Week 72 | Photos Only

Week 71

Talofa 'aigaga

This week has been great! I've been learning lots of Samoan which has been pretty cool. But I've had my work cut out for me trying to help Sister Ainuu with English. We have just been working on vocab which has been fun, but we have been working on grammar which is a whole new ball game. If anyone has some good ideas of how to teach English I am all ears. I can teach the gospel, but I never thought I would become an English teacher too. 

So at the beginning of this week I got to spend some time with the West's granddaughter which was a blast! The west's are senior missionaries that work in the mission office and I adopted them as my grandparents! I just love them so much. And so I got to take their granddaughter out with me on splits and we had so much fun! So that was a big highlight. 

This week was filled with a bunch of new faces and trying to get into gated communities. Because this is one of the nicer areas everyone lives up in the mountains locked away in gated communities where they can't be found. So it has been a real struggle to find people to teach. But because of Christmas and light the world, we have been doing a ton of service. I am trying to pack our schedule full with as much service as we can find. I don't know what it is, but when you get out and serve the blessings just come streaming in. 

Oh, sister Ainuu and I went on a rather stupid adventure. And I have to admit it was totally my idea. The sisters dropped by one night to drop something off and after they left they texted us that there was a javelina in our complex. So I asked Ainuu if she wanted to go find it. She was really scared but I got her to come with me because I wanted to get a picture! And so we found one by the dumpster, and then from behind the dumpster comes another one and then another one.... there were 6 or 7 of them! But they were just walking along the back side of our complex, so like idiots we followed them, and then this lady said that they won't hurt me and that I could get close to them. So I did just that. After following them from a distance for a while, they stopped in this little bbq area, so I decided to just walk up to them and get a quick picture. But it was dark, so I used the flash. I kept the flashlight on so that the sudden flash wouldn't freak them out, but then when I got close they all turned around and just stared at me... for a long time. They were not happy. Luckily they didn't do anything, but I found out later that what the lady said isn't actually true... I don't actually know. But I had an epic stare down with a pack of javelina like 4 ft away from me. Super scary!

Oh and another funny story from this week! Not funny at the time, but is the perfect description of my LIFE!!!! So we stopped by the church earlier this week to use the wifi and go to the bathroom we weren't there for long. But when we went back to the car the door wouldn't open. We have one of those push start button cars. So I never actually take the keys out of my purse to start the car. And then I realized that I left the keys in the bathroom... of the locked church. So we tried to think of some people that would have keys to the church. So we start walking to a members house and on our way there it starts raining. Just a little bit, then harder and then it just started pouring! Oh my goodness, then to make a long story short we had to go everywhere to find another set of keys and when we got them we had no idea that it only worked for one little side door! Ours gets us in to all of the doors, but we had to walk around trying every door, and of course the very last door was the one that worked. Luckily we were able to just laugh about it, I was just so tired and done that I just thought it was hilarious! Story of my life right there!

Well, I promise my whole life isn't a big joke, or at least I try to tell myself that lol! Another highlight of my week was our sisters meeting. I have never done this anywhere else, but in my new zone, all the sisters meet together after district meeting for a big sisters comp study. It was AMAZING! The spirit was so strong and I was able to get so many answers to questions about people I am teaching and what to do and how to help them. And we were able to go over ways to improve the difficult aspects of teaching. I feel so much better, even though I am not the worst teacher, I just got so many ideas of new things I can try and ways to invite the Spirit! I don't even know how to explain, it was just awesome! 

I am super excited for this week, we have our Christmas conference this Thursday which will be super fun. And we have some pretty fun lessons set up for this week. So it should be good, lots of positive human interaction I think. 

Hope you guys are all doing well! Miss you lots! 

Sister Grant 🌵

Week 70 | Where Am I

Hey fam,

Where do I even start... Well I'm not in Pima anymore. I actually got pretty homesick for Pima this week. I felt really bad for my comp, Sister Ainuu. But after a little bit I was fine. This area is great. It's a lot  different. It is a really wealthy area, so people here are pretty normal and I just feel a little out of place. Like, I don't even know how to act around normal people anymore. But it's fine, I decided that I really don't care. So they will either love me or hate me. I am gonna go with, they are going to hate how much they love me hahaha! 

Sister Ainuu is so much fun! We have been partying it up over here on the west side! She is from Samoa, her English is really good, but she is still learning. I normally understand her just fine, but some days are harder than others. But the good thing is that we both laugh in the same language, so we do a lot of that. 

It is nice to be settled into my own place and not just bumming it out of my suitcase. So that is a plus! And I am super excited because today we got some Christmas stuff, so that will be fun do jazz things up a little. We decorated these cute little stockings today and we found a mini Christmas tree! 

