The Wedding Singer

It was a pretttty typical week here in Cody, Wyoming. And by that I mean- I got a new companheira! 

Sisters Christensen and Mills Tracting in Cody, Wyoming

Sister Christensen and I were supposed to open the area, she would train me for 2 weeks and then Sister Huskey (another VISA waiter who came out with me, going to Sao Paulo Norte) and I were supposed to take over the area. WELL. President Meacham called Sister Christensen to talk about me and I guess they decided I didn't need to be trained? (yeahhhhh right) We get a call Friday night at 9:30 (PS we hadn't planned yet because we had been teaching the oldest whitest lipstick...iest Brazillian woman in existance. Slash the only one in Cody, Wyoming I'm almost positive. She is HILARIOUS and it's too bad her husband doesn't speak Portuguese because I can only talk to her for so long before Sister Christensen attempts suicide. Although now Sister Christensen runs around saying - "TOODOO BAMEEEE" in a country accent. I'm obviously the best teacher, well, ever. Anyway, we get a call at 9PM from Sister Taylor in Lovell, WY (the other Sister Training Leader with Sister Christensen) and she says the Pres wants us to switch companions the next morning. But that he received inspiration for a 3 way switch instead of the original plan. Soooo long story short Sister Christensen packed her bags and we drove to Burlington, WY (look it up, Population 288, not even kidding) and picked up my new companheira Sister Helm! Sister Ayala was teaching a lot of Spanish families so now she has Sister Huskey to help her because Sister Huskey speaks... Portuguese? Hahaha. So the moral here is... maybe President received inspiration that I might eventually get my VISA because I am showing Sister Helm Cody and she can actually stay here if I go! This is a good thing. So keep up those prayers! 

Sister Mills with her new companion Sister Helm

I think we are finally starting to have a break through! Our ward is so confused with a new Sister missionary one week after getting the first, but Sister (Hannah) Helm is awesome and from Corbin, Kentucky? So she.... fits right in? Hahaha. She has been out for 4 months, 11 weeks in Billings, 1 week in Mile City with a Visa waiter, 1 week in Lovell, 2 weeks in Burlington, and now 2 days in Cody. Her parents keep asking her if she is a problem missionary. HA! She is pretty quiet and laid back, but once we get joking she can rattle off. She is also 19, so even though she is Senior Comp, I know the area and am a liiiiittle older so we are pretty much even. AKA I bulldoze her, but I think she likes it? She reminds me a TON of Jamie, you guys would like her for sure.

So you know that statistic about people eating 3 spiders a year in their sleep? I've always thought that statistic was WAY off, but I think I've ALREADY eaten 3? So I can see how the average would be that, if the people in Wyoming eating 3 every 2 weeks, then divide that among all the people who are in the US annnnd 3 a year it is. But for reals. I've stopped even killing spiders because they are everywhere, prep for Brazil maybe? Supes awk. Also, prep for Brazil is people here feed us 50000000 times a day. AKA I'm going to gain weight for when I starve in Brazil? I'm getting pretty stoked for that. 

Sisters Mills and Taylor at Zone Training Meeting

So since we have like zero investigators to teach we spend a lot of time tracting. Which as it turns out no one in Cody does? I am determined I will be the best tractor (pref a John Deere?) by the time I get to Brazil. ANNNND the funniest things happen so it is so worth it. People slam the door in our face, or my personal favorite, they let us talk and we both panic, look at each other, and start giggling. That's actually gotten us a couple of contacts. People think we are funny? Although it's not that hard when you are doing awkward things every second of every day?

