A Bit of a Roller Coaster

Where to begin? This week was a bit of a roller coaster. Awesome moments. Moments where you want to throw up. Grateful moments. Moments where you just want to curl in a ball and cry. Elated moments. You get the idea. And that pretty much sums up missionary work. And I could probably end there.... but I won't.

News #1: Jackie's not getting baptized this week. She's having a rough time with some things, and has a few things to work on. But she stills loves us and we love her and it's only a matter of time :)

News #2: Elder Kopischke from the First Quorum of the Seventy came for his mission tour this week, and it was pretty wonderful. We were able to meet with half the mission on Thursday, where he basically opened up the meeting for questions and enlightened us all. And then on Friday, Sister Arrieta and I had the pleasure of attending a special Missionary Leadership Council as the Augusta Sister Training Leaders, where we were able to discuss what we had learned, how to apply those concepts in our areas, and ask him more questions. He's pretty wonderful and told me, in his charming German accent, that I reminded him of one of his favorite, more opinionated, sister missionaries that he worked with when he was a mission president. Which I'm taking as a compliment haha.

News #3: Andrew was baptized!!!! Now I know that he's not "technically" my investigator, but Sister Walker and I found him, and he asked me to speak at his baptism, so I'm adopting him okay? He's just so great. It was a beautiful baptism, and the spirit was extremely strong. The bishop asked several people to bare their testimonies after the baptism, including Andrew's aunt and cousin (who are the only other members in his family and who had flown here from California.) It was very special. I am continuously amazed at how perfectly Heavenly Father coordinates our lives as we act as instruments in His hands. Many tears were shed.

News #4: I held a chicken this week. Yes I did. Pictures to follow.

I love my mission. It may be amazingly difficult, but it is so very worth it. And it is amazingly joyful. This week I'm missing home just a tad. I wanted to give a shout out to all of my friends that are getting married/having children/living lives :) A special congrats to Aelish Wright: Y'all are adorable. And Ellen (Nielson) Kraus: My sources haven't sent me pictures yet but I bet y'all are adorable too :) And Spencer Calvert and Rachel (Chumley) Ivie: For both being rock stars and having twins.

I love you all. And hope all is well. Just remember what the pioneers sang: "All is well, all is well..." Do you really think all was well? Nope. It's all about attitude. So let's make a pact and focus our energies on the things we can control. And then let's all sing every day. Because singing makes everyone happy.

Big hugs,
Sister Szilagyi