just another day ...

in PARADISE!...

I saw a robin today, my first one this year, Do you know what THAT means? SPRING IS HERE!!! oh the signs of spring, i love them! AND... the lakes are all black! Do you know what that means? The ice will all melt off soon! The past three weeks the snow has all melted off, there was several feet of snow... there is still about a foot of ice yet, but it will be gone soon... Did you know that Three Lakes [a town in our area] has a chain of 27 consecutive big lakes, that is the biggest chain of lakes in the whole world? So ya, we're famous up here.

I am convinced i live in the prettiest area in wisconsin. It is absolutely stunning here... especially now that all the snow is gone and we can see all the water, it still has ice, but it's BEAUTIFUL! We were talking about the creation last week in relief society. I have really come to love the landscape of wisconsin: TREES everywhere, so thick you can't see thru them... lakes and water galore... deer and squirrels and skunks and you name it we have it.... BUT i also LOVE the desert. I MISS THE MOUNTAINS... I hope i am in decent enough shape to HIKE them when i get home... i miss that! I miss cactus and dirt and sand and coyotes and lizards and swimming pools and red rock and desert sunsets! ... I LOVE THE CREATION... what a great topic to study. And God made it all ... for US!

This week we taught AJ [a recent convert] and he thought I was WAY older than 22... oh dear. can i not come home and date and just be a sister missionary FOREVER?! :) [ok aj's not the best with words, but still. he says i "act older"... oh dear.]

Last week we had interviews and now i realize i didn't even tell you how that went... I LOVE PRESIDENT BARRETT... he is so AmAzing. I know I say that a lot. BUT it is so true... He told me he loved me and he was so grateful that I was training sister cousin. He thanked me for my energy and excitement for this work. He talked to me a lot about Alyssa and what to do and how to help her... he is so kind. He is on her team, for sure. In sister cousin's interview he told her he wished she had more time with me! :( THAT KILLS ME! I wish I had more time with her too! 6 WeEkS is not very long to teach someone everything you know! Hopefully she'll get the most important stuff and that will have to be good enough. At the end of my interview he told me i looked good in the navy blue get-up i was wearing. the man is so thoughtful. i love him. He told me to finish strong, like he knows i will... of COURSE!

Speaking of sister cousin, little J says i haven't told ya'll enough about her. She is 21 from South Jordan, Utah. She is TALL, like 6'10" tall. SHe likes to play volleyball. She went to SLCC for 2 years and then did a semester at BYUI before her mission. She is amazing, we get along like peanut butter and jelley and I just love her. [i have a new fav missionary song: it's called PBJ! I heart it... i have to listen to it at least once a day, sister cousin isn't the biggest fan, but she deals with it! :] She has 1 sister and 2 brothers, She's the middle, 2 older and 1 younger brother. So there ya go... i love her! It's a lot of fun to train!

Sister Skinner called me from Green Bay last week. She was trained there and now she's training there. She said she was at Bishop Huzzey's and he told her that her and i should serve together because we're his 2 favorites! HAHA i LOVE bishop HUZZEY! That man has such an ability to love! It felt good to know they all hadn't forgotten about my time there... a big part of my missionary memories take place in THE GREEN BAY! I love sister skinner. i hear she is doing a great job there. I miss the GB when i hear stuff like that... i wish i could have just a week there! time and a season ... time and a season... i have to keep telling myself that!

This is an email President Barrett just sent me:

I just love to see the missionary you have become and are still becoming - in RHINELANDER, of all places! :o)

Thank you for your sterling work and for being such an amazing FINISHER! But we would love to have you stay forever! Because we will love you forever!

...

I love him. He still teases me for my lack of desire to come here in the first place. He's such a good mission president. the best.

SO on to THE WEEK...

lunes... the 15th...

pday. breakfast with sam. it was our turn to cook, we made omelette's and biscuits. It was good. we emailed, went to walmart and took our CAR IN because the BRAKE LIGHTS and CRUISE CONTROL still do NOT work! Apparently there is a short in one of the wires, but there are six wires that feed in to the same place so every time they touch one wire... it stops shorting and they can't figure out which one it is... so they just give it back to us and tell us to bring it in when it breaks again... do they know what it is like to be a missionary in the LARGEST AREA in north america without a car? YA... not fun. To end our night we had an appointment with alyssa, brianne drove us out there. We taught her about forgiving cindy and unloading any extra rocks she was carrying in her backpack... it went well. Alyssa is AmAzing. One of the strongest little 18 year olds I have ever met. I could never live in the home she does.

martes... the 16th...

