Mother's day, exchanges and the curse of the quarter

Hi everyone! 

It has been a splendid week here in State College, Pennsylvania! I hope you are all doing well and have had a fantastic week! 

This week I am just going to include excerpts from my journal because I don't really wanna write it all down again to be honest, haha. But, I still wanted to include the amazing things that happened this week! Honestly, this wee was filled with a lot of laughter and a lot of crying so it's been really good. 

Here it goes! Love you all so very much! 

EXCHANGES:

Exchanges were so much fun. I got to go to Lock Haven for 24 hours with Sister Anderson! Sister Anderson is the Sister that trained Sister Green (MTC) when she first made it out to the mission field. She was so sweet and so in tune with the spirit! Love her so much. She and I were able to talk a lot about the things that were difficult as missionaries and it helped me to feel more confident and ready to do this. I didn't realize how badly I needed it, haha. Lock Haven Is a marvelous area. Seriously, it is simply stunning. I loved being there and couldn't believe this little town could be such a wonderful place. I miss it already!

After exchanges, Sister Cutler, Sister Anderson, Sister Smoot, and myself went to a 50's style diner called, "Baby's" to close the exchange. We talked about our goals, what we learned, and what our companions did really well. It was great to just laugh and eat burgers! I have only had salad wraps and asian food since I have been here so eating a burger was amazing

THE CURSE OF THE QUARTER:

After our STL's left, Sister Cutler and I went to a service project called, "Trash to treasure." It"s an organization that takes anything that college students dont want or need anymore after the term is over. They then organize it all and donate it to people that are less fortunate and need essential items. Our branch was in charge of folding and sorting comforters, blankets, sheets, towels, and pillowcases.

At one point, I found a quarter in one of the bins and tried to give it away saying it was lucky. Elder Lu refused to take it which was annoying. He kept saying, "Just because I'm asian doesn't mean I'm poor..." He is so funny, haha. But then nobody would take it from me! I kept trying to give it to my companion or a recent convert, Christine,  but then it became a game. It started showing up near me EVERYWHERE. In the pillowcases, on the table,  in my messenger bag, etc. At one point, Christine snuck up on me and put it down the back of my shirt! Honestly, I wasn't able to find it until the next morning when I was taking a shower!!! What the heck!!

Elder Lu and I were talking while folding and he was struggling to fold the fitted sheets so he started to give all of them to me. I wasn't good at it either and he was just being lazy. Well, it turned into a huge game where everyone in the branch gave me the fitted sheets. EVERYONE threw fitted sheets at me! Sister Cutler managed to land one of them on my head so I threw it back at her and we became a tangled mess, haha.

Christine took so many pictures of us goofing off and I'm pretty sure she sent all of them to my Mom.

Christine is awesome. She stalks the missionaries and takes ridiculous photos of us and sends them to our Mom's and posts them on facebook. She is the best, I love her.

The theme of the evening was, " I didn't choose the fitted sheet life. The fitted sheet life chose me."

PRESIDENT BEDNAR GETS ME:

Today was quite the day.  We had district meeting today which was great because the Bednar's came and spent one on one time with our tiny little district. It was super amazing. We each got to have an interview with President as well which was super amazing. This was my first interview with him ever because I flew into the mission at midnight and we skipped the first interview in order to get some much needed rest.

I told President Bednar about everything and how I was really feeling. It was really good for me to just let it all out. He was totally understanding and helped me to feel as though I wasn't the only one experiencing such intense stress and emotion. He also gave me great advice about my testimony. He said that I am promised to never fall away from what I know as long I consistently study in the Book of Mormon every day. Not just any of the scriptures, the Book of Mormon. I realized that I had been testifying of the Book of Mormon all day long, but during my personal studies, I haven't really taken the time to read and study it for my own benefit. I am always studying for the lessons we would be teaching investigators, which is great, but the Book of Mormon is for everyone. Not just a tool to be used in preaching the gospel, but a tool to be applied. 

President Bednar is just the coolest. 

THE RETURN OF THE QUARTER:

The curse has returned!!! After our service project on Tuesday night, Sister Cutler has been hiding quarters EVERYWHERE.  Yesterday, during personal study, she hid a quarter in my Preach my gospel. When I had finished praying, I picked it up and it was like a quarter fell out of the sky. I was amazed that this quarter was following me! Today, while we were packing a lunch, I found the quarter sitting on top of the Tupperware filled with rice. I turned it Sister Cutler and told her that I was truly amazed.

