Week 16:

Good morning everyone! I hope you are all having a great Monday! Which I am not sure if those exists outside of missionary life, but still. 

It is a very sunny Monday morning here in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Almost all the snow has melted, but it is suppose to storm tonight and tomorrow! Which I am excited for. It is supposedly going to be the biggest storm of this winter. I guess we will see!

This week has been slow, due to me being quite sick for a few days last week. Getting sick really makes missionary work hard! It was really tough on Thursday, when my sickness was at its worse. There was a district meeting, which is required, so I had to wake up and stumble to that. Let me tell you, it was terrible. I was sleeping on the table practically the whole meeting. I was in so much pain. Then afterwards, we had to go to the district lunch at Red Robin. The smell of the food was making me even more sick, so I had to sit at a booth alone. Once we got back to the apartment, I went straight to sleep! But on a good note, I am feeling much better and back to the Lord's work!

We have a new district leader, who is awesome! Him and his companion always ask us if there is anything they can do for us. Of course, we said yes! Elder Mitchell and Elder Turner call us almost everyday to sing to us! It is so funny. The first song they sang to us was, "As Sisters in Zion." If you know that hymn, imagine two guys with really deep voices singing it. Enough said. It was hilarious. We also told them that we wouldn't mind some cookies. They said they couldn't bake very well. Good news! Tis the season for girl scout cookies! We were kidding, mostly. But at district meeting, sure enough there were our cookies! Seriously, these elders crack me up.

The next transfers will be on April first, and I am not looking forward to it! Even though it is a month away.. But you know what they say about missionary life. "The days are long and the weeks are fast." I will be leaving this area, unfortunately. Typically, we don't know if we will be leaving the area until two days before it happens, but the beans got spilt. After our district meeting on Thursday, we were coming back to our apartment when we ran into our landlord, Jackie. She said that we had gotten the 30 day rental termination notice from the mission president. A few days later she informed us that she would be showing the apartment, already. So sisters are being taken out of Prior Lake, so just elders will cover the ward. Which makes me sad! I love the members here and have grown quite attached to them, especially since this is the only area I have ever served in. I also don't want to leave my companion, Sister Bone! We work so well together and have a ton of fun. But hey! That's missionary life!

Our most progressing investigator right now is Andraea. She has not been able to attend church the last few weeks because she has been busy, but the desire has been there. I know that she attends when she can. Which she promised is next week! We were able to visit her on Saturday which was pretty crazy! She had her friend, Michelle, over so we got to talk to her! She has been meeting with the missionaries as well, as I understand. Andraea was actually the one who introduced them. On top of having a friend over, Andraea was making dinner, chasing a two-year-old around, and helping her fourteen-year-old daughter, Kaitelynn, get ready for her play, Guy and Dolls Jr. The day before, Friday, we had attended and watched her perform. It was so good! And much more appropriate than the original since it was put on by a junior high. It was cute, no doubt! Not only was Kaitelynn in it, but so was Tim, a deacon in the ward. It was awesome to get to support them. Afterwards, Kaitelynn was super happy to see that we came, especially since we brought her chocolate! What else does a girl need? Anyways! Back to talking about Andraea and Michelle. We ended up having a good discussion about how there is opposition in all things. Michelle had recently tried to take her own life, so we were able to comfort her and tell her that God is always there for her. She seems like she has gotten past that rough patch and is doing much better. Andraea is such an amazing person! She knows this church is true. When we were talking to Michelle, Andraea kept making comments at times, saying things like, "We believe.." and "Our church." She even has all the aps on her phone. She just needs to get bapized! Which gets complicated because her family says they will disown her if she becomes Mormon. We will keep praying and teaching her, hopefully her and her families hearts will be softened. As Andraea said herself, "Either they will accept me becoming Mormon or I will get to the point where I just don't care." We just need to be understanding and patient while still being persistent. 

We have been doing a lot of service work for members lately. The Paeys are a family who we have shoveled their drive a good six times, without them ever knowing. This week while shoveling, Sister Paey caught us in the act. She asked us if we had done it before, and we admitted that we had. What a miracle! We have been trying to get in with Sister Paey. Her husband is less active, so we have been wanting to meet with him. But to do that, it had to be through her. Anyways, after we were done shoveling, she asked if we could do her neighbors drive, and of course we said yes. Once we finished, Sister Paey invited us in and gave us hot cocoa. We were able to talk and bond with her. It was so good! She has since signed up to feed us this week. Hopefully we will be able to talk to her husband and invite him back.

On Saturday night we had a ward talent show, which was a lot of fun! All four of us missionaries got roped into performing. Luckily, Elder McVey is a boss at the piano and Sister Bone can sing like none other. Because of our lack of music options, we sang the Army of Helaman song. We were told we sounded pretty good. They must have not been able to hear Elder Butler and myself. There were lots of acts, including singing, playing piano, dancing, hula hooping, telling jokes, playing basketball, and so on. I was tempted to sign up and demonstrate how to show a rabbit or hypnotize it, or something, but I couldn't get ahold of anyone with a rabbit! Haha Hands down the best act was Ephraim, a 9-year-old boy with Autism. He danced to a Justin Beiber song, but he was legit! He was surprisingly really good. He was dressed in all black and red with sunglasses on. He seriously blew everyone away. I recorded it, but it is too long to email, unfortunately. After all the acts, they handed out glow sticks and turned off all the lights and blasted music. It was practically a rave. I felt so awkward, being a missionary there! It was so much fun.

Anyways, it is now time for zone pday! Something to do with nerf guns, flash lights, and helmets! (Thank you Ryan Snyder for sending me a nerf gun, it is going to come in handy today!)

Keep on keepin' on!

Sister Emma Zimmerman

The pictures is of  Kaitelynn and me after the Guys and Dolls Jr. play! :)