"I'm just a little weird and slow..."

Dad- The shirt you got at the playmill place is so disgusting. I love it. You're the coolest. I sure love you. Mom- Thank you for your letter this week. It came on the perfect day. I sure am grateful you're my mom. I love you. 

Quotes of the week: 

1.) "Hold her right wrist...no not your right wrist....that's her left wrist..." -Bishop Carl The other day, the elders had a baptism. This baptism was for an active 9 year old that just somehow didn't get baptized when she was 8. Sister Grant and I invited one of our investigators, David, to come to the baptism. When it was time for the actual baptism, we all went to the room with the font and watched as this little girl and her grandpa walked into the font. It was a really special moment...until the grandpa had no idea how to hold her for the ordinance. He began grabbing both of her arms...and then he was just holding her waist...and then Bishop Carl freaked out. It was so funny. THEN after the poor man figured out how to hold his granddaughter, he said the prayer perfectly. Right before he dunked her he yelled "ALRIGHT, BABY GIRL, HERE WE GO!" He then proceeded to GRAB HER NECK and hold her under the water for an uncomfortable amount of time. I loved every second. At the end, David was like "I feel so honored that you invited me to this. It just seemed so special." I feel so honored that I was able to go as well. It was the best thing that has ever happened. 

2.) "I would come out with you girls if I could. I'm just a little weird and slow." -Brother Adams Brother Adams is literally the weirdest person I have ever met...in my whole life. BUT I love him a ton. The other day his wife left us a voicemail letting us know that she had to cancel coming with us to an appointment. We called back to let her know that we got her message. She didn't answer so we had the blessing of talking to her husband. After he said this quote, I didn't know what to say so after a few seconds of silence all I said was "Ha...well, thanks for trying." That wasn't a good response. I should have been like "Oh, you would be great!" or something sister missionary-ish. Nope. That's not how Sister Reddish rolls. Not ta-day, not ever.
3.) "Oh man, you go home pretty soon, huh?" -Too many people People have been saying this to me a lot lately. Every time I have a mini heart attack and then say "ha..ha...not really." This morning I was singing "I'll Be Home For Christmas" while Sister Grant was in the shower and I STARTED CRYING. I don't know if I was happy or sad or both but there were tears and it was very strange. I'm just very grateful that I still have 3 months. 3 more months of awkward missionary experiences. I'm gonna try and love every second. 

4.) "You seem really good at talking to people, Sister Reddish." "Sister Garvin, I'm literally the most awkward person that's ever been in the mission field." The other day we went on exchanges with the STL's. I was with Sister Garvin for a whole day. On the exchange, we were able to teach the Restoration to this older couple named Barbara and Walter. They weren't really interested in learning more, but we asked if they would allow us to leave them with a prayer. I offered to say it. When I was companions with Sister Jenkins, she would always crawl towards me during my prayers because she knew it freaked me out, and now I automatically pray with my eyes open. I really do try and close my eyes, but somehow they always end up opened by the end of the prayer.  Anyways, while I was saying the prayer, my eyes started to creep open. When they became fully opened, I MADE EYE CONTACT WITH WALTER. I was talking to God and staring at this random old man. It was so uncomfortable. I then tried to handle the situation calmly, so I began to slowly close them. Ever so slowly. (I don't know why I thought this would be the appropriate route to go in this situation but I did) In the midst of trying to close them slowly, I also started to talk slower. The whole thing was just so bad. SO, so, so bad. This quote was said right after this awkward encounter occurred. Sister Garvin's eyes were closed during the whole thing because she knows how to act in prayers, so she still doesn't know what happened. I didn't tell her because I wanted to die a little bit. Can the Ohio Cleveland Mission handle 3 more months of me? Hopefully. 

5.) "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" -D&C 128:22 This week was sort of hard (and awkward). Appointments fell through, investigators dropped us, people were meanie weenies. Sometimes things don't really go the way you want them to on a mission..or life in general. BUT, that's okay. Without weeks like this, there wouldn't be any growth, and there was definitely some growth this past week. I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father that is aware of me and loves me. I love being a missionary and I love the people I serve. 

