I'm a Grandma!

Dearest Family,

What a great week. I am just super happy to be a missionary. We had some fun adventures this week.
First of all, thank you for sending me that medicine. :) I see a difference already.

Last Monday was a fun P-Day. We spent part of it with Megan and Carmen, which was fun. The Christensons (the family I hit it off with), sent Carmen with money to take us out to lunch to their favorite restaurant. I thought, no big deal, but it turned out to be to the nicest restaurant I have ever been to. They specialize in fish from around the world. It was a really pricey, really nice, really yummy lunch. It kind of blew my mind. But then I realized that it was their way of showing Sister Hodson and I that they loved us. I'm beginning to understand wealth in a way I hadn't ever before. I still don't understand showing someone love by spending lots of money on them, but I'm beginning to. I tried to be really overly thankful. What nice people. They said we "deserved it".

This week was the Johnson County Fair. We had a booth, which was really fun. The missionaries that live in the county took shifts manning the booth. We had a ton of materials, a TV playing mormon messages, and handed out free popcorn. We didn't get any referrals when we were on shift (but we were on in the morning when it was slow), but we did plant some seeds. The building our booth was in was right next to the shed with all of the sheep. It brought back some good memories. It was just like home.

We tried to see Ed, the man who we had the miracle lesson with last week, but we haven't been able to get a hold of him. We are sad about it, but we will keep trying. We have hope.

On Wednesday night there was a short crazy storm. We were in a lesson during most of it (the window was behind us, which was very distracting to our teachee), so we weren't out in it. When we went to leave the lesson, we found that one of the streets in the apartment complex was entirely blocked by a huge branch that had been ripped off by the wind (it was partially rotted, which you wouldn't know until it fell). We got some help and moved it and made it home on time.
The next morning we got a phone call from a random number. It was a woman with a thick accent telling us that her mother, who is elderly, had a branch down in her yard, and that she gave her this number to call for someone to help move it. We don't know how she had our number, but we agreed to help. That afternoon we tried to get someone to come with us to help (someone with tools), but everyone was at work, so we decided to put on our jeans and drive over there to see if we could just handle it ourselves. After all, we had just conquered that huge branch the night before.
We got to the house, and the woman there was very happy to see us. It was an elderly Iranian woman. She kept hugging and kissing us and saying, "I love you. I love you." She had us sit down. She LOVED Sister Hodson because she looked just like her grand daughter. She brought out a picture, and you know, if Sister Hodson had black hair and black eyebrows, she really did look just like her!

Anyway, after force feeding us banana bread, she showed us the branch in her back yard.
It was HUGE.
like, GINORMOUS.

She had a very large tree that grew through a cut out hole in her deck. A branch the size of a large three had broken off about 25 feet off the ground, but it still hung there. The rest of the branch had crashed down, breaking parts of the deck (does that give you the image of how large it was?). Here we were, two sister missionaries in jeans with no tools, by ourselves. There was NO WAY we could help. So we went inside and she asked how soon we could get people from our church to come help with tools (she knew all along we couldn't really handle it). I thought about how convenient it would be to have Jessica and her chain saw with us right then.

She then showed us a stack of cards. She had at least three or four pass along cards with Elders' names on them from years ago. There hasn't been elders here for at least two years. They were old cards, but our phone number is the same. It sounds like she was very impressed by them, and she remember that if she needed help, she could call them. So moral of the story, you never know how long your impact will stick around.
We made some phone calls and set up for some of the elders quorum to come help the next day. She was very grateful ("I love you, I love you.") We left, laughing at ourselves that we had thought we could do that by ourselves. It ended up not happening because this woman's daughter was very suspicious of us, and found someone else to do it. Oh, well.
The next day we went on exchanges. I went to Lawrence, Kansas (where KU is. Everyone around here is a Jay Hawk fan.) and spent the day with Sister Lewis. It was so fun to be back together! We teach so well together. We really enjoyed being companions again for the day and catching up. She is really an amazing missionary. I learned a lot from her that day. We saw some miracles, and she rebuilt some of my faith in tracting (which has been totally demolished in Overland Park. I have to admit that knocking on a multi-million dollar home is kind of intimidating. They don't expect people to bother them).

While we were together, she got a phone call from the Assistants. She was called to be a trainer! I was so glad to be there, her mother, for that moment. She will be a great trainer. I'm so proud of her. I'm going to be a grandmother. :) The Elders told me that in the Trainers' meeting, President Keyes said, "Do you know why you are here?" and pointing at Sister Lewis "Because you had a great trainer." I really don't think I did that much for Sister Lewis, but I'm glad that President Keyes trusts me. I do want to train again, but I don't think it will be for a little while. Sister Hodson said he talked me up a lot when she came. It sounds like bragging, but really it is just nice to know I am doing something right sometimes.

Megan's baptism was the highlight of this week. :) We saw her almost every day. It was really exciting. Everything went great, and it was a beautiful day. Her whole family came, including her inactive mom and dad, and her nonmember step dad and siblings. They all came. Megan glowed. Her mom cried. Megan's grandpa (who is the one who baptized her older brothers before they went inactive) was supposed to come, but he isn't in great health, and he fell that morning. It was really sad, but Megan said when she saw him, he was just most happy because she got baptized. He didn't make it to the confirmation, either, which he was supposed to be the one to perform. But Megan took it well and was more worried about him than she was disappointed. They asked her to bear her testimony in Sacrament Meeting, and she made us all cry. It was a beautiful day. I am just so happy for her. This will change the course of her whole life. The Young Women have really accepted her, and the whole ward has been welcoming. I love baptisms. :) She did have to get dunked twice because her knee came up, and Collin (her cousin who baptized her) forgot extra underwear, but it is all good. We are all very happy. :)

I think those are the main highlights of the week. Life is good. :)

Love,

Sister Atkin