Week #58: My first baby!!: August 15, 2017 – August 21, 2017 (Miri)

This mission is being taken over by greenies and giants! I just had a baby and her name is Sister Sorensen. She is from Springville, Utah, and straight from the states. She is blond, 6'1'', and AMAZING! She is seriously the sweetest. In Miri, we had a plan that I would only speak Chinese for the first two days (there was even food at stake). Sister Steele thought I would last 20 minutes...I lasted 2 seconds! I was just so so excited!! If you haven't already guessed, she's a basketball player. She also plays the harp and goes to BYU. Haha, she actually had found and stalked my blog a bit before coming into Singapore and thought how crazy it would be if I were her trainer #imfamous. Straight off the plane, she was ready to get to work. I can tell it's going to be a great transfer!

Anyways, this week has been crazy. On Monday, we found out about transfers. Sister Steele and I found out we were having babies! It turns out I know her baby, Sister Joylyn Hansen, because we went to Chinese camp together. I was surprised when I found out she was coming into the mission. I saw it in President Simmons' office (my mission president). I was so excited and told him I knew her. President really has a sense of humor, because I became a trainer, but not to my friend. That's ok. I knew it would happen. On Wednesday, Sister Steele left the home at 9 am to catch an 11 am flight. It was a slow day at first, but then at 2 pm you'll never guess who came to the home, Sister Steele! I couldn't believe it! I had to wipe my eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving me. It turns out her flight was at 11...pm. We spent the rest of the day together, but she had none of her stuff; they were already checked into the airline. We took apart her bike and finished the area book and preparing the area together.

On Thursday, my greenie arrived!! We have 4 new missionaries in Miri. I went to the airport with the senior couple to pick up 3 of them when they flew in from Singapore (the other one arrived a lot later). The elders didn't get to pick their new missionaries up, but I did #score! While they were waiting for their luggage, I saw three white tall (like 6 foot tall) missionaries and tried to get stalker photos. Unfortunately, all of my photos turned out blurry (and now they can't upload to the computer, sorry). Anyways, they came out, were dead tired, but were ready to work. I loved it!!

The rest of the week has been normal missionary work. Sister Sorensen made it to her first Sunday! That's all it really takes in all the new phases of missionary work to get used to it. Of course, there will be a lot more for her to get used to, the culture of Malaysia, for sure! Sister Sorensen is just amazing and I love her!

As for a spiritual thought, happiness is a choice. I'm learning that more and more every  day. Just as happiness is a choice, thoughts are choices. Anything that is good, kind, and happy is from God. Thoughts that are not, come from Satan. As a wise district leader of mine once said, "Sadness and depression are not eternal principles". Don't let Satan overcome and don't let him in. Choose to think happy, choose to act happy, choose to BE happy. If any of you have seen Disney's Hercules, there is a scene where Hercules has just rescued Meg, Hades tries to make Hercules unhappy and think differently, but Hercules just back punches him in the face. My trainer always talked about this scene. When Satan comes into your life, just tell him to "be quiet" and back punch him in the face (watch the movie for added effect). 

I love you all!

Sister Sorensen