Viva Las Vegas!: A Long Week

Well, this has officially been the longest week ever, in the history of long weeks. Sorry for the lame and short email last week - I was still pretty scattered and shaken up because of some scary stuff that happened.

So, to make a really long story short, my companion has some severe anger issues and can't handle change or stress. Last Sunday night while I was driving us to contact some ward members, she got angry and yanked the steering wheel...I almost lost control of the car…it was really scary! So on Monday she had to go talk to President and we were there for most of our P-day. On the bright side, President had me call my parents, so I got to talk to them for about 10 minutes. Then President told us to go home early and get extra sleep. So that was good! Unfortunately, the next day my companion got angry again and she hit me. It has been a very difficult week but I think the end may be near.

On a happier note, we had a few lessons this week- with Missy and Jacque Bluth. Missy is still awesome and has a super strong testimony. She is still on track for baptism on the 30th of this month. Her parents are still really against it and hopefully she won't get kicked out of her house. We are trying to think of ways to help them see that we aren't bad. They just don't understand.

Sister Bluth has been coming to church for 6 years. She is married to a returned missionary and they have 2 small, cute kids. She reads conference talks every week, has read The Book of Mormon cover to cover a few times, and prays. She hasn't received an answer to know if Joseph Smith was a Prophet or if The Book of Mormon is true, so she hasn't been baptized yet. Pray for her that she will have enough faith to not be overly logical about it. Otherwise, she is golden!

On Wednesday, we got to go to our combined ward Trunk-or-Treat! There were so many people there, really good costumes, and awesome chili. We got to be there with the other sisters - Sister Cummings and Sister Nichols. We all dressed up as animals (we got $5 costumes from Target that a member paid for, so nice!) We decorated our trunk and passed out candy and pass-a-long cards, aaaand a few pamphlets and Book of Mormons when the cards ran out... So fun! A couple dressed up as Mayhem, from the All-State commercial, and Flo from Progressive, an advertising major's favorite costumes!

On Halloween, we had Zone Training in the morning, we had a lesson with Missy, Sister H had a Doctor's appointment, we had dinner with the Sisters at Great Harvest (where missionaries eat for free!), and then we got to go to the mission office for the missionary Halloween party! We got to watch a movie called Ephraim's Rescue, which was actually pretty funny and good. There were some funny musical performances and we had candy and caramel apples! We were there until about 10:30. It was such a great time. It was so fun to see all our friends there. Sister Fields and I "dressed up" as each other - so we wore the same outfit. Ex-companionship unity right there! I love her.

We went on exchanges on Saturday, which was really fun. I spent the day in Black Mountain with Sister Eager, who came out a transfer after me. We had a lot of fun and got to talk with a lot of people!

Sunday was church and ward choir practice. On Sunday nights we get to have sleepovers with the sisters for P-day, so we went over to have our P-day sleepover.

At dinner on Sunday night we went to the Bell's house. They have a daughter, Julie, that looked so familiar to me. She told me the same thing, so we tried to figure out why we would know each other. Turns out that she is Lisa Mendenhall's friend and would come and visit her a lot! Obviously she recognized me since I look the exact same as when I was 4 years old... hahah. They are good friends with the Mendenhall's!

Speaking of Julie's, good luck with your half marathon, Julie! I'm super excited for you! You're awesome. And Brian, I hope you loved visiting BYU! Sounds like you had fun. And Aunt Lorrie, I used a nail polish remover thing this week and though of you telling me to think of you when I used them... hahaha. I love you all!

This week we get to go to one of the Gladys Knight firesides! We are super excited and are expecting a lot of referrals from it!

Thanks for all the letters and emails! I love you!

Love, Sister Coltrin