Birthdays all around!

Thanks for all the Bday wishes and memories!  It ended up being a crazy week because Sister Roundy's birthday was the 13th and mine was the 15th. I think I've had more cake given to me this week than I have the rest of my mission put together. Thankfully, the apartment of Elders down the street was willing to let us share with them.

   Also, thank you for all the pictures at the reunion! I got Mom's package with the t-shirt and all your happy thoughts.  You all look so wonderful. I'm sure the reunion was unforgettable for everyone.

   This week was a week of being tired.  Man, I feel like my whole week's journal entries were, "Well, I'm pretty tired, so this will be a short entry." I soon discovered that the feel-good tired after a long day of work DOES NOT equal the horribly-painful tired as you try to drag yourself out of bed in the morning.  It's been a really good week, though.  I love my mission SO much. I am learning so much, and it's insane. 

   Recently, I've been in some sort of agency phase--meaning, everything I read or study somehow ties back to agency.  It's becoming funny.  Sister Roundy gets a kick out of it, I think, because everyday in comp study, I tell her what I learned about agency.  I don't even look for it, either! It's just there.  Anyway, I'm trying to pick on some sort of hint that the Lord's giving me.... I know if I don't learn what I need to now, I'll be learning it the hard way later.  See? It's a choice! I can learn it now, painlessly.. or I can learn it later, forcefully.  It's all about agency! I'm laughing so hard at myself right now because that's seriously how the whole week has been.  I don't know what the deal is. I'm probably going insane.

   I've noticed something else odd this week that I don't really know how to explain..... The people that we're working with right now are having more "big-kid problems."  I didn't realize it until now, but most of the struggles that my investigators or less-actives have had are thing like pride, laziness, being offended--all the abstract things that are actually pretty easy to teach about and help. Most of the time we were gently rebuking people for not doing the things they knew they needed to be.  The people in this area are different. The things that they're dealing with are a lot more tangible.  One of our less-active families had a 7 year old daughter pass away this week. Another girl in her early 20s went to the hospital and they found 7 tumors on her brain. She has been given days to live.  A lot of people are doing terribly sad things just to make rent for the month.  Others are in severely abusive relationships.  The list goes on.  It's different to try to bring the comfort and love of the gospel to these people with so many needs. Anyway, it's just an observation for now, and I haven't figured it out yet. I'm obviously open to suggestions.

 I love you dearly.

Sister Pratt

Happy Birthday!  We had dinner with the Robbins family.  She kjnew I was a slytherin, so she made me this cute little flag--and my cake was SO GOOD!

A double rainbow.  At the same time as the reunion...a tender mercy for sure.

The edge of our mission.

I found Callie

He was SO CUTE~

We found this fence made of skis...basically it was hilarious.



It's always a party!

 Thanks for all the emails and updates about the reunion! I totally forgot about it until last night when I glanced at the calendar Mom makes every year. It's fun to know that you all are having a blast. I hope the weather is pleasant for you.

   Well, transfers happened. We kicked Sister Kingsolver out.... so it's just Sister Roundy and me, now! It will be fun.  We still have both wards, so that will be a lot to keep up with because they're booming with potential, but the Lord with help us.

   The most exciting day this week (by far) was Saturday. A while ago, Sister Capitan called me up and told me that Ashley Newman was getting baptized!  I don't know if you remember me talking about the little 10 yr old girl that wanted to be baptized, but she had to wait for the adoption to be finalized. Well, that's her. Also, she asked me to give the talk about the Holy Ghost at the service. I was so happy that she even remembered who I was! (Ten yr olds tend to forget things sometimes.)

   Anyway, so Sat morning we drove up to Boise East.  It was like going down memory lane. So weird. It was a great service, though, and there were a lot of people there. Ashley's grandpa was baptizing her, and he gave the 1st talk. Then, when we opened the doors to the font, we realized that the drain was open just a crack. We had been losing water all morning and there wasn't enough! We closed the doors back up and decided to sing hymns while the font filled, but we could all tell it was going to take a while. I got this bright idea that I should just give my talk while we waited. However, as we went into the hall to find the Ward Mission Leader, there we see Brother Miranda wheeling a huge, wet trashcan out of the bathroom. I thought, "Oh, no. He didn't."  Yes. He did. We followed him to the custodial closet where he had been filling up the can with a hose and then dumping it into the font. I was laughing so hard! That's what happens when the Columbia Village bishopric gets together.  I felt like it was a stereotypical mission story.

   Everything went swell, and the ordinance was beautiful.  The Mirandas insisted that we go to their house for lunch! It was just like old times. We started a game of scattegories while Sister Miranda whipped up some spaghetti.  Little did I know, though, that they also made me a birthday cake!!! (actually peach cobbler) It was so nice of them to remember it was my bday next week. They stuck candles in it and the whole bit. They even gave me a present--a beautiful bag from Guatemala. They are such a wonderful family, and I miss them.

   On the way out of the Mirandas house, we got transfer calls, telling us that Sister Kingsolver was going.  Then, the packing and farewells commenced and didn't stop until this morning. I'm seriously going to miss her so much. She has taught me quite a bit, and she has such a sincere desire to change and become better. She is always looking for ways to improve herself, and I love it! It's such a good example to me. I'm also excited to stay here with Sister Roundy, though.  We complement each other really well in the sense that we have a lot to learn from each other! It will be so good.

   Well, I know I left out a bunch from this week, but I felt like that story deserved some detail. Let me know what you all want to here more about! Do you like to hear about people in my area? Funny stories? Testimony? A little bit of all? I try to balance things out... or at least switch off weeks or things like that.  Let me know! I'm open to suggestions.

Love you all SO MUCH,

Sister Pratt

   P.S. A lot of my pictures will be here next week because Sister Kingsolver is sending them to me....................... my camera is still dead haha.

Scattegories!

Really good with peach cobbler too!

Brother Miranda filling up the trash can for the second time!

awesome street signs up here!

A hazy summer day!