"You can get glad in the pants you got mad in"

Hi, nuggets! I don't have much time to email, but luckily Mom is the only one who emailed so this should be easy ;) Mom- thank you for the cute letter this week. I love you so much. I wrote you a letter this morning, so be expecting that soon! Emily- I'm praying for you. Love you tons. Dad- You're a good dad. I love you. 

Quotes of the week: 

1.) "I hope you girls like sauerkraut!" -Sandy (investigator) I don't like sauerkraut. I really don't like sauerkraut. When she asked me directly if I liked sauerkraut all awkward broke lose and all I said was "I've had sauerkraut before". She then gave me a look like "I didn't ask you if you had it before...". Anyways, I ate it, it was gross, and I lived. The end. 

2.) "You don't even get to sleep in separate rooms? Doesn't that get annoying?" -Amy (recent convert) I don't realize how weird my life is until people start asking about the rules we follow....BUT if you were wondering, it doesn't get annoying. In fact, I can't sleep without someone in the room with me. When Sister Young gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I lay in my bed terrified for 2 minutes.The bed bugs have added to that terror these past 2 weeks. I just lay really still in my bed and hope the bed bugs don't realize my blood is delicious while my partner is in the bathroom. 

3.) "I have 11 bites on my arm, our toilet isn't working, and the library is closed. Perfect." -Me Let me just tell you how awful our Monday morning was: SO, we woke up at 6:30 AM ready to plan for the day. Sister Young had to pee real fast before we started. When she tried to flush the toilet, nothing happened.. NOTHING. We then didn't have a plunger, so we drove to Walmart, looking like literal crap, and bought a plunger. On the way there, my arm was really itchy. I figured the sweatshirt I was wearing was making my arm itch...UM NO IT WASN'T MY SWEATSHIRT IT WAS BED BUG BITES ALL OVER MY ARM. Good news: we have found where we are getting bed bug bites.. Bad news: we found out by having one crawl all over my arm during  a lesson (hence the 11 bites all over my arm). Well, as most of you know, my bladder isn't the strongest, so the need to pee came on very quickly and very strongly. The library is just down the street from our apartment, I could use the bathroom at the library, right? NO, NOT RIGHT. IT'S FREAKING PRESIDENTS DAY. We ended up at Dunkin Donuts. I give their bathroom 10 out of 10. Excellent flushing abilities and clean. Thank you, Dunkin Donuts.AND all of this happened before it was 10 in the morning. That night a plumber came and snaked our toilet, and the next day an exterminator came and told us our apartment was bed bug free. All's well that ends well I guess... Whew...Man...I'm not even going to apologize for the negativity and the bad grammar. That morning sucked butt. 

4.) "You can get glad in the same pants you got mad in." -Tim (less active) I don't know if any of you have noticed, but my last 3 emails have had quotes on being happy. Yes, this is most definitely because I have had to remind myself several times these past few weeks to be happy. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting last Sunday about choosing happiness (I didn't choose that, the topic was given to me). Choosing happiness isn't always easy, folks. But because of Jesus Christ, there is always, always, always something to be happy about. 

I love you all. Have a great week. 

Love, 

Sister Reddish 

"One more pregnancy left"

Mom- Thank you so much for the cute halfway package (I got it yesterday). I loved it. You're the cutest. Sister Young is from Sandy, Utah. She's awesome. We work really well together. I'm really happy she's my companion. I love you, Mom.❤ Thanks for everything you do for me. Emily- I'm sorry you're sick. :( That's no fun. Maybe you should layoff the poptarts. I heard that they give you nasty colds ;) I love you, Emily. You're the best Mexi ever. Dad- You are very accurate when you say that nobody wants to talk to us on Valentines Day. Where's the love? I love you, Dad! Have a good week! :)

Quotes of the week:

1.) Me: "What do sister's burn on their half way mark?" Elder Butterfield: "Nothing. Just have ice cream or something." After Elder Butterfield told me this, I was determined to find something to burn. SO, after about 15 minutes of brainstroming what we could burn (after 9 o'clock, of course) we... ate ice cream because fire is dangerous and President Brown has told all of us multiple times not to do anything stupid. Perfect way to celebrate 9 whole months on a mission. Rocky road. It was delicious, it was free (a member gave it to us), and nothing about it was stupid. Elder Butterfield is inspired. 

