Good Night, Sleep Tight

Don't let the bed bugs bite... because it's awful when they do. That's right. I have bed bugs. It's disgusting and scary and I hate it. I have TONS of little bites all over my legs and arms. 

And because I'm allergic to bug bites, they're all raised up and swollen and I hate my life. But I really love my life, I just hate having bed bugs. I know exactly who I got them from (a ward member who had them and came to church anyways and then sat so close to us that I'll be lucky if bed bugs is the only thing I caught).  I was telling Sister Clemons about how this place is sort of like a third world country sometimes, so I guess I should have expected things like bed bugs and lice and stuff. Our washing machine broke a couple weeks ago and the church isn't going to fix it so we get to go to a laundromat on Mondays from now on. Still, I'm convinced that Corbin is the promised land.

My new companion is Sister Clemons. She's from Fort Collins, Colorado. She's 21, about as tall as I am, blonde, is majoring in childhood education, very sensitive and pretty awesome. She's doing very well already. She has a couple inhibitions but for the most part she's jumping into things right away and she's doing a great job at it. I think we complement each other pretty well. I told her about Nick's birthday spanking train and she started crying laughing which is a good sign.

Which leads me to my next item of business: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! HAPPY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY, REX! HAPPY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY, MILES! I hope you all got my card I sent. I've been thinking about you all the last week or so, hardly being able to believe how old everyone is getting! Rex a teenager? Please! And Nina in Middle School? I can't stand it. MIles is going to be starting primary this next year! And Mom is going to be back in diapers again soon! All such big milestones!

Something awesome that President Woodbury talked about at transfers was the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law. He said that a lot of people think that the spirit of the law is that if we understand the idea behind the letter of the law then we don't have to keep the letter, just the idea of the law. But he said that to him, the spirit of the law should be keeping the letter of the law with all your heart. I really like that. We should never rationalize not keeping the letter of the law. We should be exactly obedient and then we'll have the Spirit from keeping the law.

Judy Jones got bit by a snake this week. A couple weeks ago some of her horses got bit by snakes and died. She spent the night in the emergency room and is recovering but she can't walk yet. People have to constantly mow their grass out here or else snakes will come and if you get bit by a copperhead, it's bad news. Sister Ralph and I saw a copperhead once when we were coming out to our car and it was pretty jarring. We went back in to get the people that lived there and when we all came back out, the snake was gone. Anyways, I'm grateful that Judy is recovering.

Willard read the Doctrine and Covenants this last week. He's started the Book of Mormon again because he missed it so much. There are these stray cats that walk around the neighborhood and Willard always finds them sleeping in his chairs on his porch and he hates cats so he runs them off. I've been trying to catch a squirrel ever since I got to Corbin and Willard always tells me not to because they'll bite me. But I really want animals to be my friends lately. (I miss Dahl Pal). Anyways, one day an orange cat was on his chair and I coaxed it in to letting me pet it and then I told Willard that he had to let them stay and be my friends since I'm not allowed to play with the squirrels. I named the cat Gigi. Then a couple days later a little gray cat was there. I named her Dorothy. There's another one that looks kind of like Penny did. He's a tomcat. I named him Napoleon. Long story short, Willard used to hate cats and now he leaves out food for them on his porch and even lets Dorothy sleep in his house with him. It's hilarious. He feeds them bologna and milk. Willard gave us two people this week that he wants us to teach. He's such a good missionary.

Sister Clemons and all the missionaries she came out with got sick in the MTC. Which means that all of the trainers are now sick as well. So, some of this week has been spent inside coughing and sleeping. But, it's still been a really good week. We had two investigators at church yesterday. One of them is a girl named 

Kendra. She's a very unique girl. She called me last night and told me that she called a taxi to take her somewhere (there isn't a bus system here) and she was really nervous about making it to the place she needed to be on time so she threw up all over herself AND the taxi driver. What would you do if you threw up all over a taxi driver? Me? I'd probably shrivel up into a prune and die. What would you do if you were a taxi driver and some girl threw up all over you? I'd probably be so grossed out that I'd throw up all over the girl who threw up on me in retaliation. Sister Clemons and I have been laughing and gagging ever since.

We had a really good day on Friday. We have this forever investigator named Otis who I really like. He lives almost an hour away. He has horses and chickens and we went fishing in his pond and he's really awesome. He calls me Sis. He lives with his girlfriend, Autumn and they always take care of this little kid who is six named Malachi. Anyways, he's really awesome but he is pretty closed off about the Book of Mormon. We were actually able to get him to commit to starting the Book of Mormon and reading it from start to finish. He asks a lot of really hard questions to answer about the Book of Mormon and the Bible but he's not trying to attack us, he just really likes his Bible. He's one of my favorites.

