Transfer calls were this morning, and I am happy to report that I am staying here in Geneva with Sister Metro, trying to speak Spanish, for at least another transfer! I'm really glad about it because we set some dang good transfer goals for the next 6 weeks. Also, I really want to learn Spanish and French. Guess what though...the next transfers happen TWO days before Christmas. That will stink if I have to move cities and companions right before Christmas! Oh well, I won't worry about that right now I suppose.
So here are a couple of pictures that we took this week. One of them is from our pumpkin pie party last Tuesday with Sister Murdock. She is seriously wonderful! It was so nice to just go to a home and listen to Christmas music in November and make and eat homemade pumpkin pies. They weren't nearly as good as yours, Mom, but they will have to hold me over for another year. I made the whipped cream for the pies and it was amazing, of course. (By that, I mean that I whipped the whipping cream in a Kitchenaid...) We made a couple of pies, and we wanted to share, but of course there was only a limited amount, so Sister Murdock made a list of people (office missionaries, etc) who she deemed worthy to get a slice.
The other two pictures are just from yesterday. We were doing some porting (knocking on doors) and we happened upon Tom Petty. And then the other one doesn't really make any sense, but there you go haha. Just some road signs for Neptune and Uranus.
Anyways, this week has been a pretty good one! We have done a lot of contacting and porting again... we really need to refill our teaching pool. President Murdock gave the whole mission a 'White Christmas' challenge (maybe I wrote about it last week? I can't remember) and we actually don't have a ton of investigators right now, so we are using a lot of our time to find some. One of the days last week we had three appointments fall through, which left our entire afternoon open...like almost 6 hours open. So we went out to Onex, which is just a little suburb right outside of the city, and did some serious porting. We talked to a lot of people, got a lot of rejections, but we actually ended up teaching four lessons out of it. People are so fascinating to me. We invited them all to church and to meet with us again, but none were really interested. Bah. But at the last building we ported, at the very last door, this man answered, looked at our tags and said 'Good thing you aren't men, or else I'd shoot you!' Aaah! Some people in Geneva are insane. But I guess that is the case everywhere.
OH I got your package this week! I got it on Thursday, so I guess it didn't take very long at all. Thank you SO SO much! The package got ripped a little bit, and all the inside padding stuff got on the stuff, but it was easily cleanable. But the tights and the scarves are great and the candy is delicious (candy cane ones are almost in season... eh eh?). Thank you for sending all of that stuff, I really appreciate it! We are loving the CDs, for sure. We just got an email from President today that said for Christmas packages, you can just send it directly to my apartment I guess. He said they will deliver any packages they receive before December 8th, but can't make any promises after that. BUT I am in Geneva, right by the mission home, so I am positive that if you just sent it there, even after that, I could get it really easily. That might be safer because a) our mailboxes aren't very big, and b) they aren't super secure either. Bah there are only 46 days until Christmas!
The Spanish elders had one of their investigators, Irma, get baptized and confirmed this weekend and it was lovely. The four of us (Sister Metro and the elders and I) sang a little quartet at the baptism, and not going to lie, it was beautiful. We brought tears to a lot of people's eyes. Success. Haha but seriously, it was so good. We sang Nearer My God to Thee (in Spanish, of course). Haha we practiced so much for it, and the poor elders just couldn't get the bass and the tenor parts, so we had them sing melody, I sang alto, and Soeur Metro sang the tenor line, but in her octave. It was awesome! A little scary, because I don't usually sing in front of people, especially with so few people singing, but it was good. And the baptism itself was beautiful, of course. We had an investigator show up, too. Her name is Tita and she was contacted by the other sisters in Geneva, but they don't speak Spanish, so they referred her to us. But she came and then we talked with her afterward and she said 'I think I may have found the path that I have been looking for.' Brilliant! She didn't come to Church on Sunday though. But we're not losing hope. She is from Peru and she is just so ready for this. We actually meet a lot of people from Peru. One of my only Spanish lines is 'My dad served his mission in Peru' haha. But we are hoping to meet with her this week sometime. Oh also, Paola, the woman that just got baptized a couple weeks ago, taught with us and bore an amazing testimony. Missionary work is so cool!
So how did the ward split go? You are still in the ward with Bishop Garlick as the bishop? How did they split it, just between the north part of the old ward and the south part? That's so crazy. Do you think sacrament meetings will be a lot quiter? Aw, I miss that ward. Oh on Sunday I played the piano during primary to help them practice for their program. It was great, and Mom, I can see why it was your favorite calling! The primary is TINY compared to your ward (like I'm pretty sure there are more sunbeams in Highland than primary kids total in the Spanish ward). But they are singing the exact same songs as we practiced back home! It was cool to hear them and sing them in French (the Spanish primary does everything in French...cool, huh?). Something about the Primary brings the Spirit so strong for me. I loved it.
So how was that magazine article? Are you sending me a copy of it? Tell people I will sign autographs in 15 months haha. Oh and how did election day go? Mom, I'm so proud of you for registering to vote! They've got an election of some sort coming up here. There are a bunch of signs for whatever bills, and I just notice 'OUI!' and 'NON!' everywhere haha.
How is the weather there? Have you seen any more snow? Today is nice again, but yesterday rained alot, and Sunday was wet and really cold. I was definitely expecting snow. I bet we will see it really soon, if not this week. I don't really know if I'm prepared for it yet haha. BAH. Was your time change really just this week? We changed our clocks last Sunday...weird! It was so nice to get an extra hour of sleep, no? We went to bed earlier than usual too, so we got almost 10 hours of sleep. It really doesn't help much though, because the time difference just makes me really tired. Are you still running outside Dad, even in the dark and cold? That's never stopped you before though, I don't know why it would now :)
So I wrote the boys letters last week, hopefully you get them soon if you haven't already. I am going to try and write you all today, and if not today, definitely next week! I really appreciate all of your emails and letters, seriously. They make me feel like I'm not too far from home. And I really appreciate all of your prayers, too, in my behalf and for the work here too. They really help. The faith of many is super powerful. We talked about Esther yesterday with Soeur Lehmann. I love her faith and her willingness to just to all she can to do the Lord's will. And the fact that she had everybody pray and fast for her. She knew that that is what she was supposed to do, and she just put all her faith into action, you know? And they knew that that is what Esther was there to do. Pretty cool, no?
Well, I just want you all to know how much I love you and how grateful I am for you. This work is really hard sometimes, but then I just think about what a huge blessing and incredible opportunity it is and it helps. I've definitely been learning to just increase and deepen my faith in the Savior and show that faith by trying to do whatever He wants me to. I love you all and am excited to hear from you again! Have a lovely week! I LOVE YOU!
Love, Allie
P.S. How are plans for the Turkey Trot coming? Thanksgiving is only like 2 weeks away! Also, we had two questions that we need answers to. First, who sings that song that goes 'oh baby, baby, it's a wild world...'? There was a man playing and singing it on the bus yesterday and we couldn't think of who sings it. Second, what is the marathon record?
Look for handwritten letters within the next week or two! I love you all dearly!
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