 2 by 4's pretty hard. She got a good scrape on her arm, puncture wounds on her leg and massive bruises on her side. Thank goodness the actual ground was only about 3 ft under us, or it would have been a lot worse. Grace bandaged her quickly, and then we went over to Jenn's for dinner. Jenn took off the bandage and thoroughly cleaned all the wounds for Sister Rainsdon, and then re-bandaged it. Paige told me that she loves me and that she will really miss me when I leave.
Friday: We did some weekly planning (switched it up this week so we could do service) and headed out to Somerville. We were trying to find the Allisons, a new family that moved in. No luck there. So, we decided to try and visit some people we knew in the area. No luck there either. So what did we do? Knocked some doors, of course! People weren't too receptive, but they were very polite and nice. We did place a few mormon.org cards, and they all thanked us for what we're trying to do.
We headed back to Caldwell to eat dinner at the Arellano's, but Whitney called. She said she was in Bryan and was going to have her neighbor, Bill, pick up a pizza for us. He thought that pizza would be lame, and asked if it would be alright if he got us dinner at Mas Fajitas. She gave us his number, and we called, told him that would be okay, and asked him when to meet him there. Bill is a super nice, older guy who seems pretty well off. He lives by himself, so he seems kinda lonely. He was pretty nice to talk to, and we hit it off about Country music (I knew that would come in handy someday!). We talked to him about what we do as missionaries, prayed over dinner, and talked a little bit about what we believe. We also invited him to the Branch Christmas party the next day. He told us to call and remind him, and that he could probably make it. He also said he'd like to take us out to eat more often, so that's a plus!
Saturday: Friday, I'd grabbed a bunch of old contacts' addresses from the area book, and so Saturday we decided to try and find them. The first one we went to led us to a neighborhood. A nice neighborhood, kind of like the one we live in back home. Y'ALL. I didn't even know Caldwell had neighborhoods!!! This is an awesome, safe neighborhood we can tract in!! Halleluyer! It may or may not have completely made my day. If you'd been in Caldwell since September, you would understand how awesome of a find this was. No luck as far as the old contacts, but it was fun. We placed a few mormon.org cards and knocked a few houses in a few different areas. Then...
Christmas party! Bill came!! And so did the new family! It was a great success, and there were more than 50 people there. FIFTY WHOLE PEOPLE, Y'ALL!!!! And at the end, Sister Paddock and Sister Rainsdon gave Bill a church tour and a Book of Mormon while I talked with Margaret. Halleluyer! Awesome!!!!
Sunday: I gave a talk on how to "Magnify Callings." I'm not sure exactly what I said, so I guess that means that the Spirit was really speaking through me. Plus, I was on cloud nine because ANOTHER miracle.
MARSHA CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a huge deal, people!! We haven't seen her in weeks, and she came to church, and she loved it! I'm super stoked about that. She's truly been prepared by the Lord. She really liked church too, and said she loved the open discussion classes that we have.
We also got to finally teach our youth Sunday school class with the 2 Allison kids! Tiffany (17) and Caleb (13). It was really fun, and I think they liked it. They seemed to open up to us, and it they both seem like really good kids. They're just trying to make it in their new town.
MARSHA CAME TO CHURCH!! Hee hee, I'm still giddy about that!
That night, we ate dinner with the Fosters. That was really fun! I love that family. Such good people.
Monday: Well, I made several offerings to the Porcelain altar yesterday. I'm guessing it was probably the flu. I felt super bad for Sister Rainsdon and Sister Paddock because they couldn't do anything. I slept most of the day, and today I'm feeling a lot better. So anyways, that's why I didn't email yesterday. Hope nobody panicked!!
8 days until I can skype with the fam! Woot woot!!!
God is a God of miracles, and this week just reaffirmed that for me. Ask for miracles, and He will give them to you.
Eu amo voces muito!
love,
Sister Kirsten Shell
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