Speaking of awkward, we got asked to sing at a less active's wedding Saturday night. No joke. You've heard me sing. Sister Helm thank goodness can hold us together, so we get up with the zone leaders, district leader, and another set of sisters and sing families can be together forever. To like.... 10 people. Who are all wearing booty shorts and tube tops and avoiding eye contact. And we sing the first verse a cappela. Then we obviously should be done, but one of the elders (super out of tune) comes in on the second verse and so it went on. The Bishop who did the ceremony was CRYING he was laughing so hard when he helped us clean up after everyone just got up and left?? Things like this only happen on MTV and in the lives of missionaries. So then everyone knows I'm a little work-a-holic and I was determined that I could make this a good experience so I start chatting with the bride's granddaughter about her beliefs. Turns out she was raised a Christian-Wicken, then went Atheist, and now she believes in only participating in the 7 deadly sins? Yeppppp. So I told her that she was God's child and that she could return to live with him, and that he loves her no matter what, but I know he would be REAAAL appreciative if she followed the commandments. And then I pull out the plan of salvation pamphlet and give her a full fledged lesson. Well then her cousin (so 2 of the 10 people- if you are counting) makes some joke about how she will be ready to look for a church when her kids can sit still. So I asked her if she had ever read the Book of Mormon. She said she had but she was confused why we need more scripture. Soooo then I pull out the restoration and give the lesson right there. The Elders are going to visit her (she is in their area) this week. Boom. The funny part is we were 2 short of our goal for lessons this week and I had prayed that afternoon for us to find a way to make our goal. I know Heavenly Father answered my prayer in an unexpected way, but beggars can't be choosers? Sister Helm was FLOORED and on the drive home she just kept saying- "you are sooo crazy" over and over. The good news is, I'm not considering an occupation as a wedding singer.

Mom/Dad glad you loved the corn pic, people ALWAYS offer to send you pictures of us! And I'm so happy to hear you had the missionaries over for dinner that night! We really do appreciate it! Just make sure you make it easy for them to get out of there in an hour, probs the most awkward part of every night. AND I hope you are giving them lots of referrals. Genuinely pray about who you can share the gospel with even in some small way, and I promise you someone will come to your remembrance. Dad, stop going on cruises without me, I'm going to turn into Andrew over here and get bitter! Mom, keep those kids in line and have fun with the student teacher!

Eu amo voces!

Sister Mills aka everyone's fave missionary.

...a couple of Haley photos to get you through the day...

Sister Mills and Sister Christensen showing their pioneer spirit

I'm sure Brazil will look just like this...

Wild, Wild, West

Life is like a Rodeo...

At the request of Elder McLaughlin (may he rest in Billings) I'll say-  "Joke's on me, I'm in Cody, Wyoming!"    

The Billings, Montana mission was a shock, but getting sent to the hickest place around was like... I don't even know... REVELATION. And  the best part is? I love it here! HA! It's exactly the opposite of everything my mission in Brazil is going to be and I don't even care.  All of Wyoming is the size of Mesa, AZ. Just let that sink in for a  minute. Welcome to Cody. There is a rodeo every single night and the  first night I met the Bishop in his work clothes. He works on a damn?  AKA He was looking ROUUUUGH. Everyone is SO nice and I maybe get told I'm a pretty little thing 500 times a day. So obvs, I love it!    

To make matters even better, I am being trained by the best missionary in the entire world. Sorry I'm not sorry. Sister Christensen is from Richfield, Utah and has been out for 6 months. So all you Utahans if you've heard of "Christensen's" the department store, her family owns all three! She is THE hardest working and is obedient to a "T". It's  hilarious because President Meacham has asked us to wake up at 6:23,  so she wakes up at 6:18, so she can be exactly productive by exactly  6:23. Whiiiich I think was the point of 6:23, so we could be productive at 6:30? See the cycle here?! Hahaha. But seriously she is so awesome. Very outgoing, sooo nice, and the other day she accidentally prayed to herself at a dinner appointment? She has been traumatized ever since. "Dear Sister Christensen.... Uhhhhhhhh" Then everyone died laughing. Including the non-member husband of the COOLEST Sister in the ward. After our dinner she comes up to me and  goes- "it's just not fair that they would call the only person with any life in them to Brazil where you can just point at someone on the street and say- BE BAPTIZED." I promised her I'd "get" her husband if it's the last thing I do in Cody. People have been trying for 20 years, but let's be honest, tenacity isn't a joke with me.    

So speaking of "getting" people. Sister Christensen and I showed up in  Cody on Tuesday night and took over Cody 2nd ward. Ever heard of  "white washing??!" Our life. We had no one to our name, and didn't know a single person in Cody (other than the McDougal's whom we live with- AKA coach. welcome to a small town!). We hit the ground running  and starting tracting our street. We joke about that experience all the time because now everyone contact we have is on our street so we  don't have to use our miles! HA! We found a woman who had been taught previously and now we have a baptism set for September 14th! HAAAA!  Sister Christensen is a sister training leader with Sister Taylor in Lovell, WY and when President Meacham found out he about died laughing. He said he knew I would be a fire cracker! Love this place.  We are the first Sister missionaries here in as long as anyone can remember and that is getting everyone STOKED for missionary work. It's so sad telling people that Sister Christensen is only my companion for 2 weeks because then Sister Huskey (also a VISA waiter going to Sao Paulo North, who came out same day) is coming here to be my companion so Sister Taylor can finish out her mission with Sister Christensen.  They've been together 6 months and it's like they are dating. It's hilarious. Anyway, Sister Huskey will come here as early as Saturday and since it's my area I will probs make senior companion in 2 weeks?  Mission record whaaaa? 

