February 22nd Updates!

What a week! Monday I called President and received the verdict. As much as I didn't want going home to be the answer, that was the answer I felt fasting, and the answer my parents, and Stake President felt. The neat part about the call was a phrase President Cleveland used, saying "I guess this is the Lord's will!" which was definitely an answer. I was at the mall with a bunch of sisters when I called President and after I stopped crying long enough to tell them, Sister McMillan asked if she could take me on a walk. She said a lot of sweet things, including that she cared, another assurance of my Priesthood blessing the week before. 

Tuesday we got to teach Henry who we had met on the UIndy campus! It was so exciting to teach a full restoration lesson and the spirit was amazing! We met him at the library and were whispering back and forth at a table in the back but it was one powerful experience! We invited him to baptism and to church, both of which he wasn't too sure about, but we told him we were leaving and we would let the IUPUI sisters know and they'd be able to keep teaching him. One funny part of the lesson was when we were showing him what we call apostasy cups and when we spilled them a few people looked at us! Danny, who we also met on campus, walked by and was excited to see us while we were talking to Henry! He only had a second because he was going to study but he wanted to share some sushi with us! 

Wednesday we splurged on miles to see Todd and Donna Castner one last time. We brought the restoration movie hoping to stop in and share a quick message. They were excited to see us and chatted with us for quite a while, giving us lots of life advice, especially after we told them we were both going home! We invited them to baptism on April 4th but Todd wasn't too sure, and Donna didn't think she'd be ready that early. She said she really wants to belong to a church and be baptized, just maybe in the fall.

For our last District Meeting with the weird situations, we watched Prince of Egypt and made grilled cheese with Sister Banks. It was a lot of fun, and made me think a lot about the blessing being in this district has been! We've become friends even though we are all super different, and they've helped me a lot by making me laugh and joining us for lunch or ice cream runs! Sister Banks also made us laugh with her match making. 

When Sister Steadman found out I was going home she called during lunch one day to tell me how proud she was of all I had done. I love her so much! She was so helpful arranging doctors visits with me and so sweet to check up on me so much! Later that week when we were in the mission home after Sister Gil's exit interview I had the sweetest chat with her about God's will and plan for us that helped me to be excited for whatever the Lord has in store for me! Things don't always work out the way we planned, but God's plan is always better than ours.

Saturday it was snowing like crazy and our cars were grounded! We decided to bite the bullet and go tracking a few streets away from our house. What an adventure! We tried helping people shovel their driveways but a few of them ignored or declined, and one of them only spoke Korean! We tried to give him a pass along card with a picture of Jesus but he didn't want one. Later that day our cars were ungrounded and we were running to the post office for some boxes when we got rear-ended. What a day!

Don't worry I did not break this chair! It was just super convenient..

Breakfast at the Lane's in Cross Roads!

This Train is Bound for Glory with Brother Lane!

THE TEMPLE!!

Our last dinner with the Restivos! They are so sweet.

Favorite Quotes!

"Sister Banks can I not like Elder Givens?" Sister Gil
"NOPE!" Sister Banks
"Can Elder Givens like someone else?" Sister Gil
"NO!" Sister Banks

"You better take a good long look at her and a picture because she's about to go home!" Sister Banks to Elder Lorsch

"Elder Cathcart you left meat on the bones!" Sister Gil
"I can't see it!" Elder Cathcart not wearing his glasses

"I like your necklace!" Lauren Futrell
"Thanks! They call me one chain" Sister Gil
"That's funny, they call me two chains" Elder Lorsch
"They call me three chins!" Lauren

"You look pretty delicate, maybe you just need to go on a raw diet! Get that inflammation out!" Donna (I)

"'and strengthen the feeble knees' hey that's sister Evans!" Elder Given

"oh you don't look that old!" Sister Gil
"Thanks! I might become a Mormon just because of that!" Leah's mom
"Oh don't do that! You've got to pray about it!" me
"I don't pray. I'm an atheist." Leah's mom

"Ok hold on...there's bread...in your hood" Sister Gil
"Oh ya, kids" Brother Gurman

