2 moves in 1 week!

[summer '08]

Yes... it is true. I MOVED. AGAIN. I am in Milwaukee now! I LOVE it.

Monday I spent all day MOVING [from adams to mauston]. ugh. my least favorite thing to do. ever. But we moved in to the barretts. I LOVE their house. I got all settled. all situated and moved in. My clothes all hung in the closet. I was EXHAUSTED. it was the sorriest excuse for a pday EVER!!! That night sister behrends called me and asked if i had heard the news yet? WHAT NEWS? She had already called and told me president barrett told her she'd be opening a spanish area, like 3 weeks ago. She was convinced i would be her companion but i wasn't. i had just gotten to adams and there was a lot of work to be done there and president didn't make it sound like i was leaving any time soon. a couple of days after that sister murray called and told us she was going home... so we knew that our threesome would probably get split up to send one of us to west allis to be behrends companion whenb murray left. well MONDAY NIGHT [as i layed on my bed, feeling SO tired and sick of moving] sister behrends kept telling me on the phone to not unpack and to call president BLAH BLAH BLAH. i said NO! then the assistants called and told me not to leave the area on tuesday and that they would be calling me in the morning. grr... so I said whatever I AM GOING TO BED. i was tired. (did i mention that yet?) ya. i was.

I DIDN'T sleep AT ALL monday night. I just KNEW it was me leaving. I could FEEL it. I woke up and got ready tuesday. still exhausted. that morning we were going to leave our house drive to wisconsin rapids for district meeting. then we planned to work on the west side of our area, then drive to appleton to stay the night so sister warner and i could go to leadership in fon du lac the next day. if one of us was moving... we needed to know so we could take their stuff with us. I called the assistants and elder lamb told me to put all my stuff in the car and that president barrett would be calling to tell me about my new area in a few minutes? WHAT? my world was UPSIDE DOWN!!!!!

SO president called. He said, "Good morning Sister Black. I have a secret and dangerous mission for you." I asked if I got armor. He said yes. He told me I would be going to milwaukee to be sister behrends companion. He also told me at the end of this transfer we would be opening a new area in kenosha/racine ... speaking SPANISH in a Spanish BRANCH!!! NO WAY! SO EXCITING!!!! I told president i was a little shocked, I was only in adams 3 weeks. He said he realized that but that those were 3 critical weeks for adams-friendship and that he appreciated my service there. I love that man. I told him if i didn't know he was inspired I would think he is CRAZY! I have always wanted to speak spanish. I always wanted to serve a spanish speaking mission... all in the LOrd's TIming! He kNOWs Me!!

so i packed. again. i had 5 minutes before we had to leave. i told the assistants that they better not tease me about how much stuff i have because i had NO time to pack. we drug all my stuff back down stairs, put it in the car and off we went. we had district meeting, then district lunch [mexican food... yum!] then i went and said bye to the fosters and the caldwells. Then we were OFF to APPLETON to see my sister WARNER! I love her. we REPACKED my stuff. AND we stayed up ALL night talking!!!! it was fun.

we had to wake up at 4:30 wednesday morning. we got ready, i was beat. excited though. We drove to fon du lac with e. pulley. i love that kid. he was my first zone leader. LEADERSHIP was AMAZING. Brother Tim Bothell and Brother Kelly Mills came from SLC from the missionary committee to train us, along with president barrett. Sister warner and I felt so lucky to be there, it was the first time sisters had ever been invited to leadership.

I learned so MUCH! I learned how simple the path is to return to our heavenly father ... the gospel is SIMPLE! [FAITH... REPENTANCE... BAPTISM... RECEIVING THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST ... & ENDURING TO THE END] The world trys to make it SO complicated. I get to help people find that path. How AmAzing. I learned that when I invite people to make and keep commitments the invite is not coming from ME at all... it is coming from HIM!!!! I learned how to use this new tool called a baptismal calendar- the principle behind it is SO inspired and I know it will help investigators as they progress to baptism! I learned that as a misionary I literally have the opportuntity to receive revelation for the people we teach... studying is a REVELATORY PROCESS... AmAzing. and each of us, as we study the gospel, can receive revelation for ourselves and those we have stewardship over: THAT IS HOW HE GUIDES US! God really loves ALL His children. I know that!

