It's Like Deja Vu, All Over Again!

Howdy, everyone! This week was weird, but good, but weird. You know what I mean? Well, even if you don't that's tough!

We taught FHE to the YSA branch this week, encouraging them to do missionary work and we gave them copies of the Book of Mormon and pass along cards to share with friends. This week we will be checking up on them to see what they did.

One girl we know has been busy! She's been giving away books, and she even invited us to come to her dorm room to help answer questions a friend has. We are hoping to continue teaching him and follow up with him about what he is reading in the Book of Mormon.

We are also teaching a Chinese guy, who invited us to dinner tonight while we do our lesson. To a Thai restaurant. Just let that soak in and enjoy it.

Speaking of Dinner... Last night we knocked on a door because Sis. Gulledge heard them watching football and she loooooves football, so we thought it would be a good "in" so to speak. The guy who answered the door maaaaay have been a liiiiiiitle tipsy (okay, more than, but who's checking?), and he was a little eager to see (in his words) "two lovely ladies" at his door. Oy. But he's 24 and fits in the YSA bracket, so we left him with a Book of Mormon and said we'd check back with him. That's when he said, "Or maybe we could do dinner!" Um, yeah. Okay. Or maybe not. We said our goodbyes, bore brief testimony, and I went to shake his hand... And wouldn't you know it, he kissed my hand! Second time in my mission that a drunk guy has kissed my hand! Do I wear a sign that says, "If you're drunk, you should kiss my hand"? Sis. Gulledge shook his hand, too, and got a big wet kiss on the back of her hand. We laughed pretty hard once we were back at the car. Someone needs to explain to me the psychology of why someone who is drunk feels the need to kiss the back of my hand. I'd love to hear it.

We also got to go to Institute this week! Can I just say that I love institute, and it's been a long time since I've been. Plus, a girl came who has a boyfriend in Broken Bow who is a member, and she is thinking about baptism, so we're going to try to teach her. Fun times! We are still struggling with how to find people and of course working with a branch is different than a ward, which is weird. Plus they are spread out through the whole stake, and we don't know how many miles we have. The Zone Leaders haven't told us yet. I'm debating if I want to call them and ask, or if I just want to put my fingers in my ears and pretend miles don't matter (metaphorically speaking, that is). Obviously, miles matter. Just don't know what we're working with yet. Though I think we'll be good--we're at the halfway mark for the month and we've used about 200, so I think we're doing alright. Maybe we can save up miles and go to some of the further locations.

We also were able to attend a baptism this week! It was in the Kearney Family Ward, but we helped out with it and got to see how people can change and become members of the church and it was cool. One day, someone that I teach will take that step and it will be very exciting!

Also, fun fact: I know I have mentioned the TiWi before, and how it is our Big Brother in the cars. Well, this TiWi in our little ugly Ford yells at me all the time! Specifically, it tells me that I am doing "Aggressive Driving!" all the time. Okay, not all the time, but almost every.single.time we leave our apartment complex turning left. It hates left hand turns.

Okay, I feel like there is probably a lot more to say that I am forgetting, but hey, I'm not perfect, so this email will have to do, as is. Can I just say that I love you all? Because I do. Please keep writing to me, because I love it. It makes me feel happy to get letters. For reals. Even if sometimes they get waylaid in Omaha!

Keep going. I love you!

Sister Loradona May

Are You On Pins and Needles?

I know I was! So. Thursday morning rolls around and... President Weston called at 6:45 am to let me know I would be transferred, whitewashing, and training, all in one. I was sad to leave North Platte--I love it there! The members are fantastic and so excited for missionary work. 

What? You want to know details? Fine. Hmph. I have been transferred to Kearney to the YSA Branch! I think this is Heavenly Father's idea of a colossal joke, seeing how as it's been several years since I WAS a YSA! I am training Sister Gulledge, from Honolulu, HI, and she's awesome. She was a little overwhelmed at first (me, too, honestly), but we're working through it.

