July 8, 2013

Hello all!!

Well this was an exciting week! I'll just start at the very beginning, thats a very good place to start. :) On Tuesday, we were sitting in the Ford Dealership waiting for our car to be fixed (something was dragging under the car. True to the Sister Missionary title, we called the mission office freaking out. I guess it wasnt as life threatening as we thought. Oops) Anyways, we had been there for like 2 hours, so I finally gave in and started to watch the Weather Channel. I was so horrified to see the temperatures that were coming in Utah and the storms coming to Pennsylvania, I was thoroughly entertained. Well, not too long after I gave into the temptation, President Topham called! I was convinced his spidey senses were tingling and he could tell I was watching the tv. I freaked out and threw the phone at Sister Maddox and was like "OH NO!!" She started laughing and answered and was like "It's for you...." DANG! So Im all hesitant on the phone and answered as Snow White-esq as possible. He didnt call to repremand me, he called me to extend the calling of being a Sister Training Leader! I about barfed on the floor. I was shocked. I was like "President, are you sure you know who you are talking to right now?" He laughed and was like "Yes Sister Andresen. I do." Sister Maddox was just laughing her head off listening to us talk. He invited me to attend the Missionary Leadership Counsel in Pittsburgh on July 5th and that was that! The Sister Training Leader position is the new position that was created after conference in April. Its like a Sister verison of a Zone Leader, kindof. If you look on LDS.org it explains it a little better. Anyways, on Thursday afternoon, the Fourth of July, Sister Maddox and our zone leaders roadtripped for 5 hours to Pittsburgh! Sister Ferrin is a Sister Training Leader now too and she spent the night with us in Pittsburgh! it was so fun to see her and catch up. We actually spent the night at the Mission Mental Health Specialists apartment with him and his wife. It was slightly hilarious. Friday we had MLC, thats what the picture is from. Those Elders are a crack up. They were doing the funniest things while we took pictures at lunch. This picture is "EVERYONE PUT YOUR JACKETS ON INSIDE OUT!" haha. The Sisters didnt have jackets, obviously, so we just sat there. It was a really neat training and I learned how much planning and prayers go into being a leader. Sister Maddox and I are over 5 sets of sisters right now, covering 3 zones. Next transfer we will be over 8 sets of sisters! Which means we will be doing almost 2 exchanges a week. We are wondering if President will split us up next transfer, so that we wont have so many companionships. We will see. Last night a set of Elders in Harrisburg asked us if we could go visit a man they met that was in the hospital in our area. We said of course, grabbed the elders in our area so they could offer a blessing and rolled over to Holy Spirit Hospital. When we arrived, the room this man was in was crossed off all funny and had a scrub room attached. The nurse saw we were startled and asked if we had visited the man before. We were all like "uh...no." She explained that we had to scrub in, wear gowns, gloves and masks to avoid AIRBORNE CONTACT. This man has TB and other unknown stuff. OH MY HECK! We all about died. We pretty much held our breath while Elder Johnson gave this guy a blessing. The Harrisburg elders didnt warn us we could die. Flip! We were laughing after, but we were all pretty shocked. Hopefully I dont die like on Outbreak, Mom and Megs favorite show! I felt like I was in that movie during our visit with the guy. So funny. Well this week we are going on exchanges by Lancaster county, so that should be fun! We also have interviews with President Topham, which I am always excited about. I also have an MRI scheduled for my brain later this week. Send up some prayers for that. I saw a doctor about my headaches this week and he was a little more than concerned. Hopefully things go well with my MRI. Or you'll be seeing my cute face a lot sooner than you want to, I'd imagine. I LOVE YOU ALL!! This week is gonna be great.

Sister Andresen