And The Stories Just Keep Coming...

I am not sure what is up with this transfer, but oh my goodness. It has been yet another crazy week. Makes for good stories though!

I'll start on Monday. We went out with Sister Lanman from the Carnegie Ward to a super nice restaurant called "Claim Jumper". It was really good and she got a billion different appetizers for us to try and to take home. When we got to the restaurant, I looked over and saw Brother and Sister Conger! I was so excited to see them! They are from the Sunrise area, in one of the family wards. We had dinner with them a lot! It was so good to see them and talk to them for a little bit. After dinner, we went back to Sister Lanman's house and she had a huge banana split bar for us - fresh fruit, candy, and every other topping you could hope for. It was an awesome night.

On Tuesday, we went to lunch at Sister Ockerman's house. She is a cute, older widow. She made us grilled cheese and talked to us about her family. She grew up in Kalamazoo! Yay for Michigan people! We contacted a lot of people for the rest of the afternoon and finished perfecting our area books - because our mission is being toured by one of the Seventy this week. That night after dinner we went to the West's house in the Paseo Verde ward. Sister Cummings is being tested to see if she has Celiac, and Sister West's kids have Celiac, so she taught us how to cook and showed us some good gluten-free stuff. It was really nice, she is great. When we got home that night, we went to put a CD in our DVD player so we could listen to music, and realized that someone had broken into our apartment and stole both of our DVD players and one of Sister Nichols' bags to put them in! They had dumped the stuff out of her bag, stashed the DVD players in it and left. It was crazy! And pretty scary to think that someone we didn't know had been in our apartment. We called all the Elder's to see if it was any of them just playing a joke, but no, someone actually broke in. It's good that they didn't take anything else though - like our cameras and Ipods!

Wednesday night was just as scary! We spent the day contacting potentials and had a few lessons. That night, we came home to plan and while we were planning, someone tried to break in again! We all hid behind our kitchen counter armed with kitchen knives. It was super scary, but once the person realized that we were in our apartment, they left. We called the Zone Leaders and moved all our desks in front of the front door and sliding glass door. Looking back on it, it's pretty funny. But at the time, we were so scared.

On Thursday we spent the day at a doctor's appointment in the Las Vegas West mission for Sister Cummings, and when we got back, some of the Elder's called us and asked us to stop by and visit a certain person in our ward sometime. The Elder's were with a family in their ward and they were concerned about their son who lives in one of our wards. We stopped by and he let us in. He was clearly upset about something and was surprised that we were there. We talked to him a little bit and found out that he is seriously depressed, and is frustrated, and feels like Heavenly Father has forgotten about him. We were able to talk to him and try to help him see that he has not been forgotten. At one point he stopped and said, "So, just wondering, why did you stop by here at this time?" We told him that we heard he might be having a hard time and felt like we should stop by tonight instead of waiting.  It was really cool and the Spirit was really strong. We know that we were there for a reason and so did he. We are pretty sure that he was planning on taking his life that night - we scheduled another time to meet with him and help him progress.

That night we went out to dinner again to Red Robin. There was a lady sitting alone at the table next to us, so we invited her to come and sit with us, but she didn't want to intrude. It was really cute though, because she talked to us almost the whole time we were all out to dinner, and she waited to leave when we left! We left her with a card and told her that we'd love to meet with her again. It was really awesome. After that we went to the Viking chapel for Sister Nichols' exchange with Sister Fields! So Sister Fields came and stayed with us in our apartment that night! It was so good to be with my sister again. I love her. She went with Sister Nichols for the day and I got to be with Sister Cummings in Paseo Verde.

Friday was a really great day! I got to work in just my area for the whole day!  We made a ton of contacts and met a lot of really cool members. We stopped by the Stacey's house and they gave us their homemade bread, a ton of referrals, and a great idea to get more referrals at Christmas! They are super awesome! That morning we stopped in the mail room at our apartment to get all the ads out of our mailbox (the mailman gets mad when we just leave them in there). We left a pass-along card on the bulletin board! We also saw that there was an apartment Thanksgiving lunch going on that afternoon! We decided we would stop by and try to get to know our neighbors and see if we could find investigators. It turned out to be a super great idea! We were the only younger ones there and everyone wanted to talk to us! They asked us about home and about what missionaries do and everything! One lady even told us that we could come to her house if we needed anything, since we don't have our moms with us! And she isn't even a member!  It was awesome! That night we got to go to the Reber's and teach Missy again.

Missy is so amazing. She has such a strong testimony. Her parents are being really difficult. Although they decided they wouldn't kick her out, they told her that they didn't want her to get baptized until she turns 21. Missy doesn't want to play that game though - she knows that they won't let her even when she is 21. She doesn't think she will have to wait that long, and neither do I. We have so many people fasting and praying for her and for her parent's hearts to soften. Please keep Missy in your prayers!

We came home that night so that we could take Sister Fields back for exchanges, and so that I could go on exchanges with Sister Celis, my Sister Training Leader, buuuuuut, I got pretty sick and was throwing up. So that's fun.

Saturday we went down to Kingman, Arizona for a baptism. That was Sister Nichols' last area. I laid in the backseat and only ate saltine crackers that day because I still felt pretty sick. But it was a lot of fun to be in Kingman for a little bit. We got to drive on Route 66, so I feel pretty accomplished in life.  We met some pretty awesome members that are down there. It is pretty bare and desert-y though... Yeah. That night after we had come back to Henderson we stopped at a referral's house. Her name is Crystal and she is really awesome! She is ready and willing to learn about the gospel. Her daughter is really sick and her boss had given her daughter a blessing. She was amazed and excited to know more. She told us that we would definitely see her at church the next day!

Sunday was crazy. I went to Ward Council at 8. Paseo Verde Sacrament meeting at 9. Gospel Principles at 10. Relief Society at 11. Carnegie's Gospel Principles at 12. The Arroyo Grande Ward's Sacrament, Gospel Principles, and Relief Society at 1, 2, and 3 because that's when Crystal was coming to church. Oh. My. Goodness. It was crazy. So much church. We are over achievers, I guess. It was a good day though.

Not much else is going on. It was a crazy week, but a good one! We decided that we are going to go to the temple on Christmas Eve! We are really excited for that! Transfers are next week and we find out what's going on this Saturday!

Thanks for everything! Have a good week! I love you!

Love, Sister Coltrin

Who can resist a jumping picture?

 

Sister Cummings and Sister Coltrin at an outlook in Arizona

 

Sister Coltrin on Route 66

 

"The pass along card I left in our mail room"