Erin's Mission Blog for family: Literally the Craziest Email You'll Get from Me on My Mission

This week though....

It was Sister Gill's very last week as a missionary, and my very last week in Rotherwood. Yup, I'm getting the six week shaft. They're closing the sisters area in Rotherwood temporarily, and I'm headed over to the Louden Branch which is over in the Knoxville Zone. I honestly don't have any idea who my companion is because I was so shocked to hear I was leaving. The only reason I even know where I'm going is because Sister Gill caught it for me. I have such mixed feelings about this. That's not even the big news though....

A few weeks ago at zone conference, President announced something pretty big. He announced that in efforts to receive more member referrals, we're no longer allowed to have any meals with members unless there is a recent convert, less active member or non-member there. (They can, however, drop food off for us or have us pick it up. Very impersonal, but it is what it is.) I'm pretty much good with it. I know we'll all get less meals with it, but we'll have more time to find and then baptize! There were a lot of upset members with the announcement, though, but it just means they'll have to boost their efforts in helping us. And it definitely has done that. Yesterday when Bishop Pickup was announcing this to everyone he realized that he was signed up for dinner that night. Now you see, we, the missionaries, knew this announcement was coming, we just didn't know when. And when President first announced it, he said that anyone who had already signed up could still have us over that one time. Then, a few days later, he sent out an email clarifying a few things with the new rule in play, and telling us we also now have a required minimum of two hours of finding each day, and that it was effective IMMEDIATELY. (Yup. It was as intimidating as you read it.) But we were a little confused if he still meant that we could still see those last few people who signed up.

So back to Bishop Pickup. See, he's all for supporting President in this rule, so he called and texted about twenty different non-members trying to find someone to come to the meal. All of his effort got us really excited, so we went around trying to find people to bring, too, and ended up getting an appointment (which we can't go to now that the area is closing) and finding a girl to take on team-ups, so it was really action packed and fun and productive. Moral of the story for you guys, help the missionaries! It gets things done. So, we went over to his house just to pick up the dinner, and we stopped to chat for a little and tell him everything that happened, and he said he got a lot of rain checks, so that'll be good for later down the road, and then we realized we'd chatted already for a while which means all there was to do was eat, we'd either do that there or at our house, and we both did really good work, and President did say that if they signed up before, we could eat with them. So we did. It was a good time. And they have the greatest tradition ever! Sunday Sundaes! Bringing that one home with me.

We also found a lot of really cool people! We were up in Virginia just looking around for some less active members, and then we started knocking doors. We tried one door and nobody answered, and then this lady answered who was covered from head to toe in tattoos and piercings, and she asked, "Who are you looking for?" Awkwardly I said, " Oh you know.... Just the lady who lives here..." "Oh, well she died two years ago." Ah snap! That's not the only time that's happened on my mission guys!.... "Okay.... Well we're just missionaries for our church.... Can we talk to you about Jesus?" "Oh, well, I'm Wicken." Holy crap, guys, I freaked out! I've never met a Wicken before! And then she found out we were Mormon, and she freaked out because she'd never met Mormons before. So, it was awesome.

If you thought any of that was the big news, you'd be very wrong. On Friday night we got a text from the mission saying there was going to be a conference call announcing "the big thing." So we started
freaking out trying to guess what it'd be. When he announced it, my heart started racing. He said that as of June 13th, the Knoxville Tennessee Mission is getting the Cookville Zone, which means we now have 6 zones, and is getting us one step closer to having a temple in Knoxville! My emotions were all over the place! And this wasn't even them saying we were getting a temple, just one step closer! I had honestly never felt so many emotions to the extent that I did! I bawled for a good half hour! I don't know who I've really helped out here, yet, but I know for sure that one reason I was sent out here was to gain an appreciation for temples. You don't know what you've got until it's gone. So never take them for granted. Go whenever you can because, take it from someone who doesn't even have the option to go, they are the most holy places on earth. So, go this week. If you don't have time, make time. It's worth it.

Sincerely,
Sister Shelton