Week 3

Well guys, week 3 has been one to remember. But they all should be, shouldn't they? Well, this past week we had a zone conference and a member of the 70 named Elder Golden came, and although he was more strict to the rules, it was really cool and really spiritual. I was spiritually and intellectually overwhelmed with some of the things he was telling us about. He talked a lot about charity and having the pure love of Christ, as members and as missionaries we often think we need to "convert people to convert them" that is wrong; we are talking about the salvation of souls here. We are there to love them and show them the love of Christ and show them that they can have that feeling with them constantly. It was really great, I loved it. President Ashton talked about the importance of following up and just letting people know that you do care about them, and you are concerned about how they are doing. Now to the experiences, this week we had some spiritual and funny stories. Where to begin? We'll go spiritual. We have a member family in our ward who have been preparing to go through the temple as a family and they have been kind of putting it off, so we were teaching them and the husband just said he didn't feel ready. Hermana Watkins had a prompting to ask him if he wanted a priesthood blessing, and at first he said no, but was lead to yes. Elders Clark and Ramirez came over and gave him a blessing, and his whole countenance changed. I felt the weight lifted off his shoulders, and now they are getting sealed this week. It's amazing how the power of priesthood can have such an impact. My testimony of the priesthood was increased so much by that experience. I also lead a discussion this week in my broken Spanish.  It was incredible feeling worthy to be blessed with the gift of tongues.

This week we had some funny experiences. So first we'll start with… the transvestite story. Really short, but so funny in the moment. We went to Papa Murphy's because we hadn't shopped enough on Monday for groceries, and we were just trying to decide what pizza we wanted to have.  This transvestite comes in and we let him go ahead of us. Some other things were going on, and we ordered, and he came over to chat and said, "Oh, I see you decided what you wanted." Hermana Carlson says, "Oh yeah. Did I hear your name was Jared? I have a friend named Jared, " and he/she looks are her, appalled, and says, "Uh! My name is Jennifer!"  Then awkwardly turns and walks away. Hahaha, she was so embarrassed and we were literally holding back laughter tears at this point, and when we got in the car we busted up. So the next thing that happened... Well prepare.

After dinner I was doing some dishes while I was waiting to go in the bathroom (where Hermana Carlson was), and so Hermana Watkins and I were just joking around having a good time. We both took a drink and apparently she said something hilarious because I was laughing so hard that water came out of my nose and my mouth.  And eventually down my leg. That's right guys, I peed my skirt. And my slip, my garments, and all over the kitchen floor. I could not stop myself.  I was crossing my legs crying so hard but I couldn't hold it in. *It's about to get graphic. On our wood floor there were 2 giant pee puddles. Both of them mine. Oh my lanta,  we still can't stop laughing about it. It took 3 or 4 dish towels to absorb and plus we still had to mop some of it out. Guys, it was one of the worst times I've ever peed my pants. Hahaha, but it was so hilarious. I'm never going to grow up apparently.

That same night( I know, a pretty weird day), I held a cockroach the size of almost the palm of my hand. We found it outside. Hermana Watkins said she would take a picture of me holding it so I picked it up, and IT WASN'T DEAD, so the picture I have is of me squirming holding it. Haha it was gross.

This week I got to wear my raincoat for the first time, and I have driven multiple times. There's this system in the car called tiwi and it's already yelled at me like 30 times for speeding.  Once a speed demon, always a speed demon.  Also the primary program was yesterday. I was dying;  it was hilarious. The primary is the same wherever you go except that in this primary the girls all had red shirts and headbands and the boys had red ties. It was cute, BUT it made me so sad I missed Preston's.  Well, that was my week. I will try to respond to emails/letters better this week. I keep getting more and more every week and I want you guys to know I read them all, but an hour isn't a whole lot of time to respond to a lot of people. I love you and still would like to hear about conference.... Have a great week and keep doing good. The work is true and the church is true. Love you guys!

Hermana Groves