Living in the Breadbasket with Sister Magda: THE STORM!!!

May 2, 2016

THE STORM!!!!

She promises to tell me more about this picture when we talk on Mother's Day.

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty cool. I got better from that nasty sickness on Tuesday but still have a cough that can knock me off my feet. After emailing last week, Sister Tafua, Sister Samani, Sister Leal (the Spanish branch sisters) and I went to Applebee's for lunch and stayed there for almost two hours. It was really fun. We laughed and made music videos to the music in Applebee’s. After that we just hung out at the church which was boring and then went to dinner.

Applebees with the Sistas

Tuesday was the weirdest day ever. We were told that there might be a tornado in the afternoon and that it would storm really badly, so everyone was saying to stay near your shelters while you work. Earlier that day from 11-2pm we had district meeting. The weather was super sunny out and humid—not stormy looking at all. I thought, "Man these weather guys don't know what they’re talking about." Then the Spanish sisters took us to see a member because we had a lesson with her and ten minutes of being there it started to rain. As we got to their house the sister was already was putting stuff in her basement so we were helping her and then had our lesson with her. The next thing I knew, it started to hail big pebble sized hail and then it was raining so hard you couldn't see. Then it started to hail GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL!!!! We were at this members house watching the weather channel because it was getting so bad all the while helping her get stuff to her basement for an hour or so.

And then when the hail eased up, we had to go out and Work More! Not only that—we didn’t have the car so we would be on foot! This was my chance to get up close and personal with a tornado. Riiiiggghhhtt.

We called the Spanish sisters and they came to pick us up and go to a shelter because the storm was getting bad again and that’s when we met Sister Richardson. She was super nice and wanted all of our parents’ numbers to call and tell them we were safe. (Alisha’s mom got the text while at work. She had no idea there were tornado warnings in Alisha’s area. Despite the surprise, she was comforted and thankful for Sister Richardson’s kindness.)Then after a while we had to go back out, so we just decided to go play in the rain and then go to our dinner appointment with the Spanish sisters.

The members that fed us were so awesome we laughed and joked through the whole dinner. They have five kids. The oldest is 15 and was doing accents. Her dad asked her to do a Pigeon accent (My companion is Hawaiian…) and she look at him confused for a while then started cooing like a pigeon... hahaha we started laughing so hard! Haha it was fun.

The Grants

The rest of the week was uneventful. We had exchanges on Thursday-Friday. It was the first time I had to be the one to stay and be the one in charge of the area which scared me and stressed me out a lot but I survived. Then, we had more rain on Friday and it flooded the roads really badly. I’ll send the video.

Sunday was the best Fast Sunday ever!! So many people showed up for church! We had 20 inactive people show up and a lot of members bore their testimony about missionary work! H. (the 15 yr. old girl we had dinner with the night of the storm) got up and bore her testimony about how her mom was talking about her mission and how wonderful it was and about when we went over for dinner that night and we were laughing and having fun and shared a message. She wanted that. She wanted to have what we had and now she wants to serve a mission. It was so cool. The whole meeting was on missionary work.

I love this ward so much and am so grateful for the members and their hard work and how they take care of us and care about the work we do. Being a missionary has strengthened my testimony in so many ways.

This week we have been focusing on family and siblings and how we treat each other and how we are going to be together forever. I am so grateful for my family and my siblings. Our commitment to the members we teach is to say one or more things that you love about each family member. I would love for everyone who reads this to take the time and tell your parents and siblings and children that “one thing” either in person or by phone or even a letter. But I will be the one to start.

I love My mom because she is the kindest, most loving person and has given me so much and sacrificed a lot for me. I love how she would always give me hugs when I was angry or sad and I love that she always tells me how much she loves me and would spend time with me and go places with me and I love that we can talk about anything. And I love that she has such a strong testimony that is so inspiring. I love that she homeschooled us and most of all I love that she is the best mom in the WHOLE WORLD!

I love my Dad because he works so hard for the family and always thinks of us, and I love that he is so Kind and Generous and that we can talk a lot about football and rugby. I can tell him about things that frustrate me and he listens to me. We can argue about British shows all day but we love to watch them together and I love that he's forgiving and I love that he is my dad,

I love my Sister Ashleigh because even though we fought all the time as kids she was always the one to protect me when people were picking on me. She also has such a sweet and tender heart and I love that I could always call her while at school and we could talk about random stuff and laugh joke around. I love that we became best friends and I love that she is my sister.

I love my Brother Blake because even though he was 4 years older than me he was always there for me and we did everything together. I love that he taught me how to play rugby and basketball and football and I love that he would spend time with me. I could go to him if I was sad or if I need advice and he would always be there to help me. I love that he is such a great example and I love how sweet he is and how he thinks of others and I love that he is my brother.

Making Spam Musabi

And I love my Sister-in-law Jordan. I love that I could call her and talk to her about boys or things that were making me so upset or if I saw something random and funny I could just call and tell her about it. I love that we could skype for 4 hours and not even realize it had been 4 hours! I love that we went on sushi dates and went out together. And I love that even though Blake was on his mission; we still hung out together and became Best friends. But most of all, I love that she is a part of my family. I love this gospel so much and I love that I will be able to spend eternity with my family because I wouldn't trade my family for anything.

Love,

Sister Magda