FAMILY! I now get 1.5 hours for e-mail time! Happiest text we've ever received! We were freaking out this morning! Especially because we had made a companionship goal to email less than an hour this week since we've been going over every Monday. Such a tender mercy from the Lord.
This week was a crazy one but I guess which ones aren't when you're on a mission. We went on exchanges on Tuesday night to Thursday and I was super worried about it but it was SO SO good. I love our Sister Training Leaders. I went with Sister Banner to Norfolk. She's super great. They live in this nasty apartment and in the morning when I had just woke up and was getting my exercise clothes out, out of the corner of my eye I see this bug running across the ground and looking back if I would have been any more awake I think I may have freaked out but instead I just sat there and watched it. disgusting. They're moving soon. The APs are making them. What I learned most from it is that I don't have to be just like Sister Caldwell to be a successful missionary. Me and her are very alike and that makes it easy to live together but we're also very different and it was taking it's course on our companionship but after being with Sister Banner and realizing that she's herself and Sister Caldwell is herself, that I can be myself and still be successful and be the best missionary I can be. Maybe that doesn't make sense but it was exactly what the Lord needed me to learn this week. Sister Caldwell and I have been doing so much better since then. I love her a lot. Also, Sister Banner answered some of my questions about music, my bag and TOMS. She told me to use my backpack until President Baker gives us further instruction so my ASAP on the bag was a little premature, she said we could listen to the Lower Lights and things like that still because it's the hymns and she said if I think that I can look professional and dignified in my TOMS then wear them because there's no rule against them.
We had new sisters move in with us this week. HOLY COW. It's different and I'm so grateful I have Sister Caldwell. One of them is a MOM to everyone and it peeves me more than anything. I just want to tell her to jump off me bro but we're making it work and Sister Caldwell is super great and everything is fun. They are in a trio so there's five of us now and it's going to be a great transfer :)
I've thought a lot this week about how I'm going to be tired my entire mission and I'm going to miss you guys the entire 18 months but that I don't want to have any regrets when I come home and I've decided that my mission goal is going to be to treat every transfer like it's my last transfer. I always have the most fun at the end of everything in my life. Like I loved Snow my last month there and I loved the two weeks I was at home because I wasn't afraid to talk to anyone or do anything because I knew I was leaving. So, I'm going to try and treat every transfer and every companion like they're my last one so that I'll work my hardest and be my best and be happy with what I have so that when I look back and wish that I was back on my mission it will be because I did all that I could and not because I wish I would have been better and done more.
JOYCE GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY. Saturday was such a perfect day again. We cleaned the church again and we had fun doing it and then we saw the C*** Family (we're not going to the base today p.s. hopefully next week.) and they agreed to let us come back this Saturday and teach them the Restoration lesson. We will baptize that family. I love them. And then we had Joyce's baptism. She is the greatest thing ever. The spirit was so strong and she was so excited. She invited her brother and sisters who aren't members so that was neat. It was a good day. She was confirmed yesterday and we're going to get her into family history work and to the temple because she loves loves loves the temple. We had everyone there write their testimonies on a piece of paper and we're going to make it into a book and give it to Joyce this week and one of the ladys in our ward (yes we creeped and read them all) wrote something that I really liked. She explained the Godhead perfectly. She said "We draw closer to Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, with the Holy Ghost bearing witness." I love that. After some members took us and the elders out to dinner. It was at Moe's which is kind of their version of Cafe Rio but not even close to as good. That's something that I miss. Cafe Rio and Zupas. Good thing Virginia is so beautiful to make up for it :)
I had to give a talk in church yesterday. It was on the article from the Ensign by President Monson. We need to be Pioneers today or whatever it's called. I basically just talked about Pioneers/Member Missionary work. It was good. I'm glad it's over though. Elder Crump spoke too and he said "It is good to want to do missionary work but it is much better to DO missionary work." So y'all best be being the best member missionaries there are so that when I get home y'all already know how to be missionaries in Utah County because it's hard. Here every where you turn there's people who aren't members but at home it's a completely different ball park.
THANK YOU Abbott/Bowman/Gardner family. I love you all sooo much! Your package was the best thing ever! I loved everything in it! And the brownies were stinkin good! I was so happy when I was going through it. I have the best family in the world! Thank you thank you!
This week I learned how important testifying of Joseph Smith and the First Vision and testifying of the Book of Mormon are. Nothing has brought the Spirit more in our lessons than testifying of those two things and it's been so cool to see. I love how much I've been able to learn about Joseph Smith and how amazing everything that he did is. Our gospel is true and what a neat thing that it is that we get to share it with the world.
I love you all so much! Thank you for all the love and support! I am convinced that the Sister Szabos in the mission field are the most loved missionaries there are. Y'all are the best!
Love, Sister Szabo
Sister Caldwell was having a hard time this week so the Zone Leaders made us have "me time" which bascially means 'us time' hahaha but we went and got Sonic slushies and went to a pond and it was raining but it was lots of fun.
Joyce's baptism! She usually wears a wig and when we first saw her at the church Sister Caldwell was like "Hi i'm Sister Caldwell" and Joyce was like "You're talking to the same lady I just don't have my hair on." I was dying! Funniest moment of my life!
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