we had no car. we studied... the elders drove up from Wausau for district meeting, we had it at our church building. Then we went to taco bell with them. There were 7 of us in a truck that seats 5.5 essentially.... not fun! We then walked ALL oVER the town of Rhinelander the rest of the day inviting everyone we saw... literally. We told the elders where the hodag statue was because they wanted to take a picture with it... so they did and they met a girl, Jess, that works there at the chamber of commerce. they gave her a copy of the book of mormon and taught her briefly. later that day we walked to the chamber of commerce because they will set us up with service opportunities there. it was really great... we met jess, not knowing the elders had talked to her and she got us all set up for service. Then another man came in and we never got to finish talking to her and we left. Well, the elders called that night and said they had a sweet referral for us... it was jess... i felt so DUMB! we were there and talked to her and never invited her and she knew EXACTLY who we were the whole time. ugh! haha

alyssa was supposed to have her baptismal interview today. but ended up in jail... long, sad story. she didn't do anything. i could refer you to some chapters on unrighteous dominion... but i won't. Bishop was so upset by it too, so we just went to his house and "raked feverishly" as he said, the leaves in his yard... then he made us grilled cheese sandwiches with pickles and chocolate milk shakes... it was the BEST. Bishop linder is one of my most favorite people in the whole world. He is working hard with alyssa's people to get her out of there and in to a good home environment. i love him.

miercoles... the 17th...

no car. study. visit allen. He's a new investigator we met last sunday when we didn't have a car and walked all over ... get the drifT? we never have a car these days. we had a mtg with brianne about mormon mythbusters. we had lunch at DQ and visited brianne. We went to the church. They let us pick up our CAR! we went to Chris LIndners surprise birthday party! with vicki. it was lots of fun! to end the night we had a bomb lesson with genni and martha. i love my calling. ps... my legs were SO sore from the MILES of walking we did today and yesterday!

jueves... the 18th...

study. we had to GO BACK and get our oil changed. they told us they put 6 little brakers, one on each wire, so our car will probably have to come in one last time, but this time they'll know which wire it is... at least they used their problem solving skills! we didn't even get 4 miles out of town on our way to antigo and cruise control didn't work, neither did the brake lights. lame. we weren't going back though... we HAD to be in antigo. we contacted referrals there, ate pizza at BB JACKS and visited holly and the gatton's and then ended our night in tomahawk with mike barnes... good guy.

viernes... the 19th...

we took our car in. had breakfast with sam... did weekly planning... had an appointment with allen at the church with sister kagie. we committed him to baptism for april 11th! yEaH! we taught dan and genny, it was amazing, he's on day six of being clean, drug free!!! then we taught brian, with sam. we watched the reflections of christ dvd. AMAZING. We were so bold with all these lessons... and it was such a GOOD THING! brian said he will be ready and WORTHY to go to the temple the next time we go! yeah!

sabado... the 20th...

no car... study. we taught andra at the church with sam. we committed her to baptism april 11th! FINALLY! after 3 years of meeting with the sister missionaries she has a baptismal date! sam helped her with the whole quitting smoking and drinking coffee thing. it was good! we went to the lindners to have lunch with their family. All the kids were in from all over the place. it was so fun! Kids and grandkids galore. i love that. we had the best chicken salad of my LIFE THERE and his daughter, marci, convinced me my next vacation must be to JAMAICA MAN! i love the lindners ... so much is going on with them in their lives, but they have so much faith and are such a great example to me. We went home, the lowthers picked us up and drove us to elcho. we had dinner with bonnie palmer. i want to be like her when i grow up. she is amazing. i love her husband art and his best friend tommy. good people i tell you. then we stayed the night at the bloechls.

domingo... the 21st...

still no car... bonnie took us to church. i love the antigo branch. The peters brought Jim who we taught the restoration and we'll

meet with him again on tuesday. what good missionaries they are! thats 1 new investigator!!! then we taught joey afterwards and then the schreibers drove us back up to Rhinelander. our appts fell thru. we ate lunch. i took a cat nap, i was dying, and then we headed out to WALK and invite. it was such a nice day. We saw allen... Brianne picked us up and we went easter caroling to andra and then tried to find jess... she is nowhere to be found. Then we taught genni and martha. Dan skipped out. i hope he is still clean... :( something tells me he isn't. that's so hard. brianne is amazing. i love teaching with her. we taught about nephi and the boat... my go to story! we ended the night at bishops for dessert. he is so amazing. i laugh so hard there i cry!

i love my life here ... i really do. in the prayer before we left his house, bishop blessed me that i would be able to finish strong be ok ending my mission and blessed s. cousin to love her "good trainor". He is amazing.

This was one of the best weeks i have ever had on my mission. here are our numbers...

5 investigators with a baptismal date allen, genni, andra, joey & alyssa

3 Investigators at sacrament meeting

12 lessons with a member

12 others

8 progressing investigators

3 new investigators

12 lessons to LARCS [less active or recent converts]

110 invites

IT WAS A GREAT WEEK! Things are ON FIRE HERE!!!!

i love you all! SEND MAIL!

love, sister pamella jo black