Goat Poop Soup!

It's been a crazy week! Sorry I didn't write last week, we went to the Mall of America so I didn't have time to write! Almost two weeks ago now, we got a third companion! I absolutely love her!! She will be my companion for the rest of my mission! Her name is Sister Hicks and she's super fun! She's learning the language super quick already!

Couple of crazy stories for the week:

The three of us were at our favorite pizza place, Mexitalian. It has really good pizza with Mexican toppings and sauce. So we were sitting there, enjoying our pizza, and this lady and her 7ish year old son come in and the little boy gives us a little rehearsed speech about how he needs money for a sports camp. We gave him a couple of dollars, because how do you say no to a 7 year old? Then, the mom says, "Can I just ask you ladies a question? Can I just have a piece of this pizza? It looks so good!" Then without hesitation, she reaches down, grabs a whole piece of pizza and walks out of the restaurant!! She didn't even wait for us to tell her if she could have a piece or not! A woman stole a piece of our pizza! But after, all I could think about was, "What would Jesus do?" Maybe that woman needed our pizza more than we did. It was bizarre though. Hahaha

This weekend we went to a Karen wedding! It was super cool! The Bridesmaids asked me to do their make up for them, so we were up early helping them get ready. In Karen culture, goat poop soup is a traditional wedding delicacy. So guess what we ate? Goat poop soup! It tasted.... just how you would imagine it tasting!!! 

This week we had a super cool lesson with our investigator Moo Ru. We talked about the Word of Wisdom. After we read some scriptures about it, Moo Ru testified of the Word of Wisdom and said she knows that it's true. She told us how she has seen the blessings from obeying the Word of Wisdom, and the consequences that come from disobeying it. I know the Word of Wisdom is revelation from God to help us keep our bodies healthy. I have seen the effects drugs and alcohol can have on people and I know that God blesses us when we don't put that stuff into our bodies. 

I know this gospel is true! Love you all, have a good week!

Us and some of the cute bridesmaids! 

Us and the elders! The Elder in red was in the MTC with Brooklyn, Elder Brklacich. He is the new Karen speaking Elder. 

Just seconds before tasting goat poop soup. (She sent us a video of her tasting it for the first time. She said that right when the video ended she started gagging. It tasted good at first, then just tasted like she was eating poop! I told her I couldn't believe she won't try fish, but she'll try goat poop!!!!)

A cute investigator of ours, Paw Ku. 

Our delicious pizza. (Missing an extra piece! hahaha)

Brooklyn asked if I could send her recipes to make Cafe Rio food. They surprised the Elders after church on Sunday! She said they were so happy and the food turned out really good.

They were asked to make a scrapbook page for President Forbes. He is finishing his mission on July 1st. She'll get a brand new mission president for the second half of her mission.

I asked her how she is getting along with her new companion. They are loving each other all ready!

Elder Williams, Woodland, Foutz, Evans, Blackburn, Sister Hermansen, Hicks, and Fine.

We ran into one of the Sisters Brooklyn served with in Rochester while we were both attending family weddings at Temple Square last Saturday. Sister Checketts was adorable and so sweet! Such a small world!

Halfway Done and New Companion!

Mom notes: Brooklyn sent me an email and mentioned she wouldn't have time to write a general email this week because they were leaving soon to go to the Mall of America. (This will be her second time going, since she went with another one of her companions) Her mission president allows them to take a trip there before they leave the mission. Her companion, Sister Fine, will be leaving next transfer and I wonder if they are feeling they should go now, just in case their next mission president (who starts on July 1st) changes the policy! hahaha

So, I will update a little on what she told me was going on.

This week is her halfway mark. She entered the MTC on September 14 and since sisters serve for 18 months, June 14th is the middle of her mission. My sweet friend, Stacie Sheehy, gave me a missionary countdown last week. We joke about having a "Brooklyn shrine" in our family room, and I added the countdown to it! I sent this picture to Brooklyn and she said, "Ugh, don't show me that!!!" I asked her why and she said "It's too soon, I want it to be longer!"

She's been busy giving haircuts to some of the girls. In Karen culture they prefer long hair. In fact when Brooklyn cut her hair recently, a couple of the ladies told her it was ugly! 

Looks like the younger girls are deciding it might be fun (and better with the lice situation) to have shorter hair.

 Here's how this one turned out!

Even though she is slightly allergic to cats, she still chooses to cuddle and love them every chance she gets. She says it's the closest she can get to holding babies with the mission rules.

President Forbes told them it's important for them to find things to relieve stress. So Brooklyn has started a little herb garden. She's very excited that it's actually growing! Her creative containers crack me up!

They have been enjoying lots of BBQ now that the weather is warm.

I'm not sure when they did the following things because she didn't give me details, but she had the chance to go to a free zoo and some Asian temples in the area last week.

Brooklyn's new companion for the next 10 months joined them last Tuesday. (She's the one on the right in the picture below) President Forbes wanted to bring her in before the regular transfer this week. Sister Fine, Brooklyn and Sister Hicks will work together for the next 6 weeks. Then Sister Fine will go home and they will go back to a regular companionship. Sister Makenna Hicks is from Gilbert, Arizona. She's been out for 3 months. Brooklyn has already said she loves her and they have a lot in common. I think she's excited to work with her. It will be fun to hear how their language study is progressing. 

Here's another picture of the new tri-companionship at the Mall of America together. (I told Brooklyn not to lose her name tag this time!) 

Who flipped the summer switch?? June 5, 2017

Wow it went from spring to summer in one day! It has gotten very warm and humid very quick! I think I'd still take this over the cold though so I'm happy! 

First of all, congratulations to my sister Candice and her husband Shane. They have a beautiful brand new baby girl, Noelle. I love her so much already and can't wait to meet her in 10 months! 

Something really cool happened this Saturday. A man who has been working towards baptism for a couple of years got baptized. It was such a happy day for him and his family. There's already a whole new light about him. He seems so much happier and looks so much better. It's been cool to witness the change that has happened to him over the past few months. I know that this gospel is going to bless him and his family so much. Now he and his wife can prepare to have their family sealed in the temple so they can be together for eternity! 

The elders in our district are the nicest and brought a ton of food for a barbecue today! I'll attach some pictures! 

Love and miss you all! Have a great week! ️

The man who got baptized and his family! 

Brooklyn sent a video to Valarie telling her happy birthday last week. It was so cute I took a screen shot! 

I sure do miss that face!!!

Temple! May 31, 2017

It's been a great week! We have a lot of investigators who are progressing well and should be ready for baptism in the next couple of months! This week we were having a lesson with one of our investigators, Moo Ru. We were talking about Priesthood and about how our church is the only church that has the Priesthood because it was restored through Joseph Smith. After we talked about it for a while we asked Moo Ru if she would be baptized by someone who holds the Priesthood, and right away she said yes! We are super excited for her. Whenever we teach her, she pretty much teaches us! We will read scriptures with her and she just explains them perfectly and re teaches the doctrine back to us. We are going to pick a date for her to be baptized next time we see her. 

We went to the temple as a district today so I don't have much time to email, so here's a bunch of pictures. Have a good week!!

Some returned missionaries that served here came back to visit so a family took us all out to dinner

Some other sisters were at the temple too, including my last companion Sister Ching!

 These cute little girls had me do their make up with their little make up sets haha

I got my hair cut!