I love all of you a ton. Have the best week. 

Love, 

Sister Reddish 

Cat Missionaries

 Mom- I can't even believe that Sister Grant is done training in two weeks. It feels like I've only been with her two weeks. I don't want to leave her. The eclipse   sounds awesome. The eclipse was kind of cool here...haha not really. BUT Sister Grant's mom sent us some glasses so we got to take a gander at it. Thanks for the letter this week. And thanks for being the best mom. I love you. Dad- "I told mom to let me know if she heard any kind of voice introducing "The Son"  so I could quick grab hold of her, cause I didn't want to get left out." You're a funny guy.  I hope you have a good week. I will be praying your YSA folks make good decisions and don't cross the chastity line. I love you!

Quotes of the week: 

1.) "We can promise you as representatives of Jesus Christ that we are in our bathtub with a mattress over our heads." -Sister Grant and I texting the Chapmans The other day we were eating din din at the Chapman's house and teaching Jennell a new membah lesson. WELL, during dinner the tornado sirens went off. The weather was pretty crappy, but it didn't seem like anything to freak out about. The Chapman's have a tendency to freak out about everything, so they began to act like we were basically going to die. They were like "Hurry, go home! If the tornado comes, get in your bathtub with a mattress over your head." Sister Grant and I drove home pretty quick because they freaked the poop out of us. When we got home, we had some weekly planning to get done so we stayed in for about an hour. After we finished, it was like 8:15, so we had some time to go do something productive. We texted the Chapman's and asked if we were okay to go out and proselyte. They responded with telling us to get into our bathtub right that instant. We were like "Wow, I guess this is more serious than we thought.." AND SMUSHED A MATTRESS IN OUR TINY BATHROOM AND GOT IN THE BATHTUB. They didn't believe us, so we sent them this quote. Theeeeen they called and told us that it was all a prank. No tornado...just two very gullible sister missionaries. Bill Chapman posted a screenshot of the text messages on Facebook, and now we're the talk of the whole Youngstown Ward. Bishop couldn't even look at us during ward council because he was laughing so hard. The Elder's we work with in the ward texted us on Monday and said "Sisters! Be home and in your bathtub by 1 pm. There is a solar eclipse today and those can be very dangerous." Soooo basically we wasted about an hour of the Lord's time in a bathtub with a mattress over our heads, and now everyone makes fun us for it. You know what I have to say to them? SAFETY FIRST, SAFETY LAST. I regret nothing. 

Wow, that's a lot of words I just typed and honestly I was boring myself typing them. Sorry. It was funnier in the moment... I peed.

2.) "Would it be easier if we just take the coffee from you?" -Sister Grant Guys, I love Sister Grant. She never raises her voice or says anything mean or sassy to anybody. I've learned a lot from her about loving the people around us. She said this quote to Perry (investigator on date for the 2nd of September) because he can't seem to stop drinking coffee. When he said "Nah, I think I'll be fine." That's when the overbearing missionary in me came out and I was like "Um, no. We're going to take your coffee. Satan wants you to drink that because he doesn't want you to live with Heavenly Father again, and we're not going to let him win." Perry looked a little shocked at my response, so Sister Grant came in again and was like "We know that Heavenly Father will help you quit coffee, and maybe it would be best if we just took some of that temptation away from you."  She never freaks out. Never ever. I wish I could say that I taught her everything she knows, but obviously I didn't. She's an angel. Anyways, after she said this Perry walked into his home, got his jar of coffee, came back out, and handed the jar to us. No more coffee for Perry the platypus. HA, take that, SATAN! 

3.) "What do you call two cats in a car? Cat missionaries." -Carl (recent convert) Every time we teach Carl at the library, he feels the need to walk back to our apartment with us. EVERY TIME. I love Carl, but usually a good 20 minute lesson is all I need for my weekly dose of Carl. This past week, he spent the whole time telling us jokes. They all had something to do with 2 of something or missionaries OR both. This quote was the first one he said. Not too bad, I laughed harder then a normal person would have, and I thought that was going to be an end of the jokes. Nope. Definitely not the end.  He said a lot of jokes. None of them were funny. Sister Grant (my angel baby) laughed at all of them. Every single one. The funny part was that she was actually laughing. I stopped laughing after a while. He was like "Sister Reddish doesn't get my jokes!"... I replied with "No one gets your jokes, Carl. Sister Grant isn't laughing with you, she's laughing at you." Ha, jk. I didn't say that. I wanted to though. It was so hot and so humid and I was so grumpy. I love Carl though. I love him a lot. I promise. 

