Ack, First Transfer! :O.

- First things things first, I'm getting transferred. :0  :(  :l  

 - Saying goodbye to Sister LaFrance on P-Day :'(

- Long wait at a doctor's office -_-

 - Problems with area book :l

 - Funny French words

 - Neato object lesson with cups

 - New person we're teaching! :D 

 - Accidentally drove to a prison XD

 - AMAZING member who gave us food! :D 

 - Pictures in a park :)

 - Accused of harassment over the phone :0

 - Missionary memes! >:D (for those of you interested,  I'll attach the memes in another email. :)

 - GENERAL CONFERENCE!

 - Awesome service! Breaking stuff, lots of spiders, an overeager dog, and some sneezing goats. XD

 - Another hectic P-Day

It was so hard for me to say goodbye to Sister LaFrance. One of the hardest things about being a missionary is definitely saying goodbye. My companions and I sang hymns the whole way to our mission home. We took turns singing favorites. Some of mine are "Master the Tempest is Raging" and "Where Can I turn for Peace?". The last one we sang was "God be With You Till We Meet Again." Of course, that brought on the water works. We got to the mission president's home, then he interviewed me because he hasn't yet. My nerves were frayed already, so I broke down bawling. :(   Oof. 

Sister Spackman and I went to the doctor the other day. We don't have our medical cards yet, so there was a bit of a kerfuffle (that's such a fun word!) at the front desk while we told a receptionist all the info on our cards and had to explain that we just didn't have a physical copy yet. It didn't work, so I had to pay with personal money. -_- But mission finance will reimburse me, so it's all good in the end. Also, pretty sure it was clear that we aren't Canadians, and I think Canadians with their cards get priority over visitors. The appointment was supposed to be at 10:45, but we waited until almost 11:45. People that checked in after me got seen before me. *Visible confusion* Maybe it's just me, but I thought that most offices operated on a first-come, first-serve basis. *shrug*

Transfers are NOT my favorite. We forgot to sync our phones before Sister LaFrance left, so some info that she put in just her phone didn't send to mine or Sister Spackman's. :l  Oops. We planned some lessons and put them in Sister LaFrance's phone and only found out we missed them later when the people called us. *nervous laughter* It all worked out eventually, because we were able to reschedule after profuse apologies. (I was the one profusely apologizing. XD)

Okay, French words are just SO funny to me! I can't pronounce them, but I see them everywhere. Sister LaFrance told me about some of them, but I didn't get the chance to ask about all of them. Literally everything in stores has French and English labels. I died laughing when I learned that pretzels are 'bretzels'.  Also, bread is 'pain' and eggs are œuffs. (Pronounced sort of like 'eoff', but that's hard for me, so I just say 'oof' XD) Cranberries are canneberges. That's another one that just makes me laugh every time I read it. 

Sister Spackman did a cool object lesson with some little cups for a cute member family we taught. Each cup had something on it. Jesus Christ, church, prayer, priesthood, temples, baptism, etc. She had the kids build them up into a pyramid and explained the things that Jesus taught while he was on the Earth. Then she took the cup with Jesus away and the whole pyramid fell, representing the Great Apostasy after the Savior died and was resurrected. She had the kids make their own little pyramids with the remaining cups and talked about how lots of other churches were formed. They all have some truths, but not all truths. Then she went through the restoration and built the pyramid again. I love the object lesson! 

Last week, we were able to have our first lesson with a sweet lady that lives in the first floor of our apartment building. She has two adorable kids. It was my very first time teaching someone brand-new in person! I mean, yeah, I've chatted with people while walking down the street and stuff, but we agreed on a time and she was expecting us, so it was an actual lesson! We had a great discussion about shared beliefs and the Plan of Salvation. She's going to let us come back this week! 

The other day we took a wrong turn and accidentally drove to a prison. XD It was this long, empty road with no cars, then we saw a sign that said "Correction facility" and we noticed a big, fenced-in building up ahead. :0  Sister Spackman tried to pull a U-turn, but the road was too narrow, so I had to hop out and back her (missionaries have to stand behind a car while it's being backed up, haha. It's a pain.). I just hope no one saw the Sister missionaries start driving to a prison. XD

The other day a sweet Sister called us and asked if we wanted food. Shooting STARS, yes! We told her that would be awesome, and so she brought us a giant box of food to the church. Everything from bread and homemade jam to cheese and carrots that she grew herself. :) She is such a sweetheart! She also made us this delicious meal with sliced cabbage, rice, hamburger meat, and tomato sauce. It was SO tasty! 

The other day we decided to try street-contacting again. We went to a beautiful park. Unfortunately,  there weren't many people. We ended up taking some awesome fall pictures for Facebook posts, though. The leaves are so gorgeous in the fall!

