The Wounded House Celebrity

 Sister O accidentally fell one morning last week.

She hurt her elbow as she broke the fall.

She didn't think she needed to go to the doctor,

and it does seem to be healing nicely....

but she has developed a nasty bruise.

 

On a much lighter note,

Sister O is our House Celebrity.

She was asked to be one of the

 "Sister Training Leaders,"

for the Mission.

Since so many new women are joining the

missionary forces, they needed more leaders.

I know she will be a wonderful training leader.

She has been a joy to have in our home.

She has been here five months now, and I am already

thinking of how much I will miss

her when she has to move on to her next area.

P-Day Worker Bees

 These Sisters are working so hard. 

 They spent the morning doing laundry and
 cleaning and reorganizing their closet.

Then Sister H and Sister O went to one of their appointments early

because they wanted to mow the lawn!

 

 

When I heard about this I remarked,

 "It was 95 degrees today and it 'felt like' 100!"

Sister H said, "It was only a little yard in a trailer park."

 At least it was evening...around 8 p.m.

Sister H said that they had fun doing it. 

Sister O took this picture of Sister H "having fun."

Sister O raked the yard,

 but they did not take a picture of that part. 

 Since they didn't get the raking part, I took
a picture of her at 10 p.m. after they got home.

She was sitting at the table writing in her planning book.

She said, "I'm so tired...." 
I told her I would take a picture of her

true self right now, so it was okay to look tired.

She gave me a good tired pose.....

 

But she couldn't hold it for long.

This Sister just has too much fun in her.

The Sisters are working hard.
The Texas heat and humidity truly does drain you,
especially when you are not used to it.

(sorry the lawn mower pictures didn't post right)
The smiles on the Sisters faces remind me of
the song "We are All Enlisted."
~~"Happy are we! Happy are we!" ~~
~~"We are joyfully,
joyfully, marching to our home"~~

Another Exchange Day

Yesterday Sister B came in exchange for Sister O.

Sister B is from Arizona.

She is finishing her mission in two weeks.

She will be returning to BYU.

There are so many different Sisters....

they are all so different...

but they are all sweet and kind and wonderful.

I'm glad we are able to house the missionaries.

It has been a blessing in our lives.

We have gotten more than we have given.

The Spirit is strong and the pleasure of bringing others

into the Church is a joy to me.



Mail and Packages, Rain, and More...

 The mail and packages are really rolling in.
This is what greeted them when
they came in from teaching last night.
I think they are setting a record high
on missionary mail for the year
since we have been housing the missionaries.

 

 Hermana H's big sister sent her this

super-big package of goodies!

Those donuts are making me hungry.  

 

Hermana H is the baby of her family.

They shower her with all the love a family could

possibly shower on a little sister. 

 

 

This came today.
Hermana O is being showered with love by her little sister!

She got a wonderful package from 8 year old Leah today.

She says she LOVES her LAKERS & DODGERS POTHOLDERS!

(which were especially hand made with love)

and she says she loves the LA Dodgers Logo picture, too! 

 

The rain made the Sisters a little goofy today.

As Sister O was telling me about their day of service

at the Senior Center, she was handling the scissors.

Then, she randomly picked them up and did this.

I said, "Hey, you are so silly! 
Hold that pose...I have to get my camera!" 

 

 Then I decided to take a picture of rain -- in July.

This is such a rare treat that it deserves photographing.

I was trying to get a close up of the rain on the plants...

but I was not sure it would actually show.
 

 So I took a picture to prove that we are having rain!

 

 Sister H hit the jackpot in letters today...

 

they are getting a lot of mail,

they are teaching a lot of lessons,

and they are happy.



Baptism Reunion

Tonight a family was baptized that Sister O and Sister M

first talked to in the parking lot of an apartment complex.

A lady was waiting for her son to be dropped off by a school bus.

One thing led to another and they wound up teaching her and
her husband a couple of lessons. Because the family

spoke English, the Sisters passed them

over to the English speaking Elders.

The family decided to be baptized, so Sister M was able

to come (with her new companion) from Plano to witness the baptism.
Sister O gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.
There were 80 people at the baptism!

Sister M asked me if I could take her and her new companion

(who is another Sister M, from Idaho) back to Plano.

I was very happy to see and talk to Sister M again!

She looks so good and is so happy.

It was a brief, but lovely
baptism reunion.

Mid Summer Missionary Happenings

While the cat is away the mice will play.

I was gone on vacation for 2 weeks. 

When I came back, I heard about this. 

Apparently the Sisters were anxious to play a prank on the Elders.

The Elders were going to come by the house to pick something up
while the Sisters were not at home.

The Sisters concocted a plan to hide the thing the Elders were

looking for... high up in the tree in the front yard.

They left clues for the Elders to follow in order to find it.

No one got killed, that is the good thing....

Sister H took this picture and Sister O was

the one in the tree. Oh MY!  

 

The July heat and humidity has been taking its toll on the Sisters.

One night last week Sister H walked in the house

around 9:30 p.m. and just FELL on the couch (like this).

I grabbed the camera to document it. 

 

 Sister O is taking the heat a little better.

I think she is getting used to it.

The past few days we have had rain and record low temps.

Both are very unusual for the middle of July.
It is very lucky for the missionaries.

The Sisters are happy about it.

They keep saying, "I LOVE this weather!"

I don't want to tell them that it won't last long....

 

The mailman has been good to the Sisters.

Sister H is ahead with more packages and letters...

but Sister O keeps her spirits up by remembering

that is because Sister H is a new missionary.
Sister O is hugging a big box of doughnuts they got
as a kind of "reward" for doing service at the community
food bank.   

 

 Sister H has gotten many special treats from her mother

and her father.

She was excited to show us this beef jerky

that her dad made for her from a deer she shot before

she came on her mission.
She shared a piece with us.
I have never tasted such flavorful beef jerky! 

 

 Sister O made Orange Julius for us on P-day.

It was very tasty!

 

"Especially tasty," says Sister H!!

The Sisters are making many contacts

and teaching a lot of lessons.

There is a baptism tomorrow.

Life is good in the missionary world.

Happy Fourth of July

 The Sisters are dressed in Red, White, and Blue

for Fourth of July....

 

 Thursday is planning day.

 

 They are heading out to spread the gospel.

 

Happy Fourth!!!

Another Busy Day

I found Sister H waiting for a ride to

a Zone Meeting this morning...

 

 

while Sister O was finishing up personal study time

and putting an address on a letter.

They are all ready for another busy day.



Another Missionary Reunion!

 The 3rd missionary to live in our house was Sister S (from Nevada).

She was here for only a week or two in September. 
 Sister M (from Hawaii) lived here
from October to January.
Now Sister S and Sister M are companions....
and they are living in Mesquite.
It is like they have a distant common relative .... us!

On Sunday there was a baptism involving someone they had taught,
 and since they were in the neighborhood,
they stopped by briefly to say hello.
It was such a happy day!
I love these two Sister missionaries.
Sister S has only 4 months left on her mission
and Sister M has 8.
Time is flying by on wings of lightning!

No Worries....

 In the past I have sometimes worried about the Sisters

because, well....they are girls.

It takes faith to go into the homes of complete strangers

to teach gospel lessons.

I once went to a home with Sister O (from Washington)
and Sister S (from Utah).

It was night, it was winter, and it was dark.

It was then that I realized that there was some risk involved.

For a split second, I was a little afraid.

Everything went perfectly fine.....

but I realized that there is good reason to pray for the

missionaries (especially the Sister missionaries).

I will continue to pray,

but I won't worry as much now that Sister H is here.

She's a strong one!