This week was just a lot of meeting new faces and trying to learn where everything is. Nothing too exciting.  Hope you are all doing well. 

Sister Grant 

Week 69 | Transfers

Hello my friends.

Transfers are here yet again. I can't believe the day has actually come. I am leaving Pima 😢 I am so sad!!! My area is being whitewashed, meaning elders are taking over this area. I knew that I would leave Pima but I thought for sure that I would stay in ysa with my trio! But I am headed off to the West side of town. It was just really hard to say goodbye to everyone. I already said most of my goodbyes before, but I got to say goodbye to everyone for real this time! Ahhh! I just don't want to pack up and move again. 

This week has just been exhausting to be honest. I haven't slept in I don't know how long.. Yikes. 

Oh yeah, this week was Thanksgiving! wow that feels like it was a month ago... Yeah Thanksgiving was pretty great! I got to eat a lot of pie, you know, the important things. We ate with a family that lives on the airforce base out here. That was pretty cool. So we had to go a few days early to go pick up our base passes. I don't know, I feel like this week has just gone over my head a little bit because I have been trying to get the area ready to be taken over. So like all the little random things that I just know or that are important to know I have to make sure are written down and organized. I love the people here sooooo much, so I have been writing out bios for everyone with way more detail. 

I hope you all have a great week! I wish I had more to say but my mind is honestly just fried. So I am just gonna say that I love you all and I hope you are all doing well 

Keep it real my friends 

Sister Grant 🌵

Week 68 | I am so tired!

Man, if I thought I was tired last week...  I was wrong. Oh I was oh so wrong. Trio life has me beat. It is great! We have so much fun but it is crazy. So I don't remember what I said last week, but I am in a different trio now. I am now with the YSA sisters, they are my STLs. And the good news is that I am now just in 1 apartment!! WOOHOO! Last week I was living out of my apartment, car, Palo Verde sisters apartment, and YSA apartment!! Don't ask how I have that much stuff, I have absolutely no idea... lol I don't actually, I just moved around soooo much. But now I am a little more settled. At least for a week. Transfers are next Tuesday. I could stay here in this trio, or I might just get the boot and go who knows where. So I didn't really even unpack, I am still pretty much living out of my suitcases. 

This week honestly felt like an entire month! It wasn't bad, just crazy busy! I have been having so much fun, my ward is great and they have been helping out a lot! I have been able to go out with the sisters in the ward, and they will just take me to go do whatever it is that I need to do. But now I have been packed with stl stuff and ysa stuff too. So I have had to go on exchanges like 4 times this week. And it is super helpful for them to have me because not all of the sisters drive, so I just go wherever and am pretty much the driver. Not bad, but it is also super frustrating when I know that I have stuff to do in my own area. But I'm hanging in there. 

I have gotten to know the other sisters in the zone so much better which is really nice. I feel like I normally just do stuff with my district. And now I am literally the only sister in my district... weird. But I am getting to know a lot more people which is cool. 

I will be honest, I have no idea what to even talk about because I am so tired and so much happened this week. But today was awesome! We went on a hike with the other sisters. It was so pretty, and it felt really good outside which was the best. We tried to stay with the other sisters but we ended up just stopping to take a ton of pictures. And we kept getting distracted because we would find cool trails off the main path and follow them for a while. It was great! I don't even remember the last time I went hiking, it might have been in the Gila Valley. How sad! But it has also just been way too hot.

Can you believe that I am down to my last 12 weeks? Sister Wolfgramm and I came out at the same time and the other day she told me that and I couldn't even believe it!! So crazy. Also, what in the world! How is it already Thanksgiving!! Now that I really can't believe! 

Anyways, sorry this wasn't the most exciting email. I hope you are all doing well! Take a nap for me please. I am serious. Take one, I really need it! haha! Have a wonderful week!! Be happy, be thankful, and eat a ton of food!! 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Sister Grant 🌵🦃🦃

Week 67 | I don't even know what to call this week?

