Lists

This week I am just really liking lists...so, I thought I would share one with ya'll of noteworty occurances this week.

1. There's a guy trying to make it big in the street-dancing scene and we see him all around Lynn jammin' out to some music he's got playing on his headphones - sometimes he even starts yelling out the song he's listening to...it's kinda funny :)
2. Sometimes it pays to try a different doorbell. We had tried visiting an inactive 3 or 4 times and had apparently been ringing the wrong doorbell every time. I'm so glad we finally got to meet her! She's SUPER awesome!!
3. I have fallen in love with plantain chips...yum!
4. We only have 10 minutes now! The library is hoppin this afternoon.
5. This week we had lots of extra time to go tracting and contacting. While we didn't have very many appointments, we found 3 inactive people whose records we don't even have - we just contacted into them. Crazy stuff!
6. We got to go to the temple yesterday!!!!!!! It was such a blessing to get to go - it was open for the missionaries and our stake yesterday for 6 sessions and so we went early (by way of Kane donuts in Saugus - delish!) and had a very spiritually uplifting experience. I miss being able to go every week.
7. My mom taught me how to frost really well - our cake we decorated at the relief society activity wasn't completely finished (see #8) but the base layer of frosting sure looked good.
8. We had dinner with the Familia Fuentes (Branch President's family) on Saturday. We had to leave the activity early to get there on time but we got there and then had to wait for Presidente so we could go out to eat. We were following behind their car but they didn't tell us beforehand where we were going. We got a text as we started driving through Revere that we were going all the way to Chelsea! (It's a 30-40 minute ride from Swampscott/Lynn area depending on Traffic). So, we had to hurry and call our district leader to get permission, but it turned out okay and we got to eat at Pollo Campero (Guatamalan Fast-food chain that is delish but probably not worth all those miles we had to spend...oh well - we live and learn :)
9. I got my hair cut yesterday! Just a little trim so it's not really very noticably shorter. It's not the best hair cut, but we got a good deal and I really don't think it matters that much seeing that I'm on a mission.
10. This is definitely a no-snow type of winter here in good ole' MA. We seriously lucked out.

Sunday was really good for me because I feel like I learned a lot about having faith through Tribulation. A member gave a talk (her first in Sacrament actually I'm pretty sure) and shared her personal experiences. She has a little 3 or 4 year old girl that is an absolute DOLL!! Everyone at church just loves her! But she looks like she's more like 1 or 2 years old max. She's gone through lots of health problems though and the reason she and her mom are even here is just for her health. It really helped me remember in a very simple way that Heavenly Father does try us to help us grow stronger and to learn from our adversities. I remembered something that I thought about a month or two ago about how every experience has a purpose and even when it seems like all my trials are for naught, they're not. At the very least they will help me understand other people who have been in the same situation.

I love this gospel!! I'm so lucky to be so immersed in it. I feel like I'm really starting to undersatnd my responsibility as a member of this Church now that I'm a missionary - better late than never I suppose.

LOVES!!

-Hermana Palmer