We are now living in an apartment that we took over from the Elders who were over the YSA branch before. It was... not the cleanest. I mean, it isn't like they left junk strewn everywhere, but they definitely had a different idea of what "clean" meant. The shower was... atrocious. I have pictorial before and after evidence. I scrubbed it that first day because I felt like I couldn't get IN the shower to make myself clean because it was so dirty. I decided that the shower hadn't been scrubbed for several months. And the kitchen? Also not awesome, so Sister Gulledge cleaned it. We have a lot of work on our hands, because it seemed like the previous Elders didn't leave us with much, work-wise. There are two investigators, one of which hasn't returned our message, and the other is moving in 2-3 weeks. We also have a very thin list of potentials to work with, which means we have a LOT to do. Wish us luck!

We did have a good lesson with one investigator and her boyfriend last night, even if she is moving to Omaha. What was cool is that I had already met her before when I was in Kearney for three days before! She opened the door and said, "I know you!" It was really neat to be able to see how that time, which I thought was a waste in Kearney for three days, is turning out to be important for what I am doing three months later. Heavenly Father has a plan, you know? And we just don't know it all or see it all or understand it all. We just have to have faith that what he has in mind is what we need to do and work towards. And I'm working on it!

So, for a little more of the amusing: Last week, I drove 4 different automobiles! Allow me to explain:

First, I had our regular red Subaru, nicknamed Tina. She was shiny and pretty. And we loved her. And then it turned out that the TiWi (our Big Brother in the cars) broke in a truck out in booneyville, and they didn't trust Elders to drive unmonitored, so would we trade cars with them? Okay we said. So the Zone Leaders met up with us and traded automobiles so I was driving my...

Second car, a minivan! Y'all, I kinda hate minivans. They simply are NOT cool. Not at all. And this one was less than cool, because Sis. Stiles and I got in, sniffed, looked at each other and said, "It smells like BOY!" Ugh. That van, 3 days earlier, had driven to Lincoln and back (4 hour drive each way) with 6 Elders in it. On a 100+ day. So, yeah, the Boy was strong in that one. We went to a member's house, and he is an ex Navy Seal, who told us we needed to stink it up like Girl. So he went to his supply closet and brought us some Febreeze! "This is the froufrou-iest scent I could find. Use the whole can!" HA! So we did. The van soon smelled like reeeeeally sweet cookies. Oy. I don't know that it was really an improvement. Then the Elders met us with our...

Third vehicle, the Chevy Truck! Whooohooo! Fun times. Even better? The Elders left a Lion King CD in the stereo, so S. Stiles and I were busy rocking out to "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" while driving a pickup around. Yes, we are that awesome! And two days later I was transferred, so that ended my sojourn with Sam the Truck. Sigh. It was fun while it lasted. And it felt like we blended in better with the rest of Nebraska, so that was a good perk. And then I went to Kearney where I met my...

Fourth car, a blah little white Ford. Sigh. I have definitely moved down in the world. I miss the Subaru! It was like a little tiny piece of home!

So, I'm on car number 4, and I will probably be here for a while. Sigh. I guess I just need to accept the fact that I don't get to choose my car, and that looking cool as a missionary just isn't important.

On the up side, there are now 3 missionary companionships in Kearney! There's us, the Kearney YSA sisters, the Kearney Family Ward Sisters (my friends Sisters Youngberg and Page! Hurrah!) and brand new Kearney Family Ward Elders (Elders Scott (who was in my district back in Council Bluffs) and Sorensen (who is brand new))! So it is cool to have so many missionaries in the area and it just makes life awesome.

So. Let me sum up: Transfers, Cleaning Apartments, Lesson, Car Musical Chairs, and Missionaries Galore!

I miss you all, but I am trying to work hard and just be a missionary. Send me letters! You know you want to!

Love,

Sister Loradona May

Saying Goodbye to Tina

 I (Mom) have been remiss in posting Sister May's letter. This is from last Tuesday - Monday being Labor Day.

Hello all! I shall explain the subject line soon, but I have other things to talk about first.

First of all, my foot is feeling tons better. It is still a little tender at times, and I'm not exercising on it yet, but missionary work is easier. Standing on doorsteps, though, is not my friend. Ick. 

