Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Hello friends and family!!

How is everyone back home doing?? I sure do miss all of you so much but sorry I LOVE my mission so much so you'll just have to wait like 13 more months hahaha anyways this week was CRAZY! We got the lovely chance of helping down in High River with the flooding. We put on our rubber boots and our masks but I don't think we had any idea what we were getting ourselves into. On Wednesday we helped with 2 houses, the first one wasn't too bad but the 2nd one was pretty bad. We walked down into a cold dark basement that was filled with water and started cleaning things out. We found lovely surprises of dead moldy mice and lots and lots of mud. The lady was so appreciative of us helping that it made everything worth it. It was a long day though, we left our apartment at 6:10 in the morning and didn't get back until 7 that night. The next day we got to do it again! But this time the house was way worse than the houses the day before. We went down into the basement and there was mud and water up to our knees. The water had acutally reached the ceiling of the basement at one point so all of the insulation had fallen out of the ceiling and the drywall was falling everywhere. I went into food storage and even with a mask on it was the worst thing I've ever smelt everything was moldy and disgusting. Also the sewer pipes broke so we weren't just swimming around in mud.......hahahahaha disgusting! But really soo gross. We got buckets and shovels and started cleaning things out. It took all day and we didn't get everything done. Again the people were so appreciative. Its been a really good thing for the missionaries, there's already been multiple stories I've heard of people saying they want to learn more about the church because of the nice people that helped them clean out their basements. It was such a humbling experience helping these people clean out their stuff and having to help them throw it all away. They had such great attitudes saying that there things were just things and that they were just grateful for their family. It makes your realize really what's important. The rest of the week I was so sore from helping hahaha but we taught some great lessons and Andy and Kenora got married on Sunday!!!!!!! BEST DAY EVER! They just had the bishop marry them but they really wanted me and Sister B. to be there for them. I was so happy to see them get married. Now they can get baptized! And long story short they're not getting baptized on the 14th anymore but on the 21st....I'm really hoping I don't get transferred and that I can be here for their baptism. They mean so much to me and have gotten so close to them. They pulled me aside on Sunday and said "Sister Martin you better be coming to our sealing in one year." OF COURSE!! Nothing would make me happier. The gospel blesses families sooooooooo much. Never forget that. This week we'll just continue teaching them and helping them prepare. We're also going back down to High River to help so that should be fun! It really is the most disgusting thing I've ever done but I had a smile on my face the whole time....well maybe not the whole time but 90% of it. Charity never faileth. Never forget that either. Also something that I've really learned this week is to just be yourself. We've all been blessed with talents and different abilities so use them! For the first part of my mission I was so hard on myself because I felt like I had to fit this "missionary mold" but then I just realized that was stupid and that I just needed to be me....or a better version of myself. This past week I had multiple people tell me thank you for being "real" and for not trying to be someone I'm not. It was such a tender mercy to hear that. So lesson learned...be yourself.
 
I hope you're all having a great week! I bet you're all jealous that you can't clean out muddy basements!
 
 
Love you all!!
 
Sister M.


Andy and Kenora's Wedding

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