DC Week 49!-- January 13, 2014

DC Week 49!-- January 13, 2014

AH! So much to catch up on, and so little time! 

Transfers were awesome!! I will miss Olney so much! After spending 6 months in an area it kinda begins to grow on you. However, Oakmont is amazing! We are so close to the temple and the ward is great!! I know that Heavenly Father has prepared me for this place. I'm beginning to feel some of that same fire from the beginning of my mission ignite in me once more. It's January again. And while Festival of Lights is now over, in addition to the hustle and bustle of the season, there is so much to do! 

We met with our new district and had a nice long "pow-wow" on what we would each like to accomplish this transfer, and what goals we want to help establish in the ward. It was SO GOOD! It just feels good to work in our areas again. Everything kind of dies during the holidays because you are in the VC almost 24/7. But you should see the mission now...haha...oh, we're definitely not dead. I think we have more fire than ever before! I am so excited to get going. I think Hermana Pirir and I will jump on our spring cleaning early this year. Ugh. Speaking of cleaning. We will pretty much be living out of bags for the next six weeks due to our extra roommates that we didn't know would be sleeping in our beds with us and sucking our blood during the night. Yup. Bed bugs. They're nasty little things. You can Google some pics if you'd like later. Well anyway, there are different "treatments" that they do through out the course of this six week period, and so we can never really unpack. In a way, it's forcing us to stay organized because otherwise, I think we'd go crazy. It's okay. There are worse things to deal with. Plus, I think my patience has increased a boatload, haha.  

So last story before I have to sign off:

My first night in the area, we get a call from a desperate Hermana in the ward (A little Bolivian woman named Roxanna Cruz). I answered the phone, and hear in a panicked tone on the other line "!!Hermanas!! Vengan vengan! Nesecito su ayuda prontito!! Tengo una problema--mucho heilo mucho hielo!!" So we throw on our jeans and tennis shoes and coats and head over to find that her water pipe had broken during the night, and leaked all over the roof and front portion of her house, onto the ground, creating a frozen waterfall! We must have stood there laughing and gawking for about a minute when she proceeded to come over and grab our hands and lead us into the house, through to the back door. When she opened it, what we saw was a winter wonderland! Everything had flooded! Like completely flooded!! (Remember that time back in the summer when I shared how we had to dig a trench to drain off an unwanted pond from this women's backyard? Well this was the "January" version of that day, only instead of a bug infested swamp, we had a frozen lake) I'm talking, icicles from every beam over our heads, down along the columns holding up her house, to the floor. It must have been half a foot deep in some places. Our task? To get rid of it. Great. Okay. How do we just "get rid of" a winter wonderland? Sure was wishing I could get a hold of some of those "Spring Fairies" to just melt it all away haha. So we grabbed a shovel, an ax, anything metal, really, and went to work. Now granted, her backyard was about half the size of Grandma's, but when you're talking about hacking away at solid ice for hours, it really gets in your workout for the day! We hacked and hacked, and broke and shattered. Occasionally one of the little (or big) chunks of ice would come flying up at you and you had to dodge it or it would hit you in the face, or go down your shirt, or...other places ice shouldn't be, haha. And let me tell you: Oh. What. FUN! Like probably one of the most memorable service opportunities I've had on my mission thus far. When we were all done, we came inside and drank cups of hot chocolate together. It was absolutely perfect.

Oh family, I need to run! I love being a missionary! It is my favorite thing in the world. I love serving. I love lifting the burdens of those in need. I love literally being able to see the relief and joy in their countenance. It's something you can almost feel...

Love you. Find someone in need, and serve them this week!

Hermana Graff

Alma 17:23-25