Moving Madness!

Take a summary!

1- Cold P-Day

2- Fun lesson with the Ramsays! :)

3- Blood work and a car wash 

4- Long lunch with new friends!

5- Restore!

6- Dinner with the Wolseys

7- Lesson with the Bohnets

8- Zone Conference!

9- Dinner with the Hetchlers

10- Helping Sister Isaacson again

11- Galenzoskis moving too... :'(

12- Dinner with the Hampsons

13- Galenzoskis again!

14- Dinner with the Gillis family!

15- Lunch with the Wolseys

1- P-Day was pretty cold. I think it got down to maybe -25 Celsius. We spent most of the day inside, after we did our shopping and filled up the car. We got our laundry done, had time to talk to families, and took it easy. I do miss doing District sports with other missionaries, but it's also nice to be able to actually relax on P-Day. :)

2- We went to visit the Ramsays Monday night. Brother Ramsay is sweet and always gives us chocolate! Sister Ramsay likes to quilt, so she was showing us all her fun projects. They had some neat paintings on the walls and some butterflies in a case. I was gushing about the art and a giant blue morpho--one of the biggest butterflies in the world. After we shared a message, we got talking about creative things a lot, and the Ramsays told me to bring pictures of some of my art next time I go over. :D

3- Sister Curry had to get some bloodwork done Tuesday morning. I hung out in the waiting room because phlebotomists (blood doctors) give me the willies. XD  I can't stand needles either... It didn't take as long as we expected, so we used a little time to get a car wash. We did an indoor, self-serve car wash where we sprayed the car down ourselves.

3- By the way, we've named the car "Mahonri Moriancumer" after the Brother of Jared. Unfortunately, the name is a bit too long to fit in the car's Bluetooth title (for when we connect our phones to listen to music), so we call him 'Mo' for short. XD  Mo was pretty dirty, but after the car wash, he looked nice and shiny again! I made sure to wipe down the edges of the doors so they wouldn't freeze shut. It was so cold that when we drove out of the car wash place, Mo was steaming!

4- We met some new friends at lunch in a little place called Fika's Coffeehouse. It was so warm and cozy in there that it felt like summer! The sun was beaming through the windows, so I took off my big coat and sweater. I was almost too warm in just a long-sleeved shirt! 

4- We got some tasty hot chocolate and had a good conversation with our new friends. They work for a place called CLBI, Camrose Lutheran Bible Institute, I believe. It was cool to learn more about Lutheran beliefs. :)  Both of our friends agreed to meet again, so we'll hopefully see them next week!

5- I finally finished my orientation at the Restore! Just had to watch a video about safety that was 80% common sense and 20% humor. XD  We took around a cart of priced items and had to try to sort them. I felt like Wall-E with his collection trying to find places for everything! We sorted picture frames, books, some plates, tupperware containers, decorative flowers, tools, and several random bits and bobs. After we emptied the cart, we 'sorted' a lot of old VHS films, movies, and CDs. There wasn't really a system, so it drove my OCD brain crazy! We just put them all haphazardly on shelves and made sure that the titles were visible. If I'd had maybe five hours and the room to myself, I would have attempted to organize them all by title or genre, but... I was told by the head of Restore that it was pointless because people would just move them around and mess up any system as they browsed.

6- We had dinner at the Wolseys. Their dog barked so loud that I felt my lungs vibrate! When we went in, I saw half a dozen pizzas on the table. I tried hard to stay enthusiastic, but I wasn't looking forward to it. XD  Luckily, they have a son that's as picky as me, and they were able to get their hands on a 'pizza' with no sauce! It was just melted cheese on bread! I ate a few slices and loved it. 

6- After we ate, we did a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. I got to use my fun wooden visual representation. (I'll see if I can attach a picture!) It was neat to hear what the kids knew about the Plan of Salvation. Sister Wolsey also shared some quotes that I loved! We laid out the pieces, talked about the different stages of life, and how God's eventual plan is for all of us to live with Him again. :)

7- We went to the Bohnets and taught the same lesson. They had an energetic little three-year-old. I can't remember her name, but she was so cute and very excited to have us over. I started laying out the pieces to the Plan of Salvation, and the little girl spread them out her own way. We all ended up laughing because she was having so much fun.

