Putting My Heart in Texas: Toilet's Jinxed

GOD-MADE BAPTISM

Ackheemmmm.... attention. Matthew Blott is getting baptized. It is a miracle. August 10th folks. Mark it on your calendar. I can't wait. He told Sister F that he wanted to be baptized in a "god-made body of water." So.... he is getting baptized in the back pond at one of the members homes. It is a gorgeous yard, it will be amazing.(Sidenote: I really hope that it isn't at night though because we have our ward Talent Show and Sister Montierth and I are going to do a duet. I am going to sing with my mouth closed and she is going to play the piano. That is the plan anyway... we might throw in some beatboxing here and there because Sister M is like a way good beatboxer and it makes me SO jealous. I make her beatbox to me all the time. She is probably so sick of me haha.) But anyway..... Nick is also getting baptized! Gah! So exciting. I can't wait. It is so neat to have been a part of it. I am sad that I had to leave so that I couldn't see the process all the way through, but man it is such a cool experience to see peoples lives change. I got a text from sister F last week that said, " MATTHEW AND NICK ARE GETTING DUNKED! MARK YOUR CALENDAR!" Best news ever.

HOT HAIR

I lucked out... not only do I have a awesome companion, but she also doubles as a hairdresser wiz. She does my hair all the time and I love it because I am so sick of it that I just usually put it in a grandma bun... but Sister M somehow makes my frizz look presentable and for that, I thank her. At first coming to Texas I felt suppper uncomfortable when people would start talking to me on their porch and after 5 minutes we would all have sweat running down the backs of our legs, sweat moustaches, pit stains and sweat sideburns.... but I have come to just accept it. Mind you, this has not been easy for me, but apparently being disgustingly sweaty and smelly is just acceptable because there is NOTHING. I repeat NOTHING you can do about it. I prayed for rain, nope... just makes it even worse. You could be wearing a bikini or a burka and you would still be sweating the same amount. It is terrible. And apparently it hasn't even gotten bad yet. Dont pray for rain, pray for sanity.

CAN I AXE YOU A QUESTION?

1. We are currently teaching 2 women with Jehovah's Witness backgrounds... It had been interesting. We were talking about it at District meeting to get ideas on how to teach them... Elder Mortimer said, "I have an idea... why dont you just tell her, ' well according to what you believe you aren't going to heaven.... according to you, only 144,000 white males are going to heaven and that doesn't include you!" He was being dead serious. Mortimer is so blunt he just kills me. He really would tell her that too if he were in the lesson with us. No doubt in my mind.

2. We are also teaching this really cute lady named Jacqueline. She has 6 kids and she is so so sweet. We taught her all about the book of mormon and the first vision and she keeps calling it the book of NORMAN. I think it is so sweet. She is so humble. I can't wait to teach her about the Plan of Salvation tomorrow. I know that she will just LOVE it.

STALKING STACY

On Tuesday we were at the ward for mutual and we were supposed to meet a few non-members that were there but I saw this woman sitting in the lobby of the building and she was sitting with a sling on her arm rocking back and forth like she was in really bad pain. She looked SO out of place. Ripped, baggy jeans, a trucker hat, a dirty tank top and broken tevas. I said to Sister M that we needed to talk to her and so we went and sat down with her and man.... what a story she had. She isn't a member of the church but she just felt like she needed to come inside and get help. As a member of the bishopric got some things sorted out for her, we sat with her and she told us that she had slipped a few days ago and broken her arm. She didn't have any money to get gas money and she needed to go to the hospital wednesday morning. We asked her why and she continued to tell us that she is undergoing chemo and radiation... she has no family, nothing. It was heartbreaking. I got all teary when I asked her if she felt that love and warmth and peace inside the church building and she nodded and said that she felt it very strongly. She pointed to the painting hanging on the wall (of Jesus Christ standing in the clouds during the 2nd coming) and she said, "I just love this, I have been looking at it since I got here and I just want to Xerox it and take it with me. It's beautiful." She's had cancer for 25 years and it is spreading to her brain. We shared a scripture with her, prayed with her and Sister M gave her a little pass-along card of Jesus and she studied it with her eyes, her hands shaking and said, "Thank you. I am going to take this with me everywhere. I am going to show all my doctors!" She gave us a toothless grin and then sighed, "I used to have a beautiful smile once," she said, "before the cancer got into my jaw bone and they all fell out." I just about lost it.

I felt so much love for her! And just like I felt for Isaiah, I felt so strongly for Stacy that god knew her and loved her and that she wasn't alone. We told her that. She thanked us, gave us a hug, and then we exchanged phone numbers. She wouldn't tell us her address but we got her phone number. We walked her out to her car and then when she drove away Sister M and I just put our arms around each other and the spirit was SO strong. We got in the car and just started crying. Like she was all alone. We have been trying to call her all week, we have texted her multiple times. We look for her car everywhere we go and whenever we see a black sudan we make sure to look to see if it is Stacy. She texted us back late one night. I felt so bad because I was sick I went to bed super early one night and Stacy texted us while I was asleep. Poor Sister M didn't wake me up but Stacy sent us this text that said, "Thursday 9:39pm just got home. I took it brave today. Cancer spreading through brain fast. October November should be gone. No food, no gas, no drink. Not your fault. Loved ya'll in heart.- Stacy n." SISTER M DIDN"T WAKE ME UP! I felt so bad she was like a wreck and called the elders because there was nothing we could do. She wouldn't call us back and that was the first and only text she has responded to. We talked to the Bishop that she got help from and he said that he thought he remembered which apartments she lived in so we are going to try and stalk her apartments and find her this week. SHE NEEDS US! How do you have a fatal illness without a ward family or neighbors to help you! We pray for her all the time. We will find her. I know it.

RANDOMS

Elder Gonzalez and Elder Strickland made us a fitness and diet plan.... haha oh man. They texted us and asked us how it was going and we responded by saying, " we are not at liberty to discuss it until we see results."

You know my huge bobby pins that I use? The ones that are like 3 inches long? Sister M calls them ROBERT PINS. I DIED FROM LAUGHTER.

The widows in our ward love us SO much. We get fed wayyyy too much. We were sitting in the car about to go to a dinner appointment and we were just keeled over saying, "WE JUST ATE! We can't eatttt anymore..." I said without even thinking, "THATS IT! NOT MORE FOOD FROM PEOPLE! I AM FED UP!" Literally. Againnnnn.... We died laughing.

The widows love us. Like really love us. They could never have the elders over so they just invite us over ALL the time. We were meeting with one of them the other day and we were both sitting there on her floral couch, holding her floral throw pillows, resting our feet on her floral rug listening and listening to her stories for 2 hours!! I had to focus on her bright fucsia lipstick so I wouldn't fall asleep. SO bad. #noddingoff

A text that I sent to Folsom this week, "You know you are tired when you only shave one armpit in the shower."

I had a sliver in my hand but I couldn't see it. Sister M named it my "FAITH SLIVER." Get it? Faith? You can't see it but you know its there? We are so funny. We are really funny.... oh man. We laugh a lot.

oh, and about the title-- our toilet broke again, are we jinxed?

love this work.

church is true.

xoxoxox

sista king

Making a map of our district. #iammodest... oooops.

some lady gave us her moms old lady sandals- the jesus sandals are legit. The ones I am wearing? yeah... two left feet. They were hideous but we felt too bad to turn her down. Also in picture: the neighborhood stray