4.) "I'm trying to be like Jesus; I'm following in his ways." This week we had the opportunity to sing in sacrament meeting. We sang a children's hymn book song because we can't sing and it was short. Anyways, we sang "I'm Trying to Be like Jesus". The singing wasn't great, but the song sure was. Obviously I could do tons better, but I really am trying to be like Jesus. I'm grateful He came to earth. I'm grateful He set the perfect example for all of us. AND I'm grateful that He died for each one of us so that when we don't follow His example, we can repent and become better. I love Him, and I love His gospel. 

I love all of you. Have a splendid week!

Love,
Sister Reddish

I love American Indians...

Mom and Dad- I love both of you tons. Tons and tons and tons. Thanks for being the best parents in the whole world. Sorry for not doing individual notesies today. I promise I'll have a better email next week. 

Quotes of the week:

1.) "I've just always loved the American Indians." -Sister DeVito On Friday I got super sick. I was all pukey and disgusting. It was a real bummer because  we had SO many AWESOME appointments. There was one appointment I couldn't miss. I had ROLE PLAYED WITH PRESIDENT BROWN for this appointment. I couldn't miss it, So, after lying down for the whole morning, I put on a dress and my glasses (to cover up the ugly) and we went to an appointment, Sister DeVito came with us to the appointment because she's a good person. Sister DeVito is that lady who thought Roger's (one of our investigators) wife was a man when she was singing. Do you remember that? No? That's okay, all you need to know is that Sister DeVito makes everything awkward (like 10x worse than me).  She said this quote when I asked her to share her testimony about the Book of Mormon. Um, Sister DeVito, that's not a testimony. Also, that's a very weird comment. I felt like crap so I let Sister Grant take the reign's after Sister DeVito's "testimony". The lesson actually went real good though, and we're hopefully gonna see a baptism on September 2. Whoo! All's well that ends well.  

2.) "You two are both good lookin'. I bet ya have no problems finding a boyfriend." -Henry (potential investigator) Henry is 89 years old. He's such a cutie. Sister Grant and I get comments like this on a weekly basis (because we're beautiful and charming) and we usually just respond with "Thank you!" and it's over. SO, after Henry said this quote to us that's exactly what we did. His wife Lulu didn't think it was very appropriate for him to say this, so with a straight face and a stern voice she said "Henry, they're not here to find boyfriends. They're here to bring people to the Lord." SHE WAS PEEVED, FOLKS. Then Henry didn't hear her so he was like 'WHAT?" and she repeated herself in a louder voice and then Henry was like "WHAT?" and she said it in a louder voice... this happened like 4 times. It was pretty awkward. Not like the most awkward thing ever, but pretty awkward. BUT hey, that's okay. Henry complimented us and Lulu reassured us that she knows what our purpose is. Success! 

3.) "Why would you want to go Bigfoot hunting, Sister Reddish, if your whole area is full of big, hairy men?" -Elder Klinglesmith  The other day in district meeting, we were talking about Bigfoot hunting (we're a really spiritual district), and I expressed my love for it. I've never met anyone who fits their last name so perfectly until I met Elder Klinglesmith. There was no smile before, no smile during, or no smile after he said this to me. No smile.  I think it was a joke... I laughed. BUT what he said wasn't false, so I'm wondering if he just felt like stating a fact. Either way, I can testify that what Elder Klingesmith said was true. Our area is FULL of big. hairy men and none of them wear shirts. It's disgusting. 

4.) "It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book." -Ezra Taft Benson I had the opportunity to finish reading through the Book of Mormon this past week. Do I love American Indians? Yes. Has it taken me this long to finish reading through the Book of Mormon since being on a mission? Ha, yeah. Do I know that the Book of Mormon is true? YES. I know it, I know it, I know it.  And because I know that it's true. I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and I know that we belong to THE Church of Jesus Christ. I am so happy to be a missionary and to share with people what means the absolute world to me.

