Week #40 - 2015 Aug 24 - Raindrops Are Falling On My Head, They Keep Falling!

Hey one, hey all! 

How was y'alls week? 

We had a pretty good week. We breathed tracting this week haha. So there's a ton of fun stories that we have now. So now when I get back I'll have even more "Oh, when I was on myyy misssion......" stories hahaha. 

On Monday night we went tracting. The first house we went to knock on had the best security system set up that I've ever seen. It was this huge log cabin type looking house and it looked kinda creepy from the road to begin with. So we walk up the front steps and I got and knock on the door and then I instantly freeze in my tracks because right on the middle of the door is this GINORMOUS spider like the size of my hand just chillin in it's web. It was TERRIFYING. Hahaha needless to say we didn't knock that door....we don't even think anyone lived in that house anyway. Anddd we were getting weird vibes so we just moved onto the next house. 

And the NEXT house was also interesting! Ha it was this super cute, well put together house, the trim on the house was perfect, the lawn was well trimmed, their hedges were also perfect, their mailbox was a mini version of their house, basically it just looked like a super nice house! So we're like awe! The people here are probably so nice! Ha....wrong. We get to the door and this cute little old man walks out. And he walks right onto the porch and closes the front door behind him (that's not a good sign usually...so we're like 'uhmm') and then his face starts turning red and he looks at us square in the eye and says "I don't know how to say this politely but GO. AWAY. And NEVER set foot on my property AGAIN." And we're like ooooh okay! Have a great day sir! God Bless You! And then left as soon as our legs would carry us. In all my days of tracting that was a first! Hahah usually people just slam the door in your face! But hey, there's a first for everything! 

OH! Also, we found an inactive member of the church while we were tracting too! It was neat! Haha we asked if he knew about the church and he said yes and we asked him what he knew about it and he's like "well actually I'm a member" haha and we're like OH NEAT! Haha. So we're gonna stop by again and see if he's willing to come back to church...he didn't have a lot of time to talk to us that night. But it was neat to find someone who's a lost member! What are the chances, eh? (I'm still Canadian....see? hehe)

ALSO. Real quick! On our way back to our car that night, this little kid was riding his bike and then he stopped and started talking to us. His parents were a ways away and they were probably really nervous about the situation. But this kid was just like "What are your names?" And I was like "I'm Sister Blumel" and he was like "oh, that's a beautiful name" and Sister Park said her name and he's like "ah I went to a park a year ago!" It was cute. And then he was just talking our ears off and his parents were calling him to come back hahah. Honestly though, that was a huge tender mercy of like the last transfer and everything because this little kid reminded me of Ben SO MUCH. It warmed my heart. I needed that. I miss Ben and his sweetheart-ness...that's not a word..but you get what I mean haha :) So that was a huge blessing for me. <3

Wednesday was full of tracting as well. Except for this day it was raining. HA. So that was fun. It was actually kind of a blessing because if it wasn't for the rain cooling us off, we would have been in the sun sweating buckets. So I would much prefer being wet because of the rain than wet because of sweat. Haha. But it was funny seeing people's reactions to us that day....you know just 2 girls walking in the rain, SOAKED, wanting to share messages about Jesus. Ha. That was a day full of rejection..but it still felt successful. And then one of the last doors we knocked on turned out to be the house of this older southern lady, named Melbina. SHE is THE sweetest lady ever. She took one look at us and was like awe you poor things, come inside will ya? And she invited us right in out of the rain and we shared our testimonies about Christ and it was amazing. She just recently lost her husband and so for right now she doesn't want to make any life changing decisions because she doesn't feel like she's in the right place. BUT, she did say we could come back and see her and share our love of Christ :) So right now maybe isn't the time...but one day for sure. Melbina was a huge tender mercy that day. And we were definitely led to her house. It was amazing. I love seeing how the Lord has His hand in things. 

We also had interviews with the President on Wednesday. Those went well. I just love President and Sister James <3

We also got to experience the edge of a hurricane on Friday!!! Haha we went out tracting and it was a beautiful sunny day. There was like a few clouds in the sky and then once we got done tracting this one trailer park, all of a sudden these huge dark clouds filled the sky and when we were driving to our next tracting place rain started coming down like crazy! And it was super windy and there was lightening and thunder and at one point, I looked in the drivers side mirror and I literally couldn't see anything behind me...ha that was sorta terrifying. So we pulled into a little neighborhood and we're like Heavenly Father if you want us to tract, let us know. Or if you want us to go home...let us know that too. So we waited for a couple minutes and the rain got EVEN harder so we're like oookayyy we're going home. And the drive home was slightly terrifying as well! There would be lightening and then thunder like simultaneously. It was crazy. And the roads were SO full of water. But we made it home safe and sound and the storm got even worse haha more lightening and more thunder and rain and yeah. It was actually kinda neat to experience. AND we lived to tell the tale so now it's just awesome ;) hahaha. But yeah! Pros of living right next to the coast right? Hehe. 

