week 21

"What?!?" -me

Okay so this week was the craziest one of my entire mission!!!
On Tuesday, Sister Smith and I are just driving along and our car
starts making a weird noise. We take it to the dealership after
calling our mission vehicle person and we are told the water pump is
broken (which means it could have overheated and caught on fire) and
we aren't going to get it back for a few days. We hitch a ride home
with our bishops sister in law (who is an inactive member) and we just
get home in time to eat dinner when we receive a phone call from our
Mission President, President Craig.
He tells me that I'm being Emergency Transferred down to Ocala,
Florida for several weeks so that a sister down there can receive
medical treatment in Jacksonville.
I needed to have everything packed and ready to go by 7:00 the next
morning so that I can go to Zone Conference the next day and leave
from there.
I was definitely in shock but I of course said, "I'll be ready, President."
So now we don't only need a ride for Sister Smith and I, but for
everything I own to travel too.
We finally set up a ride for all my stuff and for the Elders to come
pick up my bike.
Wednesday morning, Sister Smith and I took a goodbye selfie

 We drive 3 hours down there and have a lively conversation.About halfway through the drive I say,
"President, how likely is it that I will ever go back to Normandy?"
He pauses, then says,
"I don't know."
So I'm just assuming I will never be coming back at this point because we're getting a new mission president this week and he would probably just leave me in Ocala.

So we get out and go to Zone Conference with them for the second time and meet my "new" companion Sister Olsen.  Sister Olsen and I were in the MTC together! We have been out the same amount of time and we got along so great.

(Flashback to the MTC)

Also we taught tons of lessons and had so much fun but I felt weird. I definitely felt at peace but I also felt strange there, like something was off. 

Friday night at 10:30 pm (missionary curfew) we get another phone call from President Craig, telling us that the sister that needed medical treatment needed to go home to recover and that I was coming back to Normandy asap. We asked when that was and he said, "sometime in the next few days." 

It wasn't the next few days. 

Saturday at about 1 pm we get a text saying, "We're on our way!"

We call President Craig and he says, "Oh I forgot to tell you, you're getting a ride from the Rails back to Normandy today."

Ahhhh!!!! 

We rush back to our apartment and I pack everything up again! 

We took a selfie in the car

Then I went with the Rails (a senior missionary couple) all the way home to Normandy.

Back home again!!!

Some people didn't even know I was gone. I'm so happy to be home but glad to have gone to Ocala and have met the awesome people there. 

Now Sister Smith and Sister Ohlweiler and I are in a trio for a few days but it's been such a crazy week!!!

I can't believe it happened so fast but I had a good time learning about myself and how it would feel to be transferred, even though I'm already back. 

We get our new Mission President on Wednesday! I'm so excited to meet them.

What an adventure!!!

Love,

Sister Caton

🐊🐊🐊

Week 20

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."-
Steve Jobs

Wow I can't believe today is my 5 month mark. I feel like it's just
going way too fast!!!
I got a new companion... Finally! Haha
My new companion is named Sister Smith! Yes just like my MTC companion!
She is cute and tiny and very sweet.
We have fun together.
On our second day together, we had a mini mission! 2 girls from our
ward lived with us and did missionary work with us for 3 whole days!
We picked them up Thursday night and gave them back to their families
on Sunday after Stake Conference.
They were so awesome to have with us! Members bring miracles!!!

We found 7 new investigators and taught tons of lessons! It was awesome! We also made food together and laughed and just had fun.
Miracles!!!
Sunday night we weren't going to have a dinner appointment but a member asked us over for dinner and they have baby puppies! I have sent pics of them before but now they are getting so big! It was really awesome and rejuvenating to be with puppies.

But we had a great week! I'm so excited to have this next transfer with Sister Smith! 

Miracles are here in the FJM! 

We're really sad to see our mission president go home this week but we are excited to meet the new one!

Love always, 

Sister Caton

Week 19

"Love is the ability to make the invisible visible and the desire
always to feel the invisible in one's midst." -Orhan Pamuk

Wow this week was a whirlwind of wonderful!!!
First of all, WE HAD 2 BAPTISMS!!!
They are our cute grandma friends and they are M and V.
Here is the pic:

When M was confirmed in sacrament meeting, he said, "You are frail in body but strong in spirit." That perfectly describes them. They are spiritual powerhouses and we're so happy for them. 

Also, Sister Gibb and I are being split up. My 4th transfer is about to begin and my new companion is...

Sister Smith!

Don't get your hopes up, it isn't my MTC companion. It's another Sister Smith. 

But I'm very excited to meet her! Transfers happen on Wednesday so next P-day I will be sure to send a pic of us!

Also this week, I caught a huge lizard. He was awesome. He bit Sister Gibb on the finger so I christened him Charlie. :)

Here he is:

It was a very exciting moment. Also we saw a really big lizard.

It was awesome. I want to purchase this lizard thingy someday.

Also, we were tracting this week and an old man stopped us and said,

"Hey! I have a present for y'all!"

We were thinking it was a bible or some sort of church paraphernalia but

IT WAS A GIANT WATERMELON.

he just wanted to share it. Sister Gibb drew a face on it.

It was so awesome. He didn't even know who we were. He was just nice.

We had such a great week. I felt so blessed. Our baptism was awesome and we are so happy. I think being a missionary is the biggest blessing. 

I love y'all!

Love,

Sister Caton

🐊🐊🐊

Week 18

"Unexpected intrusions of beauty. That's what life is." - Saul Bellow

This week was filled with miracles!!!
We have a double baptism coming up this Saturday and it's really exciting!!!
All the members have been really excited for them and we have a lot of
support and it's awesome. Our Recent convert is now a ward missionary
and she's been a great friend to them. We also have several members
who are reactivated! It's pretty exciting seeing the ward grow and we
are so happy.

We went to visit a less active and she had this awesome beautiful dog
named Artemis who was a former race dog and greyhound. I took multiple
pics and I think the people thought I was a little crazy. I love dogs,
don't judge me.

It was glorious for sure.

There were so many days where we tracted in the rain this week. We got soaked like 4 times but it was really fun, and miracles happen when we endure. 

We saw this mailbox of a seahorse! It was awesome.

Then we had a great time in an area we don't usually get to go to, where it's like a different world.  It's in the country and its gorgeous and lots of space between houses. I took a panorama!

Look at all that green. 

I didn't get that many more pics but it was an awesome week. I really feel my testimony growing every day, and I love this Gospel. The more I see other churches and people I can tell that ours really is the true church. This week we knocked into a pastor/ preacher woman who was really nice but told us she "could not receive us" because our beliefs differed too much from hers. When we asked why, her answers were almost rote and completely contradicted each other. I am so glad that we have Jesus Christ's true church on the earth again, because he taught clearly and simply. I love it. 

Well, I hope y'all have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Caton

🐊🐊🐊