"It's like 17 Christmas mornings!"

This is a long one, but these double as my journal so tough luck. :)Quote from one of the senior missionaries who was conducting the mtg the morning after we all got in (cause there's 17 of us). They make us feel so loved, even if we feel haggered and disoriented (like yesterday).

TUMI
So we got a message that a guy named Tumi had ordered a Book of Mormon from http://www.mormon.org/. We got the msg on Mon so the day before we left we went to see him. At first they told us he was home but busy but then as we were talking to his wife he materialized. We then sat with him and taught him about the BOM and where it comes from and about Joseph Smith and how God called a prophet today. He told us when we came he was going to leave to go run some errands but something told him to stay and talk with us. He also told us that every church he sees in Nigeria (where he’s from) and the UK he just feels peace when he sees them, even though he’s never been inside. It was an awesome lesson. I tell you, black people are SO in tune with the Spirit. I hope the elders who have the area will really enjoy teaching him.

LEAVING LILBURN…
one of the more chaotic couple of days in my life. In the top 5 for sure, maybe top 3. I knew I was leaving obviously so that wasn’t a surprise but late Sunday night we decided to move a baptism scheduled for Saturday to Tuesday night so the new missionaries form the MTC could come cause they stay in Lilburn their first night. So much phone calling and rearranging. Plus, I could be there so that was a bonus. It was Stephen’s (who got baptized in March) little bro David. And Stephen just got the priesthood on Sun so he’d be baptizing him. He was way pumped. So Mon was crazy getting everything ready for that. Then that night we got a call that Sis Jones and I were BOTH getting transferred. So this meant we had to spend most of Tuesday packing everything, cleaning everything, and writing EVERY possible thing down that we could think of since we just have all the info in a book and the new missionaries come in and go from there. So it was CRAZY. Plus, we had a baptism that night. But it was gonna be amazing.

THE SAD NEWS
Unfortunately, Satan knows when amazing things are going to happen. At dinner (2.5 hrs before the baptism) we get a call from Stephen that they’d been in a car accident and couldn’t make it. It wasn’t that they were hurt but their parents were mad. We were crushed. So was he. Plus we had to tell him that we were both getting transferred so he wouldn’t see either of us again. And the baptism was postponed indefinitely. Man, oh man. On top of that, we got a call from Destiny and Sunshine saying that not only were they still planning on coming to see the baptism, but their mom (who’s the one holding them back from getting baptized) wanted to come with. So we had to tell them that it was cancelled and also that both of us were getting transferred. Wow. It was rough. But they were so sweet and made us goodbye cards that their mom was gonna drive down to the church the next day if we didn’t make it up to say goodbye. Anyway, it was all chaos. And my comp left her scriptures at an investigator’s house and we had to get them at the last possible sec. ANYWAY, it was crazy and we left Wed morning (Sis Dalley and I had to leave for the airport in the middle of transfer mtg and not really say bye to anyone) so suddenly we were on our way to the airport and I hadn’t even had time to process anything that was happening.

THE REUNION
We met up at the GA airport with some of the sisters who had layovers and then met the rest in St Louis. There’s 14 returning and 3 new with a few more to come. The next day we had interviews and then dinner with the mission pres and got to know he and his wife (they’re AWESOME) and today we’re shopping and moving in. Tomorrow we start on the regular sched. I’m comps with Sis Rancie from Australia. We were comps for a day last yr and we love each other so we’re way excited. I always seem to get the international comps. Makes me feel exotic. She’s way hard working.

THE BEST NEWS
The coolest thing was I got a letter from Sis Becker in Canton and she told me that the Elder family we were teaching (the one where the wife was LDS but we didn’t know until we randomly tracted into her and the husband was not…and she was the one who started getting so excited about the gospel when we were over there teaching) anyway…he got baptized!!!! :) Warms my heart! That’s the best feeling. I pray that I can have it many more times. :)It’s good to be back. Weird, but good. We’re excited to apply all we’ve learned in the “outfield.” It was nice to be back by our pretty temple. The first night here I was feeling a little “fish-out-of-watery” cause I hadn’t really processed the whole transition yet but I went to sleep with them temple shining directly through the bedroom window. Ahhh… :)

Cool scrip: 2 Timothy 2:3. I think. If that one’s not that cool that read around til you find one that is.

Love you all!
--Sis C