February 16th Weekly Update

Since driving to and sitting for a couple hours at Stake Conference my knees were even more swollen and hurting, so I asked for a blessing Monday. Sister Gil had suggested I get another blessing but I wasn't sure because I'd just gotten a blessing from Elder Mortensen. Elder Rasmussen, who I served with and was friends with in Mishawaka, was at the chapel that P-Day and I knew if I was going to get a blessing I wanted to ask him. I was gathering up my stuff and ran into him in the kitchen after we'd both been busy, and knew I had to ask. One of the parts that stood out to me most was when I was blessed to know that many people cared. Right after, one of the elders asked me why I didn't play soccer with them that day, and I said I went to the mall with some other sisters because my knees were hurting, and he said they missed me on their team.
We also went to the UIndy campus with the elders and taught 6 lessons and found 2 new investigators! One kid we talked to was walking with his girlfriend, so we were trying to talk to both of them, when they saw a friend who wanted to come see what we were doing, and then another friend, and then another, until there were 4 students with super different religious beliefs talking to us! What a lesson! One of them was named Jeff, and he said he knew the Bishop of the Plainfield ward I just served in, had been studying the church for two years, and had a Book of Mormon! That was way exciting!
For lunch one day we went to Sister Bank's for pizza with the elders, but didn't think she'd be home. Before the elders got there Sister Banks came in! We were pretty surprised because we thought she was helping at her friends Linda and Raymond's, but it turned out she was having a pretty rough day and having the missionaries there, who she calls her kids, was so good for her! Later that week we brought her roses for Valentines Day and she was on cloud nine, it was the sweetest! She sure loves her missionaries, and we sure love her!
Wednesday we had a March Madness Zone Conference that was pretty exciting! While I was icing Elder Smithhart asked if he could wear my tennis shoes, and was so excited to get in on the basketball clinic! It was really sweet how many people reached out to me that day to see how I was doing. Afterward I talked to President because I was nervous about training with my knees bothering me so much. That night we had dinner with the Restivo family who had prepared a message for us about God's love, including a video from President Uchtdorf, who is one of my favorites! It was incredibly overwhelming. Getting ready to go, Sister Restive gave me a hug and asked how my knees were doing. She expressed her love, concern, and how much she was praying for me! That night another evidence of God's love was my district leader giving me a call. Elder Diaz asked how I was doing and I told him I was great and asked how he was doing, but he said he knew I'd had a rough day and he was sorry there was nothing he could say to make it hurt less, but he wanted to let me know that he cared.
Waiting for President Cleveland to call and talk to my parents and stake President about how much pain I was in was pretty difficult. I prayed and studied so much about it, and by Friday, reading my Patriarchal blessing, I felt like I should pray more specifically if going home would be best, rather than what to do. The peace that then came over me was amazing! Sunday I fasted that I, and those who were involved in my decision, would be able to know God's will, and that I would be able to accept that will.

Seeing Sister Banks' chicks with Beech Grove 1.3 and Cross Roads!

Dinner with the Hutchisons!

Favorite Quotes!

"My family is actually Amish!" Jake (PI)

"It's open!...It's already unlocked!...We're in here!...Come in!" Sister Gil
"It's me!" Sister Banks

"I like you! Can you come back?" Molly Tomlinson (PI)

"Today we met a kid named Jeff at UIndy that knows the Simpsons and has been studying the church for two years! Crazy!" Me
"What the...get baptized! Haha" Sister Lowry

"and please bless the haters..." Elder Borsch prayer request

"I was gonna scare you because I saw you first but I thought you might scream so I decided to scare Sister Gil" Elder Diaz

"And you should probably look out for Joe" Sister Williams, referring to Kat's son

"I'd be like 'um ya, I can help you with those pillows!" me and moving

"God was smart sending His pretty daughters to find and teach His sons!" Kat (I)

"and I visit teach Sister Comeau" Sister Tait
"Oh no, she hates us!" me
"She hates you? Can she have visiting teachers?" Sister Tait
"Ya, she likes other people, she just called the cops on us!" me

"If you could marry any fictional character who would it be and why?" Sister Williams
"I'm racking my brain for fictional characters...the only one I can think of is Harry Potter and he's not exactly my first choice" me

"We had dinner with the Ronalds who were gracious enough to feed us two triple cheeseburgers...each!" Elder Lorsch, referring to them having McDonald's for dinner

"Should we go check on Elder Bair?" me
"Oh he's fine" Elder Lorsch
Don't worry about it mother Evans" Elder Given