Love you guys. 

Love, 

Sister Reddish 

Poop Face...

Hello!! :)
>
> Mom- I love all the pictures you sent this week! I think you're getting younger.. you look so good! I sure love you tons and tons. Thanks for the letter and money this week! You're the best! Dad- Great job on the race. You're going to have to teach me how to run again when I get home. All I'm good at now-a-days is eating and pretending to work out at 6:30 in the morning. I love you, Dad!
>
> Quotes of the week:
> 1.) "What does it feel like?" "What?" -Sister Grant and I     Every night before I go to bed, all I want is to have a dream about being at Disneyland or going on a bike ride by the Tetons. Ya know, fun stuff. Well, lucky for me, I am only capable of dreaming about missionary things. I literally dream about teaching lessons. One time, I finally had a dream about going to Disneyland with Mom AND I WAS PASSING OUT PASS ALONG CARDS THE WHOLE TIME. Who am I? Anyways, a couple nights ago, I was having a dream about teaching somebody, and in the dream I was trying to get the person to recognize the Holy Ghost without me telling him directly that it was the Holy Ghost. I guess I started teaching him out loud because I woke Sister Grant up. President Brown should have me train one more time. I getting so good at it, I'm doing it in my sleep. HA!!.. that was a lame joke. Sorry.
> 2.) "Could I warm this up a little bit?" -Me    The other day we went to a member's home for dinner. This member has the mental capacity of about a 10 year old, but she's 50 years old. She's pretty sensitive and easily offended, so we have to be careful when we eat there. She made us rice, meat balls  and stuffed peppers. I began eating my meatball and it was like I put semi-cooked ground beef in a bag of uncooked rice. I decided to deal with that problem a little later so I began to cut the stuffed pepper in half. My pepper was stuffed with meat that had not been cooked at all. SO PINK. I thought I was the only one with this problem because Sister Grant had already downed her meatball. For a little while, I was just poking everything on my plate pretending to eat. The member left for a solid minute (tender mercy of the Lord) and during that minute Sister Grant said "My meat is all raw." SHE ATE A WHOLE RAW MEATBALL!! Well, as most of you know, my gag reflex is pretty sensitive, and I began gagging thinking about what Sister Grant had just done. I didn't want to offend the member by asking to use her microwave, but I figured puking all over her table would be more offensive. Well good news, the member didn't get offended, I warmed my plate up in the microwave for 2 million minutes, and Sister Grant was only a little sick yesterday. #blessed
> 3.) "You two can go knock on my neighbors door. They always yell at me.-Some Catholic man     Sister Grant and I are trying to get better at asking for referrals from EVERYBODY. After this random Catholic told us that "he knows Jesus" and didn't want to hear our message, we asked him if he knew anybody who DID want to hear the message. That's when he gave us the crappiest referral to ever happen. Well, the day was coming to close and we needed to get back to our apartment, so we weren't going to contact that referral that night. We began walking to our car (passing his neighbors home) and this man was like "HEY, GIRLS! THAT'S THEIR HOME!!! YOU'RE PASSING IT! GO KNOCK ON IT!!!" To make a lame story short: The people were about as rude as we expected them to be and we went back to the apartment.
> 4.) "Hey, Sister Grant, I think there's a bug on your cheek -Me     Sister Grant and I were out tracting the other day and I looked at her face and there was a green.. something.. on her face. I thought it was a bug. When I told her about it, she began to try and get it off. The green substance smeered all over her face. SHE HAD POOP ON HER FACE, GUYS!! She was like "Wow, I thought it started raining and a rain drop fell on my face; I guess not." I peed on Hasenflu Street. I still laugh when I think about it. A bird freakin' turded on her face. That's hilarious. I love living my life with Sister Grant.
> 5.) "Our Father in Heaven’s love for us, His children, surpasses by far our ability to comprehend." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf   I love knowing that I have a Father in Heaven that loves me. I know He's aware of each of us and hears our prayers. I'm grateful He loved us enough to give us His Son, and I'm thankful He loved me enough to send me to the Ohio Cleveland Mission. I love my life.
>
> Have a blessed week. Peace out.
>
> Love,
> Sister Reddish

Not cursed and good....