We went to Lincoln! I had never been there before, but it afforded an excellent opportunity to see some old friends from the MTC and to say hello to new Sisters. It was great! We slept on the floor of a member's house where one companionship lives, and while sleeping on the floor was not ideal, hey, it was better than sleeping in the car! Remember how Sister Stiles was going to be playing a duet with S. Y'berg? Well, she was suuuuper stressed about it. So stressed that she started sleep walking. Have I mentioned that S. Stiles is a sleep talker? She is. Almost every night. And add a little stress, and she sleep talks AND walks! My favorite "conversation" was the one where I wake up to her proclaiming, "My name is Sister Stiles, and I just know this will bless your life!" HA! 100% missionary to the end!

Well, this week she started walking. For example, one night she sat up in bed and started babbling, but I didn't notice until she said my name: "Sister May, that was craaaazy!" she said. Then she threw off her blanket and said, "Hold on, I need to go to the bathroom." She then proceeded to head to the bathroom. When she returned, she left the bedroom door wide open and climbed back into bed. "S. Stiles?" I said. "Are you asleep?" "NO!" she responded emphatically. "Oooookay..." I said and got up to shut the door... It turns out she rememberd NONE of that. HA!

So. There we are in Lincoln. Sleeping on the floor. S. Stiles gets up, walks over to S. Page, shakes her shoulder to wake her, then goes back and curls up on the floor. Poor S. Page, so confused, looks over at me and asks, "Sister May, did you wake me up?" Nope, I respond, that was Sister Stiles! HA! Again! S. Stiles had no recollection of that, either. 

All of that stress was for nothing, though, because the performance was beautiful. I recorded it on my camera, so perhaps another time I will send you my memory card and you can share it with people. 

But you know who got to experince a little performance anxiety herself? Sister May! Yes, folks, that's right. The Assistants to the President neglected to alert me to the fact that they wanted me to be the pianist for the meeting. Ahem. A little advance notice is nice, Elders. Especially when the hymns you want me to play are hymns 250 and 251, We are All Enlisted and Behold a Royal Army--neither of which I was particularly familiar with. Hmph. It's fine, though. It turned out okay. I didn't die. And people sang loudly enough that I think they drowned out my mistakes. 

More importantly, however, was the fact that we got to listen to Elder Robbins teach us. I had been telling S. Stiles that I wanted an MTC refresher course, and then Elder Robbins came, and it felt like a delightful refresher course! I loved it. He gave us ideas, told us stories, helped us along, and shook each one of our hands and asked where we were from. He was so nice and lovely, and his wife was delightful, too. It gave us the chance to know what Heavenly Father wants us to know and teach. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. 

Nebraska gets another award this week, this time the Freakish Weather Award. Friday night was a huuuuge thunderstorm (not unusual), but Saturday night was a tremendous hail storm! There were hailstones larger than I had ever seen, but they were "only" golf ball sized. :) Sadly, they left our car looking a little more like a golf ball than we would like--she got all dimpled. Tina--we've named her Tina--has little marks all over her. Sob! We let the fleet coordinator know, but there's no major damage, so they probably won't repair it until they want to sell her. In his words, "There will be more hail storms." 

While we're on the subject of Tina, we learned yesterday that we will be switching cars with some Elders for... a variety of reasons? I don't know all of it. All I know is that they get Tina, and we get their.... Pick up truck. Unusual, right? All I know is that there are some sisters that have begged to get a pickup for their mission vehicle, and they have been denied. I'll let you know about the pickup next week. :) We don't know how long this will be for and when it will end. We shall see!

Speaking of next week, Transfers are on Friday! And I have no idea what is going on. There are new sisters coming to the mission, and S. Stiles is all trained, so it is entirely likely that we will be split up. I have no idea where I will be, what I will be doing, so you'll just have to wait with me! Dun dun DUN!

