Thursday, December 4, 2014

Living the Life of a Well Dressed Hobo

Hello all, 
Do you remember how I used to lovingly call you all hobos? Well, I am proud to say that, for the last 12 months, I have been living the life of a well dressed hobo. I will explain as I describe the events of the week. 
Monday Recap: I made lemon, cranberry gluten/dairy free muffins to eat for the entire week. And my lanta were/are they delicious. Om-Nom! 
Tuesday: Sister Woods and I helped Sister Halgren make pie for their pie night celebration. We made 5 pies. And all of the ones that I tasted were SO good. And all of the ones that Sister Woods tasted were equally as good. And they were all devoured and enjoyed by all who attended the pie night celebration. It was a lot of fun. And I was happy that I got to help make pies even though I'm so far away from all the pie crazy going on at home. 
Thursday was THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!! Oh blessed day of fatness! We ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Mencia's. And the food was all super delicious. Sister Mencia is a trained cook/baker so it kind of had to be delicious. She is also gluten free, so most all of the food that she cooked was gluten free as well. HAPPY DAY! 
After spending a few hours with the Mencia family, we visited the Richmond family and proceeded to spend the evening with their family. Brother Richmond's brothers and their families were there too. We had quite the enjoyably night. We were laughing SO hard as family stories were told of embarrassing moments at church, how did you meets? and missionary drama. It was great! 
Friday, we helped the Mencia's and the Searle's put up their Christmas trees. That was fun! I love seeing other families Christmas traditions. 
Saturday, we did our weekly planning in the morning at the library. It was great fun. And it is so much better to do away from home that at home. I get really bored and sleepy and hungry at home. But, when I leave, I am able to watch people as I work which keeps me pleasantly distracted so that I can get the work done. I recommend that everyone does weekly planning away from home! 
But sadly, as we were finishing up our weekly planning, we got a text from Carly telling us that she didn't want to meet with us anymore because she didn't think that our church could answer her questions. NO!!! We were sad and disappointed, but we were expecting it. I'm just super grateful to know that someday she will accept the gospel. She is an amazing woman. And she is super smart. She knows how to find truth and the door has been left open to her. (I think of the painting President Uchtdorf described which sits in his office. "I have a cherished painting in my office that is titled Entrance to Enlightenment. It was created by a friend of mine, the Danish artist Johan Benthin, who was the first stake president in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The painting shows a dark room with an open door from which light is shining.It is interesting to me that the light coming through the door does not illuminate the entire room—only the space immediately in front of the door.
To me, the darkness and light in this painting are a metaphor for life. It is part of our condition as mortal beings to sometimes feel as though we are surrounded by darkness. We might have lost a loved one; a child might have strayed; we might have received a troubling medical diagnosis; we might have employment challenges and be burdened by doubts or fears; or we might feel alone or unloved.
But even though we may feel lost in the midst of our current circumstances,God promises the hope of His light—He promises to illuminate the way before us and show us the way out of darkness." )

Then we went to the Pancake House for lunch, and I proceeded to eat a 6 egg omelet and three gluten free buttermilk pancakes. I don't know how I did it. It was an insane amount of food. WHOA! 
Sunday was an adventure in and of itself.  It started with a delicious breakfast with Brother Kunkle, Tawni, Wayne and Troy. We had pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage. YUM! 
Funny story though, Sister Woods was the first to scoop eggs from the paper plate and ended up spilling some of them on the table. 
"Those are yours," she said to me. 
"Oh no their not!" I replied
She began to clean them up off the table and put them on her plate. And each time she picked up a clump of eggs, I covered my plate with my hands. (Can you see where this is leading yet?) 
As she picked up the last little piece of egg, she attempted to put it on my plate, but I blocked, and the egg bounced from my hands down my shirt. To which was heard uproarious laughter from both her and I . How awkward?!?! Thankfully, it didn't fall into all of the layers of my shirt - just my brazier, so I adjusted everything until it fell into my lap, and I was able to creep up my skirt and get it in a more discreet manner.  
As we were laughing super hard, Tawni asked us, "Sisters what's so funny?" 
"Oh just the eggs." 
It was a great morning! 
During church, we learned that the Halgren's finally had their baby! A little girl. YAY! CONGRATULATIONS and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I don't know who was more anxious and exited...Brother Halgren or his wife. 
So that was our blessed week. 
We walked and walked and walked most everywhere this week. I have a wonderful array of blisters on my feet and ankles from all of the different types of shoes I've worn over the past few days. But we are doing our best to be out in the community and be seen by the people. The Lord will direct us to those elect he has chosen to hear and accept the message of the restored gospel. I am so grateful to be a missionary! 
Love,
Sister Bryans
Ps. These videos are very well done and are great representations of what Christmas really is about:
I hope you all enjoy them and share them with those you love! 

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