"mini mission"

Meet Sister Olsen and Sister Maxwell!

These were the missionaries I was assigned to go on a "mini mission" with.

A mini mission is when you are 16-17 and want to experience stay with a missionary companionship for 3 days to get a look into the life of a Mormon missionary.

I got assigned to go to Saint Joseph, Missouri.

DAY 1

It was only a 1 hour drive, so I drove myself out a little early so that I could drive around the city a little bit. I've never been there before, and from my experience....it's not like an amazing city....

I'm sure there were lots of plays and antique stores and stuff but a lot of it is just run down houses.

I found the apartment after accidentally passing it about 3 times...

The apartment wasn't sketchy! So that's good!

Haha anyways, Sister Olsen is from Vancouver, Washington.

BUT Sister Maxwell is from Saratoga Springs, Utah!!!!

THAT'S BASICALLY WHERE I MOVED FROM

She graduated from my old high school! And we even knew a lot of the same people, I've never seen her in my life though. Isn't that crazy?? The world is small for mormons. Everyone knows everyone.

When I got there they were finishing up scripture study, so we did a little bit of studying together, but then we had lunch.

Since missionaries have to pay for their own food they usually eat pretty cheaply--basically church college kids haha.

We had some classy tomato soup, grilled cheese, and hummus though!

It's going to be kinda bulletpoint-y now because I don't really want to write everything out aka I suck at transitional sentences anyways.

- I quickly learned that Sis Maxwell is VERY new (2-3 weeks out) and loves trying to talk to everyone about the gospel and Sis Olsen is a little more timid 

- Sis Maxwell would make goals of how many people we had to talk to at the gas station and she would dare Sis Olsen to go talk to people haha we ended up just putting the "I'm a Mormon" business card thing in the card slot of the gas pump lol

- we went to area 2 & 3 of the Saint Joseph mission and they were GHETTO

- most people were uninterested and didn't want to talk at all, but at one house there were lots of kids and they talked to us for about an hour about what church they go to and kept asking lots of questions about why God created dinosaurs

- for dinner we ate at a church member's house and they had super good foooooood. They made us bacon wrapped steak and lots of salad which was AMAZING. I don't even like steak that much, but it was actually the best thing ever. AND they had ice cream. I think I've had ice cream every single day of summer. Usually up to 3 times....I usually turn down ice cream if I've already had it 3 times...

- I fell asleep in the car...I have a gap in my memory so I have no idea what the missionaries did then

- we went to a different member's house, and wow. They were...different. That's all I'm going to say

- we went to one last area and found a man who "talked" with us. actually he just argued with us and tried to bible bash and it was so confusing because he kept contradicting himself and his knowledge of the bible wasn't even proficient... One thing that he said that especially irked me was he said that Joseph Smith couldn't have been a prophet because he was persecuted so much. (I didn't rebuttal this because he was so insistent that it would have been pointless). This made NO sense to me at all.

1. I know from the Book of Mormon that "there is an opposition in all things" (2 Nephi 2:11), so it only makes sense that it wouldn't have been a walk in the park being a prophet.

2. This goes along with number one, but isn't Satan's plan to prevent us from joining God's church and being happy with him in heaven? Doesn't the persecution of the church kinda show that Satan was trying really hard to prevent this church from doing well for a reason? The LDS church was founded in 1830--this was around the same time as the Second Great Awakening. How come other churches didn't receive as much persecution? We are a Christian church with very similar beliefs, yet so many members were threatened and killed.

3. Almost all of the prophets in the bible were persecuted too! JESUS was martyred too, along with ALL of his 12 apostles! So saying that Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet because so many disagreed with him is not a very strong argument.

4. If he would just read the Book of Mormon, or one of the first vision movies with an open heart I know his opinion would be changed.

So that was basically the first day. We came back home and prayed and slept. It was great. I was sooooo exhausted. It doesn't seem like it'd be hard, right? 

WRONG.

I have such a greater respect for the missionaries now. 

If you see one anywhere, go talk to them because it will probably make their day because it would have made mine just to talk to someone nice.

DAY 2

the most challenging day ever

Woke up at 6:30 like missionaries are supposed to, go ready, ate cereal and studied scriptures:

so exciting right??

I actually LOVE reading the scriptures and studying for 2 hours was awesome! I learned so much!

(I actually wasn't supposed to have my phone, but I was getting to the point of having a break down and it had only been one day so I kinda needed to text my friends....)

For lunch I was SUPER healthy!

I'm so proud.

I ate almonds with Feta cheese, squash, zucchini, potatoes, and avocados. I know, kinda weird.

Then we left....

We stopped at Firestone (the car place) to make an appointment for an oil change and I'm pretty proud that when the lady asked what type of car it was, I totally knew. Right year too. I'm so good.

Then we tracting.

aka walking door to door.

tracting is so hard.

i don't even want to think about it.

definitely the hardest day ever.

it was soooo hot.

I don't even want to think about it.

Only did that for an hour, because then we went to a member's house to help her clean her house. It was actually a mess. 

MESSIER THAN KENNA'S ROOM

I know. Crazy.

But I mean she made us pizza so I survived.

AND we went to coldstone on the way home so I didn't die then either.

I thought I was tired the day before, I actually was more tired this day.

They were planning the next day out and I was sitting on the couch and then all of a sudden I woke up. I didn't even realize that I feel asleep at 8:30.... At like 1 I moved to the floor and had soooooo many dreams:

I had a dream that I looked at the ring I always wear on my thumb and it was COVERED in rust but then I looked closer and it was ant nests all over my hand! Like they were making a wasp nest shaped thing all over my handdddd ewwww

Then another about how I wasn't allowed to go to BYU or something?

And another how I got to school and forgot to do my summer assignment and it was so scary! But a good reminder because I still need to do that assignment....

And another about how I was at Walmart and then it turned into Macy's and I was trying on prom dresses and I tried on a weird sweater material one that was a crop top but still connected to the bottom because there was sheer material on top with jewels and stuff. It was gross. But the store person was like "you can't afford that" and I burned him SO BAD it was awesome! I'm not going to say what I said in the dream though hahahaha

And then the bestest dream ever where this guy kissed me and it seriously made me like him when I woke up. Dang it. It was the best dream I've had in a long time but so disappointing.

DAY 3

Sunday.

Last day.

Someone called like 4 hours before church and asked if we could teach the lesson in church so we scrambled to write a lesson.

Went to church.

All good.

Guy missionaries were niceee haha

then went to dinner at a member's house and they were sweet and then I left early because I had to get home by 8.

Good bye Saint Joe!

When I got back everyone asked me if I now wanted to serve a mission.

Before I left I was so sure that I was going to serve.

Now, I'm not going to lie, I don't know.

I had such a good feeling about going on a mini mission and thought it was going to pump me up for it more, but I kinda got the opposite impression.

I LOVE to be busy, and the past 3 days were honestly the hardest days of my life.

I NEVER really want to go home, but I really just wanted to go home...

I couldn't live without my friends and phone which was pathetic.

I loved reading the scriptures and learning about the gospel and sharing it, I just don't know if this is the best way for me to do it.

I want to get a lot out of my mission. I don't know if it's awfully selfish, but I want to be able to experience a new culture in a different country and learn a new language. If I get called to somewhere in the US with an English speaking mission I will turn it down. Therefore, I don't know if my reasons for going are the best or as they should be.

So basically when I got back I DID NOT ever want to go on a mission until maybe I was old and going with my husband. But then my mom said that it might just have been the location, and I agree. I think that if I were in a bustling city I would have so much more success and really love it there.

So basically I don't know what I'll do, but I have 2 years so it's all good.