Hiii, fam.

Dad- I really enjoyed the layout of your email. Very nice looking. Good luck with your race this week. You're going to do awesome! I sure love you. Mom- Do you remember that one time we hiked Table Rock, and you and I both basically died? And then we were like 10 steps away from the top and you were like "I'm not finishing. I hate this." Haha, good times. I sure love you, Mom! 

Quotes of the week: 

1.) Better get out of the sun; don't want to get more cursed!" -Leon (investigator) Here's a horribly awkward story: SO, we're teaching this awesome black guy named Leon. We were teaching him a couple weeks ago, and he asked us the oh, so popular question, "Can black people be Mormon?". Sister Grant and I handled the question like a champ telling him that God loves all of His children, and I even sang him the Michael Jackson song "Black and White". Ha, no just kidding, I didn't, but we handled the question well. APPARENTLY the member we brought with us thought we could have gone a bit more in depth with the question, so he decided to squeeze in the comment "Black people weren't allowed to have the priesthood for a while because you guys are cursed." WOW, BROTHER, THAT WAS THE WORST THING YOU COULD HAVE SAID. Obviously that rubbed Leon the wrong way, so we referred him to the lds.org article "Race and the Priesthood" and prayed he would allow us to teach him still. He told us he read the article, and I guess it sat right with him because now he jokes about being cursed. I'm glad he thinks it's funny to joke about because I'm still pretty angry at the member and can still feel the awkward that occurred that hot July day. 

2.) "She called and told me happy birthday, and then I said 'good'!" -Sister Swick (less active) Sister Swick is this crazy less active in the Youngstown ward. She is the shape of a pear, her eyes are always looking in two totally different directions (Sister Grant and I never know who she's looking at and we sit on two completely different sides of the room), and she turned 70 this past week. When she told us this story, in my head I was like "Oh, cool.", then I was like "Wait, that doesn't quite seem like the correct response when someone says happy birthday to you.", and then I held in a laugh for the entire lesson because the more I thought about it, the funnier it got. ANOTHER STORY about Sister Swick that happened this week: She fell and it really scared her. We went over to comfort her and we sang her "Abide With Me". The first line in that song is "Abide with me! fast FALLS the eventide" and then I basically lost it in a reverent manner, and Sister Grant had to go solo for a couple notes. Man oh man, it's never a dull moment when we're visiting good ole Swicky. 

3.) "No thanks. You scared my dog, so I have to go calm her down." -Rando The other day we were tracting and we got to this house with the front door open but the screen door was closed.  I love those doors because it basically guarantees that someone is home. Well, when we got closer to the door, we realized that the screen door wasn't completely closed either. I went to gently knock on the screen door, and this little rat dog pounced out the door and started barking at us. The owner came out PEEVED. We were like "Um, hi... we're missionaries...." and that's when she said this quote. She said this quote in a very mean tone. At first it made me feel bad because I felt like I was the cause for having her dog escape her home. I legit felt like I needed to repent or something because I felt so bad. THEN I started thinking about it, and in my head I was like "That wasn't my fault. I hate that lady, and I hate her ugly rat dog." Then I really did have a reason to repent because that wasn't a kind thought. Daily repentance. my friends. It's what helps us become better and live with Heavenly Father again.  Didn't think I could turn that into a spiritual thought, did ya? Ha, wow, I'm annoying. 

4.) "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" -D&C 18:10 This week all the missionaries in the Youngstown ward (us and the elders) had the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting. At the end of my talk I began to talk about how much I loved the people in the ward. My eyes filled with tears, and I could barely say anything, I have truly come to love these people in this crazy area. I know that Heavenly Father loves them too. 

Well, sorry for only 4 quotes this week. If we're being honest, I'm just getting really, really tired of emailing. BUT, I love each of you a ton! Have the best week! :)

Love, 

Sister Reddish