"I only wear organic ties..."

Jan. 02, 2017

Whaleeeee

So it was just a really good week. 😍 I'm dying. I love everything about it.

Also.... HAPPY NEW YEAR 🙌🏼🎉

Wowowowowowowowo I spent the ENTIREEEEE YEARRRRR of 2016 in the service of the Lord. What a good feeling that is.

So let me tell y'all about this week.

MONDAYYY we ran on over to Deltona for a zone P-day with all of our homies. We had a white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with a nerf gun. 🔫 I just rearry love Zone P-days. THEN we exchanged with the Deltona English Sisters and I FINALLY GOT TO GO ON EXCHANGES WITH MY HOMIE GIRL SISTER STATEN! 👊🏻😂 She was trained by my trainee Sister Hart. So you could say she is my kin. After waiting for eight years for the elders to go give blood (don't ask) we were finally able to drive back to NSB. We went and visited the Hewletts who as always, I adore. Then by 8:00 we finally had our dinner dropped off to us so we had a nice dinner in our fort.

Oh.... did i mention we are still living in a fort in our living room? 

Ya. That is still a thing.

TUESDAYYY we woke up and my buddy Sister Staten and I went to Habitat for Humanity and did service with Elder Amiott and Elder Haderlie. They are such clowns. Haha then we came home and had lunch. Then we went and saw Cody with Brother Portus. Cody is convinced that I am a villain named "Poison Ivy." He is autistic and I love him. 

I just.... I just want y'all to know how cool it is to be a missionary. Because you walk around all day teaching people and sometimes you have these moments where you get glimpses of how God feels about these people you barely know. God loves His children my friends. I know He does.

After that we ran over to Tammy's and I did her dishes.... this time she had dish soap instead of shampoo. 🤘🏼 We're moving up in the world my friends. Then we met a sweet new investigator named Molly. She was so nice! Then we went to Sister Davila's for dinner and I ate a MOUNTAIN of spaghetti. 😆🍝 I just... I'm a tiny human and sometimes people expect me to eat amounts that professional eaters (I don't know what you call them... those people that go to like hot dog eating contests) eat. But ya know.... we all have to face trials in our lives. And in the strength of the Lord I can do all things.

Then we went down to NSB to the Steflik's to teach Kimberly. She is literally the COOLEST person on the planet. She is so sweet.

THEN I HAD TO DRIVE ALL THE WAY TO DELTONA IN THE THICKEST FOG THIS EARTH HAS EVER SEEN. Like... I'm telling you... you couldn't see very far in front of you at all and if you know me very well you know I have slight car anxiety due to a car accident I was in as a teenager....and by "car accident" I mean "multiple car accidents" But you know... It's fine. 😭😭 So my knuckles were white as I was gripping the wheel like there's no tomorrow and I don't think I've prayed so hard in my whole life. Hahaha But don't worry. I made it.

No sweat. 😎

I gave Sister Staten a pineapple plant.🍍 I was given the pineapple plant at about the same time she came out on her mission. Well it takes about 18 months to grow a pineapple and I don't have 18 months left so I figured it would be our posterity plant and he could grow it for me. We took a cute polaroid.

Then Sister Glover and I came home and it was good to have her back. I missed my best friend.

WEDNESDAYYY we went to DM and we had an awesome district meeting. I gave a Safeguards thought. After DM I was still feeling supper anxious from the fog drive on Tuesday and couldn't seem to chill so I had asked the elders for a priesthood blessing. So ELDER BELNAP, ELDER LIESHMAN, ELDER GOFF, AND ELDER DUMMER all gave me a priesthood blessing and my friends...

THE PRIESTHOOD HAS BEEN RESTORED.

I don't know how to explain how I felt, but I will tell you that I know the Lord is real. I know that he hears our prayers. He knows our concerns. And I just felt so incredibly loved. I don't even remember what was said in that blessing, but I know the feelings of anxiety immediately left me and they were replaced with so much joy. And I am so grateful to be surrounded by so many worthy priesthood holders that I can call on at a moments notice for help. 💛💛

*breaks out into "The Priesthood Is Restored" found on page 89 of the Children's hymbook*

Ahhhhh yup. I love the priesthood.

SOOOoooo anyways..

After that we ran home for a quick lunch. Sister Glover made me a special "R" quesadilla..

Then we went and saw brother Harper. I love that man. He always gives me lemonade. 🍋 Then we went and had dinner with the Carey's.

I have a confession to make.

I did an illegal thing. 🙈

I fed the raccoons. All of them.

There were SO MANY RACCOONS IN THEIR BACKYARD AND THEY WERE SO CUTE. 

(Don't worry... there was glass in between them)

There were eight of them at one point. 

So now I've done two illegal things on my mission. The first one was launching lanterns like on tangled and the second was feeding forest animals.

I am a Disney princess. 

After dinner we saw Milady and her whole crew. That girl is so cute. Then we saw Herbert who is the boyfriend of one of the less actives we are teaching. He was telling us about how tired he always is and I was all "you know Herbert... If you read the Book of Mormon you will sleep better" and he was all "can I have a copy" and we were all "do you want Cambodian or English?" And obviously he picked English because nobody speaks Cambodian here so I don't know why we have a Cambodian Book of Mormon in our car....

So that happened.

WOW I'M ONLY ON THURSDAY NOW.... I'M SORRY. 10 POINTS TO WHOEVER HAS MADE IT THIS FAR.