Mini miracle of the week: We were looking for an address: a half address. Like, 1234 1/2 W. Easy St. We could not find it. Finally, we pulled off onto a side street and S. Stiles said a prayer. I looked up, looked to my right, and there was 1235 1/2. So I looked left and there was a little house on that side, but I couldn't see a number. Let's go there, I said. As we walked up, we saw the address: 1234 1/2! Hooray! We knocked, and that's where she lived! Triumph! I love mini miracles. They are rock'n'roll. 

Look for your own mini miracles this week. I bet you'll find them. I love you all! I hope you're all in suspense about what will happen! I know I am. 

Love,

Sister Loradona May

Another week in North Platte!

Dearest Family,

For the bad news: Sister Stiles convinced me to see the doctor about my foot (it was swelling whenever I would walk for any length of time, which, you know, is not good for missionaries, or anybody, really). So I had xrays and whatnot, and (for the good news) nothing's broken! For more bad news, I have to stay off of it for a while. Today should be the last day? So cross your fingers for me. It's NOT bad at all, so do NOT even worry about me. I only tell you these things in the interest of full disclosure. The biggest problem was my own stubborness--if I had just sat and rested for 3 days right after I twisted my foot, it would be fine already, but because I was insisting upon working, it prolonged the healing process. So here's my message for you: if you are sick or injured, just stay home. Just get better. Or life will get worse. Boo. But I'm fine! The bruise on my arm is still way worse.

Here are some other highlights from the week: So, we went to Broken Bow for our district meeting. Our District Leader, Elder Thompson, has been providing us with meat for district lunch because he received a bunch of meat from a member. One week it was pulled pork(?) sandwiches. I think it was pork. But it was mystery meat from the member. The next week it was tacos with ground beef from the member. This last week, all Elder Thompson would say was, "District lunch SURPRISE!" And then we received a cryptic text from him: Is anyone allergic to cats? I wanted to respond with, "Sister Stiles and I love cat! Yum!" but I refrained. It turns out the home we would be eating at had about 4 cats and he wanted to make sure everyone would be fine with the cats. But this week's meat turned out to be amazing. Because it was steak. (And not Cat Steak, but real beef steak!)

I think you all know that I love me some steak. Love. And this was amazing. Apparently, it was also fresh, so you know, practically still mooing. So I have now officially had Nebraska steak, from Nebraska cows, in Nebraska. Go Meat!

We also had a funeral this week. A sister in the ward who had been battling cancer for 13 years passed away, and Sister Stiles, Elder Riley, and and I performed a musical number for it--Sister Stiles' medley of "Abide With Me, Tis Eventide" and "Homeward Bound" that we sang a few weeks back for Sacrament Meeting. We sounded really good, but it was definitely a different experience this time--most of the people I didn't know, and most of them were crying while we sang. But the family members were appreciative of the music and we were glad to help out. But that is my second funeral here in Nebraska. I don't know what that means...

Remember how we are having a mission tour this week? Well, we learned a few details. We will be going to have our conference with Elder Robbins on Friday the 30th, and we will have to head to Lincoln. I am a little sad that we will be so close to Omaha, because that means that we will be within an hour of the Temple, but not able to go. Sob! Maybe another time. (It's sad, because when you're way out in the boonies, you don't get to go to the temple at all. It's just too far.) But we don't know if we will get to carpool with anyone, or where we will stay. We will be driving out there Thursday evening so we can be there in time for the 9 am start time, but we don't know where we will be staying. And you know me: I LOVE a plan (and now I'm thinking of the A Team...), and not having a plan or even a hint of a plan is making me crazy! Sigh. I'm learning to be patient. (Between you and me, I think that the Lord is working to make me more patient--He's making me wait on my foot to heal, he's making me wait to know what our plans are, and I just think that patience is a bunch of what I am supposed to learn from this.)

Speaking of the mission tour, though, Sister Youngberg called us on Saturday. She asked Sister Stiles to accompany her on the piano (Sis. Y'berg will be on the cello) as the special musical number for our conference on Friday. The plan was at first to overnight the musical accompaniment to us, but then Sister Marshall (we live with her, remember?) was headed to Kearney, so she brought the music back to us that evening! Hooray! So since I am forced to sit with my foot up for hours on end, Sister Stiles has been playing and practicing for hours on end, and only freaking out a little bit. It is a bit unnerving to learn you'll be performing for a zillion missionaries, your mission president, and a general authority, and you only have 6 days to learn and practice the music. But, hey, maybe this is why I had to twist my foot--so Sister Stiles could practice and feel more confident! She got a blessing yesterday from the Elders and our ward mission leader. When he asked for her full name, the newest elder said, "I feel like that's information I'm not supposed to know!" HA! I heart elders. They're ridiculous. 

Another funny tidbit--Dad sent me a package, probably two weeks ago. I, however, did not even know a package was headed my way until this past week when a letter from Mom said, "You should already have the package by now..." Huh, I thought. What package? Well, thought I, maybe they're holding it in Omaha. Two of the Elders were going to a meeting, so I asked if they would check for the package for me. Sure, they replied, no problem. They go to their meeting and return. No package there, they say, it actually got sent to McCook, to an Elder. 

What?

Really. They crossed out my name, and put an address label for this Elder in McCook on my package. Apparently when he got it, he opened it, got confused at the contents, then looked at the package, and saw my crossed out name on it, and then held on to it for a week. But our Zone Leaders were going to McCook, so they would pick it up for me and bring it back. Sigh. And when I got it, yep, it was my package from Dad, with the CDs in it and a letter. Oy vey. I have no idea what goes on with the mail sometimes. Maybe there's an Elder there in the office who has it in for me, so he hoards my mail and sends my packages to the wrong person. :) HA! It doesn't matter--I have it now. I may keep the packaging just for the pure comedy of looking at a package with my crossed out name on it and the McCook Elder's name and address plastered on it. 

Speaking of mail hijinx, though, next week is transfers, so who knows what will happen. If you don't mail something to me by Tuesday (Sept 3), then don't send it to the address where I live; send it to the Omaha address. Or wait until after Sept. 5, which is when we hear about transfers. I honestly don't want to hazard a guess, because I totally thought I would stay in Plattsmouth and Sister Harris would leave, but then I left Plattsmouth, and Sister Harris is STILL there! Go figure. Though you should all send me your guesses: Will Sister May stay in North Platte? Be transfered to Kearney? To Omaha? Or Sioux City? Who knows!

Also: Remember the man we met in the Wendy's two weeks ago? We're meeting him again tonight! Exciting times! 

Also, it's P-Day! Life is good. Now if I can just relax about not knowing what I'm doing on Friday, I will be fine. I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Loradona May

In Which I Am Injured

Okay, I'll get the suspense out of the way--on Tuesday I very gracefully slid down some stairs and maybe twisted my foot. It hurt, but there wasn't a mark on it! I was actually mad that it didn't look more swollen or bruised or something. I mean, I want something to show for my pain! Luckily, I bounced right back and after some ibuprofen and ice, life was nice. Now that it's been several days, though, a yellowish bruise is making an appearance, so that's... gross. HA! I have a better bruise on my arm, but unfortunately it doesn't photograph well, or I'd send you a photo. It's all colors and shades of blue, purple, and green. You should all be jealous!

We have continued to teach people this week, but it sometimes moves a little slowly when people cancel on us. Sigh. We've definitely had some good lessons and a chance to teach people. Last week's theme seemed to be the Plan of Salvation! Some weeks it seems like the Restoration is all we teach, but last week was different. I loved it, though. 

We traveled to Holdredge for our district meeting last week, and that was good, even if it was a 200 mile round trip. So far we are halfway through the month, and we have used about half of our miles, so we are on track. Sadly, however, that won't cut it when we have to travel to Grand Island (or maybe Lincoln? We haven't heard anything about that) when Elder Robbins comes next week for the mission tour. This week we travel to Broken Bow for our district meeting, which is only 150 miles round trip, so you know, it's an improvement. Have I mentioned before that Sister Stiles and I have decided that Broken Bow, Nebraska should be best friends with Broken Arrow, Oklahoma? Well, we have. And now I will get to see Broken Bow, so that should be interesting. Our district leader last transfer got lost going to Broken Bow and almost traveled out of the mission, so I hope the LDS.org map doesn't lead me astray! The Address on LDS.org for the North Platte meeting house is WRONG! Wrong number, wrong street, wrong, wrong, wrong! The building phone rang yesterday, and I answered it, and it was someone looking for the building but not finding it. Of course not, I thought. Everything is wrong! Argh. For future reference, the address of the North Platte church building is  4100 W. A and Lakeview Drive. (It's kind of on the corner.) So if any of you ever go to North Platte, just know that the directions on the church website don't work. Ask me instead. :) 

