This email was sent by Sister Welker on October 2nd.  We received it on October 1st.

Week 8: Double Exchange, Transfers, Three Amigos, Lip Sync, and Guacamole

It's been a crazy busy week!!

So my companion Sister Johnson is the STL (Sister Training Leader), which means she's in charge of all the sister missionaries in the Tauranga area.  She's the one who organizes exchanges, and being the STL's companion means you go on heaps of exchanges.  This week I went on an exchange with the sisters in Greeton.  The plan was going to be for me to go and stay the night at Greeton with one of the sisters and have Sister Johnson with the other sister in my area (Welcome Bay and Mount).  But about an hour after we switched, I got a call from Sister Johnson saying we should switch again.  That I should go in my area, with the other sister, and that Sister Johnson would go to Greeton with the sister I had been originally assigned with.  I'll admit I thought it was weird to switch again after, but it ended up being one of the best exchanges I had ever been on.

I ended up leading my area and we had a great lesson with a less active family.  The next morning we visited one of our recent converts who had just got baptized in July, but has been really struggling lately.  We invited her to say the prayer, and she told us she didn't want to say the prayer.  That God hasn't been listening, so what's the point.  My companion and I just sat there, listening, and kept asking her if she wanted to pray.  It was a little awkward just waiting on our knees, but we weren't going to leave till she said the prayer.  When she finally got on her knees, we said a prayer together.  It was one of the most powerful prayers I've ever heard.  She told us afterwards that she felt a little lighter after finishing the prayer, that God must really be listening.  It was so cool!!

Later this week, I went on two other mini exchanges (an exchange where you don't spend the night).  Being the STL's companion is the best!!  You get to go on tons of exchanges, but you don't have the responsibilities of an STL, so it's like getting the best of both worlds.

I'm currently in a trio.  We dropped off a sister at the bus stop this morning, so she could go to Hamilton and then catch a flight home.  It's so weird to be surrounded by such "old" missionaries that talk about going home while I just got here.  We have the extra sister until Thursday, when she will either transfer or get a new companion.

This week is transfers which means some missionaries will leave to another area and some will stay.  We don't find out till tomorrow night whether or not we get transferred.  I'm most likely staying since I've only been in the area for 6 weeks (one transfer), but Sister Johnson might be transferring since she's been here for 6 MONTHS (4 transfers).  If we both don't transfer to a different area, we'll still be companions, but if she's transferred, then I'll get a new companion. 

The highlight was definitely the Mount Ward LiP Sync.  The LiP Sync was suppose to be weeks ago but it got postponed till this week.  The missionaries had a musical number already picked out even before I came to the area.  It's the missionary parody to the Adele song Hello.  There's a video of the song on YouTube.  I'm not sure what it would be called, but I bet you could easily find it.  Anyway, we had it all planned out.  We found a way to install a door we could knock on, our mission leader dressed up as an older lady that answered the door, and the Elders pretended to eat pie and mow the lawn.  We thought we were so funny.  Not very many people showed up to the Lip Sync and only one other group prepared for a musical number, so we had to improvise with stand up comedy, and a musical parody Sister Johnson and I made up.  Even though nobody found our song very funny it was still way fun, and the young men did a funny Lip Sync to an Elvis Presley song called Look Like an Angel (or at least that's what I think it's called).

Then right after the Lip Sync, we had refreshments.  I wanted to help by opening the Guacamole jar.  One of the Elders and my Mission Leader both joked that it was "child proof" and that I wouldn't be able to open it.  So, of course, I had to prove them wrong and spent the next 5 mins trying to open it.  Sadly, I gave up and they opened it within 10 seconds of holding it. haha

Sorry it was such a long email this week, and the SD card reader isn't working either, so there's no photos for this week.  I'll be sure to send them next week.

I hope you all have a good week. 

Sister Welker