Letter #34: Come and sit a while with me

Oh my, another transfer down.

And strangely enough, I already know exactly what's happening for the next transfer! Usually I'd only know if I was staying or transferring and wouldn't find out who I'd be with until Wednesday, but this time I actually know!

So. I know this news won't mean much to you because you aren't here and probably have no idea who I'm talking about...but it's big news.

SISTER STEGELMEIER AND I ARE TOGETHER IN NOVA!!

Sister Steg is the one who's in pretty much all my pictures...and we both dyed our hair a couple weeks ago to the same color...and is super amazing...and we've been living together for 3 transfers now. This news is super crazy and was definitely not on the radar at all. I could feel that I was going to stay in Nova but I had no idea who was coming to be with me. I am SO excited! I love Sister Steg. We're going to have an amazing transfer together. It's still so wild, though. She's just moving across the apartment...which means she has still been in the same apartment for her entire mission so far! (10 months!) 

Speaking of months...

...let's not talk about the fact that in a week I will hit my halfway point. 

*gasp* 9 months. Is that for real?

This last week definitely had some extremely emotional moments. As a missionary, you really put your whole heart and soul into the work and into people's lives as well. It is so hard to watch when they fall or when they choose darkness over the light that you have brought into their lives. I'm sure that's how our Heavenly Father feels frequently...he watches us struggle and just shakes his head and thinks, I've given you the tools to be happy. Why won't you just use them? Sometimes it feels like it takes everything you have as a missionary to just push through and keep going! 

So yes. For those of you who read my emails and think, Oh my, Sister Dougal is just breezing along having the time of her life, I want you to know that a mission is hard. It's extremely hard. But that's probably what makes it so WORTH it, too! And I am having the time of my life. 

This week I got to go on exchange down to Miami Shores and it was SO fun. Definitely the best exchange I've had on my mission so far! It was exactly what I needed, too...just to get away from my area and the emotional ups&downs for a day and tear it up with the amazing Sis. Quiocho in Miami. We had a WILD time together, including her trying to hoist me over a fence and us recording songs all day long on a voice recorder. I love the area and the people down there and I really hope I get the opportunity to serve there!

But for now...I am thanking the Lord that I get some more time in my beloved Nova YSA branch! I definitely feel like there are still some people here that I'm supposed to meet and help. 

I also got the chance to go on splits and be Sister Johnson's companion down in her family ward on Sunday (she's in the trio, so occasionally they have to split)! We had a baptism...this cute little old Puerto Rican lady who was soo funny. She asked me if I had "un novio" (a boyfriend) and when I told her "No, no! Soy misionera!" she told me all the reasons why I should have one. 

So it was a week full of random wild moments and also a few tears...but it was a good time. 

Love you all!

Sister Dougal