"Broken (bruised) hand and a contrite heart"

 

Hiiiii, family!

Mom- Thank you for the letter this week. Sister Young appreciated her letter too. You're the best mom. It sounds like you had a really good week! You look so pretty in the pictures. Thanks for everything you do for me. I love you. Emily- I'm excited to read your letter. Thanks, cutie. Have a good week. Work hard in school! I love you! Dad- Your email was SO good. I laughed out loud a couple of times. Thanks for being the best dad ever. I love you!!  

Quote of the week:

1.) "Are we allowed to meet in the library?" -Sister Smith Here's a not fun story: Remember that one time we got bed bugs and it was the WORST THING TO EVER HAPPEN? Well, we know where we got them. We got them from the Smith family. For the past few months, Sister Young and I have just been basically bathing in alcohol before we go into their home. This past week, they texted us and basically were like "Hey, we have bed bugs." Wow, what? Really? That explains why I got 11 bites on my arm by leaning against your couch. Anyways, I don't know why, but because it was officially official that they had bed bugs, I literally didn't even want to look at them. BUT, they need help spiritually, so like good servants of the Lord, we went to the Rittman library. The whole time I sat very still and tried not to breath. I was like Dad when one of us has the flu, but I was just trying to not look appitizing to the little buggies. Then came the end of the lesson... They wanted a hug. you guys. A HUG. In the nano-second while she was leaning in for the hug, I said the most heart felt prayer to ever be said asking Heavenly Father to protect me from the bed bugs. I testify prayer works, because I totally made it out of there without a single bite or bug. Whoo! Heavenly Father is looking out for me. 

2.) "Hey, my grandson wants to be baptized. Do you want his number?" -Sister Cartwright Pardon? :| That's what I call a member referral! Up top, Sister Cartwright! We started teaching Jake this week. He's 25-ish and he is Sister Cartwright's grandson. He saw his cousin get baptized a couple weeks ago, and thought it would be a good path for him. Ha, little does he know that it's the BEST path for EVERYONE. His baptism date is June 3rd. Fingers crossed President Brown keeps me in Wadsworth one more transfer. That's all I need. Just one more. I sent an email to President telling him how he can't split up the "dream team" this week.. and last week.. and I think the week before that as well. Maybe he'll get so annoyed that he'll keep me here...or transfer me. Ugh. I don't know. All I know is that I want to stay.  

3.) "I'd be baptized tomorrow if I could." -Micah Micah is golden. We had such a good week teaching him. We had a church tour with him on Saturday. It's hard to explain every bit of what happened during the tour, but I will say it was probably the most powerful thing I've experienced while being on a mission. Then guess what happened? HE CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY! That never happens in Wadsworth! AND guess what else happend? HE STAYED ALL 3 HOURS...AND HE WANTS TO COME BACK! He's doing better than half of our recent converts in this area. Heck, he's doing better than half the Wadsworth ward. His baptism date got pushed up to June 10th. He's so excited. I'm so excited. Every time we teach him, I just smile the whole time. I probably look really stupid, but I don't even care. When you're "Disneyland happy" you can't help but have a smile on your face. 

4.) "Hi, Sister Harvey! (Mission nurse) I think I broke my hand..." -Me So, this week Sister Young and I were going for a run. The weather was perfect, I had my favorite t-shirt on, and I was feeling good. Back in the day when I was in high school cross country, Coach Hopster would always be like "Pick up your feet". Psh, like he knows what he's talking about....He actually does know what he's talking about because I totally tripped. Hard core tripped, folks. Right on my right hand. It got super fat and it hurt like crazy. I legit thought it was broken. No doubt in my mind it was broken. ALL BECAUSE I TRIPPED ON A SIDE WALK. I ended up going to Akron General Hospital and they took some x-rays. Not broken, just super fat and bruised. They gave me this stupid looking wrist splint so that I wouldn't injure it any further. SO Mom and Dad, you might have some medical bills coming your way... I'm really sorry. I wish it was broken so the bills would be worth paying, but I literally just bruised my hand because I'm incapable of picking my feet up.

5.) "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." This quote was said in our Relief Society lesson this week. Before I came out on my mission, I thought missionaries only experienced joy when they were having success. I'm not going to lie, I have experienced immense joy this past week as Heavenly Father has been blessing the heck outta us. BUT I will also say that I've never experienced the amount of joy that I've felt since walking through those doors at the MTC. Has my mission been anything that I've expected? Nope. Would I change any of it? Nope. I love it, I love it, I love it. I know that all of this joy that I've experienced is because my whole focus has changed. I'm not saying you have to go on a mission to change your focus and experience joy, but I am saying that if your focus is on the Savior and striving to be like Him, that's where true joy comes from. 