Anyway, the work is moving along here in Cody and I am just treating it like it is Brazil. The field is white and I'm ready to harvest! Sorry my thoughts are so scattered, there are two other sets of Elders in Cody and they are trying to hurry us to come with them to Powell and hang out with the zone.  A really cool experience from this week- we were tracting and I felt like we should visit everyone on Meadow Lane since we were there anyway. We go to the first house and no one is home. So we walk a little ways to a set of apartment buildings I hadn't noticed on the map, and on the ward list there is a Sister Kim (from Korea) listed as living in one of them. We go to her door and knock and she answers in TEARS. She goes I'm having a REALLY hard time and I just prayed and told God I needed something right now. Then I hear a knock and I look through the peep hole and see your tags. I know God sent you, and I know he loves me now (all in broken English). She then goes on to tell us some difficulties she is having with her ex-husband and their fight over the custody of their kids. It was just so nice to know that God really does hear our prayers and we can be an answer to someone elses if we listen to the spirit. Most times if we are tune, we don't even realize we are being guided.   

Alright times up! I love you all so much!    

Sister Mills!    

PS my Portuguese is going downHILLLLLL.   

Leaving the MTC...

BILLINGS MONTANA! 

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. 

I am going with almost all the elders in our district, 2 elders from Sis. Evans and Sis. Mickelsens district, aaaaand two of the Sisters down the hall! So I won't be alone like almost everyone going everywhere else! Also we can all practice our Portuguese together! I leave the MTC on Monday morning, and my flight leaves at 3:13PM.  I am sooo incredibly stoked and I'm not even sure why? HA! My prayer last night was- God, I know if I get reassigned people need me wherever I am going. I promise I will work SO HARD, but please help me find them... in one transfer. One and done. HA! But I love this. I am so excited. I might need y'all to send me some more cardigans? I hear it is semi-chilly? 

Sister Cotton is going to Houston, Texas SOUTH. They are going to loooove her accent there! Sister Mickelsen is going to Nashville Tennessee! Sister White and Sister Evans got.... TUCSON ARIZONA! (Sister White opens hers and goes- Tuscan? <like Italy?> DYYYYING.) They are going to be in the heat while I'm in the cool Billings air. And they stop in PHX for an hour! I keep joking about you stopping by to see them! They are going to love Arizona so much! Sister Evans is obsessed with border wars and I've been filling their heads with exciting AZ facts! Their mission covers Safford! Sooooo if they get that area I've advised them to become besties with Aunt Connie!  Email me back and I'll check it later today! GET STOKED!!!!! The church in Billings is about to get HIT UPPPP! 

I may not get another P-Day until potentially the Monday after I arrive in BILLINGS MONTANA. Packing is maybe the worst thing in the world and after I get home from my mish I hope God blesses me for my service with a stable location for the rest of my life? tao bom.  Speaking of packing, this week has been straight CRAY. Alright bad transition I know, butttt one of our elders (Elder Turk) got released on Wednesday. It was sooo sad. He has had medical issues since day one and they had been deciding between reassigning him to the US permanently or sending him home. Well, his condition worsened this last week so they chose to send him home. It was a tragedy to see such an awesome missionary have to cut his time so short, but I know God has a plan for him and he'll have opportunities to serve in different capacities his entire life. 

Sister Hauet left this morning at 3:30AM and oh my goodness how did I ever stay up that late? Sister White needed a companion so one of us had to go with her. But then one of us couldn't stay in the residence alone. So we both had to go. THEN we gave in and woke up Sister Evans and Sister Mickelsen for hang out time. Moral here is... fiesta at 3:30 in the morning? AND Sis Evans, Mick, and White are all leaving Monday morning at 3:30AM again, so repeat? De novo? Plus crying? This'll be great.