2.) Do you happen to know how to pick a lock?...Or do you know who we can call to unlock our apartment for us?" -Sister Young and I Here's a story: Saturday night we were on our way to Panera to treat ourselves to some delicious food for my half way mark. Someone, who shall remain nameless (it was me) closed the LOCKED door with the keys inside. Guess what happens when people lock themselves out of the apartments we live in? The manager has to come and unlock it AND THEN YOU HAVE TO PAY 50 DOLLARS! I don't have 50 dollars, folks. We needed a miracle. After saying a prayer in our garage, we decided to knock on our neighbors door. I was always kind of scared of these neighbors because they smoke a lot...and it's not always cigarettes (I'm safe, Mom, I promise)  Anyways, after we told him the situation, he simply said "Let me go get my shoes!" He came out with shoes on and a credit card in hand. He had our door unlocked in 2 seconds (I guess it's common knowledge that you can break into houses with a credit card). I then started crying because he was an answer to our prayer AND I didn't have to pay 50 dollars. He kind of started awkwardly laughing and was like "Always use both locks..." Will do, my friend. You are an angel sent from heaven. 

3.)"Do you really believe in the fairy tale of God?" -Dillon (ding dong in Massillon) We went on exchanges in Massillon this week. We tracted into Dillon. Dillon was in his mid-twenties and had no shirt on. After he called God a fairy tale I got really mad. I was going to say "Yes, Dillon, we really do believe in God. Do you really believe that you look good without a shirt on? Because you don't." BUT Sister Willey decided to just testify about how there's evidences all over that there is a God. Good call, Sister Willey.  

4.) Me: "Do I need to bring anything?" President Brown: "Just don't bring any bed bugs." We had interviews with President Brown this week. After he said this, I simply stared at him with a half way glare, and he just stood there and laughed. I pretended to be mad, but deep down I was so excited that President Brown and I are friends now. Who would have thunk? Also, bed bug update: the exterminator found 0 bed bugs in our apartment. He's guessing it was mostly in our clothes (sick). Just to be safe, we're living out of plastic bags for 2 week. It takes me 20 minutes to put together an outfit in the morning because I'm living out of 10 plastic bags. What a life. I'll MAYBE laugh about this someday...maybe...

5.) "Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it." -Joseph Smith The word that sticks out to me in this quote is "pursue". We have to choose to pursue happiness. I've found that the more I'm trying to pursue happiness, the easier it is to find it. I have a good life, and I have every reason to be happy. Heavenly Father has blessed me with the best companion in the world, the best family in the world, and the best mission in the world. I am happy. 

I love all of you so much. Have the best week!

Love, 

Sister Reddish 

"Roommate with bedbugs"

Hello! :)

Mom- I'm so jealous you got to meet Caroline.I hope you had so much fun in Moscow. This is one of the first weeks I haven't had to tell you thank you for the package. You're kind of slackin' on this whole "missionary mom" thing, Mom. ;) Haha, just kidding! I think Sister Anderson appreciated you not being perfect this week. Seriously, you're the best missionary mom to ever exist. I love you tons. Dad- There are thousands of things I miss about you, but I do not miss you pretending to eat the dishes. I start gagging a little thinking about it. Good luck with all of your bishoping duties this week. You're great. I sure love you a lot. Emily- You are living the high school dream, aren't ya? Such a cutie. I can't wait to see your cute racket. I hope you have a good week. I love you!!!

Quotes of the week: 

1.) "Eat as much as you want! I don't want leftovers!" We ate at a member's mom's house this week. The food looked good. It really did. You know what didn't look good? The 8 cats surrounding the table. One of the cat's freaking clawed me while I was talking. I about slapped it, but it was during the spiritual thought so I kept my cool. If Toni ever messes with me again, you best believe there will only be 7 cats in that household. 

2.) "Hi, Elder Harvey. We're kind of freaking out. Sister Reddish has 5 new bites on her foot, Sister Anderson is probably getting transferred this Wednesday, a new sister might be moving into our bed bug infested apartment, and we just saw a bed bug crawling on Sister Anderson. WHAT DO WE DO?" This, my friends, was a quote from the voicemail we left Elder Harvey right after we ran out of Ward Council because Sister Anderson had a bed bug crawling on her coat. I'm not even going to try and make this situation seem uplifting and humbling. These past few days have sucked major butt. We have bites all over our bodies, we got about 3 hours of sleep last night, and there are tiny blood sucking bugs in our apartment.Do you remember that one night we had to sleep in the Houston airport and it was the worst night ever? I would sleep in the Houston airport a solid week before I would relive the past few days. Bed bugs are creepy deeky. I will never ever tell my kids "don't let the bed bugs bite" because THEY ARE REAL AND THEY ARE NOT SOMETHING TO JOKE ABOUT. 

