Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Allergies + Cold = Let's go Gardening!!

Holla Familia!
This week has been Full of Service! We went to a new investigators house and helped her weed her yard and put mulch down, then she fed us lunch! It was good. She made a strawberry, Rhubarb pie. It was pretty good, super sweet... a little too sweet for me, but it was still good. Gretchen and her husband are an interesting couple. Unfortunately they don't have any kids, they don't really have any siblings. They pretty much are on their own. Which is super sad, but they don't seem to mind chilling by themselves. 
We also Gardened at the Beardsley's. It was pretty interesting, the hill on the side of their house was covered in wild strawberries, and weeds. I have never seen wild strawberries before! they were just tiny.. and they didn't taste very good, but they were still pretty cool! So we helped them plant some Juniper ground cover bushes/things. Hoping that it would kill all of the weeds and just make the hill easy to work with and not have to worry about it. We also went to their house later in the week for a family cookout they had. They rubbed or soaked their meat in Papaya! It made the meat super tender and just would tear apart so easily! it was pretty cool and super good! Really good Mexican cooking. 
We also helped a lady in the ward move houses. She lived in the attic of her Sisters... barn? anywho it was a one room house and it was super crammed. She moved into this really nice big house! A lot of her stuff was in storage containers next to the barn. She had a lot of antique furniture! We were all worried about breaking it, and she was like just push it down the stairs it's sturdy wood! haha! It was fun helping her out. Her hope is that someday the Sister Missionaries will move into her house so she isn't alone. 
We also helped an Elderly couple named the Avery's put cages around their peach trees because the deer were eating them. It was pretty funny. We packed up all of the cages on the trailer and then we pulled out and went up the hill, stopped and unloaded them. It was super funny. We also helped him cut wood for his Son to make a grape vine holder, He used a chainsaw and we picked up and moved the logs. After helping them out with everything they made fresh lemonade - squeezed lemons in water with no sugar. mmmm... while we were drinking our lemonade I noticed a bow on the wall. I was like "oh! Who goes Bow hunting!" and the Brother Avery said he did! So he went and got his arrows and we went and shot it into the hill on the side of the house! SO COOL! haha
We had a dinner appointment with an investigator at a members house this week! I have never done it before, but it was super great! We had dinner with the Olsen's (He is the Chiropractor) and our investigator was Randall. It was pretty funny. When we first got there Brother and Sister Olsen were both wearing a shirt that said "iCrack" (because he is a chiropractor), but if you didn't know that.... It's a really strange shirt to be wearing haha! Randall was super confused and asked pretty hesitantly what it meant. He was still confused even after they told him that they were Chiropractors. It was pretty funny. Brother and Sister are so funny. Their kids are pretty funny too. They were super awesome at helping us teach Randall and being an example of how the Gospel brings happiness to a family. They are such a cute family. 
We also had a pretty awesome dinner with the Jones family. Brother Jones is a Doctor and so we pretty much talked about how Sister Isobe and I were dying. Sister Isobe got like 30 mosquito bites in a few days! and I was super congested and runny nose and I just looked miserable. So he started telling us what we should be doing. They went all out for us. Making sure we were staying alive, and not dying. Sister Jones' Brother is an Allergist and he had us come in to check us out. His name is Brother McBride. He served a mission with Mitt Romney and helped him on his Presidential campaign too! He talked about all of the awesome things that Mitt Romney did/does. and talked about a few other things. But now I can say I know someone who is friends with Mitt Romney! yeah! Then he talked about Allergy stuff, and yeah... we will see what happens. 
Oh and a cute less active family that we saw this week was Jimmy and Rose Neighbors. They are so funny. Well Jimmy is, Rose didn't talk very much. She was super tired from working all day. Jimmy is so funny. He kept saying he was going to try and find something to tease me about, but the only thing he could come up with while we were there was how my foot kept twitching. He was a super cute old guy. When we went to go leave it was about 9:00 and he was like you both get in the car and I'll back you out. How nice :) 
And lastly District Meeting. Very first one we have had. It was strange. The way things are split up in this zone is super confusing. Our District Leader is the YSA missionaries, then we have the Vinton Sisters, and the Elders in Botetourt, and the Sisters from Cave Spring. It's so Random! We learned about having Unity in our teaching. Us alone, we will never be able to help an investigator get to where they need to go. We need to have our companions help and also the companionship of the Holy Ghost. They used as an example a piece of string representing us as individuals, and as we pulled on the string trying to get our "investigator" to move. The string broke. But when we braided together those three strings it made a decently strong rope. (the Elders who were doing the example still broke theirs, we took it as representing Really stubborn investigators haha). The part that was a little strange was the role play. It wasn't bad, but it gave a good example about trying to force the spirit or teaching. It just doesn't work. When you are forced to say or do something it makes it rather hard to do it. There is no spirit when you try and force inspiration or the spirit into things. It was interesting and that is pretty much all I can say about it.
You can't force someone to have a testimony. You can't force someone to become converted to the Gospel. It just doesn't work that way. If it did then where would our agency be? Also when you squeeze people they resist. At least I know I would Resist. It makes you push back. There has to be a desire to learn. A desire to change. A desire to let things go. Of course that is easier said than done. But what can you do about it. 
Well my brain is fried, my lungs are raw, I am tired. But I love it here! YEAH BUDDY! If it doesn't kill me it will only make me stronger!! right? right? haha Well I love you all. Keep up the awesomeness. 
Congrats this weekend Timmy and Chelsie I hope the Wedding goes awesome! 

Loves,
Sister Karen Call

"The unselfish give of themselves. These may be small gifts of charity that have a grand impact for good: a smile, a handshake, a hug, time spent in listening, a soft word of encouragement, or a gesture of caring. All these acts of kindness can change hearts and lives. When we take advantage of the unlimited opportunities to love and serve our fellowmen, including our spouse and family, our capacity to love God and to serve others will greatly increase."
—Dieter F. Uchtdorf

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