It was truly an uplifting day. I left with a renewed sense of wanting to be COMPLETELY obedient so I could receive all the blessings God has in store for me and my family.

That night the assistants drove me and my many belongings to milwaukee to the mission home. I got to spend the night with murray and behrends. We had dinner and then a testimony meeting. It was so sad to see sister murray leave. she was a trooper these past 7.5 months. It made me appreciate my mission that much more. and my health. I am so glad I got to serve with her in the mtc... she taught me a lot.

I went to bed so early that night. 10:00. it was glorious. the earliest i had been to sleep since i was in the 3some. i LOVED the trio. but we talked SO much at night. constant CHATTER! I am SO going to miss those girls. I love sister bishop and sister roth. we had a great time together.

Thursday the work began in milwaukee. we serve in the muskego lakes family ward and the YSA ward here. IT'S SO FUN!!! So much like green bay. thursday we committed Janice to baptism on July 4th and we used the calendar I learned about in leadership!!! woo- hoo! It was amazing. she is SO excited! Independence from sin! yeah. president showed us this scripture when we called and told him [ALma 10:6] look it up ... it's kinda funny. it talks about July 4th, he knows all these random facts in the Book of Mormon. How great to set a baptismal date the day I get here! and we currently have 3 others too, so a total of FOUR! the work is on fire here.

Friday I got to see JULIEANNE KLINGER AND SPENCER TWILMEYER! it really did feel like i was home! Spencer was in my BYU ward last year and dated Layne, my roommate. He's from Milwaukee. Julieanne is my BFF from Green Bay, she is from muskego but goes to school at UWGB. She was less active then made it her new years resolution to come back to church. she is AmAzing. She gets her temple recommend SOON! I lOVE her. we had QUITE the reunion. She is just as excited for me to be here as I am for her to be here!

Friday and Saturday we taught our investigators here and I continued to meet new people. SUnday was busy with church. This is a great area.
i love living with the kozlowsky's. I LOVE SISTER BEHRENDS. we are like the same person. it's great.

In 2 weeks we will go to kenosha and open spanish. we will still commute back and forth [it's only a 30 min drive] to work in this area too. we have been studying like crazy. since we're language missionaries now we get an EXTRA hour to study. it's glorious.

Being here we get to go to the mission home and mission office A LOT. it is SO nice. I think I have been to each place once a day since I got here. It is really cool to see this side of the mission and of the Barretts. I love them. Sister Barrett is the BEST. she is so good to us. we helped her cut up all the vegetables for the BBQ she had friday night for Todd's graduation. Her last one graduated sunday! He's off to BYU today. He had his eagle court of honor last week. Being around him makes me miss Rocky SO much!!!!

Anyways, I absolutely LOVE it here.

I got to talk to sister lisa robertson from green bay on the phone today. she called and left me a message earlier this week on the adams phone, but i wasn't there. Jos is in Tonga! woo-hoo! I also got to talk to Jed and Olivia too. I told bro. robertson i was going spanish and he asked if i was going to come to the GB branch. .. someday i could do that.. that would be AmAzing to go back to GB spanish! we shall see! I have got to learn this language first! What a great family the Robertsons are! I love them! They feel like family.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! DAD, I LOVE YOU! GRANDPA, I LOVE YOU!
[in case anybody is wondering I have the best parents and grandparents ever. you should all be VERY jealous. jk... but really. I got the cream of the crop! thanks for all you guys do for me!!!!]

ok I must go! longest email ever! Sorry. send all mail to the mission office!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! love, sister pamella jo black