Then when Sister Cotton drops me off Monday morning SHE'LL need a companion so we have to invite like half the floor to come say goodbye? It's like an extreme form of babysitting?  Oh, I totally forgot to tell you a hilarious story that happened on my first day. So the TSA checked my suitcase on the way to the MTC and when they shut it I guess they accidentally locked it? Well I had forgotten the code and it was 11PM and all I could remember was that it was the police code for if there is someone with a gun. So one of the sister training leaders took me to the front office where I watched helplessly an MTC staff member google it? Also, turns out there are different codes everywhere? So I sounded like a crazy? Awww first day memories.

I guess it is time to reflect on all my amazing times here. I will miss it so much. The things I've learned here have changed my life. I know more than ever that I am a daughter of God. That he loves me. That he wants me to return to live with him. I defended and fought for his plan in Heaven and I intend to do the same here. I am striving each day to become closer to Christ, and I know that we all have that same opportunity. I know Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus in a grove when he was 14. I know that he restored the true gospel to this earth. I know that he had a desire to know the truth and was answered, and if we sincerely desire to know the truth we can also receive an answer. We probably won't get a personal visitation, but we can receive a witness. I know this, and I am so thankful that I was blessed to be born into this gospel.   

1 more week at the MTC

I am getting my reassignment on Friday (in the event that I don't get my VISA in the next 2 days... which, let me level with you for a minute, is pretty likely. No one in my district has gotten one, and every other district has had a sudden burst. You could say we are requiring extra faith.)

One of the Sister Training Leader (AKA Zone Leader for women?), Sister Tilman, was reassigned last Friday too...... SCOTTSDALE, AZ! No joke I almost died. I gave her mom's cell and told her if she happens to ever be around Coronado High School area she should call her up. She is seriously so awesome and I figure you could mine her for some info on me. Which is... let's be real... why you talk to anyone.

Tell Sister DePaula I say OIIII! And tell her if she prayed harder MAYBE I would already be there? But really. Keep praying people. I can feel it coming! 

Also, I'm glad everyone liked the newsletter. I still haven't gotten one, but it's good to know I'm not a total embarrassment to you!

How are Andrew/Ali/and that cute BABE?! I keep meaning to write them and then I think, what do I have to say other than Andrew I have SOOO much more respect for you. Spiritual prison is... well... prison. Good for him. Also, how is his new job?! Depending on when I fly out they'll be able to make the phone call? Or I can call him real fast and leave a touching message he replays for the next year and a half?

Send me the anniversary (photo) book! That would actually be really cool! Everyone asks to see pictures of everyone all the time, and when you can't jump on Fbook to show them, a book is the next best option? Maybe you should send your set of encylopedias as well. Not having GOOGLE is killing us all. We debate things and then we just have to believe whoever fights the hardest. That must've been how it was in the old days yes?

ALSO, thank you SO MUCH FOR THE COOKIES! They seriously made my whole life. Life made. Who knew that's all I needed to be happy? Everyone makes fun of me because apparently I "act like a ginger when I get hungry?" Interpret that as you will, but I'm almost positive they mean Christlike. 

When Irmao Read left us, we got.... IRMAO SMITH! He has his masters in Portuguese sentence structure... Like... what? He also speaks Spanish AND claims to have been the worst in his class learning Portuguese before the mission. He said learning Spanish was so easy though after Portuguese. And he is currently working on French? THEN Irmao McGill is out of town again so we have Irmao Godoy (the native). It's hilarious. And it makes us learn so much more because they are both trying to teach us things before the other can "ruin" us. Apparently 3 weeks ago they ran into each other on the streets of RIO and we envision it looking something like West Side Story? It's fiiiine. Also, Irmao Godoy's father gave a talk in General Conference in 2008 called "Testimony a Process" (I think) and THAT'S our teachers papa! It's an amazing talk and he worked on it forever so go take a look.

I know that Jesus Christ died for us. I know that through him we can be clean and return to live with our heavenly father. I know we have been sent here so that we can grow and progress, and there will be trials in order to do that, but I know that he will provide a way for us to accomplish the things which he has commanded us. I've been reading 1 Nephi in my Portuguese study and I've gained a new appreciation for it. When you fight to understand every word it really makes you realize what he had to go through. But I know that if we follow the Lord's commandments we will be blessed and can return to live with him forever. 

BOM DIA!  Eu amo voces! 

Irma Mills

Sisters Hauet, Mills, Cotton and White. 
Elders Wilson, Carney, McLaughlin, Turk, Fraizer and Thomas. 
Irmao Read. 
Haley's MTC District