we're not the only ones having a bad day

Once upon a time about four months ago Sister Johnson and Sister Kleisler were saying a prayer when Sister Johnson spotted a mouse darting across the room and in an instant the sisters were on the couch. The next day there were four mouse traps around the apartment, but the mouse was untraceable. We put cheese and peanut butter on the traps, but nothing. Not even a teeny nibble. Sister Kleisler began wondering if Sister Johnson was seeing things. Then Sister Johnson was in the kitchen one morning and she saw the mouse again dart across the kitchen floor and she was suddenly on the stove squealing. A few days later Sister Johnson walked into the kitchen and spotted the grey little devil again! But Sister Kleisler thought it was a little suspicious that Sister Johnson was the only one having these mouse sightings and she began commenting to Sister Johnson that the mouse sightings might more appropriately termed mouse visions. “I promise I saw a mouse!” Sister Johnson would cry, but she herself began wondering if she was in fact losing her mind. Then Sister Dodge came. The second day the sisters were together Sister Johnson saw the mouse again scamper across the kitchen floor. “Why am I the only one who sees this fury friend?” She wondered. Sigh. Well, then a few weeks later Sister Dodge was hungry and all day long she craved for nothing but “Cup-O-Noodles.” At last the sisters were home. Sister Dodge reached for the long awaited cup o noodles only to find a huge hole chewed out of it. “Ha! I’m not crazy!” Sister Johnson exclaimed. But the mouse didn’t show himself after that…until a few weeks later. During comp study the sisters stopped when they heard “Crunch-crunch-crunch.” It was unmistakable. Something was in our pantry chewing away our box of food…or chewing away at the food in the box, rather. He kept chewing and we were way too scared to remove the box of food so we took out our traps and set them with peanut butter and shoved them back by the end of the box. Then we shut the door and waited…but not for long. We were too grossed out that we cut comp study short and shot out the door. When we returned home…nothing. Not a nibble or scratch. The next day we checked again and you’ll never believe it. The peanut butter on one of the traps was completely gone! And the trap was still set! What kind of mouse is this?! Well, yesterday was a bad day. We had 6 people set to come to church and not a single one showed up. We had 3 baptismal dates set in the morning and by the afternoon they had all fallen through. It was awful. (I went back into first person without realizing it…whoops) Anyways, I was moaning and groaning and just feeling sorry for myself. I opened the pantry door and as I was looking for something to eat I began to monologue about the woes of missionary work when suddenly I looked down…..*HIGH PITCHED GASP!* I slammed the door and ran for the couch. “What?!” Sister Dodge exclaimed. “We’re not the only ones having a bad day!” Yes, that’s right. The mouse was unsuccessful in his attempt to acquire the peanut butter on the second trap. So we took a picture and needless to say, that photograph will soon find its way into Sister Kleisler’s mailbox.

As for the rest of the week…We were running out of miles so we dusted off the apartment bikes and rode around P-town on our sweet rides. Mine is a bike for a 13-year-old and sister Dodge rode a boy bike which doesn’t really make a difference unless you wear a skirt while you ride a bike. Who does that? Sister Missionaries! I think we are the only ones currently on the planet who participate in skirt bike riding. I won’t go any further into that aspect of a sister’s mission. Anyways, according to Sister Dodge, we got cat-called at twice. I didn’t notice because I was suffering from too much exercising. Later that night during district call our District Leader asked, “Why would any one cat-call at you guys? You’re like nuns!” ….Thanks Elder Finlayson. Later that night we went over to the Swaims (some members) and Sister Swaim asked, “We’re ya’ll riding bikes today?” She told us that her non-member sister-in-law called and asked, “Do your missionaries ride bikes?” Sister Swaim said she didn’t think so, “Rachelle, There are two girls riding bikes around Pleasanton in skirts! The have helmets and everything!” So the entire town of Pleasanton saw us. Partly because we had to ride through the High School football game to get to an appointment and everyone in town goes to the football games. And let me clarify…we didn’t ride through the football field…that would have been ridiculous.

We also had zone conference this week!!!! I love Zone Conference. The days leading up to the conference always make me feel like I’m crawling through a desert in search of water. “Just a few more days. Blah. I can make it…..” I love zone conference cause you get to see other missionaries, you get a lot of upliftment from the talks, and you get good food. This transfer we had a member of the seventy come visit, Elder Snow. He emphasized having faith enough to repent (aka change, become better). We often think of repentance as taking the bad and making the good. But it is also taking the good and making it better. He told us our job was not to increase the membership of the church, but our job was to help others come to Christ (which would increase our membership cause baptism is one of the greatest ways to come to Christ, but baptism is not the end…Christ is the end and the beginning and everything in between). He asked us to raise our hands if we were perfect and none of us did obviously, but then he read Moroni 10:32. He said that in God’s eyes, if we are continually having faith unto repentance and if we have been baptized, then we are perfect in Christ. I thought that was pretty neat. I forget that Christ’s atonement can be applied before entrance into the celestial kingdom. We are perfect today as long as we are living the four principles of the gospel: having faith in Christ (and therefore in ourselves and others), repenting (doing our best), and then reyling on our baptismal convenant and on the power of the holy Ghost.

I love the things I’m learning. It was a bad day yesterday, but it was also a good day. I love you all.

Love
Sister JOhnson