Yeah, I'm still really tired.
Just when I thought I had the swing of the bike, Hermna Goodman told me I need to move to I higher gear. She, of course wanted me to jump all the way up to 3-7 (highest gear on my bike) but I'd been on 1-5. I turned it down to 3-3, and have slowly worked my way up to 3-4, with brief moments on 3-5. I hope to be up to 3-6 next week. Still, the fact remains, I'm sore. I'm pushing hard, but we've had alternating pouring rain and hot sunny days. I'm just damp all the time, either from rain or from sweat.
There have been a lot of injuries. Almost everyone we visit has a family member who is in the hospital, or recently died. It's made it hard to get a hold of people. We spend a lot of time contacting... which for me is hopelessly awkward. I hate just talking to random people on the street, but I'm getting accustomed to it. Just because I do it doesn't mean I have to like it.
We went to the temple today. Talk about a re-charge. I've got to have the temple be a regular part of my life after the mission, and I kind of wish I had been endowed through college. It's just so amazing how much peace you receive.
District meeting was Monday. Just us and one other companionship. The senior elder kind of has this reluctance to really have a conversation with any sister, and his companion is too green to want to talk to anyone, so most of the constructive conversation was done between us and a visiting zone leader. It’s different in Spanish though.
Continuing to move backwards in time, we had a great zone conference on Thursday about the area book. Then we got to go on exchanges.
Turns out they've just introduced a whole pile of new forms in the mission, including an exchange form. The problem is the form is designed for district and zone leaders to evaluate who they exchange with... We're not leaders of any type. Aside from the paperwork awkwardness, I got to work with my MTC companion, Hermana Perez. (Who is not tall, nor has dark hair, if you're still confused.) We did some interesting contacting. Skokie can be described in one word: Multicultural. I met Indians and Muslims and Jews, Russians, Koreans, and French. We had a great talk with an Orthodox-Jew-turned-atheist/ex-con who loved our views, but was not interested in believing in God. No one spoke Spanish, though. Still, it was fun to have a change of scene.
Hope all is well with you all, and hope to hear from you soon. Love you and pray for you:
Hermana Maren Jones
PS: MYR YOU PUNK!!! WRITE MME!!!!
