The One Where I am One Year Older And Wiser Too

 Hey yall! Wow. I never thought this day would come. I have been on my mission for one whole year. Un año. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. 525,600 minutes. 31,536,000 seconds. That's crazy. It is bitter sweet. Let's get into it.......

I'm gonna start this off a little differently than most my emails. I have been reflecting a lot on how much I have changed this past year. I have become a literal different person from who I was a year ago. That little 19 year old had no idea how much her life would change when she put that tag on and arrived in sin city. The Atonement of Jesus Christ has changed me. I have grown a deeper understanding of Gods plan for me. I have come to know that I truly am His child. Seeing the gospel of Jesus Christ change people and change families while I have been on my mission has been my invitation from my Heavenly Father to live it as well. And it has changed me. He has changed me. I am just in awe everyday by how merciful the Lord is. I find joy in living His gospel and I find joy in sharing the light of the gospel with others. I am so grateful that I decided to go on a mission because this is exactly what I needed. A front row seat to the greatest work that you could ever be a part of. God's Work. I can't wait for these next 6 months!!!

Some happy things and what I learned from them:

• We got a call this week from one of our members and he said that he had a referral for us!! He is a vet and one of his long time clients came up to him one day and said " can you baptize me?" And he said he could make that happen!! Her name is Laura! She's a little crazy, but we are all a little crazy, aren't we? She lived in Utah, has read the whole Book of Mormon and has come to church multiple times and told the Elders that she was a member so that they would leave her alone lolllll. She kills me. I will tell you more about her down below.....

• We just decided to invite everyone to be baptized this week. So now we have 4 people on date! Yassss. Why not just invite them and see what happens??? The worst they can say is no and I get screamed at sometimes, so I can take a no.

• General Conference was just so fire! Every talk was just so amazing. I know that the Lord provides us with direct revelation for this time through His servants, the prophets and apostles!! So good. Exactly what this world needed to hear. 

• My new companion is Sister Tripp and she is so amazing!! She is doing so well and she is so on top of it! She is literally so good for me, because usually I am late to everything (yes i still am, I didn't say I changed that about me), but she makes sure that I get my act together and am timely! Its the best. I am learning a lot about being a responsible adult. 

Some hard things and what I learned from them:

• I had a fever this week. This was the first time that I have gotten sick on my mission when it has affected my proselyting time ahhhh. I felt SO guilty. So we went out in the morning and I legit almost passed out. So then we cake home for lunch and I proceeded to sleep for like 8 hours straight and then woke up for 1 hour and then tucked myself into bed for the night and slept for another 8 hours.  i am feeling just dandy now. Just a lil sniffles.

• Because I was sick for like 3 days, I just wasn't myself. I was not very fun, funny, or fun filled. I felt so bad for my poor trainee. But she is a trooper. But now I am happy to say that I am back to my chipper self again!

Some funny things that made me laugh:

• Now to more about Laura: here are some quotes from her as we talked to her on the phone for the first time and put her on date for baptism.

       - "Dog is just God spelled backwards, so I definitely found Him from the right source (bc she asked a member who is a vet to be baptized)"

       - "I don't know how anyone expects these ladies to crank out all of these kids, but I told her she doesn't need to do it all by herself."

       - "Nothing is going on between Doctor Gibbons and I. I mean he's into older women, but I'm not his type."

• We were walking away from a house that we knocked. It was decked out in Halloween decorations. One of which was a massive skeleton. We were walking away and it grabbed my head!! I may have just walked into its hand, but that's not as cool of a story. Gave me a bit of a fright.

• A lady we talked to farted in front of us as she was telling us a story. She just played it off so well though. Round of applause for her. I almost lost it.

• I broke a chair today. As i was writing this. Because i sat on it. Humbling.

I love yall! 

Sister Rose