A Matter of Life and Death

This week has been a matter of life and death. Death because, as the mission lingo says I'm killing off Sister Lane. Her "tour of duty" as the post office lady calls it is coming to a close. Tomorrow I will send her off to the real world . I've never killed anyone before but it's sure been a pleasure killing Sister Lane. She is just want I needed and has been such a great example to me. I really look up to her. 

 

A matter of life because well.... I'm going to be a mommy. By that I mean, I get the opportunity to bring a precious little soul in to this life we call a mission. Yup, I'm training and scared out of my pants!! I know what you're thinking. She's hasn't even been out 5 months and they're letting her train. Yeah, I think the same thing. 

 

Lets start back at the beginning of this roller coaster of a week. It literally started on a roller coaster. As I mentioned last week, I got to go to Busch Gardens. A member of out ward is an animal nutritionist there and he got us in and was so kind to give us a VIP tour. 

We fed the kangaroos, enticed some birds with some nectar. One little guy was so excited he pooped on me. I didn't even care, I was just having so much fun. We took a safari ride around Africa seeing all kinds of exotic creatures and then Sister Lane and I went straight for the rides. Since it was a Monday afternoon there were no lines and we walked right up to the front of the line and on to the front of the coaster. We rode all the rides... twice! It was great!! I felt like a little kid at Christmas. After that eventful P--day we were back in skirts and teaching a lesson by 5. Self, great day! 

 

This week, being Sister Lanes last week, we gave enduring to the end a whole new meaning. My bike tire has been having a little rough time lately and through a series of unfortunate events, we found ourselves having to be at a lesson in 20 minutes and no way to get there. Sister Lane and I looked at each other and said, "Well I guess we better get running." We had 20 minutes to run 2.4 miles, we got this. We put on some running shoes, a change of clothes and scriptures in our backpack and sprinted out the door. The first half mile we just laughed the whole time and and joked, "Hey remember that time we ran to our lesson?" About a mile into it we realized we better stop laughing and focus on breathing. That was also about the time I was thinking the 5 spoonfuls of cookie dough and milk was a bad idea. Well we made it to the church on time for our lesson which was followed by a missionary appreciation dinner hosted by the Young Women. As we walked in to the room, they all stood up and sang Called to Serve. It was awesome and delicious! Probably my favorite part was when Stephanie stood up and said, " Hi my name is Stephanie and my favorite holiday is Nov 20th because that's they day I get baptized." Yup, that's my investigator! She is so awesome!! 

 

The end of the week was a challenge. Sister Lane got sick, to the point they canceled our Bible study because they said she looked pale. I took her home, made her soup, drugged her up and send her to bed. Being sick on the mission is the worst especially on the mission because not only do you feel sick, you also feel guilty you feel awful. So I tried to "mommy" her to make her feel better. She can't go home sick. No way. She said that none of her companions took care of her when she was sick, so that made me feel good. Well things were going well for me until I woke up Friday feeling sick too. I starting throwing up pretty much anything inside me. It was awful. I was joking about not being able to survive the mission physically before my body shut down and then the following morning, I feel like death. I was pretty sure that was it. I could see the bright lights and everything. I guess the mission is a great place to die right? Ok so I am just being dramatic but for real, it was no fun. I pulled myself together and a few hours later we were out tracting. I think that was the hardest thing to walk out the door, feeling the way I did, Sister Lane going home in 2 days and here we are tracting. For those of you who have served missions know all the joys of tracting but despite everything we did it. The Lord had work for us to do and we did it. The whole time I was praying not to blow chunks on the person at the door and Sister Lane is praying not to pass out but we did it and were able to talk to a lot of people.

Later that night we had a special dinner planned with Diane. Sister Lanes mom paid for us to take Diane out to eat to thanks her for all she's done for us. We got all dressed up and went out to Carabbas. Unfortunately I was still feeling sick so I didn't get to enjoy the food as much as I would  have liked but they made awesome leftovers!! I didn't sleep well that night because transfer call were in the morning and after about the 12th dream in which I was told I was training, I woke up and knew that I would be training. I didn't sleep the rest of the night. Bright and early the phone rang and when I saw President Summerhays name on the phone my stomach about fell to the floor. He told me that the Lord had a lot of confidence in me because he was calling me to be a trainer to the incoming sister. I laughed and asked if he was sure the Lord said my name. He reassured me that this was a calling from the Lord and was probably one of the most important leadership positions on a mission. He then preceded to say that this was going to stretch me and would be really difficult at times. Oh great, now not only do I feel highly inadequate, I am also told to prepare for the worst. Ok, great, thanks. He said some other encouraging words but my mind was still in Warming: System Overload. All systems fail in 3...2...1" mode. I am facing so many fears and doubts. I think about every weakness I have came flooding to my mind. I have no idea what I am doing, how am I supposed to teach someone else. 

 

Despite everything, I have felt a great peace. I know the Lord is aware of me and he called me despite my weaknesses to train this new sister. He will not let me fail. I trust the Lord. I am excited to see the things this next transfer will bring. I am going to learn so much. If you don't hear from me next week, it's because I didn't survive the training meetings. Ha just messing, I'll be fine.'

 

Saturday was also Stephanie's baptism and things went well. It was so great and the young women were a great support. Well I am about out of time but keep me in your prayers. I'm going to be a little frazzled the next couple weeks.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Please be safe!! Oh and Dad, save me some candy corn when you pass around the thankful bowl :)

 

Love

Sister Grace Thomas