Then we went to see Gail Childress. She's the lady who is a saint and I don't know how she's alive. She only has one lung but it's only half of a lung. She has diabetes. She has cancer. She has two blown out knees. She has COPD. She basically has everything. She's about 4'7" and can barely walk around. The doctors can't do surgery on her because a surgery would kill her. She loves the Lord very much. She tells us how much she misses Heavenly Father and can't wait to see him again. She has prepared over 10.000 names for the temple in her family history. She got a blessing a little while ago that said that tons and tons of people are being released from Spirit Prison because of her. She is trying to stay alive long enough for her husband who just became active again, to get the priesthoods and go to the temple with her to be sealed. She's a saint. Every time we go over to her place which is up in the woods, we watch a church video clip with her  like the ones from the Doctrine and Covenants and she quotes them to us the whole time and tells us exactly what will happen to the character as soon as they come on screen. Grandma 

Bonnie would love watching movies with her because there's absolutely NO suspense. But, I love her so much. She tells us to always be true to the Lord and how blessed she is and how much she loves the Lord and I wish you all could meet her. She hasn't just had physical trials in her life, but EVERY kind of trial you could imagine. And all she does is talk about how blessed she is. She gave me some earrings and a necklace which is probably one of the nicest things she owns. It has an angel on it. Willard also traded with someone this week for an Indian Angel statue he wanted to get for me. I can't get over how generous these people are. It reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I don't want to take things away from such humble people, but to not accept their gifts would be hurtful to them. They're so sweet. SO sweet. I can't handle it.

Something awesome about being Senior Companion is that I get to drive. I've missed driving a lot. I really don't like being the passenger. It had been five months since I had driven and it was so nice to get behind the wheel of our car. When we were pulling out of the church parking lot in Louisville on Tuesday, I told Sister Clemons to get out and back me. Then I handed her the bright neon orange vest and told her to wear it when she backed me. I sort of felt bad, but I also couldn't help myself. She put it on, no questions asked and backed me out of the stall. All of the other missionaries saw it and started laughing and looking at me and giving me a thumbs up. When she got back in the car I told her that she really doesn't have to wear the vest and she started laughing and was really grateful and was a good sport about it. She even wants to get a picture in it. And I told her she can use it on her greenie when she gets one. And I promised her that was

 the only trick I had planned. She's cool. And it was pretty funny.  She's a good missionary. She and I had three hours to talk on our ride home from Louisville and she was really excited and all for working really, really hard and being exactly obedient and she's been proving that this week. She didn't even get to unpack till Friday because we were so go, go, go. It's great to be able to work this hard. I just wish we didn't have to spend so much time in the car. We still haven't had time to go tracting yet. We've literally knocked only ONE door. But, we're blessed to have people to teach. It will be nice if we can ever get more missionaries in here. The area we cover is so large that there used to be three sets of missionaries here and now there's only Sister Clemons and I. That's why we have to drive so far away. We cover a big area.

There's a lady that moved back into the Corbin ward this week who told me that she knows some people in Las Vegas named the Brandleys. I was like, "Seriously?" She said, "Yeah, my step-daughter married a guy named Mark Brandley." And I was like, "Laci?" And she and I started screaming and laughing and we figured out that we've been in the same room before because she was at the reception and so was I and I told her that Michael and I are best friends and she told me that she wanted to set him up with a girl that is in the ward and it was crazy and she said how much she loved him and the whole Brandley family. (I thought it would be awkward to tell her how I hate Michael right now because ever since he got a new nose he's been too good for me). But it was awesome to make that connection.

Extra Blessings: Carly and Brynn, Dad, Mom (with notes from Ava and Elle) and Grandma Bonnie

Phrase of the Week: "might could". Instead of saying "maybe" people say "might could". I might could come to church next week if I can wake up that early. Yuns might could teach my brother about your Bible of the Mormons when he comes over. Do you think I might could get a ride with yuns to the store?

I love you all and I hope you know that even though I'm having such a great time out here, that I miss you all. I wish you could all be here with me. Missions are the best. EVERYONE should serve a mission. The church is completely true and the best thing you can do for your happiness in this life and for sure in the life to come. I have the best family and friends ever. I have the best mission ever.

The Church is TRUE! Share it!

Love Yuns,

Sis Nelson