Taking on Tacoma: Whatta Week!

This has been probably one of the craziest weeks of my mission! TONS of out of the ordinary things went on this week!

On Tuesday we went to Zion's Camp, which was a lot of fun! Instead of doing the ropes courses, Sister Glauser and I got to be in charge of them. And that's fun. I like bossing people around. ;) (just kidding.)

I was actually kind of worried about having a whole group of 20 sisters and how some of the ropes course would go. But our group did awesome! I was really impressed! With getting everyone over the 10 foot wall they worked super well together to make sure everyone got up safely and quickly. It was so cool to see how united they all were! (Normally the sister group on the wall takes FOREVER and is really an emotional day because they struggle with the wall.) But not this group!

Then the one where you have two platforms with a rope swing in the middle was also a cool experience. Normally you have 10-14 people on the platform, but we had to fit 20! And since we were in charge we could kind of make them do whatever we wanted. So, we got there and said "Okay, everyone on the platform!" And they were like "What!? All of us?" But then they just went and did it! It was definitely a struggle. They had people on each others shoulders and were holding on for dear life! But they got everyone to fit. But, then we decided it would still be too hard, so we "killed' about 5 sisters and made them get off. (I'm making this sound really harsh, but it wasn't actually that bad, it was fun.) Then they worked really hard to help each other get to the other platform. It was just so cool to see how much each sister loved the other and how hard they tried to help everyone. It wasn't just every man (woman) for herself, but it was a team effort, and they understood that. Then we did a trust fall, and President even said it was the best group of sisters that he's ever seen because they were so united, and not one person fell. Even when they wouldn't fall the way they were supposed to. We didn't let anyone fall. He trusted us so much that HE LET US CATCH HIM. Crazy stuff! But President did the trust fall with the SISTERS!

The rest of the day at Zion's camp was really fun also. We had lunch, took group pictures, had zone conference, and then we went to a camp fire and burned our "weapons of war" (something that we each decided to give up to be better missionaries). We then heard the testimonies of the missionaries going home in few weeks, and then sang Amazing Grace together. Our mission song.

It was a really fun day! It's a little surreal because it was my last zone conference. But that's okay, it was a good last one to have. :)

After Zion's camp we got permission to go see some of our former investigators in Belfair. So, I saw Ashley! She's not interested, but I'm determined so, I told the Elders to go over again when they get a chance. :)

On Wednesday, we did a LOT of finding. Door knocking and street contacting.

On Thursday we sat outside in the sun (the one sunny day we had this week) to weekly plan and got the weirdest sunburns ever. The inside of my knee was burned to a crisp, and so was my other leg. Poor Sister Glauser's legs must not have seen the sun in a while and were FRIED. We've been using a lot of aloe.

On Friday the sun went away again. But we had a good exchange with Sister Bolos and Sister Powell. Once again all of our plans fell through, so we ended up knocking and street contacting all day.

On Saturday we also had no lessons planned so our plan was to knock ALL day long. One of the sisters in Stadium wasn't feeling well, so she asked us to come and stay with her, while one of us went out and worked with her companion. So, I went and knocked in that area with a sister. That was fun, until this giant, dark cloud came out of nowhere and then thunder came and then LIGHTNING. Then hail. Then crazy wind. Then giant raindrops. Then sirens. It was crazy. Then our zone leaders called and told us that President wanted all of us inside until the storms passed. It was so bizarre! WE never have thunder OR lightning here. I've only seen lightning one other time my whole mission! It's kind of exciting!

So, we went back to the apartment and I organized their area book for them. That was kind of fun.

On Sunday, early church meetings were cancelled for Fathers day, so we headed over to church like any other Sunday... when we got there we were standing in the foyer when the bishops wife walked past and said "Hey Sisters, there's an investigator in the chapel." Then she kept walking, and I was confused because I didn't think we had any investigators coming to church, but we weren't going to pass up that opportunity! So we headed straight to the chapel before the Elders could get the investigator. ;) And then to my HUGE surprise, I saw my GRANDPARENTS! That was the absolute last thing I was expecting at church! It was really exciting, but also a little bit weird, because when you go on a mission, you just accept the fact that you won't see any of your family for 18 months, and that's just how it is. But it was a fun surprise. Papa made sure everyone in my ward knew who I was by the end. So, I'm a little worried to ask any of the priesthood holders what he talked about during priesthood... The Hales ALSO showed up and so after Sacrament meeting I was just standing there with almost all of my extended family there. It was the most bizarre thing.

So, that was our week. Lot's of crazy things happened.

Zions camp, lightning and thunder, crazy sunburns, strange visitors at church claiming to be investigators, and then we finished off by giving President Blatter a giant Father's Day card signed by all the missionaries! It was a great week! But also a strange one!

I don't have enough time to add an uplifting spiritual thought. So, I'll just find something really fast on lds.org.