Anywho. I think that's all I got for you this week. Ha. Elder Dube from the Seventy is coming to the mission this week! On Thursday and Friday. So you'll get to hear about that next week! Yay! It'll be good. I'm excited. AND on Friday the meeting is in.......FAYETTEVILLE! So I'm super excited to go back. I miss Fayettenam so much. So a huge blessing right there I'm telling ya. But you'll get to hear ALL about that next week! Yay! 

I hope you all have a great week! Remember, the church is true! Everyday this week I got to testify of the Book of Mormon (whether the people wanted to hear it, listened, or not!) and it was amazing. That book has changed my life and it will change yours too. You just have to let it :) 

I love y'all so much! Take care and be safe! Remember to smile! And GOOD LUCK with the move!!!! I'll be there in spirit :) 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel 

xoxoxo <3

Tracting selfie! 

And the creepy spider house. 

Anddd that's another sky picture. On Wednesday morning. Before it started pouring buckets

 haha. But see, NC sky did it again! #beautiful!

Oh yeah. After tracting in the rain, the dye in my sock must have bled because when I took my socks off that night, my feet were BLACK. It was SO weird haahah. They're not black anymore though.  LOL.

Soaked after being in the rain for like 2 seconds on hurricane friday! 

Hahaha sooo much rain! Crazy!

And that was the sunrise here this morning :) The North Carolina sky is always beautiful. I love it.

Week #39 - 2015 Aug 17 - Cat Crossings, Raleigh Rush Hour, CMLC Trainings, and Missionary-ing. :)

HEY ALL!

How was y'alls week? We had a pretty good one. First things first, we SURVIVED teaching at CMLC! (Combined Mission Leadership Council.) And it went pretty good! Well, says everyone who told is it was exactly what they needed to hear. So that was awesome. That fulfilled our purpose haha. I have no idea what exactly we said, but that's okay because that means we taught with the Spirit :) Yay! 

Also. I had bacon wrapped tater tots on Tuesday (the member who had us over for dinner makes them) and OH MY GOODNESS. Seriously like the best thing ever. Usually tater tots aren't my most favouritest thing in the world and I'll eat them...but they wouldn't be my first choice. But there's something about bacon wrapped ANYTHING that makes it SOOOO GOOOD. So if you're feeling up to try something new...that's definitely something you could try! 

District Meeting on Wednesday was really good. The topic was "Faith in Finding". Sister Park and I both received revelation for our area at like the same time. I turned to her and was like "hey. Sister Park. We need to tract all next week." And then she's like "you're gonna make me start crying because I was just going to tell you that." And we were like whoaaaa. And so that's the plan this week! EVERY possible moment we have, we'll be out knocking doors. Soooooo, if you want to, you can totally pray that the people's hearts will be prepared for us as we knock on their doors. We are hoping to find 4 new investigators PER WEEK. So I'll keep you posted on that :) 

At CMLC on Friday President told us that the leading key indicator was active member lessons and he wasn't too impressed with that. Understandably. So he came up with some new guidelines for member visits. Pretty much if we aren't over there to eat, get referrals, or having a member home lesson with an investigator, we shouldn't be at the members houses. That's the overall jist of it. A lot of people were super unhappy with it...but Sister Park and I were super excited about it. It gives us NO excuses to not be finding. And we were SO glad that we decided to tract all next week at District Meeting haha. President told us that we are called as MISSIONARIES. Not Home/Visiting teachers. So our main purpose is to find and to rescue. I think this will be really good for the whole mission. I'm excited to see what comes from it :) 

Also. I totally succeeded at city driving. Ha before the mission I was terrified to drive in Calgary and Edmonton....but yo. I survived and CALMLY drove through Raleigh rush hour traffic like it was nothing. YEAHHH BUDDY. It was awesome. So Calgary and Edmonton ain't got nothin on me now ;) hahaha. But seriously on the way home, this stretch of road that was supposed to take like 10 minutes...took 40. Haha. There were SO many cars. It was crazy. But all is well! We made it just fine :) 

Next week I should have a bunch of fun stories for ya. I'll try and keep better track of what actually happens this upcoming week! Ha. 

I feel SO blessed to be a missionary. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. It's the best calling I've ever had and will ever receive I'm sure...there's nothing quite like being a servant of the Lord FULL TIME. It's amazing. The miracles and tender mercies that you see on a daily basis are innumerable. I just love it. I know that the church is true and I know that Christ lives and I know that He's got our backs. He's our number one supporter...all we have to do is let Him in. :)

I love y'all. And I hope y'all have an AH-MAZING week. Take care.

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

Me and Lala!!

We made car dancing videos....but the file is too big dang it.