7- The little girl put the pieces all over with the arrows facing in the wrong directions. Brother Bohnet remarked, "Good thing it's God's plan and not hers!" I agreed. I'm so glad that our Heavenly Father loves us enough to create a plan for us to return to Him. I know that as we follow His plan, we can achieve eternal happiness. :)

8- Zone Conference was pretty good! We drove to Edmonton early in the morning. The drive took about an hour. We heard some great talks. :)  It was a bit of a shorter Zone Conference so we didn't get to hang out and do sports afterward.

9- We drove to the Hetchlers on Wednesday night for dinner. They were watching Luca! I wanted to watch it with them, haha. XD  We helped to prep the table, then had spaghetti. I thought it was funny, because my siblings liked to eat pasta after watching Luca. XD  We shared a message afterward. We watched a cute video called Samuel and the Star. It's about Samuel the Lamanite when he goes to tell the Nephites about the coming of Jesus Christ. 

10- On Thursday night--Thursday was kind of a blur, haha--we went to Sister Isaacson's along with the young men and young women in the ward. We helped moved a lot of things out of the house. Sister Curry and I got there early, so we were part of the inside crew. I was glad, because it was cold outside and I'd only brought a sweater! XD  A lot of the kiddos were outside, so we'd hand them stuff and they'd run to the moving truck to pack it in. One of Sister Isaacson's cats was in her pantry and another hid in her bedroom closet. Poor things were scared with all the commotion and noise!

11- We went to help the Galenzoskis because they're moving too! They're a young couple with a cute little girl named Charlotte. :)  We were the only ones there that Friday, so we just helped them clean out their fridge and stove. I did most of the fridge; there were sticky brown sugar spots that I had to scrub like crazy! XD

12- We drove out to the Hampsons with our friend again! For once the food wasn't spicy! XD  They had delicious pork steaks with rice and mushrooms. Also, tasty carrots glazed with brown sugar and honey! I was in heaven. We watched a Book of Mormon video with them! It was a segment of the video where Alma (the Younger) talks to his son Helaman. He gives him some advice, tells him to keep writing the records of the people on the plates (which will later become the Book of Mormon), and tells him about the Liahona. I love the Book of Mormon videos so much! They're a wonderful visual representation!

13- On Saturday morning, we helped out at the Galenzoskis again! This time, half the branch showed up to help! XD There were so many people that it got crowded! Sister Curry and I started off washing windows, then we went upstairs and helped carry things down. I almost fell down the stairs a couple of times! (PTSD, haha!) We weren't able to get a bunch of super heavy things, but we got some boxes and suitcases. A bunch of the men from the ward got the heavy dressers and parts of the beds. There was a line-up for all the stuff to get into the U-haul. A few people were inside the truck fitting everything. I don't have good spatial awareness, so I was fine to let them pack it all! XD

14- We drove to a place called Killam (pronounced 'kill 'em', haha) this Saturday. It's about an hour east of Camrose. Some members of the branch live there, but we can't go very often because our cars have a limit to how far we can drive every month. We got invited to the Gillis family's house for dinner! It was so fun. We listened to some Hank Smith talks on the way.

14- When we got to their house, they let us cuddle with their rabbits! They had two that were part English Spot, based on their markings (but they were mixed-breed, so the colors were a bit off). The other rabbit looked like a Siamese cat! I don't know what to call the markings, but she was pretty! :) 

14- Dinner was delicious! Roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn, and salad. We also had rhubarb and apple crumble topped with Neapolitan ice cream for dessert. We taught the Plan of Salvation again with my wooden display. :)  It went really well! Everyone was sharing their favorite parts of the Plan with each other. We didn't quite leave on time, so we got home late... oops.

14- Brother Gillis is also an author! He heard that I liked to write, so we started talking about books. He told me about the pros and cons of self-publishing. I'm definitely considering it when I get home! He also offered to be a Beta reader for my stories! :D  I'm so excited about that! But anyway, I could gush about my stories until the sun goes down. XD

15- On Sunday, we had a pretty slow day aside from lunch with the Wolseys. They also gave us roast beef with mashed potatoes, but there were carrots this time! We had cinnamon rolls for dessert. Canadians call them cinnamon buns! XD And they also call dinner rolls dinner buns. I thought it was pretty funny. We shared another Book of Mormon video with them, this time about Alma the Younger before he had his sons. His conversion story is awesome, and I love being able to see it acted out! :)

Well, that's about it! Hope everyone is doing well!

Pictures: Holly the hedgehog, the rabbits we got to hold and pet, a big icicle I found, and a drawing of a spider from one of my stories! (Sicarius the six-eyed sand spider! >:D)