We Are All Beginning Adventures

Well, to begin my new life, I've decided to embrace having a social life. I was one of those people who enjoyed having a few very close friends in comparison to many friends in general. Mostly for the fact that I wasn't sure I could keep tabs on all of them. And to be quite honest, I'm still unsure I'll be able to keep tabs on all of them, but I'm going to try.

My weekend started Thursday night. I went out with the Sister Missionaries from my church and one other young lady. We split into two teams, one of the missionaries and one church member. It was then that I found out that the Sisters had volunteered to house sit some animals for people receiving the gospel lessons. I'd been to this house multiple times and discovered that they were a lovely family, if not a little flyaway every now and again. Sometimes getting them to concentrate is our mission for the entire time we're there.

Anyway, my companion and I were running through the rain, slipping and sliding all over the front lawn and she was having a not so mild panic attack because they hadn't been to see the animals in over twenty-four hours. A shame really. I mean, a golden retriever had been locked inside all day. Anyway, we fed and watered the guinea pigs and the cats, ran upstairs and spent five minutes trying to unlock the door. It was at this point I started laughing manically because no one had ever told me being a sister missionary was so... strange. Talk about adventure. And our adventure was so close to my home as well, I didn't even have to leave the state!

My companion finally got the door open and the dog jumped up, licked our faces, and bolted for the garden, to which she then did three laps of the house. Our job was simple, check the water and the food, and feed the fish. I fed the fish, and my companion checked on the water and the food. The dog hadn't eaten anything in two days, since her owners had been gone. We could tell she was definitely feeling abandoned. I managed to get her to drink some water and my companion went and checked on the rest of the house to see if Pippa (the dog) had made a mess anywhere. Unfortunately, she had. And it smelt disgusting!

Worst of all, she picked the room of a twelve year old boy who hadn't bothered to clear up the Lego or Yugioh cards off the floor. So Pippa had decided to mark her territory on just about everything; the smell was unbelievable. I was literally starting to question my existence when the smell hit my nostrils. So my companion decided that it was necessary for us to clean it up. I stood in the doorway attempting to hold the much excited Pippa back whilst the sister used a wad of toilet paper. However, she started gagging so hard I thought she was going to throw up on the floor.

At this point I was laughing my head off, so I volunteered to do it whilst she watched the dog. Toilet paper is never a smart thing to use either by the way, so I used a plastic bag, again misjudging the stench. Eventually I managed to scrape enough of it off the floor that we were okay, and then it was a matter of trying to find a bin that wasn't in the house... and it was still raining outside. And the bin was still on the curb from the garbage truck. And we couldn't get the gate closed once it was in the bin. Highly embarrassed, we just did it up as best we could and then went back inside to remove as much Lego as possible and transfer it to the bathroom sink to be washed, and then somehow get the stain out of the carpet. Needless to say, that young man will not be able to sleep in his room for a few days while it airs out. 

So I guess that means I have fully been inducted (for lack of a better word); you aren't a missionary until you serve someone by cleaning some sort of poop off the floor.

Anyway, after we'd finished with Pippa and were drowning our hands in dish washing liquid, the family we were animal sitting for came home. They're lovely people, as I've already said. And they make you feel like you've known them forever. They started talking about their holiday to Byron Bay, and how magical it was. I am looking forward to taking a trip to Byron Bay myself. Everything sounds so beautiful and relaxed. Plus being my gluten intolerant self, most of the food in Byron is organic and health food-ey. 

After that we got to share a message with this family. Their mother is a heavy smoker, and the two children are a twelve year old boy and a ten year old girl. We started by sharing a scripture with them, from The Book of Mormon. Moroni 10:32 reads:

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfected in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfected Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

From here we set them a challenge, we challenged the mother to attend an addiction recovery class. However, as she said herself, "I can already hear every excuse in the book coming out of my mouth," so instead we invited her to receive the class one on one with one of the members of our ward who has benefited greatly from it and is a shining example in our ward as a service missionary.

Next was the children; we challenged them to drop all screens at least for one hour a day and spend that hour as a family. This was going to be difficult,  especially for the son who seems to be highly addicted to video games, but who also wants to question everything. His behaviour, it seems, is quite cynical. But nonetheless he is still a son of God. I invited him to a Young Men's activity on the following Wednesday to which he has been invited to multiple times.