Week #38 - 2015 Aug 10 - I CAN Even.

Hey all you beautiful people I just love so much! :)

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL week full of smiles, laughs, and good memories!! I know we sure did. I mean in comparison to the LAST week we had....anything would be 100000x better. Ha. But we got good night's sleeps for once and we could actually go do missionary work and enjoy ourselves. So that was nice!! It was awesome feeling like a missionary again. 

Okay I know I say this a lot...but I really have NO idea what happened this week. Literally it zoomed right by without me even knowing it. Ha jks I knew it...but I must have been like half-conscious or something because I feel like my memory is failing me! 

The things that keep popping in my head are some pretty neat experiences so I suppose I can share those with y'all! 

So on Friday, we had an appointment with someone we had never seen before. [We're going through the Roster and we're trying to visit everyone on it.] And so we're driving to their house and we're driving through neighborhoods full of trailers and run down houses, so that's what we were expecting. Which is totally fine! Because we go into those types of homes all the time, and it's great. Ha. I could totally live in a trailer and be fine with it! As long as it's kept up....haha anyway. The GPS says we're going to arrive in like 500 ft or something like that and so we're keeping a watchful eye as to which house it is. And then we're like oh that's the number! (because the house number is one the mailboxes on the side of the road) And then! We look over at the house.....................................................................

And we have to pick our jaws up off the floor. 

Yeah. It was the most beautiful house I've ever seen. And I was like what the....are you sure that's the right house? So we quadrupled checked and we were like yep...that's the one! So we walk up the stairs to this house and we're like....are we even allowed to walk up here? Like we feel like peasants! Hahaha. And then we go into the house and it's even MORE beautiful!!! Like the outside doesn't do the inside justice! And when you see a picture of the house...you'll be all like "wuttt.." It was cray. But the lady we went and visited was SUPER down to earth and SUPER sweet and loving and just great. We had a good visit with her and she wants to come back for dinner and stuff. Basically, she wants her home to feel like a second home to us...and we're like Yeah! No problem! Her husband is an anesthesiologist and so that explained everything haha. They sound like a great family though :) I'm excited to get to know them better!!

And then next we went to one of our favourite families. Seriously, they're just so great. He's not active and his wife is not even a member. So they're a part member family. And let me tell you. They are the most inspiring people I know. Seriously every time we leave their house I feel like I can do anything. And I know if I put my mind to it I can do anything....but they make me feel like i can LITERALLY do anything. It's amazing. EVERYTHING in their house is made by them. She's like a world wide known artist, can play any string instrument, and play it WELL...she can't read music...she plays completely by ear, she can quilt and she doesn't have a sewing machine. She does it all by hand. And she can do so many more things..and he can blacksmith anything and that's not all....if they want something made they will figure it out and make it. And their house is proof! They are SO SO SO talented. And when you tell them that, they're like nahh...we just like to have fun and try new things. Seriously so motivating. I love them a lot. I'm definitely staying with them for like a week after the mission and just learning all that I can from them. Wowza. They're the best. 

Hmm. Not too much else is going on. We have to teach at CMLC (combined missionary leadership council) on Friday. So bascially we have to train all the other leaders (zone leaders, district leaders, and the other sister leaders) in the mission and President and his wife and the assistants....yeah. No big deal or anything. Right? hahahaha. Yeah wish us luck. Our topic in a nut shell is the Plan of Salvation. It should be alright...I mean that's my favourite thing to teach people so it'll be good!

I think that's about it.....I'll let you know if I think of anything for next week. Ha! But yeah :) 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK! I love you all! And remember it's doing those small and simple things that make you the strongest! Read your scriptures, pray, and go to church! And don't forget to put on your armor of God in the morning :) 

Miss y'all. Take care! 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

PS - We white girl it a lot and say "I just can't even". hahaha. sooo to motivate ourselves we say we CAN even haha. We said that a lot this week. Kinda funny. So yeah! That's the little tiny mini story behind the subject line :)

"The most beautiful house I've ever seen"

Awkward selfies be awkward...hahah #deepcleaningselfies.

We tried stopping by this persons house and she wasn't home. But she had chalk on her sidewalk. So we wrote her a message using chalk :) And then took another awkward selfie ;) hahaha.

Me and Sister Park!!

Week #37 - 2015 Aug 03 - "Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite!"

Heeyyyyy.

Okay so ima be honest and let y'all know that this week has been the hardest week on the mission. Weeks like this make you really appreciate things....let me tell you! 

