Beginning, Middle, End ...

So last week I was freaking out about when I decided to go home... WHY did I choose to go home in April? Was that too earlier? Should I have chosen May? You see, sisters, unlike elders don't get a set time to go home. They get to choose at either 17.5 months or 18.5 months. Well, last year April sounded like a great time to go home. . . it was so far away, I'd get to go to Mexico, visit Brittany at college, etc. . . THAT WAS LAST YEAR. as the time got closer and closer I didn't even let my mind wander as to if May should be an option. Then when I was helping sister bishop PACK to GO HOME from her mission I began to FREAK OUT! All these things ran through my mind. I sent my mom an email with the dialogue. She probably thought I was crazy. She told me to do what I felt was right and they'd support me either way [of course, no help! haha such a mom answer!] Then, the last email she sent me said, "As with all things I suppose... There is a BEGINNING, a MIDDLE and an END!" hilarious... that was the best. so blunt.

I SUPPOSE she put that just perfectly! I feel good about April now. I finally prayed about it and just got a peaceful feeling... so I am just going to EMBRACE this last transfer of my mission! I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left. This is the life. I picked up my new little missionary girl on Wednesday... SISTER COUSIN. She is wonderful. I love her. She is so READY to GO! - Just loving being a missionary. I never told her I was going home in 6 weeks the whole day... even though President Barrett and the Assistants kept alluding to it with phrases like, "Since many of your trainers will be going home very soon, you must learn from them all you can before they leave." She didn't ever get it and in the parking lot she asked me if I had been out 9 months? SO CUTE! all the other sister missionaries just looked at me, but knew that I didn't want my greeny to know I was OLD and going home. None of this TRUNKY nonsense!!! [definition: TRUNKY: prematurely packing ones bags, literally and figuratively] I just kept saying I had been out a little over a year, all the sisters would laugh. That's what all the elders say that are a few transfers away from going home. It WORKS! anyways, I had to tell her in the car, because I couldn't lie when she asked me straight out... "when do you go home?" HAHA she couldn't believe I hadn't told her... I just didn't want her to think I was DONE... ya know:? BUT she is excited to work and so am I ... we have SO much to do in the next six weeks... we have got to get on it RIGHT NOW!

Sister Bishop went home Friday. Oh how I am going to miss her ... She was such a great companion. I love her! Her and I got along so well... She understood I needed to EAT regularly. Skipping meals is just not in the cards for sister pamella jo black. She always said I was like a boy! just like her brothers, she said she could see it on my face... that is was TIME TO EAT ... haha I admit, I do get cranky if it's been too long since meals. I don't do well on an empty stomach!

full time missionary + skipping meals = bad combinatiion! write that down rocky!

She made fun of me for calling quesadillas "cheese crisps" ... i just grew up calling them that! I don't know how or why... i just did! She made me meals! She was the BEST... just give her the music she likes and she's a happy girl! i will miss her! It's wierd being here 6 weeks and having to take over... AND TRAIN... sometimes I get a bit overwhelmed about what to do and where to go since I am soo new here... but life is good. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

As I was helping sister cousin unpack, I was thinking of what I came with on my mission... much of that stuff I don't have anymore... I LOVE MY MISSION CLOTHES NOW... [when i came out i looked amish, that's what the packet makes you think you have to look like!!!] I LOVE MY MISSION BAG... This is what you would find in my super CUTE HURLEY BAG my family sent me in the summer, I haven't used a different bag since...

1 green folder. it's plastic and it's the best. I can keep EVERYTHING in there... ward rosters, important papers, pictures of my family, transfer packet and calendar, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.

Preach My Gospel. Don't leave home without it. I take that thing EVERYWHERE.

Gospel Art Book. The church published those in the summer... it is spiral bound and has every pic you'll ever need in it. It's AmAzing. So great for teaching lessons.

Book of Mormon. Bible. I always have those with me. They're our FaVoRITe BoOkS!

Plaid journal for note taking!

Lint Roller. Sewing Kit. Triple Card Reader [for my camera chips]. zip drive. White Handbook [in eng & spa]. Mini Hymnals [in eng & spa]. Pen Box [FULL of Pilot G-2 colored pens] (i am famous for my colored pen box... its a must as a sister missionary! a girl needs variety!) Striped Bag with the essentials.

GPS. wallet. gloves. gum.

sharpies in the front pocket [best for writing on passalong cards]. planner. post-its. small ntbk to write down words i need to look up in spanish!

water bottle. car keys.

...

