"Definitely a unique week..."

Friends and family!!!!!

Mondays are the BEST. :) I love hearing from everyone!!!

Okay, so this week was sooooooooo unusual. As in, hardly ANY Missionary work was done. We worked hard, but things just didn't work out that way!

I told you about the crazy news! So honestly, we spend Tuesday and Wednesday packing and cleaning, packing and cleaning, then more packing, then MORE cleaning. . . We had to then take loads of our stuff over to our new, smaller apartment with Sister Hoellein. :) Transfer meeting was Wednesday night, and we heard some powerful testimonies from the departing missionaries. But exchanging cars and phones and keys was a nightmare, and we didn't get to bed until about midnight! (It's late for missionaries, okay??) ;)

The NEXT day we went on splits, since there were three of us. One of the departing Sisters came with me to the mission home, and Sister Slater and Sister Hoellein headed off for some service projects. President Packard likes to spend an entire day with the departing missionaries, so I spent my day at the mission home COOKING!!!! :D It was actually so much fun! We cooked a great lunch and an EXTRAVAGANT dinner. There's a lady in charge of cooking/cleaning at the Mission Home named Annie. Annie told me touching stories about her life, and we sang hymns all day long. :) How great can it get? OH, and I reconnected with Andrew's cousin, who happened to be a returning missionary in the mission home that day. Um, what??? Small small world. :D I didn't realize we were even on the same mission! Took me awhile to recognize him.

I guess I should tell you about Sister Hoellein! She is a spunky, quite hilarious blonde. I LOVE her. She adds a lot of dynamic to our trio, and it's cool how we are all friends first and foremost. I'm constantly trying to live up to my two amazing companions. And it's GREAT, because we split into three part harmony in the morning over our hymns. ;)

Saturday we went on splits again! Sister Slater took off with the Portable Visitors Center sisters for the day, and Sister Hoellein and I tackled the crazy-ness all by ourselves! Lots of planning and organizing and trying to figure out how best to take on TWO wards. And then our dinner appointment cancelled, then our lesson with Jackson cancelled. :( Well, life happens.

MOTHER'S DAY WAS WONDERFUL! Jackson came to church and is so so so excited to be baptized this weekend! I can't wait! We had a lovely dinner with some sweet members, and OTHER sweet members had us over to Skype home. :) :) I'm so lucky. 2 months out, already able to see my mom again. Lucky me, Muzzie was in Atlanta for my beautiful cousin's wedding, and I got to see my extended family!!! I love them! And I miss everyone. It was so wonderful to be able to Skype. So many blessings.

Haha, one more funny story. So all of us ran to the car right before bed last night for something. . . and totally locked ourselves out. I blame Sister Hoellein. ;) So, OBVIOUSLY our first thought was to climb up to our balcony! Right?? :D :D Oh gosh. It was soooo funny and a little nerve-racking. We're on the 2nd floor, so Sister Slater stood on the ground level balcony railing and boosted Sister Hoellein to ours, and she climbed like a monkey--in a skirt, mind you--right on up into our room! Now that's talent, and memories in the making. ;)

We have a lot of plans for missionary work this week. We're going to make up for last week hard-core, and hit the ground running! Love you and miss you!!!!

~Sister Merkley
MBM Missionary

P.S. Laurel just sent me this amazing quote: "If you feel like you're drowning, remember your lifeguard walks on water."