3.) "So, the story is that Sister Anderson had an allergic reaction to gluten and you two had to miss church!" -Wadsworth Elders I'm not 100% sure why the elders found it necessary to make up a story as to why we weren't at church, but now everyone is very concerned about Sister Anderson's health. We've had multiple ward members bring over very gluten free meals to us these past few days. I'm not complaining. There is nothing more comforting then eating a completely gluten free meal in the midst of bed bugs. 

4.) "I feel like your not my companion anymore. We're more like roommates with bed bugs now." -Sister Anderson Sister Anderson and I were already pretty tight before all Hell broke loose, but now we're on a whole different level. We cried, we laughed, we itched, we vacuumed...we're most definitely going to be on first name basis when we get home. ;) In all seriousness, I'm so happy I was able to serve with her. She's awesome. She's going to kill it in her next area. AND hopefully neither of our new companions hate us when they find out there's a chance of little bed bugs crawling on us.  

5.) "Don't wait for tomorrow. Be happy now, be happy today." Mom sent me this quote a few months ago. It's kind of like my motto now. I'm not going to pretend like I was able to stay happy through this week because there was multiple times this week that I was not happy. In fact, I was really angry and grouchy. BUT the times I was happy are the times that make me love being on a mission. The gospel doesn't make your life an easy one, but it sure does help you to make it happy one. I'm so grateful I'm in Ohio.

I love all of you too much. Have the best week :)

Love, 

Sister Reddish 

"Are you hanging out with the hookers?"

Yoohoo, family! big summer blow out!

I am running a little low on time for emailing today, so I am not going to be able to reply individually to each of your emails, but I hope you know that I love all of you more than I can say. I would also like to say that I am feeling exceptionally witty today so the quotes should be a delight this week. ;) 

Quotes of the week: 

1.) "What have I done in my life to deserve two pretty girls shoveling my driveway?" -George Well, after a few weeks of 50 and 60 degree weather, Ohio has decided to be normal and snow in January. Sister Anderson and I decided to shovel some people's sidewalks for a service AND finding opportunity. Double whammy. George thought we were great until he found out we were missionaries. Then the conversation turned awkward because he was scared of us. Sometimes to make people see that we're normal people I try having conversations that don't include churchy things. Fun fact: I'm awful at normal people conversations now-a-days. So after asking him a few questions about the mug he was holding, he slowly made his way to the door. That's right, the only conversation topic my brain could think of was his mug. I'm a social outcast. 

2.) "Sister Reddish, we are not going to see Alice again!" -Sista A SO, Sister Anderson and I tracted into Alice about 2 months ago. We set a return appointment with her, and I was super excited. Guess what Alice did? She didn't answer the door when we came for the appointment. Well, that makes me really angry when people do that, so instead of giving them the silent treatment, I continue to go back again and again and again...and again. The last time we were there I yelled in her front yard "Come on Alice, reject us like a man!" Sister Anderson then gave me a mom lecture on how people aren't going to like the church if we're annoying and yell mean things in their front yard. So, I guess we're done with Alice. I'll miss knocking on her door on a weekly basis. 

3.) "We have bought radish's for the Reddish." -Akron South Zone Plot twist: they were sweet potatoes. When we pointed out this crucial fact, an elder said "Does it matter? They're both disgusting." So, now we have a huge bag of a vegetable (are sweet potatoes even vegetables?) that has nothing to do with my last name AND they're disgusting. Thanks, Akron South Zone.  

4.) "Are you hanging out with the hookers?" Sister Stark (member) We have an investigator named Claire, and she has her very own crocheting club. We're part of the club now. Awe yeah. We spend an hour a week at the senior citizen's center crocheting with 70-80 year old woman. I am the only one who doesn't know what I am doing, and so while they are talking about there fancy crocheting terms, I'm sitting there attempting to make a square but it's slowly turning into an ugly looking blob. They all just kind of look at me like I'm stupid, and then do pity mom compliments like "it looks like you're getting the hang of it." Psh. As if. I chose the hooker life, and the hooker life politely declined. I'll stick with the awkward life. I'm good at that. 

5.) "I have a family here on earth. They are so good to me. I want to share my life with them through all eternity."  Well, word on the street is that Joshua and Kaytlyn had a little baby this week. I already love that beautiful nugget a whole lot. Because of this, I've thought a lot about our family this week. I just love our family. We're so cool. I'm so grateful that Mom and Dad were sealed in the temple so that we can be an eternal family. It's so easy for me to testify that the gospel blesses families because one of the biggest blessings in my life is that I get to be with all of you forever, and that is only possible through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this church. 

I love all of you so much. Have the best week. 

Love, 

Sister Reddish