I love all of you. 

Love, 

Sister Reddish

Adventures with Mack

Hi. 

Mom- THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE. I'm currently eating some of the fruit snacks. I don't know if I'm allowed to eat in the library, so I'm feeling quite rebellious. But for reals, you're awesome. I appreciated it so much. I love you a lot. Emily- Stop talking to boys. And don't touch their heads. Sounds like you're crushing it in tennis. It probably runs in the family. I was AWESOME at tennis. ;) Tell Mr. Morris hi for me and that I can't wait to hang out with him again. Also tell him to get baptized. I love you, Em! Dad- I'm going to miss hearing about Kari. I hope Kari can find a place where she belongs. Here's a question I have for the sisters in your ward: Do they tract? Like is there too many members in Pocatello to tract? I've wondered that my whole mission. I love you, Dad!!  

Quotes of the week: 

1.) "What's your name?" *looks up* "Uhhhh...Joe." -Someone whose name ISN'T Joe After "Joe" told us what his "name" was, I mumbled "That's not your name." then he said "What?" and then Sister Young took things over from there. Joe wasn't interested. But for reals, people are really weird about giving us there names sometimes. The only reason I want to know their names is so I can be more personable. Anyways, we left with no success. I pleasantly said, "Have a good day, Joe.", he smiled, and after 20 minutes I decided it's stupid to be mad at someone for giving two random girls a fake name. I forgive you, Joe. I hope you have fun in spirit prison.

2.)  "Hi! Can we share something with you?"..."Bye."..."Alright." -My awkward attempt at contacting We have been doing a lot of street contacting since the weather has been marvelous this past week. Street contacting is so awkward for me. How do you make it natural? You can't. No one just goes up and starts talking to people. Luckily, Sister Young is awesome at it, so I've learned a lot from her. This quote happened towards the beginning of the week, towards the end, I began to be a bit more pushy. This one man after I offered him a "Prince of Peace" card was like "No, you should give it to someone who needs it." I replied, "You need it. Seriously, we have like 10 trillion of these, just take it. Our number is on the back if you want to learn more." My dream is to have someone call us because we gave them a card. It hasn't happened yet, but it will. I know it.

3.) "I don't know when you can come back. I have to take care of my huge bird, so I stay pretty busy all day." -Kevin Haha, that's the best excuse I've ever heard for never seeing us again. Plot twist: we were able to get a return appointment with him by saying  really enthusiastically "Can we come see your huge bird this coming Saturday!?" Our excited tones made him super excited so he was like "Of course!", then we said, "Awesome! Then after can we share a message about Jesus Christ with you?" He was like "Yes, I love Jesus." It wasn't even hard to sound enthusiastic about the huge bird. I really am pretty excited to see Kevin's birdie. Then we'll have the best dang message about Jesus Christ that Kev-bot has ever heard. Am I right, or am I right? UP TOP. It wasn't the ideal way to get a return appointment, but sometimes "ya just gots to get your freak on". Haha, that's an Office quote, but for reals, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to teach people about the restored gospel. 

4.) "Hey, you want to take my dog with you on your run?" -Tom So, this week, Sister Young and I were going for a nice 3 mile run. After about 5 minutes of running, we ran past this old man with a German Shepard. When he asked us if we could take his dog with us, Sister Young and I thought he was kidding so we were like "Ha..ha...yes!" He wasn't kidding, guys. Was not even kidding a little bit. He handed me the leash and said "His name's Mack. If you start running, he'll stop jumping on you." WE RAN SOME RANDOM MAN'S DOG FOR 3 MILES AROUND WADSWORTH. Tom gave us his address before we ran off with his dog, and we were able to drop off Mack after the weirdest morning run I've ever had. After asking us how much he pooped and what the consistency of the poop was, we were able to set a return appointment with him, and HE BECAME A NEW INVESTIGATOR YESTERDAY. We almost counted Mack, but he's 4 years old. Maybe when he's accountable. 

5.) "Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so." -Jeffery R. Holland ("None Were with Him") This week I have been so thankful for Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful that He died for me. I'm thankful that no matter how bad my day is, or how sad I am, I can find peace through Him. I still have a lot to learn while I'm on my mission, but I feel something I've truly learned while being on a mission is to rely on my Savior. I don't have my mom or my dad here to complain about how "hard" my life is, but I do have someone, and we ALL have someone, who cares about us and knows how to help us. I love Him and I'm so thankful for His sacrifice for me. 

