Hi Family,
This week has been all sorts of ups and downs. Campanionship-wise, maybe the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
So Sunday night was the big blow up. And this time, my "I'm sorry, I'm trying really hard, just be patient with me"s and "I want to be obedient and I'm trying the best I can"s didn't work. So we were at a standstill and left it that way. And I of course was on the verge of tears so I ran up stairs to the bathroom with the most privacy (oh so dramatic, I know). But it was bad. And Sister Ripplinger had come to the basement (and we were talking in the hall of the basement), so she knew what was going on. And Sister Newell and Garner, our roommates, also probably knew what was going on.
As I'm crying in great pain in the bathroom, Sis. Ripplinger and Newell knock and rush in and act all comforting and I've never cried that hard in front of non-family members. But they were so sweet. Sis. Newell just kept saying, "Oh my gosh, you are so strong!" She's so sweet. She thinks quite highly of me. It's a great blessing.
And Sister Ripplinger is there trying to comfort me with tears in her own eyes. Honestly, that in itself is comfort beyond words.
Somehow, despite the fact that I think both Sis. Petricek and I felt that all was lost, things worked out. She apologized. We started kind of out new. And we are being better at being friends, I think. It is interesting to come to understand Sis. Petricek. I think the real reason she doesn't/didn't like me is because she didn't understand me because she felt like we weren't friends and I didn't need her. So yeah, I guess everybody just needs to be loved. Not that I wasn't trying before, but I just have to try in the way she wants, which is based on her personality. So it's a work in progress but we are doing a lot better (as of today).
Monday was maybe the best day ever. We went on a hand cart trek and we were put into groups and my group was perfection. Sister Newell was the captain, if that tells you anything. And the weather was perfect and it was the perfect amount of exercise and everything was great. We were all given different pioneers and their stories that we would be on the trek (whom they had prayed about it in their choices) and my pioneer girl was just perfect for me. And then we had a testimony meeting at the end that was great.
Then we did some service and shoveled wood chips onto the landscaping. I was able to speak with dear Sister Kim from South Korea, who had Sis. P for two transfers last summer. Sister Kim is kind of like our other foreign exchange students from Asia that were sweet, except she might win the prize. Although she does speak English well, so that helps. Sister Kim almost went home during that time. She had the interview scheduled and everything. She fasted every Sunday. She said something along the lines of, "The outbound was hard. A lot of physical work, you get tired. It was easy. So easy. After this, everything will be easy." And she told me about how she went to Alabama and the mission president there had prayed for a Korean sister to come and there was a family there that she needed to teach and how it's so worth it. What a sweetheart, huh? She said I should come visit her in South Korea. #Asia2015 is now a thing.
I was also able to talk with this adorable kid this week. He was just chillin with his grandparents in the VC, looking bored so I talked to him. He looked like he was about 15 but psyche! He's 17 and getting his mission call this week. We had a great convo. He's from Huntington Beach and he was wearing a Dodgers hat so I pretended for a second that I knew what I was talking about concerning baseball (by bashing on the Dodgers, obvs). Then we just talked all about his testimony and experiences being a Mormon in high school. The kid is strong. He's so sweet and eager, and he admitted that he doesn't know everything (concerning his testimony) but he knows enough. So he was definitely Preshmaster 1995, and I just can't believe that age group is going on missions. It's a like a big difference between graduating senior and college freshman.
Oh yes, and I've made the goal of reading the Book of Mormon 6 times while on my mission. Which is going to be a stretch, but I think I can do it. I'm psyched, scripture study has never been better.
Ok, love you!
Love, Rachel
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