No Lions, No Tigers, Just One Big Bear! Oh My!

"Transfers were so fun! The sun goes down at like, 5 here now, so we were driving to Roanoke in the dark. We got to the Roanoke stake center, and picked up our car. We drive a 2013 Ford Fusion again. They're really nice cars. Im trying to get used to it. I had to drive us to our apartment in the dark, 20 miles from Roanoke using the GPS. I had no idea where I was going, but we eventually got there."

 

"There are 2 sets of sisters in Bedford, no elders. Sisters' area! Woot! We live in a duplex with the other set of sisters. The area isn't formally divided, so we just kind of share all of the ward members. Our area is Gargantuan. We cover 4 or 5 extra little towns on only 1100 miles a month, but we've seen a lot of miracles and success in our area this weekend!"

 

"Church on Sunday was definitely a different experience. There are about 130 people on the ward roster...enough to make a ward. Only about 60 are active/semi active, and maybe 50 show up every Sunday.  There is so much potential in this area though!!! We have a lot of member referrals and so much work to do here in the Bedford area."

"So the music..are you ready?? I am in the ward choir, playing half the music for our Christmas program...and teaching group piano/music reading classes Wednesday nights at 5:30 starting the 4th of December. The branch president at this point says, "if it will help the branch progress, do it." I am so excited to start teaching!! It will be open to the public, non members and members."

  

I absolutely LOVE my companion!! She is so sweet and she knows how to have fun and work hard and bring the spirit into lessons. She's from WA. She loves Disney movies, so we do a lot of quoting and singing during the day. She wants to learn to play the piano, so I am teaching her as well"

 

"So our miracle this week is pretty..well, WILD. Our duplex is right on the edge of a really forested area. Last night, we hear the sisters come running up the back deck stairs, and slam their back door. I heard a lot of running footsteps and squeeling, so I went next door to see what was up. They were standing in the bathroom with the light off, and the window open listening to something in the bushes. They told us that they pulled up to the house, and their trash was EVERYWHERE, and all the bags of trash ready to go out this morning had huge holes in them or were missing. They heard rustling in the bushes, and got scared, so they skipped their mile report for the day and ran inside. They called our landlords (they live across the street) and he came over with his flashlight, We all anxiously stood on the back deck waiting to see what the animal was digging in our trash. Leaning against a tree with a bag of trash in it's paw...was a full grown Black Bear. It was HUGE!!! It had come up on the deck earlier that day, because a bag of trash on the deck had a huge hole in it. It was so crazy! I almost sent Sister V to the car to get the ward directory, but I got a feeling that I wouldn't need it anymore...so I told her not to worry about it. We did some time math and realized that the bear was under our deck during our dinner hour, and if Sister V had gone out, she would've seen it, and maybe invaded its space without realizing it."

 

"Thanksgiving will be different. I don't know anybody here. Apparently Bedford is the Christmas capitol of VA or something...so maybe/hopefully lots of lights! There are a lot of older folks homes, and even a retired veterans home here that we want to go carol to with the other sisters. Christmas in Bedford will be so much fun!! I'm really looking forward to it!"