Week 33

Hola Familia!

So this week has been an interesting one.  We were on bikes all week in the ridiculously hot weather.  On top of bike week I was a little sick at the beginning of the week and then, because I didn't want Hermana Mitchell to feel left out and since we spend every minute of every day together, it was only natural that she was sick too.  The only thing that kept us going was the bright ray of hope that we would have the truck in a week with the wonderful invention of AC.  We had our plans Saturday night to exchange the truck back on Sunday, but the Elders just wanted to wait for the transfer call to come to finalize the exchange time.  So we waited anxiously for the transfer call to come.  The district leader called and the normal pleasantries of salutation were conducted, but really we were both trying not to yell "Well what's going to happen?!" So then he delivered the news.  Well sisters I have some good news and some bad news.  The good news is we are staying together and we are staying in 3rd ward. (sighs of relief from us) The bad news..."you are going to a full bike area!"  (Long silence)  Us: "Are you serious?!"  It then took about 3 more minutes before we actually believed the district leader that yes indeed we did just get switched to a full bike area.  Yep no more truck sharing.  I now have a very strong testimony that the Lord answers prayers.  Back in my first area when I was a young, green missionary, I once prayed that I would get sent to a bike area.  Well that prayer has now answered in a big way and I think I need to think through my requests a little more carefully next time. :)  We are now gearing up for 6 weeks in the 100+ weather on our bikes.  Mom you should send me a thermometer that I can attach to my bike, so I can keep track as I slowly cook to perfection in the El Paso Oven. :)  Hopefully we will survive and we now are free to eat as many tacos, nieve and pan dulce as we want!  Yay! We are also pretty sure that we might be the toughest, tannest, best looking missionaries (helmet hair included) in the mission by the end of this transfer! Or we might be the stinkiest!  Hehe I guess we'll see what happens.

So with being on bikes I might need to find a bike shop and have them undo whatever Walmart did when they put the bike together.  This week my chain popped off while we were riding.  I didn't crash or anything, but we got really dirty with all the grease.  We looked at the houses and then picked a nice bright house to ask if we could wash our hands.  The lady that answered was really nice.  She didn't even hesitate to let us in and later she said it's because "Mormons" have a lot of social capital in her book.  She isn't interested in religion at all but she said the LDS people she has met are some of the nicest and happiest people she knows.  It made me really happy to think of those good member examples that touched her life and as a result blessed two sister missionaries.  It really does show how people are always watching and what we say and do really does and can make a difference.

What else happened this week.  Well because it's the end of the transfer we had inspections which means we have to do a deep clean on the apartment.  So we both were cleaning the tub and there was water that wasn't draining, so I thought bummer we have a hair plug.  So I got to work trying to dislodge the plug, so the tub would drain.  The whole time Hermana Mitchell is telling me that I am brave for trying to unplug it.  Then after 5 minutes of no success I get up to try and find something else to use when all of the sudden I hear mad laughing from the bathroom and Hermana Mitchell has just realized that she plugged the tub...hence the tub was not draining!  We had a good chuckle over that and we we managed to finish cleaning without further incident.

Even apart from the craziness of being sick we still had some really great lessons this week.  One of my favorite lessons was when we were teaching two women and a third one, who walked into the room after getting her glass of water, brought a chair over so she could sit down and listen to the plan of salvation.  The other really neat experience was one of our investigators told us how she had been praying and thinking about the plan of salvation and how she thinks it's true and that it really rings true to her.  It is amazing to see people find answers to their questions through the gospel and it always touches my heart when they describe the spirit that they are feeling.  I know that it is through the spirit that we can know the truth of all things.

I love this gospel so much!  Hopefully I'll still be around next week after our first 2 bike weeks in a row and can tell you more about the joys of being a missionary!

Con Amor,
Hermana Klaus