On Monday...that's when everything exploded and EVERYTHING went wrong. We came back from emailing and we just went to Wendy's. And sidenote. Sister Park and I were really craving baconators and so we were gonna get one. But then once arriving at the drive thru we realized that they're 6 flippin dollars!!! What the heck! So we didn't get them..needless to say....that's way too much for a burger from wendys...we just ordered from the dollar menu. #missionarybudget #missionarylyfe. But yeah. So I was getting ready to eat my "feast" and then Sister Park is in the other room and all I hear is "uhhhhh....." and then she comes out with this tissue. And my first thoughts are like "ah shoot, did I leave a tissue laying around..." but then I was like "but I haven't even used a tissue in months..." and then I was like "oh no..." Sister Park then proceeded to ask me if I knew what bed bugs looked like....so I freak out, jump up and go WHAT?! And I look in the tissue and there it is. The spawn of satan. Yep. BUT before we really freak out...we look up the picture in the red folder of knowledge that the mission gave us. Yep. IT WAS A FREAKING BED BUG. OH MY GOODNESS. WHAT. Yeah so then we're like BAHHHHH NO. And like instant panic mode. We strip our beds completely and then we're like wait. Before we do anything stupid, let's call the mission office. So we do that and talk to the people in charge of housing and stuff. And they just tell us to wash all our sheets and stuff on HOT and dry them on HOT as well - that kills the bugs. So that's exactly what we do. That begins the laundry episode that never ended....AND THEN we had to make a Walmart trip at 8:30 at night. It's a 25 minute trip to the closest Walmart haha. Sooo we were like yep. Not making curfew. But that's okay because we got permission! Haha. So we were at Walmart at night time...and it was weird. But we had to get bed bug covers that the mission ordered for us. So being the good missionaries we are, we listened and got them when they told us to. And then that night we did an all nighter because we were doing laundry ALL NIGHT LONG. And also, our beds were not being used that night or the nights after that.....um bed bugs? Yeah no bed. So the 1.5 hours of sleep that we got that night were on our study chairs. 

The next few days after that we quarantined ourselves. We prayed about it and we didn't feel like we should go out. I mean members and investigators don't want bed bugs and we didn't want to risk bringing them to them. We didn't think that would go over well. So we decided to stay home and work on the area book, DEEP clean the apartment, do laundry, be each other's therapists, catch up in our journals, etc etc. We tried to make it as productive as we could. But we got pretty stir crazy and we were like mentally unstable because of the lack of sleep we got. We tried sleeping in our chairs again on Tuesday night but that was the most uncomfortable thing of life. So then we tried sleeping in our car..and that was just as bad because it would get super hot, so we went back and forth from that. And then at like 3 in the morning (moving 4 times already) I was like "nope! Tap out! I'm not doing this anymore!" And so I went into the kitchen and ate some pizza...because why not. And then after that I decided to sleep on the floor. Which by the way, we don't have carpet. We have industrial TURF. Yes turf. And it's just laid over cement. Soooo. Pretty much the worst thing ever. And I have bruises on my knees from kneeling when we pray. Yeah it's not the most comfortable stuff in the world. Anyway, getting that fact outta the way. We put a couple blankets on the floor and then just slept on that. And it was a lot more comfortable than the chair and the car...because we could actually lay down...but I mean it's turf. But we survived!!! We were just a little 'not all there' mentally I guess you could say! 

We had a bug exterminator come on Friday and he sprayed. So hopefully *fingers crossed* they're gone. 

So pretty much, that's the only thing that happened this week. Advice: DON'T GET BEDBUGS ON THE MISSION. It's seriously the worst. Because you literally can't do anything about it.

I have become super paranoid though. Any speck of dust or dirt or anything that could resemble a bug EVEN SLIGHTLY I'm like AHHHHH KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!! Ah just kidding it's a leaf. 

Hahaha. I'm also hesitant about sitting on people's furniture now too....Im just hoping that the Lord will bless us for the rest of our missions now...and that we never have to see a bed bug again. 

It's been a good growing experience. Minus the 2 emotional break downs I think we handled it pretty well. :) We tried our best to keep a positive attitude! The Lord works in mysterious ways that's for sure. 

And hey. I have never appreciated a mattress so much in my life. So I guess that's good. ;)

I'm excited to GET TO WORK this week though! I feel like a useless missionary ha. But I guess when those things come....what can you do. You just gotta make the best of the situation. 

I hope you all had a better week than we did. Haha! But all is well in the Kingdom of God still. :) We're still kicking and ready to work. I love it in NC, even if there are bed bugs every once in a while....the whole experience has brought me closer to my Father in Heaven and I can't complain about that :) 

Anywho, I love y'all, I miss y'all and I hope y'all are doing well! (How many times can I say y'all in a sentence ;) haha!) Take care!

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Blumel

xoxoxo <3

PS - Encouraging/Uplifting letters are welcome :) But send them using the mission addresss...transfers are coming and we have no idea what's happening yet haha. So to be safe, use the mission one! :) Thanks bunches.<3

Mission Home Address:

Sister Amy Blumel

6508 Falls of Neuse Ste 100

Raleigh, NC   27615-6845

United States