"I'm not angry"

Mom- THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE CUTE SHOES. You are the best mom ever. Good luck with your root canal today. I love you. Emily- Congrats on the license. You'll have to take me for a ride when I get home. Also, I'm not even a little surprised, but half of your outfit in the picture Mom sent use to belong to me in my past life. You're welcome. ;) I love you!!! Dad- Random question: Have you had the chance to try the chicken nugs at Taco Bell? Sounds like your staying pretty busy with running and bishoping. I sure love you!

Quotes of the week: 

1.) "Can you help me put this shelf thing together?" -Barbara (lady in Warren) I got to go on exchanges with Sister Jenkins this week! It was marvelous. Did we do very much missionary work? No. I'm going to blame this on Barbara because I'm too prideful to blame it on the fact that Sister Jenkins and I might have spent 90% of the exchange talking about things that don't have anything to do with missionary work. ANYWAYS,  Barbara had this stupid shelf thing that she wanted to put plants on. When she asked if we could help her, in my head I was like "Psh, I can put a shelf together. Easy peasy lemon squeezy." Uh, nooo. This shelf was so dumb. After TWO HOURS (two hours of kneeling on concrete with a skirt is awful. It's so awful, folks.) of trying to figure out this devil shelf, we came to the realization that parts were missing. When we tried to tell Barbara this, we then had to take an additional FIFTEEN MINUTES to explain to her that her shelf thing was crap. AND THEN she wanted to sing us a Christian song. That took another FIFTEEN MINUTES because she couldn't get the right pitch for about TEN MINUTES. TWO AND A HALF HOURS of my life were spent with this random woman, but somehow it was one of the funnest days ever. I love Sister Jenkins. 

2.) "Will you lead the music at Brother Bob Stewarts funeral?" -Sister Whitfield (Relief Society President) So, this man in the Youngstown Ward died my first week here. Never met him, but I hear he was a delight. We asked Sister Whitfield if we could help her with anything at the funeral, and she asked me to lead. I can't lead music, guys. I really can't. I've tried and I've tried and I've tried and it never turns out good. SO, there I was, standing next to this random man's casket, trying to lead to "Be Still my Soul".  One of Brother Stewarts daughters could tell I was struggling and she started to ever so slightly lead to the music by her knee in the front row. THIS WOMAN WAS GREIVING THE DEATH OF HER FATHER, AND SHE HAD TO WORRY ABOUT ME BECAUSE I WAS MAKING A FOOL OF MYSELF UP THERE. After 3 more songs, we silently slipped the heck outta there. I was really embarrassed. So, yeah, I might have ruined ole Bobby's funeral. Sorry, Stewart family. 

3.) "Maybe we could pray for the garden before we start planting.." "Like dedicate it?" "Yeah." "Sister Reddish, will you say it?" -Braiser Family (less actives) I kinda dedicated a garden this week. Was it weird? Yes. Did I feel apostate? A little bit. But I did it. In the prayer I was like "Please bless this garden. Please bless that it will....grow a lot of plants... " and then I kind of just ended it. They said thank you, but I think everyone by that patch of dirt could feel the awkward. What the heck was I supposed to say? Oh well, it's always a good day when I get to exercise my Priesthood...oh wait...

4.) "Maybe you could work on not getting angry when things fall through." -Sister Bullock during comp inventory I know this might come as a shock to a lot of you, but I'm not perfect. I have this really bad tendency to get angry when our plans fall through. This isn't a good quality to have as a missionary because things fall through literally all the time. Sister Young thought it was funny, but Sister Bullock has no idea how to respond to my anger, so I'm trying to work on it. Something that's been helping is every time something falls through, I say "Wow, I'm not angry. I still love this person. Think of all the possibilities we now have to find new people to teach." I might say it in an angry voice, but I think the more I say it, the more genuine it will become. That's, at least, what Sister Bullock and I are hoping.

5.) "God will take you as you are at this very moment and begin to work with you. All you need is a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in the Lord." -President Uchtdorf This quote kind of goes along with #4, but it's super true. I've seen it on my mission. Not only in myself, but in some of the people I've had the privilege of teaching. If you have a desire to change and become better, Heavenly Father helps you. Heavenly Father doesn't want us to fail; He wants to help us succeed. The more my testimony grows, the more I realize why we call Him our Father. He sure does love each one of His children. 

I love each of you tons and tons. Have the best week. 

Love, 

Sister Reddish