Well this week was FUULLLL of service.

Seriously, I barely had any REAL clothes by the end of the week. So ok...Monday was obviously Preparation day and my district is the literal best. We played sting, gator ball, and then waterfall. After all that we were all super sweaty and so we set up a table in the middle of the gym and put chair around it and played uno... yeah. Love this group of humans.

Goofing off with the district

Tuesday we started riding and got to like the whole other side of Ione and then the lovely Sister Valgardson got a major flat tire and we had to walk... all. the. way. back. SO that was fun, and hot, and sunny, and tiring. But hey what even is the missionary experience without a flat tire? After we got home we had to head out to Modesto for the New Missionary Training. I WAS SO PUMPED FOR THIS BECAUSE I NEW I WAS GOING TO SEE SISTER ROSE! It takes about an hour to get to Modesto from our area so once we got there I was so anxious to see her. As we walk in (If sisters walk in the room all the Elders have to stand) All the Elders stand up and Sister Rose looks back and we just run to each other and hug. UUUGGGGHHH it was so good to see her. We traveled back and went over to Sister Gentry's again to keep helping her pack. The moving truck comes tomorrow and Sister Val and I are soooo sad we don't want her to leave!

Back together again with my MTC District!

Wednesday we had our normal day of going out but obviously we were walking. So it took us a lot longer to get places and we didn't get as much done because we just walked the whole time. The coolest thing happened though. As we were walking this man had parked his car and was walking inside but we just happened to cross paths at the perfect time and talked to him for about 45 minutes! He just told us sooo many stories about his life and all else. We ended up giving him a pass along card and telling him we were going to come visit him again. HE WAS HILARIOUS! (This is like an OLD man ok). Then we had to walk all the way back home (again walking the perimeter of Ione) and headed out to Lodi for Interviews with the President and his wife. Went well I passed. So that's good. He is a TRULY inspired man.

Sister Gentry's pup

Thursday not much happened, we tried all morning on doors and no one answered. But HEY "No effort is wasted". Then we went to district meeting. Let me tell you YET AGAIN, I LOVE MY DISTRICT. This meeting went VERY well and the spirit was there with us. We talked about a lot of stuff and it was so nice to hear from everyone. They really are such good missionaries. Our Bishop has really been encouraging us to do stuff with the YSA to pump some of them up for missions, so we went over to their FHE and made an appearance and then shared a message with them at the end and that went really well. There were three returned missionaries there and we got them involved in sharing some stuff. Great guys in this ward, once even went to Antofagasta Chile and knows of Austin Francis! It was a really nice get together and it was at Mom's new favorite person's house, SISTER CRAMER! LOVE HER!

Now Friday was very different. In the morning we were doing some finding and we saw a less actives van in the front of this house that they bought. We decided to go knock on the door and see what they were up to. Well we walked in and they were re-modeling the house and we offered to help and so we did... in our missionary clothing... We got SUPER sweaty and dirty and all together gross. But construction is fun! Dad thank you for teaching me to hammer like a man. I was tearing tiles off and scraping tile vinyl off the ground. We ended up being there for a while, they fed us sandwiches from the local market, YUMMY. Then we went over to their house they are living in now and helped clean up and do other things. We ended the day giving a really nice lesson to a lady we teach every week. But let me just tell you, construction and cleaning smells makes you TIRED!! I was exhausted! We got home and wrote in journals and prayed and I CRASHED. One of my favorite parts of the day is climbing in my nice cozy cool bed and sleeping.

Elder Stock on the HUGH tree platform

If I were a bug...

HOLY COW BUSY WEEK! But Saturday we jumped into a fairy tale basically. Or in other words, the Roberts home. They were preparing for a work Luau for that night and they needed A LOT of help. MOM THIS YARD WAS INSANE. There was like four layers and every single inch was covered in flowers or shrubbery. They had really big upper layer that was just grass and then on the side they had a cute little play house that matched their actual house. The next layer they had a built in deck with a pool, it kinda looked like the Great Gatsby pool. The next layer they had a HUGE outdoor kitchen with a bar and barbecue and a ton of matching furniture, they called that Pixie Hollow. Beautiful and so much shade! The next layer was a beautiful man made creek with two bridges on opposite ends. THIS IS THEIR YARD! It was sooo beautiful. We were there.... ALL DAY. After we left we went home and showered up and cleaned up and then went back, because they signed up for dinner and so we just ate at the Luau. It was a lot of fun and there was probably 125 people there and obviously most were not members. So it was good that we were seen! Fun night, but also EXHAUSTING.

Then today! Today I am writing late because again MY DISTRICT IS AWESOME! We all went up to BIG TREES TODAY!!! Yay something we have all been dying to do and we finally got to! It was amazing and REALLY hot. But a super beautiful place. SO expect quite a few pictures!

If you need motivation this week to be a good missionary read: Alma 18:36-40. It is an amazing chapter and SUPER MOTIVATIONAL. Read it with the mindset of a missionary.

Sister Hansen