This morning, I was getting ready to take a shower and had turned the water on and everything, right? I pull back the curtain and step into the shower to see a FROG in the middle of the shower. I was like a deer caught in the headlights. I was paralyzed and didn't dare to  even move. I was so freaked out by it that I sat and stared at it for three minutes. I'm not even fully into the shower at this point, I just have one foot in.
I slowly move my foot out and take deep breaths. I really didn't want it to jump out at me or to move, plus it was giant.

Then I thought, wait.. What if it is fake?? There is a member of our branch who is notorious for pranking the sister missionaries and that was my first thought. How on earth did she get in here?? Well, I then noticed that there was a direct stream of water from the shower pelting it and it wasn't moving still... Also it wasn't breathing.. I turned the water off and it still didn't even flinch. Okay, Its gotta be fake right? Then I thought, well wait a minute. Aren't there frogs that can be frozen and don't have to breathe but as soon as the spring thaws them they keep living like normal? What if frogs just don't always breathe?

I had so many conflicting thoughts and there was NO WAY that I was going to touch it to find out.

I pulled the shower curtain around me for protection and I grabbed the toilet scrubber and slowly inched it close to the unknown amphibian.. It slid across the slick floor. It was clearly plastic and a QUARTER SLID OUT FROM UNDERNEATH IT.

"You're the worst!" 

She was laughing so hard.

Anyways. I'm paranoid about frogs now.

QUARTERS KEEP COMING: 

We had Correlation, then university meeting, then we went to lunch at a waffle place with Christine. She is a nut. She and Sister Cutler were secretly passing quarters under the table and across the table underneath syrup bottles so Sister Cutler could hide them in places I would see them. I don't know how she did it, but we were later doing companionship Study and we knelt do close with a prayer, and when I got back up, there was a quarter sitting right on top of my tablet. When?????

This evening I set my messenger bag on my bed and a quarter slid out of the side pocket. It freaks me out every time I see a quarter, because every time I look up at her, she has this mischievous grin. It's terrifying! I might have start hiding pennies or something for her to find.

This evening we did weekly planning which was really good. We made some awesome goals for next week and are committed to working extra hard to reach them. We want to put two of our investigators on date for baptism this week. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store.

Tomorrow is mother's day and I am super excited! I get to video chat with my family for 40 minutes and it is going to be so great to see them and talk to them. I will definitely have to make the most of that short amount of time. But I am so excited to hear their voices again.

Also, this just in... Sister Cutler was in the bathroom washing her face and was getting ready for bed and we had this experience.. She shared her journal entry with me.

Sister Cutler wrote,  "Sister Nelson, the companion Sister Johnston had before me, left behind a toy frog in my dresser drawer for me to find on my first day. I had put it in a closet and forgot about it, but I found it the other day. Sister Westover always showers first, so I put it on top of a quarter in our bathtub one night for her to find in the morning! The next morning I had completely forgot about it. I was reading my Book of Mormon while eating my breakfast when after quite a few minutes of being in the bathroom I heard Sister Westover call out, "Sister Cutler?"

Wondering what she could need, I answered, "Yeah?"

Her response: "You're the WORST!"

I just start dying because I had totally forgot that I did that! I feel slightly bad--I may have caused her a bit of emotional trauma-- but I didn't realize how realiztic the frog must have looked, haha.

Perhaps I'll include her thought process and 3 minutes of panic a little bit later because when she told me what was going through her head, it was the FUNNIEST thing!

All this to explain the second scare:

I was brushing my teeth last night, and Sister Westover had noticed that 2 of the quarters from the pile she'd been making on her dresser were gone. I knew exactly where they were, of course, and I was confident she wouldn't find them til tomorrow or later. As I was brushing my teeth though, I heard her going back and forth with it seemed like stomping, purposeful steps, in the hallway. I thought to myself, she wouldn't be walking like that unless she found another quarter, but she can't have found the quarter yet, because she has no reason to have looked in the box of hard caramels she sucks on sometimes in studies to stay awake. Having thus convinced myself and finished washing my face, I turned around to dry it on a towel and Sister Westover was standing RIGHT BEHIND ME holding the quarter! I screamed because I was so surprised and then we both just died laughing because a scream was not what she was expecting."

Well. It's been a good week. I will send pictures in a separate email. Love ya! Thanks for sending me emails throughout the week! It keeps me motivated!

I LOVE care packages!

We made Wraps!