That is one full bag! it's like mary poppins bag. i love it. i always have everything i need! and EVERYTHING everybody else needs too! its AmAzing.

ok ok... on to the week...

.monday.

we started out siter bishop's last pday with Breaksfast with Sam.. YUMMY . she made us homemade banana pancakes... my goodness those things were HEAVENLY. sam is a great cook! then we emailed. went to wal mart. sister bishop packed, i took a nap! :) or tried to. our neighbors were home and having world war III. i am convinced. I got my haircut fixed by sister lindner... it was a little long in the back [japenese animae character anyone?] and she fed us dinner. I love the lindners. he is the bishop. they're a great family.

we taught martha, Genny and Dan the Plan of Salvation. i got so excited as we were praying in the car before we went in to the house. I thought about how much I LOVE the GOSPEL i get to teach about! What am I going to do when 24/7 I don't get to do this anymore? Ok... lets not think about it! I love that excited, butterflies in my stomach feeling. I got that when I first came and I still get it. It's the best! i love this gospel! I love the excitement of feeling the spirit and restoring to our Heavenly Father's spirit sons and daughters the truth they once knew and loved!

then we taught brian. brianne and aj came with us and we talked about the temple. i love them! they are the best YSA [young single adults ever!]

.tuesday.

sister bishop packed all her things. i cleaned the apt like it's never been cleaned before [you'd be amazed, i cleaned it the way my mom cleans before we go on vacation... in about 2 hours. bleach city! so great.] then we drove to wausau for district meeting. many of our elders are being transferred. i love serving around the missionaries i do. they are such great examples to me. Elder Ferris, my district leader brought me a family size box of strawberry pop tarts! my favorite! everytime he'd call to check up on us he'd ask what we need and I would say pop-tarts! he'd laugh. since he was being transferred he came through! so nice. i love missionaries! We went out to eat at culvers with the district and afterwards we headed to MADISON, WISCONSIN! sister bishop served six months in Mad-town so on our way to milwaukee [to pick up my greeny] we stopped to have dinner and visit some of her old peeps there. I got to go to the institute and the Madison capitol and see SISTER WARNER. she goes home with sister bishop! so WIERD! i can't imagine my mission without her being here! she is a great missionary and a great example to me! We did our thing in Madison and then headed to milwaukee. We also got permission to stay at the KOZLOSKY'S even though sister missionaries don't live there anymore [the ward is on a rotation and fights for who gets the missionaries!] I love the K's! I miss them! Everytime I stay there it's like going home! It's the best. I miss them!

.wednesday.

TRAINOR'S TRAINING! We got there at 8am and it was so fun to be around so many missionaries! I miss that being up here in the northwoods. we were trained for about 2 hours and then we got to meet our NEW FRESH MISSIONARIES. We all stood on the stand as the new missionaries walked in to the chapel behind the assistants and we sang them "Called to Serve" [yes it was super cheesy]... but i almost cried! we are CALLED to SERVE... we gotta live this up! so I met SISTER COUSIN! [sister bloechl, who we live with when we go to antigo wanted to know if she was from arkansas with a name like "sister cousin!"! haha i love her] We did training and orientation with our new missionaries. i love them! I remembered my first day meeting sister warner. it was very similar. I remember she told me, "we have a baptism this transfer!" that made my day! I was able to tell sister cousin, "we have two baptisms planned this transfer, and many more we're going to plan!" I love being a missionary! i love sister warner even more know. I remember her telling me that there is no such thing as a junior and a senior companion... its just one has the phone and the other the keys! That also helped me to feel so comfortable as a newby. I did the same for sister cousin! After training we had lunch and sister barrett told me that as soon as sister cousin came off the plane she told president barrett, "that is sister black's companion." and he said, "i think so!" haha I love that they know me so well. I love the barrett's. I was able to talk to some of the elders serving/ training in my old areas, specifically elder vialpando in Racine. He said, "people sure like you there!" he has no idea what a difference that made to me! I also got to tell each of the sisters how much they'll love the areas they're going to be trained in... because I have served in them already. so wierd! i feel so old!

We ran to the k's after training to pick up my perfume that brittany insisted on using! i love her then we got gas on our way back up to Rhinelander. as we were gassing up a school bus window flew down and a girl was yelling, "SISTER BLACK SISTER BLACK!" it was becky kozlosky! i love her! i love milwaukee. we drove to rhinelander. 4 hours later we got here, just in time for the ROAD KILL CAFE or the WILD GAME FEED. aka the ward party! it was a great place for sister cousin to meet the ward. so many people came that we had invited! I love sister cousin! have i said that yet?