So..... THURSDAYYYY we saw Curt and dropped him... then we saw Brian and  so..... he was taking down his Christmas tree when we got there and so we awkwardly stood in the doorway while he laid on the ground and wrapped his legs around the tree and sawed off the bottom branches so that it would fit through the door.... so we were just there trying to teach him the gospel while he wrestled a tree. 🌲😲 I honestly would use this as a role play for new missionaries if I ever became AP..... Like how do these situations even happen to me? We also dropped him because he doesn't really want to read the Book of Mormon or come to church. Then we met a guy named Mark from Egypt. He was cool. Then we met a Jewish lady named Marlene. She was the sweetest lady ever. Then we saw Sister Chilkott. Since it was the week of New Years we showed her the Look Not Behind Thee video and she got a kick out of it. So we asked her what her new years resolutions are and she was all "um..... I want to learn more about the electoral college......" 

Um.......

K......

🙄😐

"Well we were thinking more like live the gospel but I guess that works too."😂

Ha. Then we saw Sister Gruber who is my adopted Grandma. She gave us ice cream sandwiches like any good grandma would. I love her. Then we met a sweet old lady named Maralyn. She is just the sweetest old lady on the planet! We were contacting in her neighborhood because Sister Spears asked us to knock her neighbors and so we were at the door of the person on the other side of her duplex and since they wern't home we were trying to catch a lizard.... well she overheard us and wanted to know what the whole commotion was about so she came around the corner to ask about it. Haha She was crying because she had just finished reading a really sad book and man.. she is just the cutest old lady. So we talked about the book because Sister Glover had seen the movie. Then we shared a brief restoration and invited her to come to church and she said she would come check it out soon!

Then we had dinner with the Fedrick's at Cracker Barrel. I love them. Then we taught Brother Schmidt and Brother Randolph. Then we went and saw Patrick who is just the coolest. He was all "sisters... I've been reading the Book of Mormon and I can't seem to put it down!" 

*PASSES OUT*

ahhh Patrick.... isn't the Book of Mormon just the most wonderful thing?😄

FRIDAYYY rolled around and we weekly planned for a hot minute. Then we went and did some finding and literally nobody wanted to talk to us all day long. Every door we knocked on and every person we talked to turned us away. We went by to see Mark. He told Sister Glover all about how "Sister Reid was this angel sent from heaven...." but then we asked him if he'd read the Book of Mormon and he said "no, and I'm not going to."

MARK.... GOD LITERALLY SENT ANGELS TO GIVE YOU THE WORD OF GOD AND YOU WON'T OPEN IT UP BECAUSE YOU ARE FINE JUST HAVING YOUR "OWN RELIGION OF YOU AND GOD"

It just makes me really sad when people don't to read it. 

Whatever. 🙄

Then we saw the Orbans. Who I love. We also had dinner with the Cintron's. Who I also love.

SATURDAYYY we met a guy named John and taught him about how the church has been restored. Then we went on over to the inlet because life is better out there by the ocean. It simply is. We met a guy named Derek on Ogden Blvd. And picked him up as an investigator! Then we met a guy named Arnaldo who became a new investigator, then we met a former investigator named Frank who became a new investigator. 

Ahhhhhh I love Ponce Inlet.☀️🌴

We learned a lot of things while we were finding. The first thing we learned was from Frank. He taught us that mustard seed will cure any ailment and that you ever have. Ever.

The second thing we learned is from brother Clapp. He taught us that if you ever get shot that you should use tampons to plug up the bullet holes.... he also told us that if you ever get a cut you should just superglue it. Just simply hold your skin together and superglue it.

I can't believe I've gone all my life without this knowledge. 😂

Then we went and saw the Sebastian Clan. I love them. Then we went and got ice cream for dinner... obviously. 😋🍦 Then we went and saw Patrick and we showed him his baptismal calendar and he was so excited! He was also so pumped to show us that he downloaded the Book of Mormon app on his phone and was telling us all about all the things he has been reading. 

Then we had to be in early because #NewYearsEve is cray and everybody was going to be drunk so they wanted us off the roads.

So naturally we went home and did some face masks that Sister Hewlett gave us for Christmas. They were kinda creepy so we took some creepy pictures. Enjoy.

Haha

Oh SUNDAYYY aka NEW YEARS DAY we went to church. Sister Glover spoke and did a fabulous job! Patrick came to church and got there before us and was sitting there reading the Book of Mormon and he was all "oh hi sisters! I've been reading Mormon and it's quickly becoming my favorite book. I can't put it down." 

*WHIPS AND NAE NAES OUT OF THE CHAPEL"

OKAYYYY PATRICKKKK ah. It kills me. He is so cool. The other best part about Sunday was dinner with the Steflik's. I just LLOVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEE that family. That's all the end. 

Ah so it was a slamin' week. I'm doing swell. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALLLLLLLL (and HAPPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAD!!!!!!!!!) I've been jammin' out to Ring out Wild Bells all week. 

Here are our Out of Context Quotes for the week:

"I only wear organic ties..."

"I only think about you when I'm PMSing"

"Please stop bringing your horse on temple Square"

"My New Years resolution is to learn more about the electoral college... and then if I don't like it I'm going to send a letter to congress"

"I was born catholic and I'll die catholic...."

"And then we'll baptize ya."

"They stole my tire valve cap..."

"We should cut off their thumbs"

*hears scream from outside*

"Someone cut off their thumbs"

"I thought a bib could be fun."

I LOVE Y'ALL MORE THAN FRANK LOVE MUSTARD SEED!!!

Sister Whitney Reid

Feelmysunlight.blogspot.com

Citrusfruitsister.blogspot.com

🍍🍋🍍🍋🍍🍋🍍🍋