Things I have noticed about North Platte:

1. They love their lawns (by and large, anyhow). They also love to water their lawns. And it seems they also love to water their sidewalks. 

2. They've never met a garage sale they didn't love. They are everywhere it seems! We haven't really stopped at any, but sometimes when we've been out walking, we'll kind of walk slowly by! 

On Saturday we finally made contact with a referral we've been trying to meet since the beginning of our stay here! Hooray! She needed some help getting ready for the exterminators to come--hooray! Even better, she likes us and we'll be going back to teach. Life in Nebraska can be a little weird sometimes, but I think that speaks more about the missionary condition than it does about Nebraska. 

I love you all, and I think that life keeps getting better. And as someone smarter than I am once said, "It will be alright in the end. And if it's not alright, then it's not the end!"

Love,

Sister Loradona May

Another Week in Paradise! (From Aug. 12th)

This week has been weird, but I feel like every week on a mission is weird. But first I lost my voice on Tuesday, so we did nothing. It's hard to teach people when you don't have a voice. Don't worry, though: I'm doing better now.

It was definitely one of those weeks when all of the seemingly-solid appointments cancelled on us. We even had a dinner cancel on us! She called us and asked if she could give us a gift card to Wendy's instead. We said, Sure. Why not? So we took ourselves out for dinner. We'd been sitting down no longer than about a minute when a man came up to us, stared hard at my name tag, then asked, "Are you Mormons?" Yep, we sure are! It turned out his grandmother had been a member, and he asked if he could ask us some questions when we were done. So when we finished eating, we went and sat with him as he asked question after question! We pretty much ended up teaching him the Plan of Salvation and all about the restoration. We also gave him a Book of Mormon and asked if we could call him to follow up. We probably won't get to go teach him since he lives a million miles away in the Sand Hills, but we can at least contact the branch up there. It was such a cool experience, though. He was really moved by a lot of the things we taught him, and I think it was just what he needed. 

The other weird thing about this week was my mail. See, for the last few weeks, I thought my mail was getting slow, but whatever. After you've been out for a while, you tend to figure people will slowly stop writing to you. But it seemed weird that Dad would stop writing. 

Yeah, that's what I said: Dad. I hadn't received a letter from Dad practically since the end of June. But we went to our District Meeting on Wednesday, and our district Leader said that I was the big winner for mail! Plus a package! Our zone leaders had brought back a ton of stuff from Omaha (forget the fact that they'd been to Omaha several times during the last transfer and this one), and among the stuff was my mail! (Let me explain how mail works: When you mail something to the mission address, they paste my local address over the mission address, then throw it back in the mail to get to me. So it takes 2 days to get to Omaha, a day to get sorted and a new label in the office, then another 2 to get to me out in North Platte. So, I usually get letters a week after you write them. Or, if there's a big meeting coming up, they will hold onto it until the meeting, and then they will send it with the APs to the meeting, and they'll give it to you there.) For some reason, the office hoarded my mail for the month of July, but not all of it. See, I've received 3 letters from Scott in July, but then one letter (from July 15) they held onto. I received no letters from Dad, so on Wednesday, I got four letters from Dad. I also received 3 letters from Hykel, a postcard from Chellae, and a letter from my friend Jessica. So, yeah. I was the big winner for mail, but I would have preferred they just forward it on like usual. 

