Departing Testimonies

This week has been a little bitter sweet I have to say. There were lots of ups and downs, but luckily not too emotional. It was just very dramatic in our work and experiences. Overall, it just went really really, really fast.

Tuesday we had zone conference so we picked up McKeesport FREAKING early because there was NO way we were going to be late again. Well, Pittsburgh traffic disagrees, so even with 30 minutes extra, we were still 10 minutes late. Tell me how that works haha! We were instructed by President Johnson to wear proselyting clothes (aka white shirts and ties for the Elders and skirts for the Sisters) at ALL plausible times. SO you would expect with a softball tournament this weekend for the Pittsburgh stake, plausible to not wear pros. Nope. Supposed to wear a skirt. But I'll get to that in a bit. We couldn't help but laugh and be obedient. After lunch we had departing testimonies...yup. I was one of them. I felt SO sick (not because Sister Jones and I caught a cold this week) but with the thought that that was my last zone conference and I am going home. I hugged Sister Cook so tight and asked her where on earth our time went. She shrugged. It's gone too fast. We eventually left on the long rush hour traffic back to McKeesport and then to our dinner appointment at the Langs.

Wednesday was a weird day all the way around. We went to Sue's to check up on her and it turned out to be inspired. Who knew right? Her family is going through a lot right now so we focused on what we do best: talk about the gospel! It was a really good visit. Then we had a lunch appointment with Sister Machowiak and the Braddy's. Sister Braddy is doing amazing!! We are so happy with the progress that she is making! Brother Braddy on the otherhand....well, he told us that he believes in the possibility of a higher power...but for all he knows he made us all up in his head. Needless to say, it was an interesting conversation.....When we couldn't explain things to him, I felt prompted to just bear testimony to him. I looked him in the eyes, with little kids running around and the door bell ringing, and said "I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is real and so is His Son, Jesus Christ. Without the Atoning grace of my Savior I would not be here right now telling you this." And that was that. I am so grateful for the Spirit and promptings from our Heavenly Father. There is no way we could even function as 20 year old kids/missionaries and still manage to help people find the truth. No way. Next we went to Eve's. Silly silly Eve. I love this lady a lot. We then went to the church and met Rachel for a team up. We then went and talked to Aja for a bit! She is expecting a baby!! (: We were really excited for her! After catching up with her we went to BOM class. It was pretty good....I just wish that more people came!

Thursday we went with Sister Martin the Relief Society President, and saw Sherry. We asked her what was new and she said that she was moving. We asked her when and she said tomorrow. Oh. Okay. It was super awkward. We read from the Book of Mormon and then said goodbye to her. Next we went to the Hoffman's and talked with Sister Hoffman for a bit. She is really sweet and wants to come back to church but Brother Hoffman's health is so poor. It's a sad situation. After dinner we went to see Laurie.  And Laurie wasn't there. We talked with Lovely for a bit about the changes that happened at stake conference. WE explained that because Bishop was called to be the 1st counselor that there will need to be a new Bishop. She volunteered for the job haha! We explained that it didn't quite work like that...haha! Laurie finally showed up and we talked for a bit. We need to get reading the Book of Mormon with her, but she is so busy that it is hard to catch her in general!

Friday after weekly planning we went with Sue and saw Jackie. She is doing pretty well. But with her grandkids over it was a little harder to get a good lesson in. But it was still pretty good. We talked about baptism and confirmation. We also saw Vi finally! She has been up in Erie for a month and we had no idea! d: So strange! And she'll be leaving again pretty soon, but she is doing pretty well. The Elders had a scare with bed bugs...our whole mission is having an issue and we told them that if they gave us bed bugs that they would be the ones to come and clean our apartment. They weren't too fond of that idea haha! The scare turned out to just be a flea, but still disgusting! We went and taught Menolly about the 10 commandments. She is keeping ALL of her commitments and is doing SO well! It looks like she will be able to be baptized at the end of this month! We got to work on reading the Book of Mormon but as long as her mom is progressing in the gospel, it looks like Menolly will as well!

Saturday was WAY fun! The stake softball tournament!! We of course had to have correlation so we texted Brother Wood the night before and moved it to 7 am. Well, the Elders didn't really know that. But we had the same amount of time to get ready and we beat the Elders to the church by 10 minutes and Elder Martin was still tying his tie when he walked in...Pretty sad that 2 sisters had time to straighten our hair, put on make-up AND pick out an outfit in the same time it took one to shower, shave and put a tie on....we had correlation and the Elders were SO out of it. haha! Then the Hoffman's (different ones) had us over for pancakes and deer sausage. Pretty good. Then we went to Washington to play softball...in our skirts. haha! Oh man. We looked RIDICULOUS. All these missionaries were running around all dressed up playing softball or whatever and we couldn't help but wonder what non-members would be thinking when they saw us haha! I played catcher for a bit and the skirt came in handy when the ball bounced off and I could just pick it up and throw it back. But try playing outfield haha! Sister Jones and I were on the left and right side of the field and Elder Hebdon (a zone leader in Pittsburgh) was playing center. Mainly it sounded like..."Hey! Elder Hebdon can you get that one?! k thanks!" "Elder Hebdon, you run raster than us in skirts will you get that one? Thanks!" you get the idea....haha! The Elders were laughing at us but I'd love to see them trying to run and play softball in a skirt! d: President Johnson showed up after lunch and after seeing the state of the white shirts and ties....he regretted his decision haha! We even went ice blocking in pros! We are pro's haha! We ended up playing Ultimate Frisbee and having a BLAST!!! It was a LOT of fun! (: We talked to Tim and Tonja afterwards and got an update on Kianna. Not good, well, for her...but for everyone else, it's a definite answer to our prayers. We came home after our dinner appointment to a La-la Loopsy infestation. Dumb Elders got into our house haha! Those dolls are SO creepy. haha!

Sunday was pretty good. I missed the sacrament last week a lot! We had lunch with the Aders and we were helping cook lunch. Sister Jones and I were making comments about how much we have learned about life on our missions, especially how useful cooking will be (woman jokes aside) even if we don't get married. Well, Preston pipes up and says "Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that Sister Jones." I about fell over I was laughing so hard. He didn't seem to catch it at all. Oh man. Got to love awkward moments. We did studies then went to Sister Fitch's and had a mini dance party to get her attention...it didn't work. So we just looked like fools. No big deal haha! But we did have fun! (: haha!

So that's pretty much our week. Not too bad, but it was a struggle losing some investigators. But it's all part of the job. I love being a missionary and sharing the gospel with everyone and seeing the Atonement change bad men to good men and good men to better men. I'm pretty sure that is a GA quote from someone, but I don't know who or when it was said. But I do like it. I love the gospel because it brings peace where the world lacks it. The gospel is true and Jesus Christ lives and loves us.

I love you a lot! Thanks for the support!! (: Have a great week!!

Love,
Sister Kaitlyn Crockett