I'm not in Kansas anymore...[November 2, 2015]

This week has been crazy. It started off with so many sad good byes. Saying bye to Sarah was the hardest. She is a recent convert and just a classic teenager and when I told her I was leaving the next morning she started tearing up and I just hated life at that point. She was the first one to get baptized in her family and I just found out that her brother in law who is also like her adopted father is on date for baptism and committed to quit smoking. When I left he completely refused to quit smoking and consider baptism, but I just got Sister Chappells email and after fasting he had a change of heart. I LOVE THAT FAMILY sooooooooo MUCH.

 So Wednesday we drove 2 hours to Wichita, had the transfer devotional then I sat in a van for 3 hours awkwardly squished next to an elder and then another 3 hours to Lamar. So full day of driving. Then we had Thursday and Friday where Sister Birks introduced me to so many awesome people here in Lamar. I feel like right away I click with like everyone here, more than any other area I've been in. It's Gods way of saying, hey, you weren't done with just Junction.

 Saturday we were back on the road for 12 hours. We didn't get back til 12:30, thank goodness it was the time change! Sister Birks just finished her training, so she doesn't have driving privileges yet, but we took a bus for part of it so it wasn't all me. She is just like me when I was that far in the mission. She puts a lot of pressure on herself and I want to help, but I don't want to step on her toes with things, so it's a balance. I feel like I'm getting good at being in the background of things and a safety net when they need it. She has a very different personality than me and I realized that I just have to constantly decide we are going to get along. We'll be besties by the end of this.

 We drove 12 hours to see an apostle! The third one that I have shaken hands with. Elder Stevenson. He is so awesome! He asked who was here when E.Holland visited in May and most of us raised our hands and he was like oh dear....you should never lower your expectations...except for right now. Lower your expectations. I learned a lot from him. I need to promise specific blessings when committing people. I also need to testify at the end of each lesson to leave the spirit in their home. He talked for like 2 hours and it felt like nothing and it reached 6:30 and he was like holy smokes it's 6:30! Then he went on for another 15 minutes lol. So we missed Halloween in its entirety, but this was much preferred.

 Oh I forgot, Friday we had a baptism! When I got there late weds night they had nothing set up for the program including the talk and no one to baptize him. We got it pulled together though and it was awesome. It was for Jesse who is 11 and two of his older siblings are getting baptized this Saturday. His single mother got baptized a week ago.

 My mission dad (first district leader) went home this last transfer and in his departing testimony he talked about the Wizard of Oz and how it's about Dorothy and her adventures to Oz. She meets up with people along the way. They all help her and she helps them and in the end when she finally gets to her destination she realizes it wasn't where they were going that mattered, but the people you meet along the way. Completely describes my mission. Especially the meeting of people with no heart, courage or brains :P