So if I haven't written back to people in response to letters, or in response to specific questions in letters, that's why! I'm not upset, I'm just confused--how come some letters make it through (3/4 of letters from Scott Shea, for example), but others (100% from Dad) don't get forwarded at all? I have no idea. It made for a lot of reading on Wednesday night, that's for sure!

So, this week has been good, but we have a trip to Holdredge coming up, so that's a fun 100 mile (one way) drive to go to our District Meeting this week. Keep being awesome and writing letters--even if I don't get them until a month later! I still love them, and I love you!

Love,

Sister Loradona May

Teaching Like Mad! (From Aug. 5th)

So, Sister Stiles and I have been teaching like mad. Basically, wherever we go, we are teaching. We try to be prepared, and we try to plan for teaching opportunities wherever we go. At first, things were a little scary this week because we had some empty days. Days where it is like hollering into a cave and hearing an echo back. That's how empty it was. Yikes. So, we just prayed. A lot. And then we got ourselves out there and beat the fear out of ourselves. And we were blessed! We had a ton of lessons and we found 4 new investigators. I really think that our efforts are blessed. I also think that sometimes we doubt ourselves, and we just shouldn't. 

This week we were supposed to go to Broken Bow for our District Meeting, but that changed, and now we are going to have a Zone Training and it will be in North Platte. Oh, and I will be giving a training. So, you know, pray for me on Wednesday, willya? Also, I have decided that Broken Bow, NE and Broken Arrow, OK need to be buddies. One day I will get to Broken Bow, and I would like to say hello to Broken Arrow. Maybe one day. 

Sundays are the weirdest days, as missionaries. Normally, I would think of Sunday as a day of rest. As a missionary, it is more of the same, but with more meetings. Yesterday, our day started with Ward Council for North Platte 2nd ward, then we went to 20 min. of the 2nd Ward sacrament meeting before we started Ward Council for North Platte 1st Ward! Then we had the rest of the church meetings, followed by ward mission correlation. What that all adds up to is about 7 hours worth of meetings. And then dinner. And then work until 9. Day of rest? What rest? Don't worry, though--I'm not complaining! We had two reeeeeeally good lessons last night, so working hard totally pays off. 

What doesn't pay off? Having a cold. My throat is sore, and this morning I could hardly croak out,"Hello!" My voice is warming up, though, and it's a good thing today is P Day--perhaps by the time we have a lesson at 6 I will be able to say stuff! 

I try to remember things to tell you, and sometimes I forget what I wanted to say. I mean, each day is different, but it's kind of the same, you know? How many ways can I say, "So we talked to some people, they weren't interested, but then we talked to some other people who were, and then we talked to a few less active members, and then we went home and went to bed"? I hope this doesn't get boring. I'll try to think of some fun tidbits to share...

Have I mentioned that North Platte actually is in the flat part of Nebraska? It is. And we will be having a member of the Seventy visit the mission at the end of the month. I don't know what that means for us in North Platte specifically, but I think it should be exciting. 

Also? Everyone in Nebraska has a dog. Most likely they have multiple dogs. And I think I have decided I don't want a dog after all. They slobber, they bark, they run around, they chew on things, they bark, they ruin furniture, and they bark. Can you tell I don't like the barking? Maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon, but if people have dogs I wish they would train them. But then, people have kids, and they don't train THEM. But, yeah. Dogs are not growing on me. I think a pet rock sounds about right. 

One of our investigators asked us this week why we pray if God knows us, our thoughts, and the things we've done during the day. I've been thinking about it, and I think it has more to do with us showing gratitude and love than it is about making sure we fill in the details. It also gives us a chance to hear back from Heavenly Father. If we didn't ask a question, would he give an answer? I just know that I didn't get the answer to go on a mission until I asked what it was I should be doing. I certainly never would have come up with that answer on my own! So say prayers, people. You never know what Heavenly Father will say when you do!

I love you all and I am working on being a good missionary! Kiss all of the little ones for me! Snuggle them and remind them what Aunt Loradona looks like! 

Love,

Sister Loradona May

ps--I looooved the package, Mom! I have a snail mail letter dedicated to you all about it! I loooove packages! They are the best!