.thursday.

study. lunch. sister cousin emailed her family to tell them she is here. lunch. we taught ABRAM [armor of god, using our homemade armor]. we taught ALYSSA and CINDY. and had dinner with them. then visited with the Jones family. SIster CouSin Is a great teacher. i love her. she doesn't seem new at all.

.friday.

study. teach andra about miracles... moroni 7. transfer planning. weekly planning. 6 hours of PLANNING! i was going stirr crazy. so was sister cousin. but it was good. needed. then we went to CULVERS for her first time and then taught AJ with Brianne about nephi and the boat [my trademark]. It was good. i missed sister bishop today. i have only been here six weeks! i need her knowledge about this area!!! i don't know everything, but i know enough, so all is well!

These are the transfer goals we made:

6 baptized and confirmed

2 with a baptismal date

25 investigators at sacrament meeting

72 lessons with a member

60 other lessons

10 investigators progressing

12 referrals received and contacted

18 new investigators

60 lessons with less actives and recent converts

840 new invites [thats 140 a week, 20 a day! that's our mission standard] i thought 100 a week was going to kill me last trasfer!!1

these are high goals, but we have FAITH they're possible and we have names behind the numbers. like P.Barrett says, better to shoot for the moon and miss than to shoot for the dung heap and make it!! :) sister cousin and are a great pair. a match made in companionship heaven! she's the best.

.saturday.

we met the ward at the temple at 6:30am. we headed to the St.PAUL MINNESOTA temple. It was amazing. we were expecting brian and martha to come, but they couldn't make it. BUT sam and AJ were there. It was AJ's first time. It was so wonderful. We drove down with Bishop and his wife and got to talk with them about a lot of things. Then we helped out in the Baptistry in the girls locker room, hurrying them along through the showers and getting their wet suits to the washer and stuff. FUN! those temple workers can get a little uptight sometimes! She was yelling at the girls a lot! so we calmed them down and assured them all is well. so funny. We all laughed. Then we did a session. I love the temple. THe temple president spoke to the youth during baptisms and told them that the salt lake temple is 26 times the size of the ST. Paul Temple. He also said that the SLC temple still only has 1 baptistry. We do the same work they do. ST. PAul is the 3rd smallest temple in the world, tied 15 times over! haha It's cool to be serving in the Wausau stake because they're in the ST. PAul temple district. only stake in wisconsin that is. I had never been to minnesota... it was fun!

THEN on the way home it happened. all at once. like a flash of lightning. I GOT THE FLU. i thought i just had a migraine from the lack of eating... but that was not so. Bishop was convinced i just needed to eat, he knows how i get! :), and i would be fine. . . but we stopped at A&W, a cool one too where it was all decked out and they wait on you... and i threw up... i never even ate... and that process happened about 5 or 6 times in the car, on the side of the road ALL THE WAY HOME on our 4 hour drive. those poor people. they were so good to me. when we got to the church bishop asked if he could give me a blessing. OF COURSE! he did and in the blessing told me to stay DOWN for 24-48 hours. I love him. i think i scared bishop, he always says i am "High Energy and Quite a Character"... i was so opposite today. he knew i was sick when i had "no fight in me"! bad! He gave my companion instructions to cancel our trip to antigo and to stay home on sunday. love him. as soon as we stumbled in the door to our apt i went to bed. i gave up on even sipping water because i knew i'd just see it again in 5 minutes. rough day i tell you. i loved the temple though!

.sunday.

sick day. i got up 4 times. i was so out of it. i drank some water... and i was able to keep it down. then i drank some gatorade. i finally ended my night with mac & cheese and went to bed. i slept all day. sister cousin called and made appts for us and was a trooper. poor girl, her first sunday in the mission and she was on lock down! i felt kinda bad, but i was too sick to care. I haven't been that sick in YEARS!

i am sore because of it! goodness. it's good to be alive and healthy! our district leaders and our zone leaders called last night. They complimented us on our service here and say we're just dominating the zone. ha. i told them we just do our job, no secrets. They think we're amazing. i enjoy that. it feels good to hear that every now and then, ya know!? especially from your peers.

I love you all! you're the best!!!!

Love, sister pamella jo black

ps... it's spring here... But everyone says "march: in like a lamb, out like a lion". so i am holding my breath. i'd kinda like one last wisconsin snow! it's all melting. our walkway is clear!

pss...remember WWPD, PBS.... i have SIX whole weeks left to check my mailbox EVERY SINGLE DAY! don't forget about me!!! WRITE ME PEOPLE! i love you all!