The following day, Friday, was spent with my friend Cameron who just came and chilled with my family and I. He's a very sweet person, and my family loved him automatically, which is saying something. My father has an uncanny ability to weed out the weak from the strong, and more than once they have been weak. He has, for lack of a better word, scared them away. It's kind of handy having him around, to peel the flakes away from the rest of the world. 

Needless to say, Cameron was here for four hours, and he seemed to rather enjoy himself. My little sister clung to him like glue. He's the kind of guy that you can pretty much talk to about anything, and he will be fully engrossed in your conversation. He makes you believe that he cares just by being in your presence. His mother is much the same. They're truly wonderful people. 

After that I had about two hours to pack and change before Kourtney came and got me and took me out to a birthday 'party' for a girl I had never met, but made me feel appreciated all the same. Her name was Caccia. She's the girl in white, in the middle of the photo. In fact, all these girls made me feel welcome. Especially Celeste, who is Kourtney's little sister, and their friend Leah. They're just easy to be around, and that's always a good thing.

We ate ice cream and then Mexican and then went and found some community Latin dance classes. And then we disappeared into the city for a while before heading to a churro/waffle/chocolate place that I really wanted to eat at but couldn't have for the sheer fact that there was no room left in my stomach. Kourts and I then went home and decided, for some unknown reason, to talk, for hours, and hours, and then at 2am we went and got McDonalds in our pyjamas, and then decided to talk some more until at 5am, after I'd fallen out of bed twice and was in significant danger of forgetting my own name, we said goodnight. I learnt an important thing about myself from this experience, and I'm sure Kourtney can back me up; I do not handle tired well.

After pancakes and waffles yesterday (to which my gluten intolerant self is still regretting), she brought me home, and ended up staying for close to three hours. My family loves her as well. She's a part of it now, and received and open invitation to come back when ever she wants! The relationship I have with this daughter of God is above and beyond anything I have experienced. She's quirky and crazy and simply a pleasure. There are few words I can use to describe my love for her, and, as you can probably tell, it's hard to render my speechless. But here she is, and she does it every day. 

Also this week, I received some great news! But for the guy in that photo below, the news was life changing. That's my friend Jayden. I haven't known him for all that long, but I don't really need too. He's already a very close friend. And earlier in the week he received his mission call to serve as a missionary for our church for two years, in the Philippines. He will leave his family and all his friends, to go and learn and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ in a country quite different from our own. None of us know what is ahead of him, but all I can say is that I am so proud to have him as a friend. 

On Jayden's left is a girl called Eliza-Jane, known to everyone as EJ (or Elton John, but that was her doing). She, like me, is preparing to serve. And she is one of the sweetest souls in existence. I do not know what I did in my life before earth to have someone as amazing as her around.

And on my left is Barbara, who is the first of our crew to leave on her mission. She will be serving in the Buenos Aires, Argentina mission for eighteen months, teaching in Spanish. And the lucky girl doesn't have to really learn it because she already speaks it. She is a true inspiration, having faced things that I have, our relationship was forged over missionary work and an inability to talk about our trials, but also because we have not needed too. She knows, and I know, and neither of us have had to say a thing. She's beautiful, and she will be a wonderful missionary. 

There are two more soon to be missionaries that I haven't told you about. One is called Jacob. He will leave on the 18th of February to serve in the Berlin, Germany mission, and, as he keeps reminding me, he will freeze to death. But I am sure that he will do wonderfully.

The last is a boy, well... more of a man now, who I have known for what feels like all my life. Life's trials and temptations have faced us both, and more than once he has dragged me from the dark by my ears and propped me up until I could stand on my own two feet again. Today marks one week before my best friend, my brother, Liam, leaves on his two year mission to serve in the Suva, Fiji mission. There is not much I can say, besides the fact that I am so, beyond proud of him. At 15 we began talking about our missions, and at 17, he began to prepare. And here he is, almost two months away from 19, and he's going. And it's the day we have been talking about for years. 

I get emotional just thinking about it, but for the sheer reason that I am proud. Prouder than I expected, and I know that he will helps hundreds of people come to know of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, but also of our Father in Heaven, and the love that he has for us, stronger even than the love of our parents, siblings, and friends combined. 

This is going to be a good week. I can feel it. Already my life is changing. Because we are all changing. 

Happy Australia day everyone! God bless you!