Hello my friends of the real world! Words can't even explain the insanity of this week. So after sister Wilcox left I joined a different companionship in the area and now I am the only sister covering Pima! It's something else. So I had to move apartments which was soooo sad. I moved from the biggest apartment in the mission to this little sketch apartment on the other side of town. So life has just been a bit scrambled to say the least because I never even fully moved out of the other apartment and so my stuff is literally everywhere. And now guess what! I get to move again! I got a call from my mission president today and he wants me to move in with the YSA sisters because my area is still within their area and there are less conflicts in our schedules. But either way, I am still covering Pima ward on my own... But you know what, it's pretty fun! I went to church yesterday with a member and everyone freaked out because I was the only sister. It is super weird and I feel super disobedient all the time even though I am not doing anything wrong. I just have my own phone now and kinda do my own thing. I go with the sisters to do stuff, but I do all of the planning on my own. It's a little extra pressure but I am doing alright. I think I am just sad because I know that at the end of this transfer I know that the area is going to get elders. So I have to get everything ready so that 2 brand new people will be able to know what is going on and what to do. 

Other than constantly being confused or trying to get my life together, this week was pretty fun. Life in a trio is different, that is for sure. Not exactly sure how I feel about it, but I am sure things will get better when I move in with the YSA sisters tonight.

Crazy story! We went over to this lady's house to help her put some new curtains up... turns out she is a major
hoarder!  Possibly the worst I have seen so far. And I think what made it worse is that she had no idea how bad it was. She was sorry that it was "a bit messy". First off, there was so much stuff that you couldn't

open the front door all the way. Then, we couldn't actually get to the curtains because of all the stuff. So we had to clear out a path to get to the window, and then of course, the curtains are completely rotten and moldy. It was bad. Everything in the house was half way rotten. What got me was a box of nasty candy canes. We were throwing stuff away, but asking permission for each thing of course. And then we asked her about this box of rotten old candy canes, we asked as we were throwing it away because we assume that no person should dare touch that. But no, she said they were still good, she insisted that her stomach could still handle it and that they probably were not that old...

I was super pumped because I felt like I was on fire this week! I am the only sister in my district right now and so the elders started #lonesister. They thought that I wouldn't be able to reach my goals, which would make sense because I am now pretty much on my own and I don't get as much time to work in my area.. But nope, boy did I show them! I reached my goals and then some! It was such a relief and super motivating to know that I can do hard things and that when I am putting in my all, he is there to back me up and take me all the way! 

I hope you guys have a wonderful week! You are all amazing! Don't go eating any rotten candy canes, I promise, your stomach can't actually handle it!! 

Sister Grant 🌵

Week 66 | wait.....WHAAAAT?

Okay, so this week has been... I don't even know how this week has been. It's been something. I am so so excited for sweet Sister Wilcox, but I am soooo sad to see her leave. Sister Wilcox will be going home to start the next chapter of her life this Thursday. She is going to do great things and I know she is being called for another mission the Lord has planned for her. Its just hard when friends leave. And because the transfer is not quite over I have been a little on the stressed side because I have not gotten any updates yet on what the plans are for me. There are no sister trios in the mission right now, so there is not a sister to come be my companion. SOOO... I will have to join another companionship and make a trio. I have no idea if I am going to be able to still cover my area. So that has been really hard for me. I know that I have been in Pima for a fat minute now, but I am not ready to leave! I love my crazy Pima ward. I feel so at home here and have made so many wonderful friends, honestly, everyone just feels like family. So this has been a really emotional week for sure. But after a lot of time on my knees I know that it's all in the Lord's hands and the sooner I let go and let him take it, the easier it will be. Still working on it, but I know that He has something planned for me.

Other than that little bit of news hahaha! An amazing highlight of this week was that we got to the temple for Halloween!! I did it last year with sister Gadd and President loved the idea of spending those trick or treating hours in the temple instead of being out and about, he gave all the missionaries a free pass to go to the temple! It was the best!!!! I got to see sooooooo many of my missionary buddies all in the temple. It was such a special night and something I probably won't ever forget.

So due to the sudden changes in my little world I have been reflecting a lot on my time here in Pima. Not going to lie, it gave me a ton of anxiety. I love this area and I love this ward so much I just want to give them all that I have. I started to get really down on myself. But I have been reminded of a lesson that I learned in my first area, and I know that I have shared it before but it is something I know I need to be reminded of again and again. And that is, 100% is not a fixed amount! It is always fluctuating, it never looks the same. But that doesn't mean that it was not 100%. The Lord asks us to do our best, but he never defines what that looks like. It is different for every person and individually, it changes everyday. Even moment by moment. We CANNOT get down on ourselves for the outward appearance of out 100%. It is a very clever way that Satan often uses to trip us. But we can hold on to the Savior and know that He will always fill in our gaps. He told us that we shouldn't run faster than we have strength. This week I want you all to remember that your Savior and your Father in Heaven LOVE YOU, so be kind to yourself and remember that YOU need to love you too. 

And if it helps, don't forget that I love all of you too! Keep it real and have a fanfreakingtastic week this week!

Sister Grant 🌵