Twist and Turns in Missionary Life

                One of the highlights of the week was the passing score on the promotion test of our soldier, SPC Teel-Owen. She was in our BSEP review class and has met with us two or three times a week for over eight weeks determined that this time she would make the score she needs to change job classification. She passed her review board for 3-stripe sergeant while we were studying together so she will pin that when her number comes up.

               

Twisting and turning to adjust to the people and circumstances around us seem like the norm for us as missionaries. Last week our little chapel was bulging with members and investigators. This week our total was under twenty. Last week we had four young children running wild around our building and this week we had one toddler playing quietly by her parents. Last week we had food after our meeting. This week Wayne and the branch clerk had a district meeting via video transmission after the meetings. Last week two of our most active soldiers returned to the United States. This week we had two new soldiers who just arrived from the United States. The rotation will continue through the summer.

                Promises from investigators, soldiers, and even members are very fluid. I invited a sister to church today who hasn’t been for six months and she promised to come. She wasn’t there, but her husband who left the chapel six months ago vowing never to return came in with everything patched up with the branch president. My student promised to meet me at the chapel this afternoon and then called and said he will meet me at Family Home Evening tomorrow night.

 Two weeks ago when we had Relief Society, I taught a lesson on the fly for two sisters. This week I attended with the Korean sisters and pretended that I understood what they were saying because I was the only woman from our branch. I lead the singing in the morning and play the keyboard in the afternoon. I gave the talk on fathers in both meetings. In the morning, I used Wayne as the example and in the afternoon I used my own father. Seven of the ten people in the afternoon heard the talk in the morning so I needed to change it up a bit.

                The missionaries meet at our apartment for District Meeting and for the greenie sister to pass off her language milestones to the district leader. They have such bright smiles and positive attitudes that it is a joy to work with them. We also share funny stories like the man with ear hair so long that it looked like caterpillars coming out of his ears. Two doors on the side of the hospital: Emergency Room and Funeral Home. The grandmother dressed all in red that wanted the sister missionary to sit in the handicapped seat on the train because she thought her bulging stomach was a baby.

                We enjoy walking the waterways to see the birds, the flowers, and the fish. There are two families of ducks living in the stream we cross every day. One set is older than the other. These cormorants fish in the river and dry their wings in the sun. They fly in and land on the water and then swim over to the rock to climb on. They like their space but they also like being in close proximity. The blue herons and great white egrets fish alone. They like lots of space. We saw a young egret with its mother in the stream this week. Many of the flowers have faded, but others have begun to bloom. Sometimes you either laugh at the new twist or it will bring you to tears. We laugh a lot. It's the Lord's work and He takes good care of us. There's always a reason for every twist and turn we see them every day. It's amazing! It's awesome! We love being on the Lord's errand!