travelin'

Oh my dear goodness. I don't even know what to write about for this week, because here's how I would sum it up in a minute or less:

Spring's here!

Tuesday Sister H packed. Then we went to Glenville.

Wednesday we were in Utica.

Thursday we were in Saratoga for six hours then car pooled with the zone leaders and the other sister training leaders to Utica.

Friday we were in a meeting all day in Utica.

We got back to Saratoga on Friday night.

Saturday was Conference!

Sunday was conference!

Now it's today.

The end.

Well okay I guess that's my weekly letter.

Joke.

Guess that's more my outline for this letter.

Yes, my friends, I don't want to speak too soon, but I think that SPRING is HERE! It's like....50 degrees today! We've been getting rain instead of snow, and I even didn't wear leggings one day! I'm back to wearing flat shoes and a light jacket! Sometimes even NO jacket!

Still no green. But I'll take what we get! Wooh!

Tuesday Sister H packed. And we said goodbye to one of our investigators.

I also kept getting texts and calls from the zone leaders and assistants for Sister Training Leader stuff that day. My reaction at first was always, "Why are they calling me?! What have I done wrong?!"

Then they tell me something to do with the Missionary Leadership meeting and I think, "Oh okay. I have no idea what it is you're asking me to do, but I'll wing it!"

That evening, we jammed all the luggage in the car, and traveled to Glenville with Sister J and another Sister H! Because other Sister H has finished her mission and Sister J is training, we stayed the night at their apartment, then traveled to Utica together the next morning.

Other Sister H is like, the second missionary I was actually close to that I've had to say goodbye to. It surprised me how sad I was to say goodbye to her. She was an awesome missionary!

Wednesday was quite the experience! Because we got there early, we got to see trainers get assigned to their trainees. For this, they put all the new missionaries on one side of the chapel, and all the trainers on the other side, and President calls their names and they stand, and sit in the middle of the chapel together. It's a REALLY cool experience, and I got to see Sister J get assigned to her trainee!

And Elder G. He was there, too.

It was a smaller transfer, and I didn't know as many people there, but I DID get to talk to Sister R and Elder F, and we all talked about how much we loved Owego, and how amazing the people were there, and how it stole a chunk of our heart.

Sometimes I still miss it.

A lot of times, I still miss it, actually.

Sister L and I are getting along so well! She is a breath of fresh air that I didn't know I needed! It's weird, though. We skipped the whole awkward get-to-know-you phase and are now learning how to teach together. She has been a sister training leader before so it has been so helpful for her to tell me what it actually is the Assistants are asking me to do! She has just come from Watertown, where it snowed a foot and a half last sunday. So needless to say, she's excited to be in sunny Saratoga!

We traveled with the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders up to Utica and spent the night there.

First of all, my bunk bed was awful. I chose to sleep on the top bunk. Bad choice. It was SO close to the roof, it had no bars on the side, and no ladder to get onto it. So I had to do this awkward monkey-crawl to get to the top, then I slept super stiff during the night in fear of falling off, but it didn't solve the fact that I still slammed my head/elbows on the ceiling two or three times.

Missionary Leadership Council was a lot of fun! Basically all the zone leaders and sister training leaders sit in a big circle and discuss stuff with the assistant and the mission president.

That's basically my best summary of it.

We talked about stuff.

At one point, I raised my hand and made a comment. Afterwards, President Wirthlin turned to Sister Wirthlin and "whispered," "Sister Stimpson reminds me of........."

Of course, I'm DYING to know who I remind him of! EVERYBODY heard that I remind him of someone, but not of who! Afterwards, I was talking to Elder L.

Me: "Did you hear him say I reminded him of someone?"

Elder L: "You heard that, too?! I thought only I could hear it because I was close!"

Me: "No! Did you hear who?!"

Elder L: "No! Go ask him!"

So I walk up to President Wirthlin.

"So, President....who do I remind you of?"

"Oh. Your mannerisms remind me of an Elder."

"IS IT ELDER T?"

"No."

"Oh. Cause we look alike."

"Oh you and Elder T look JUST alike!"

So then I go back to Elder L.

"You mean you remind him of an Elder but he didn't say which?"

"No! Does that mean I remind him of an Elder as in..... a guy? Or just a specific Elder?"

See, this is what we gossip about as missionaries.

And no, I still don't know who I remind him of! :)

During Breakfast, Sister L and I sat at a table by ourselves to see "who are real friends are."

Nobody sat by us.

But then President Wirthlin sat by me! I told him he was our true friend, then he said I could ask him the scoop  on anything.

"Are we getting iPads soon?"

"No."

"What about push scooters?"

"Those got outlawed 50 years ago."

"Oh."

And then he finished his breakfast two minutes later and walked away, and we were left again in our lonesome.

So then for lunch, Sister L and I decided to sit by someone who needed a friend!

All the seats were taken, except for two on a table FULL of just elders.

So we sat awkwardly next to them. It was great fun.

And great. I ran out of time before I got to talk about general conference.

But I really loved conference! A lot!

Sorry. I'm super tired. Sister L and I are planning to take a nap today for our fun preparation day activity.

Oh boy. So tired.

I love you all so much!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson!