Glory Boy, DQ French Fries, Setting off Home Alarms and Other Adventures

Can't believe I've been in the field a week already! It's crazy how time flies. My one month mark is coming up already! EEK!

Oh man, where to begin! SO many exciting things happened this week. 

First off, I survived my first phone call to an investigator and door approach WITHOUT dying or fainting or throwing up! I thought I was going to do any or all of those things when my companion, Sister Jensen, told me I was going to be talking, but somehow I am still alive to tell the tale. And I'm becoming more used to it kinda. Door approaches still terrify me, but I have a great comp to help me out. 

We don't have a car here in Minot, and probably aren't getting one, so we're supposed to share with the other sisters in Minot but haven't figured out a schedule yet, so we've been getting rides from members and walking. In case you were wondering, it takes 35 minutes to get to our ward boundaries and 1 hour 5 minutes from our apartment to the church buildings. So all of you, count your many blessings right now that you live within a 5 minute walk! 

So the wind here is killer. There have been a few times walking around I've thought that before I take my next step, I'll freeze into a solid block of Sister missionary. But, due to the greatness of my companion, I have not yet died because she let me borrow one of her coats til mine arrived. And then of course, we wore our warm wool tights, coats and scarves yesterday and it was 60 degrees. I learned that wool tights do indeed work. Yay! But yeah. It got so cold one day, that as we were walking around, we came across a DQ (they're here everywhere.) We stopped in to get warm and thaw ourselves out and decided to buy some fries. Those fries were the most amazing warm thing I have ever eaten in my life, not even joking. It was like manna from heaven. Aww, it was the best. And the best part was, we didnt pay for it because last week when we went shopping, some lady came up to us and gave us $10. We're not allowed to take money, but she practically threw it at us and ran away. The tender mercies of the Lord!

So?? WHO WON THE BYU USU GAME?! I AM SERIOUSLY DYING TO KNOW! PLEASE REPLY BEFORE I GET OFF TODAY. Haha. But seriously.

We have some really cool investigators, among which are Jartu and Momoh, who are from Africa. They are ready to be baptized except for living the law of chastity, which is hard because of money situations and getting papers needed for marriage from Africa is incredibly difficult. But we're working with them. They live with another African family, the Sesays, who are less active and will sit in out our lessons. Eastman (the dad) and Morijama (the mom) yell at their children Zayzay and Eastman Jr. and lot, poor kids. The best was when the elders told us last time they were there, Eastman, in his incredibly deep African voice declared in the middle of a lesson: "Zayzay. Shut. Up." Oh man I wish I could have been there, it would have been great. The elders say they almost died laughing right there. But yeah, they're awesome.

I have been trying really hard to eat healthier, which is interesting when we don't have that much food. But I was so wanting to be healthy that a few days ago I mixed a bit of turkey, a lot of spinach and a big ol' helping of that quinoa and brown rice mixture all together and ate it. Not the best thing I've ever eaten, but not the worst either and it was healthy. Haha I don't know if I'll eat it again, but it's the thought that counts, right?

(And before I forget: I found another family that knows the Otis'! We ate with the Lane family last night and Brother Lane is also a B-52 Pilot. He likes Chris. Haha. SO let them know they're popular out here!)

 And this is where it gets good. I'l just start by saying that yesterday wasn't my day.

So in our kitchen in our room, we only have a fridge, sink and microwave. SO when we want to use a stove or oven, we go downstairs and use the members'. Well, yesterday morning I wanted oatmeal for breakfast and so went downstairs quietly as to not wake up the family. They have a gate there that keeps the dog out of the kitchen and after passing that, I got to the stove and put everything on the counter. I then realized a slowly increasing beeping noise coming from a white box on the wall by the gate. My heart dropped as I realized I had set off a motion alarm and didn't know the code! Gah! Not knowing what else to do, I quickly went back up to our apartment where I looked up and saw Sister Jensen's face, laughing. Oh man it was terrible. Brother Noel had to come turn it off. He gave us the code and I just couldn't look him in the face. Still can't. Holy cow it was so embarrassing! Eating my oatmeal yesterday, I tried to think of happier times. Haha. Goodness gracious.

And the crowning glory of it all! Yesterday between sessions of Conference, Sister Jensen and I walked over to the nearby trailer park to go contact a referral. When we got there, we knocked once, no answer, so twice and then a lady watching this came up from behind it and yelled through the door: "Hey! These girls have been here forever! I know you're in there!!" Then the door opened and 2 20 something year old guys quickly went out and joined the lady behind us, exclaiming "Joshua! The door's for you!!" At this point, we saw a guy peek out his head to us, then disappear. Sister Jensen turned to me and said "You have this door." I think my brain stopped functioning for a second.  Next thing I know, this 'Joshua' comes swaggering towards us out of his room, wearing only basketball shorts that were practically falling off. He had chest piercings and tattoos around them, and when he got to the door, he planted himself in his pose and gave us the smolder. My first thought was "Good grief." But all I could get out was, "Well, we're missionaries. Have you ever heard of missionaries before?" He replied yes and then my mind went blank. Thankfully my comp took over and we ended up getting a return appointment to talk to him on Saturday. Haha after we left, we couldn't stop laughing because it was so awkward to be hit on by someone, especially him, due to the fact that we're missionaries, and as such were wearing long skirts, wool tights, and coats. Only our faces were visible. Looking back, it's the funniest thing that's happened by far. Bwaha. We nicknamed him Glory Boy. Yeah. So needless to say, we might be handing this appointment over to the elders. But it was still cool for me to finally get a return appointment, a real part of missionary work. So even if the situation was awkward, it was cool. 

I hope you all watched General Conference! It was amazing! All that they talked about regarding reactivating less active members and getting members involved was awesome. And Sunday, about enduring to the end. I wish conference was every month. It's interesting that they didn't announce any new temples, and that family choir was different, but it was cool. I wish we could have gotten Jartu and Momoh to come watch, but Momoh works at the hospital here working crazy hours. Everyone works at the oil fields, hospital or grocery stores it seems like. At a grocery store, you start off at like $15 an hour because there arent enough people for all the jobs!

I would just like to say how much members help missionary work. Without referrals and rides and coming on visits from the members, this work would be so much harder. Read Alma 6:6! Pray for missionary opportunities with real intent. When you have the opportunity to share the gospel, share it. The world needs this message.

This week I will be studying Preach My Gospel, Chapters 5 (The Book of Mormon) and 6 (Christlike Attributes). These are amazing and will bring you closer to Christ!

I know that this gospel is true and brings true happiness. I am so grateful for the Atonement in my life and for the chance I have to share this great message of happiness. You're all amazing and God loves you! You may not be set apart as a missionary, but you can still help hasten the work! Luke 1:37! With God, anything is possible, so fear not.

Until next week, 

Sister Leslie

Picture1.png 9564K   View   Share   Download    The trees are all Rapid City, the flat one is outside Bismarck. There's one of my and my comp in front of the temple and one with Elder Johnson and Elder Bench, my buddies in my zone. And my apartment.

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