Sister Jones' Last P-Day! :(

Thats right, folks. My companion has fought the good fight, and is at the end of her harvest. We're driving down to transfer meeting tomorrow and dropping her off, and then she's leaving on Wednesday morning.

Tuesday: We emailed and then we did some mormon.org time, and I read some in Portuguese. That was fun!! After that, we went to go see Marsha so Sis Jones could say goodbye to her. It was sweet. Marsha was so glad we stopped by. She said that she'd been thinking about us a lot, and missing us. She wants Sis Paddock and I to keep randomly stopping by since she's too busy to make an official appointment with us. Of course we agreed! She told us that we've really helped her become a better person, and that she is so grateful for all that she's learned. She is concerned that she isn't good enough to be baptized ("Y'all are so good, and I just don't think I'm there yet!"). So I have a feeling that we will be discussing that more next time. She is about halfway through reading the Book of Mormon for the second time. Woot woot!! So stoked. Marsha doesn't seem to realize that she's special- not many people we teach just do things like that without us constantly reminding them and begging them to!
After that, we went to an early dinner at Jenn's house. Allie begged to sit by me, and so Sis Jones moved to the other side of the table so she could. How sweet is Jonesy?
Next, we went over to the church to be around all the members at the activities that night. The YW surprised us with a cute little "Missionary Care Package" with a bunch of supplies in it. So sweet and thoughtful. I really love how caring everyone in this branch is.

Wednesday: We dropped off Sis Jones' suitcase at Jason and Grace's so it could be fixed- there was a problem with the wheels turning out funny. Maggie, their adorable puppy, got dirt and mud all over my shirt. Yay... Haha Luckily I had a cardigan I could button up over it, and no one knew! After, we visited Dan and Margaret and talked with them for a while. They are such good people. Sis Jones got to say goodbye, and we took a group picture with them.

Sister Jones, Dan, Margaret, Sister Paddock and Sister Shell

After, we went to Mary's for dinner and had Vegetarian Spaghetti! It was pretty delicious. I love Mary a ton. She's just so sweet and is so amazing.
Plus, Sis Paddock gave me 2 cute skirts that she didn't like, and I have already worn them! That was one of the highlights of Wednesday.
Oh! Funny story! So as we were driving to Dan and Margaret's, we always see this old yellow house thats abandoned and it always has the door open. Sis Jones told us she would hide in there so she wouldn't have to leave and go home. I said I wouldn't tell anyone, but that if President asked me to please tell him where Sis Jones was... I'd have to tell him! (See the White Handbook, where it talks about how your loyalty is first to the Lord, to your Mission President, and then to other missionaries). Sis Paddock just said, "I wouldn't tell him! I'd keep your secret!" Right after she said this, her nametag fell off. Hee hee! As she bent to pick it up, she shook her head at herself and said, "Chastisement from the Lord..."

Thursday: Weekly Planning! Sis Jones' last one ever! Even though it didn't really count for her because she won't be here... Oh well! We still planned out a fairly busy week!
After, we went over to Jenn's early and had a chef salad for dinner. That's right, folks. I had a chef salad for dinner. And I actually really liked it.
Who am I?!
After, we went to a Relief Society activity. Thank goodness, because without us there only would have been 3 sisters there! We made some cute ornaments and chatted it up together. Then we helped Jenn clean up. That was pretty fun.
Also, there's a donkey we always pass on the way to Jenn's house. A little brown and white one. We never see him move. We named him, "Cleetus, the Silent Guardian of Caldwell." We're working on a theme song for him.

Friday: We had District Meeting which was super fun! We had a lot of snacks to celebrate Sis Jones completing her mission.

Saturday: We tried to visit Judy, Vicky, and a referral named Falicia but everyone was either busy and not home. We went to a few other places in town... but no luck. Grr.
So, we went in to College Station a little early to get dinner and let Sis Jones practice for Stake Conference. All the missionaries did a few musical numbers. For the adult session, we sang our TX Houston Mission song as the prelude right before it started, and then we sang the EFY Medley in the middle of it. President Pingree was there and he spoke. I almost started crying! He just bragged on how awesome all of the missionaries sitting behind him were, how he would vouch for each of us individually, and how he would trust any one of us with his closest friends. That made me feel really good.

Sunday: We had the last Stake Conference session and it was really good. A woman from Montgomery spoke, even though she's not in this stake! But she was there as the LDS Family Services representative and talked about the different emotional and physical stresses of missionary work and how we can prepare for those things.
President Pingree and Sister Pingree spoke, as well as the Stake President, the Stake Patriarch and a member of the Temple Presidency. So good.
After, we went over to try and visit Dan and Margaret but they weren't home. So we went over to the Mitchell's and had dinner, and taught a lesson about the Holy Ghost. Its pretty cool. You talk about how you try to be very good and make all the right decisions and how you try to be clean, like the bowl of water you have in front of you. But the world around you is super dirty, and will try to get you to make bad choices and make you unclean (and you dump some pepper into the water). But, if you have the Holy Ghost with you, you will be protected! So you put a bit of Dish Soap (preferably Dawn, it works best) on your index finger and lightly put it in the middle of the bowl.... Watch what happens. Its pretty neat, and it makes you feel like a magician.
Then, we went over to Dan and Margaret's and visited with them for a while. Long story short, Dan ended up fixing Sis Jones' suitcase. It works now.
Then Sis Jones packed. What a jerk- can you believe that she's leaving us?! I'm really gonna miss her. Shes' been an awesome friend and companion for me.

Well, that's the week everyone!! Sorry if this email seems super rushed... They're kicking people off the computers a lot today because so many people need to use them and there just aren't enough computers!!
Eu amo voces muito!! Oh!! Got transfer calls- staying in Caldwell with Sis Paddock.

Until next week.. Tchau!!

Sister Shell's caption said, "Sometimes I just have to do a duckface picture!"