Taking on Tacoma: "And the Rain Came Tumbling Down"

^ And that is how Elma was this week. I don't know how many inches of rain we had this week but it sure was a lot.

Another part of the song that Elma reminds me of is:

"The rains came down and the floods came up."

"... And the poor missionaries were washed awayyyyyyy."

Let's see, this week I'll have to think back, all I remember is the rain but if you'll give me a second, I'll remember other missionary things too I'm sure!

On Tuesday we did service for a lady in the area who is moving soon. We were talking to a member of the ward and asked if there was anything we could do for her, and then she said "well, actually I have a friend who might need help with something." So, we called her friend, and went over right then to help her clean her kitchen and living room. She said that she had prayed that she'd be able to finish everything and that within 20 minutes we called to ask if there was anything we could do to help. So, that was pretty cool!

We also had a cool lesson with a lady later that night that said "You know, you came at a really good time for me. I've been thinking about God lately." (Which I just don't hear very often, so it was pretty cool).

On Wednesday, all it did was rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain and rain.

Yep.

We had zone meeting that day and Sister Rosenvall and I taught a training on "We invite, They commit, We follow up". We complained to each other for a little bit because it's the same thing we learned last week in district meeting, but like always, everything worked out and it was actually a pretty good training, and I don't think we repeated anything too much.

After Zone meeting we were standing outside looking at all the rain and our zone leader said "Well, today's gonna be crappy." Haha and I, trying to be optimistic, told him to come up with 3 good things about the rain. The first thing he said was "Wife points." Hahaha.

I tried to be optimistic throughout the day but during knocking I had on about 15 articles of clothing and every single layer was drenched. We crossed the street and walked through a puddle about 5 inches deep that covered the entire intersection. We looked as if we had just jumped into a lake and decided to knock on doors. Not only that, but it was windy and cold and my feet were numb and we were pretty miserable. Everything inside my bag got soaked. Including my poor planner. It's about double the size it was because of the wrinkles from the water damage. :( But it has character now. By the end of the day I decided that my zone leader was right. It was a bit "crappy" which isn't even a word I use!

After knocking we visited a member and asked her if we could please use the shelter of her home, and her heater, and her dryer to warm up. She was so nice she let us in and let us throw our socks and leggings into the dryer. She also gave us some snacks and we talked about our investigators for a few minutes. After we dried off a teeny bit we met with our bishop and he wanted to know if we had gills yet. He also laid our ruined pamphlets on the floor in his office so they could dry and showed them to everyone in ward council on Sunday morning to show how dedicated we are. Haha.

On Thursday morning I woke up a little sick. Luckily, we had weekly planning so I didn't have to go out in the rain right away. After weekly planning we did service vacuuming and dusting this ladies house. She has a bunch of relatives coming to stay for her husband's 100 year old birthday party! Crazy! My allergies have gone a little crazy so the dust was killing me!

The sky was clear for a little while while we knocked doors but it was really cold.

On Friday we did MORE service cleaning someone else's dishes. She likes to use bleach so I had my hands soaking in bleach for a little while, which turns out to make my hands dry out and itch but I'm glad we were able to help her out she's been really stressed out lately.

We also helped out at the food bank.

Now that I think about it I had allergies during every service thing we did this week.

One night we helped a recent convert clean her room. They have 2 cats and I looked like I was crying by the end.

We dusted blinds at one house and my throat got really itchy.

Dusting at another house nearly killed me. (exaggeration)

We put soap into bags at the food bank and the dust from the powder made my nose sniffly.

Then the bleach and my hands.

I'm sure the blessings far outweighed all of that though.

On Saturday, we had some more mishaps. It was raining and we accidentally splattered the whole side of our car with mud. Then there was a mosquito in our car and I tried to kill it. Instead I ended up hitting the hinge thing for the sun visor really really hard with the palm of my hand which bruised it pretty bad. It also rained a lot on Saturday.

Okay, I'm only going to complain a teensy bit more and then I'll talk about forgetting about ourselves. :)

On Sunday, I was asked to give a talk in the 1st ward about Preparing to Meet the Savior, and then I was asked to give another talk in the 2nd ward about Charity. And then on Saturday we were asked to teach the lesson in Relief Society. We were up too late to plan the lesson and then we lost an hour of sleep. And then we had to get up early to get to church by 7:30. It was a long day. But one of our investigators came to church and he wants to start taking the lessons. The men in the ward have really welcomed him in and have been giving him rides to church and making it possible for him to be here. It's been pretty cool to see.

It's been a long week, I think my feet are still wet, my throat still hurts, my hand does too, and my planner looks a little more worn out than it normally does after only 2 weeks, and I think the mosquito is still alive, but I'm still glad to be here. I'm still grateful for the Savior. And a quote keeps running through my head that says "It's great what you're doing, but it's the least you could do." So, I'm sorry this whole email is me complaining about this week, but know that I'm actually doing really well, and I'm really happy. And I know that I could have it much worse. I'm so grateful for the prayers that come my way. and I'm grateful for the sun that will eventually come back.

One last quote:

"Perhaps the greatest indicator of character is the capacity to recognize and appropriately respond to other people who are experiencing the very challenge or adversity that is most immediately and forcefully pressing upon us. Character is revealed, for example, in the power to discern the suffering of other people when we ourselves are suffering; in the ability to detect the hunger of others when we are hungry; and in the power to reach out and extend compassion for the spiritual agony of others when we are in the midst of our own spiritual distress. Thus, character is demonstrated by looking and reaching outward when the natural and instinctive response is to be self-absorbed and turn inward."

- Elder David A. Bednar

And so, that is probably what I need to work on this week. :)

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Warburton

Happy Pi Day!!