September 15, 2014

This last week went by so quickly, and I can't believe I've been gone for a month AND that's it's September.

EXCHANGE: I had my first missionary exchange on Thursday and it was the best!! I was with Sister Bodine for a day, and I had so much fun! I know that missionary work is good but I haven't really had fun doing it until Thursday. She was being so nice and telling me I am such a great missionary and that I'm able to connect with people so easily. She told me that I might be training a missionary after my training is up in 12 weeks. Anyways, we taught some lessons and I felt like we taught it together which was nice.

BEST FAMILY EVER: You guys I seriously feel so blessed every day that I have the best family in the world. No joke. Everyday I see hard family situations and it makes me so sad but so grateful for mine. The other day we were teaching about the plan of salvation and how families can live together after this life. The investigator was like, "So, I hate my brother and never want to see him again, so this plan isn't sounding too good to me." AHH I didn't know what to say, and it made me so sad for him!! You have all been so supportive and all such amazing example to me, so thanks! 

JILL: We taught Jill the word of wisdom on Friday. I was so nervous because when we were helping her clean last week I saw a bunch of coffee in her kitchen. I had been praying so hard that she would understand and want to follow that commandment. When we taught she was so surprised about coffee and tea, she had no idea! She committed to try, and when I called yesterday she had been keeping her commitment! I'm so proud of her and pray that she continues! Her baptismal date is still the 28th! She is so sweet and I love seeing her. She cries all the time when she talks about how she feels the spirit when she reads the Book of Mormon and it's the sweetest thing!!

SHAUNA: Oh my, she's crazy! The other day I was at the Library looking at the lds.org and mormon.org websites. And someone was going to the bathroom and didn't close the door? Like how hard is it to close a door!? I was so grossed out and then a couple seconds later Shauna came out! HAHAHAHA And the next day we were waiting at the bus stop and I saw this lady walk across the street with a super super short and tight skirt. She wasn't the smallest lady so it was scary. Anyways, she turned around and it was Shauna! HAHAHAHA Like Toronto is big but Shauna is everywhere! This last Sunday we had stake conference and she came with us! We met at 8:30 at the church to take a bus to Brampton. We got on the bus and sat by 2 YSA's who are both converts. I asked them about their conversion stories so they shared them and Shauna was asking them so many questions and it was awesome! Stake conference was long for her but she said it was nice. She loves seeing white people at church. I guess her last Pentecostal church was just a black congregation. The Toronto temple is next to the stake center so we walked over and she loved the temple! It's so gorgeous! She has a serious CREEPY OLD boyfriend and loves to party so it will take a lot of time. I don't think she's progressing fast enough for September 28th but hopefully it will happen at some point.

PREPARATION DAYS: The best! Except that I spend like 3 hours cleaning each time while my companion takes a nap. The first week was the bathroom then the next week was the windows. I'm planning on doing the kitchen today when we get back. Oh we also have sports at the church, and it's really is the best! We went last week for the first time. Missionaries meet at the church and play basketball or chair soccer for 2 hours. We went last week and my companion really didn't want to be there but after I scrubbed the windows I decided it was OK to wake her up and make her come :/ But I had a lot of fun! We'll head there after we finish e-mailing. 

SEPARATION: The bus has so many people on it all the time so sometimes we split up and talk to different people. One bus ride I was sitting by this guy and he was telling me how he was feeling sad so he drank a bunch of bug spray and then he saw went to Hell and he was looking for his mom or something. I don't know, it was weird, but I was super into his story, and I wasn't paying attention to where I was. There was a stop and I looked out the window and saw my companion trying to get my attention on the sidewalk, but the bus started going again! HAHAHA She was freaking out, and I was laughing so hard and trying to tell the bus driver to stop, he finally stopped at the next bus stop so I started walking towards the last stop. It was bad! Woops.

SINGING FOR A WEDDING: The missionaries in the ward were asked to sing at a wedding. A couple days ago we got together to pick a song and practice. My companion plays piano and doesn't sing so she wanted to accompany. But then, it's me and 4 Elders. Elder Vang, Elder McKennen, Elder Wiratma, and Elder Steed. So I felt awkward and asked Brother who is planning the wedding if it could just be the Elders, but none of them really sing either, like one is tone-deaf and the couple wanted all the missionaries to participate. Anyways, our practices were really funny, but then we realized we had zone conference so we can't go. We felt really bad but I was so relieved. We are off the hook for their wedding but now they want us to sing for their baptismal service. 

STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE: My companion is a really good missionary and we have been doing really well with our goals. In district meeting they encouraged us to get 4 member present lessons in the week and we got 8! The members in the ward are so willing to come to our lessons with us, they're the best! And our district keeps winning the competitions in the zone. So my companion really is a good missionary and has been pushing me to focus and we've been able to accomplish a lot, so it's been good! 

I should go, but I love you all so much!! And hope you are all doing awesome! :)

Sister Dayton

 With Sister Bodine, who she did exchanges with

 After a crazy Toronto rainstorm