Nov. 26, 2012
November is almost over!
I ate WAY too much at Thanksgiving! Sister J and I had to go home and digest for hours. It was great :) We went to the Misfit Thanksgiving at the church (their name, not mine. All the people without family in the area) around noon, then ran over to the Savoys at 2p. Wow, that family can cook! Sweet potatoes were there (LOVE sweet potatoes), they had all the traditional food, plus a ham, green onions wrapped in cream cheese and salami slices (fabulous!) and a billion pies. Needless to say, it was a good day. 

We had Kristen's baptism on Saturday! That girl makes me so proud :) She stopped smoking cold turkey, and she has changed a lot of habits in her life so that she could be baptized, and it is so easy to see how much happier she is! I absolutely love that about the Gospel. There is no faking true happiness. 

We get to go to Kirtland tomorrow! Yay! Zone conference. By the way, I have the best zone. I absolutely LOVE working with these missionaries! They are all about working hard and playing hard. I have never seen such a purpose-filled bunch, and it is so neat to be able to learn from their example. So it will be neat to be able to go with them to the Kirtland temple and sites. Plus President Vellinga is incredible, so it just adds to the awesomeness of tomorrow. I can't wait!

Ohio has the craziest weather mood swings. Thanksgiving was beautiful (60 degree weather!) and then the next day there were snow flurries. I thought we were going to die. Actually, it was only my life I was that concerned for. Not because I am completely selfish, but because Sister J does not mess around. That sister had on four layers on her legs, who knows how many layers around her torso, and her coat looks like a heavy duty sleeping bag with the bottom cut out for legs. She was not going to go down without a fight, that is for sure. Maybe I should stop thinking that I am invincible and put on some nylons. Or at least gloves would help. You just don't think of that stuff when you are getting dressed in a warm apartment!

We have a problem. We are learning the hard way that Sister Joseph and I are a tad too absent-minded. We have had some close calls with forgetting planners in laundromats and baptismal forms at baptisms. This may be an interesting transfer... 

On Sunday we were supposed to go to Kirtland with Kristen, but it fell through last minute :( We were really disappointed, but it didn't last very long.  The shock that set in when we realized our whole day needed to be replanned was more urgent of an emotion that took over. The neat thing is that Heavenly Father was right there. We ended up being able to plan for some lessons that we set up last minute, and it was our most productive day (numbers-wise) than any other day that week! And that was with 5 hours of church!  It is incredible how close to this work He is. It helped me realize I need to rely on Him a lot more. 

I had a neat realization when I was tracting this week. It was Black Friday, no one was home, and we were tracting in the coldest weather I have ever tracted in (and it was probably in the 20s and 30s! I am not surviving this winter- I'm telling you right now!) and I was thinking, "Sister Mahrt, this really is crazy. You realize that, right? We are walking around a neighborhood that no one is in, and you are going to get frostbite. You are nuts." Then a thought came just as quickly to me, '...yet, there is nothing else you would rather be doing right now.' And it was so true! I wouldn't have traded being a missionary for a fireplace and a cup of hot chocolate, while lounging in a lazy boy. It is so neat to be out here and having these experiences, and I am so grateful for what I am learning and who I have had the opportunity to meet. Ohio is awesome. 


Love you all!