Okay, something crazy and nerve-wracking happened when we called some people the other day. We were going down a list of people in the ward and decided to call this one member that we'd never met. She answered, then passed the phone to her husband because she thought we were asking for 'Mister', not Sister (last name redacted because of Canada's privacy laws, haha).

So, her husband was cordial until we mentioned that we were Sister missionaries. Then he was like, "My wife has been trying to get her name off your call list for TEN YEARS. This is harassment. She doesn't want your calls." I apologized profusely--and maybe died a little inside :l--while Sister Spackman told him that she'd get in contact with someone who could help get his wife's name removed from church records. :(  He was like, "Yeah, that's what I was told the LAST three times you called." 

Well, my apologies for trying to call you and your wife to share an uplifting message, sir. -_-  Of course, I didn't actually say that, but I was perhaps a little exasperated. They'd been called by three different sets of missionaries before us, and I assume those poor Elders and Sisters recieved similar treatment. But if that guy and his wife would prefer not to come closer to salvation, then we're not going to waste our time on them! We called a Brother in the ward who could help out and he's taking care of everything. So it's all good. :)

Since we're trying to reach as many people as possible on social media, I'm making some missionary memes. People are constantly seeking entertainment online, so I feel like memes are a great way to reach a wider audience. Plus, they're so fun to make! Sister Spackman doesn't think all of then are Facebook-post-worthy, but that's okay. I'm sorting them into categories of memes that she's approved of and some I'll just keep for fun. :)  After I have a few good, companion-approved memes, I'll run them past our STLs (Sister Training Leaders) and see which ones they like. I'll only post the best of the best, but I'll send the others in an email too in case anyone wants a laugh. (Well, I hope they're funny enough to make people laugh!)

Okay, Conference was AMAZING! I won't write down all of my takeaways because there were so many, but Geoffrey R. Holland's talk was definitely one of my favorites! I also loved President Nelson's closing talk about temples! I hope everyone was able to watch all the sessions! Sister Spackman and I camped out at the church--as usual--and watched it there. It was so great! 

In between two sessions of Conference, Sister Spackman and I went to help a guy with some service. He had a massive paddock in his yard with several goats, young kune kune pigs (the kind I worked with at SeaQuest :D), chickens, and a big, friendly dog. We were helping to fix the foundation of a shed. We had to break apart an old chicken coop of sorts, and that was oddly fun and satisfying. I used a crowbar to pry apart a bunch of planks that were nailed together. I broke a few bolts too, so that was a bit shocking. :0 Didn't know I was that strong, haha.

The boards were literally CRAWLING with dozens of spiders. It was awesome for me! I had so much fun trying to identify them. Lots of neat little wood spiders, grass spiders, and some relatives of black widows (red widows and false widows) that aren't as deadly as their famous cousins. Of course, that's assuming I identified them correctly without the internet help, haha. Sister Spackman worked on dismantling the mesh part of the coop and let me have fun with the spiders. XD  

The whole time we were working, the big dog and all the goats kept coming up to see what we were doing. The dog was super friendly and kept leaning on me. He was so big he almost knocked me over! And the goats kept sneezing on Sister Spackman and I. They would come up and nibble on our clothes, then  just let out these thunderous, snotty sneezes. One of them also snuck in the shed when I wasn't looking and scared me to death when it jumped on the door and knocked it open. I had so much fun petting all the curious animals, breaking apart the coop, and helping with the shed. 

After we helped prop up the shed and moved some cinder blocks underneath it to give it a better foundation, the guy let us see some cute kittens. They were adorable little Russian blues only a few weeks old. I was in heaven! He was also super nice and gave us a bunch of fresh eggs and some goat milk. I'd never tried goat milk before. It has a bit of a weird aftertaste, so Sister Spackman and I made it into hot chocolate. Then it was super tasty! :)  We might go back to help more before it snows. (Which might be soon... :l )

*edit

I just learned that I'm getting transferred this morning, so... welp... not going back to help that nice guy. Also, I'm going to finish up training with another Sister. Who else can say they've had three trainers? But I'm really sad to leave Sister Spackman... I thought I'd get to stay with her for another six weeks. :'(  I suppose I'm needed elsewhere, though.

So... this P-Day has been crazy so far. Instead of district sports, we had a lunch where we roasted hotdogs and smores. It was fun! I've also spent a TON of time packing. I'm nervous, but doing my best to stay positive and excited for transfers. 

I hope everyone is doing well! Remember to pray daily and read your scriptures. :) 

Most of these pictures are pretty self-explanatory, so... just enjoy them, I suppose. :D