Welcome to this weeks production of
Missionaries and what they have gained and lost during the first few months of their missions
lost: my sanity.
no I'm not joking
I can literally and honestly say that going two and a half months without Netflix
has NOT caused me to have withdrawals or any panic attacks.
Nor (much to my fathers surprise) has going without my iPhone caused me to have nervous twitching from my thumbs. I haven't even had a complex about not being able to snap chat the homies every time I see something half way interesting in public.
BUT
My perspective of entertainment has had a major change.
My perspective of what is humorous has drastically been revised.
My overall sanity is straight up out the window:
because of these issues-
my actions and words have taken a serious hit in the "socially normal" department of life.
Sister C is a well seasoned veteran at this because she has been out so long..
she hasn't heard Taylor Swifts 1989 album.
She doesn't even know what the movie Tangled is.
(that one was a joke;)
So she doesn't judge me when she catches me talking to myself in several different accents
or
giving a weather report in our living room
or
doing an Irish jig in the street
or
running around in the rain
or
not being able to talk to humans my age of the opposite gender.
(not because I am not allowed but because I don't know how)
The point is, even though I literally have not missed my phone once,
and I don't miss social media at all or snap chat (okay I kind of miss snap chat)
The lack of Captain America and hanging out with people my age talking about the newest Star Wars movie...
Does have effects.
Both positive and negative.
Found: An insanely increased measure of the spirit that is a direct result of not having said things above that makes it more than worth it, even though I'm "awkward as a jelly bean."
Found: My purpose not only as a missionary but my purpose as a human.
Lost: my opal ring in the ocean last summer, but that's not really relevant right now.
Found (out) SISTER LINDSEY JEAN IS GOING TO FRESNO (yeah I know it's been mentioned)
She is going to meet my trainer/companion/bestieforrestie
#chumsforlife
I am so excited for you Lindsey, mission life is the best.
Lost: All sense of direction. Why? Because there's a lack of mountains to tell me which way is East.. that's why.
Found: Hundreds of Alexis' ancestors that are ready to be baptized!!!!!
Lost: Definitely not weight.
Found: TENNIS
OH MY GOODNESS
Tennis is so flippin fun a brother in our ward by the name of brother Flood is a well experienced tennis coach and my district played tennis for two hours on preparation day.
Funnest sport I have tried in a long time. So fun in fact, that Sister C and I roped him into playing tennis at 6:30 am a few times a week for our morning exercise. YEESSS thank goodness the Floods live so close, God definitely had a hand in this, He knew I would love tennis.
Lost: It.
I lost it when I found Scooby Doo fruit snacks in a package from my mom.
Found: Two chapters of scripture that everyone should read one right after the other about faith.
One is in the bible: Hebrews 11 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/heb/11?lang=eng
and One in the Book of Mormon: Ether 12 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/12?lang=eng
and that's a list of things I have been losing and finding
but I do need to make a major clarification...
I was not very clear when I talked about the bunny last week. When I said it was still moving so I wanted to run over it again that is most definitely not what it sounded like... oops... What really happened was that it was twitching, the rest of it was most definitely NOT moving and most likely dead. The only reason I wanted to hit it again was to make sure it was dead so it didn't have to suffer.
#notaheartlessbunnykiller
my bad..
:)
okay something super fun that happened this week was the beach.
I LOVE BEACHES
(especially the ones where I'm allowed to jump in the water...;(...that will have to wait...
anyway, I see the ocean almost everyday but not the beach. Just the water, so when we were visiting a somewhat less active couple that live practically on the beach
I GOT TO SEA THE BEACH
"sea" what I did there? /\/\/\
the sand is the prettiest sand I've ever seen. Even prettier than St. Thomas... like.. that's some pretty sand.
took some baesick pictures with my name tag in the sand of course
and some goober pictures at the dock at night after a lesson.
I LOVE WATER
and you
I had some really great experiences this week with new people we are teaching.
But I will only share one.
I watched a woman literally go from "sure you can keep coming by but I don't want you to feel like failures down the road"
to an hour later-
"Yes I will come to church with my kids. I really feel like this is what we need in our lives."
Wasn't me, wasn't even Sister C, it was the Spirit of Truth.
And guess what. This woman was at church with her two kids yesterday.
MISSIONARY PAYDAY
love it. love you. love everything.
xoxoxoxo MAKE it a greaaat day. <3
Sista Saunders
