November 21st-28th, 2016

Dearest Dad, Mom, Tara, Dustin, Devin... and anyone else that reads these things.

This week was so good haha. I know I say that every week, but it's always just so good! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We sure did. We had two appointments. We went over to the Davidson's in the morning to help cook... they go ALL OUT. So much home made stuff. We ate lunch with them there and paced ourselves for the next one. We also had an appointment with this cute family named the Harts :) It is just the two of them and they are raising their grandson Matthew. It was really fun to be with them. They really liked having us over so I was grateful to be with them. SO MUCH FOOD. People literally stuff you full as a missionary. I am obsessed with the members here. I can't even describe how much I love them and how many amazing experiences I have with them.

This week as you know, the church released #LightTheWorld and I am OBSESSED WITH IT. Literally the best video ever made, with the best meaning, and best way to get involved. I need every single one of you to visit Mormon.org and watch it and also to see the different ways to get involved. In 25 ways. Over 25 days. It is the best thing ever. Honestly, it WILL light the whole world if everyone participates. We just need to do as the Savior would do, and turn ourselves outward. "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." "YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD" 

We were able to teach some of our investigators this week which was so good. I forgot nobody wants to meet with missionaries around Thanksgiving, so it was a slower week but still great. I love the Ovitts. They have been reading the Book of Mormon and Jerry (the dad) even PRAYED! I was so thrilled. Sister Ovitt (the twins grandma) is the CUTEST. I love her so much. She is so hilarious and adorable. I wish you could all meet this family. 

Soooo there are a lot of interesting people in Missouri. I thought I knew what a "crazy cat lady" was like....... until November 26, 2016 when i questioned everything. So we met this lady at Walmart... I could tell she was a little odd, but hey, Jesus said love everyone. I asked her if we could come share a message with her, she said yes! So a few days later we go over to her house. She lets us in right away while she's telling us she hopes we like animals, we respond with "oh yeah no problem!" People, I walked into this house and my jaw dropped. CAT CITY. I couldn't believe the amount of cats. She's showing us all of them, then shows us the garage where there were probably 20 more just running around like a jungle. She had stacks of cages, even a TV playing for them in the garage! Cats like TV?? Then she was like "I got a bunch more in the barn! Wanna see?" I was in complete shock. So she has no furniture but an air mattress and a table. I asked if we could sit at the table to talk... she says "well it's THEIR table but I guess" The table had like 3 huge bowls of cat food on it. I sit down and was instantly SWARMED with cats. I was actually scared. I felt like I was drowning. We struggle through the Restoration lesson while trying to shove cats off us. I had no idea what i was saying to her, I had cats climbing on my head, cat tails in my mouth, cats climbing up my back, it was literally terrifying. I AM NOT EVEN EXAGGERATING. ASK SISTER BALL. So then, this one cat kept getting so mad if I stopped petting it, but I was so distracted by the other cats I stopped for a second, next thing I know I felt like I was stabbed with an actual knife. This cat had sunk it's claws into my stomach and these claws were literally razor blades. I grunted and doubled over in pain, trying not to chuck the cat across the room. I literally had to remove the cats claws from inside of me. I had to pull them out. Blood was everywhere. Like a large about of blood all over my clothes from my STAB WOUNDS. Anyways, i finally met an actual crazy cat lady, and i hope to never meet one again.

Oh side note, I got pulled over this week. Sorry Dad. No ticket though, HALLELUJAH. I gave him a long sob story about how I'm not from here and I'm a missionary and bla bla bla. Dodged that one. I ran through a stop sign but I honestly didn't see it and we were in the middle of nowhere it was pitch black and nobody was even around.  

The cutest member gave us the most legit Christmas tree. So grateful. We went to the arch for Pday last week and it was very dramatic and crazy. We accidentally got lost in East St. Louis basically the epitome of "the hood" and locked ourselves out of the parking garage. Never again. I cried on the way home because I realized it's probably the last time I'll be at the St. Louis arch. Also sung in the very small very amateur ward choir. It was so great, we've been practicing for Christmas! I love this time of year. I love this work I'm apart of, I love the people here, I love my whole life!

https://www.mormon.org/