I love all of you. Have the best week!

Love, 

Sister Reddish 

"Is Pocatello getting a temple?"

Hello, Fam!!

Mom- Thanks for the letter this week! You're awesome! I went to the temple this morning TOO. It's almost like we went together... except we really didn't... I can't wait to go to the temple with you again. Thank you for all you do for me. I love you, Mom! Emily- You know what you need to tell the Anti-Mormons? Just simply say "HATER'S BACK OFF!" I'm paraphrasing Preach My Gospel, but it says something like that in there. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. I've been a missionary for 11 months. ;)  I love you tons! Feel better! Dad- I gotta tell ya, I missed taking a nap with you during the Saturday afternoon session of conference. Congrats, champion. I'm proud of both you and North Carolina. I love you, Dad! 

Quotes of the week: 

1.) "I like your sweatshirt it's really...." *SLAM!* -Sister Young Here's a funny story: So, Sister Young and I struggle with relating to high school students because we're awkward, but guess what? Teens are the most receptive to the gospel so we've been trying to get better at it. Anyways, we were walking into the library to update the progress record, and there were like ten 15 year old girls standing outside. Sister Young, being the nice person she is, tried to compliment one of them while casually walking by. While she was talking and looking back at them I noticed a pole that was right in her path. All I could get out of my mouth was "POLE!" before she totally slammed into it. Like full body contact, folks. After that happened I basically peed in front of the library. I couldn't even move I was laughing so hard. The girls didn't have much of a reaction to the whole scene, but I assured Sister Young that they'll probably talk about it for the rest of their lives. Haha, good times.  

2.) "If I could flip houses, we wouldn't be living in this crap-hole." -Brother Susic (less active) We met Brother Susic this week! It was actually kind of a miracle because missionaries haven't been in contact with him in over 10 years. AND guess what? He has two teenage children who aren't members. TWO. We're now starting to teach his 14 year old daughter, Seirra. Isn't that cool? I think that's pretty cool in a missionary kinda way. Now, I realize this quote has nothing to do with this awesome miracle that has happened to us. To be honest, I mainly just liked this quote because he said "crap hole". Pretty sure it qualifies as slang, but you can bet your bottom dollar Imma be using that slang word all the day long when I get home. Crap-hole. It's like butt hole except a little funnier. Mom, say "crap hole". 

3.) "I can't wait for President Monson to announce a temple in Pocatello tomorrow." -Me on Saturday night You all were wondering about my reaction to the announcement so here it is: There I was sitting on Tim and Amy's (recent converts) couch eating some cheese. President Monson started announcing the temples. He said Kenya and in my mind I was like "Yeah, not today, Pocatello." BUT THEN HE TOTALLY SAID POCATELLO, IDAHO. I didn't know what to do because I didn't want to scare Tim and Amy so I simply raised my arms up (ya know, my power stance) and smiled really big. Then Sister Young yelled "HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?" and I yelled back "I DON'T KNOW, I GUESS I'M A PROPHET!" Not the best response I could have said because Tim struggles with the idea of prophets, BUT it happened and I really didn't care because I was so excited. And that is basically what happened. Pocatello is FINALLY getting a temple and I am so, so, SO grateful. 

4.) *While sobbing* "That was the most beautiful role play I have ever seen!" -Some Kirtland Sister And that, my friends, is why sister missionaries have a bad rep. Calm down, Kirtland sister. It's just a role play. JK, it was an awesome role play. If we're being honest, I had pretty soggy eyes. Why do sister missionaries gotta be so emotional and weird? Seriously, it was just role play. It wasn't even real life. ALSO, don't even get me started on watching 'The District'. I go through at least 2 tissues each time we watch it. SO good. I guess moral of the story is that I'm an emotional mess and I'm probably going to have 2 friends when I get home. 

5.) "He offers peace to all who follow him." -Prince of Peace video SPEAKING OF SOGGY EYES, the new 'Prince of Peace' video is AMAZING. Do you know what's cool? It doesn't matter if you're LDS, Catholic, Atheist, ect., Jesus Christ died for each one of us. That means that each one of us can find peace through Him. I'm so grateful that He lived and died and lived again. I love Him, and I love what He did for me personally. I am also grateful that we had the opportunity to listen to our church leaders this past weekend to learn more about Him and what He can do for us. We're so blessed. I can't even get over how awesome it is that we are apart of Jesus Christ's church.

I love each of you too much. Have a great week! :)

Love, 

Sister Reddish