Sister Gray's Mission: Two Sister Missionaries in a Little White Truck

Hello!

Welcome to May! I can't believe it's already here, mothers day and all. I feel like it was just Christmas but the heat tells me otherwise haha. It has finally started to warm up here in Decatur. We will be over 90 all of this week. I'm excited but also ready for fall again haha. Oh well! This week has been pretty good. We had transfers on Wednesday and I met up with sister Alatini! Sadly, sister A will be finishing her mission at the end of the transfer, she is dying. I am not ready to kill a companion! Sister A is from Oakland California and is the most laid back person I know. She is Tongan and has a killer sense of quiet humor. I'm glad I get to spend the next 6 weeks with her before she heads off to see her family.

This week some major things were revealed to me. The spirit is seriously the best teacher. Many of y'all know that I have terrible insomnia. If I'm lucky I will sleep for a couple hours a night. Lately I haven't been sleeping at all. My body was so dang angry that I wasn't sleeping. I kept praying for help and for rest but I wouldn't receive any. Finally one night, after laying awake for a good 2 hours the thought came into my head, maybe you should read your scriptures. I climbed out of bed, turned on a flashlight and read until I fell asleep. I woke up with my head on the desk, flashlight in hand, and my scriptures wide open. I had slept better that night (at my desk) than I had the rest of the week. As we drove to our lesson with Donna and Phillip I was still thinking about it. We sat down and began to teach. Halfway through the lesson Phillip stated that he has bad insomnia and is having a hard time sleeping. I asked him what he did when he woke up. He said that he gets up and watches t.v. I told him that I had been having similar problems and I was impressed to read my scriptures. I invited him to do the same. The next morning we received a text confirming that the scriptures were what he needed to sleep fully through the night. The spirit over came me and I realized that the reason I wasn't sleeping was because I needed to have the same experience Phillip needed. Now we both read our scriptures when we wake up and it helps both of us. Funny how Heavenly Father works huh?

We have had some interesting service activities lately. We helped this lady on Friday clean her house. She kind of treated us like maids though. She told us what to clean and then sat down to watch t.v. and drink coffee. We didn't quite know how to handle it. The worst part about it is, she smokes in her house. So the whole place just stinks. We left the house and we smelled just as bad. It was in our clothes. BUT, it was good service and she really needed it. Hopefully next time she will help us and not just expect us to do it haha.

We also helped a family in our ward clean and gut a camping trailer. Afterward they invited us to dinner. Half way through dinner, Lia, the little girl asked if I liked bugs. I happily said no, no I do not. She then raced from the table and grabbed her dad's bug collection. He collects bugs and plasticizes them. I was thoroughly creeped out. Lia finally convinced me to hold some up for a picture. I hope y'all like it. I didn't. After that some of their chickens escaped and they asked if we would help wrangle them together. We laughed and joined in. Chasing chickens trying to grab them. 45 minutes later I finally caught me a chicken. I've never been more proud. We decided we would take pictures and carry on our way.

We had two investigators at church this week. It was a different meeting, we received a new bishopric. Near the end of sacrament meeting Grace commented on how she felt as each member stood up and bore their testimony. It was amazing as we identified that as the spirit. Later on, she said that she was glad she meets with us and knows us. We are glad to be with her too, that's for sure.

Well, that's all for this week. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to be here. I know I say this every week but the mission is the best. I have had so much fun and I have grown so much. Thank you for all of those that sent letters this week. They were much needed haha. Since this email is a little short I thought I might share with y'all a poem that was made for the Decatur missionaries.

Two sister missionaries
In a little white truck
Driving through Decatur
Praying for some luck!

Bouncing all through Bowie
And sliding through Slidell,
After Denton district meeting,
We will visit Grace Corbell!

There's an alien in Aurora,
And nothing much in Rhome,
We talk a lot to strangers
We call them on the phone.

Sometimes people feed us,
Usually they dont.
Some people forget Decatur,
I'm pretty sure I won't.

Love y'all. I will see you soon :)
Sister Gray

PICTURES:

Transfer day
Sister A and her trunky packet
Creeped out by crawlies
My very own chicken
Sister A: "it's almost like we are on a beach with this sunset. Oh wait. We are in Texas. Never mind."