WEEK 14: General Conference!!

Happy Monday!

 

 

Buckle up, it's been a week filled with chaos.

 

 

Our apartment flooded this week, what an adventure that was! Thursday afternoon Hermana Housley was laying on the carpet, and when she sat up there was water under her. We quickly realized that it was coming from the wall, and was spreading across the living room and underneath Hermana Wright's bed on the other side of the wall! We don't have a key to the water heater tank closet that connects to our patio, but our neighbor David was able to get it open using his pocket knife and a screwdriver. When we opened the door, we saw about 2 inches of standing water that had leaked from the water tank, and it had seeped under the wall into our living room. The rest of our day kind of got hijacked after that, with random extra appointments coming up and our schedule being rearranged to have maintenance look at the tank. We were hoping to have the water tank replaced that night, but had to wait until the next morning. Our neighbor David gave us a carpet cleaning vacuum to help get rid of the water, but it wasn't strong enough to get all the water up. On Friday the housing inspector for the mission told us to pull the carpet back to get to the water. So from Friday to Monday, our house was flipped upside-down into absolute chaos We had to move the Hermanas' beds into our room to pull their carpet back, and we used every spare towel, blanket, and random item of clothing we could to soak up the water, and then propped up the carpet and padding on every single bench and chair possible to get airflow. We had fans going all weekend. Miraculously, it worked!

 

 

Despite Thursday being a hectic day, so many amazing miracles happened! First of all, ROY IS BACK!!! He ran into the Hermanas when they visited his roommate, snd told them he wanted us to come back! So we ran over and talked to him, and it was amazing! He was so happy. We talked about repentance, and he truly has such a desire and motivation to change his life! I almost cried as we walked away, it's so exciting that he changed his mind and wants to keep learning! We also heard from someone who hasn't spoken to us in over a month, and the text was very genuine. It was so good to hear from him, and know that there's no hard feelings. Thursday night we heard that Cheryll and Megan (Mom and daughter who we passed off to elders a couple weeks ago) are both on date for baptism! Megan wanted to be baptized on her 9th birthday, and she was working really hard to make it. It's such a huge miracle that her mom has the desire to be baptized, and it will be such a special day for the both of them to be baptized together! We also had an AMAZING lesson at the temple with our friend Tonia! It was the first time meeting her in person after multiple phone calls, and she is absolutely lovely. Fun fact: The landscaping of the Las Vegas temple symbollically outlines the progression of the Plan of Salvation! And finally, our friend Mariana passed her baptismal interview! She is set to be baptized this weekend, with her brother!! That might have been the biggest miracle of all, we are so excited.

 

 

I won't lie, it's been a long week. It's been stressful trying to get Mariana all ready for her interview and baptism, getting our friends to watch General Conference, and trying to juggle the carpet fiasco in every spare minute. It's mentally and emotionally exhausting to not have a clean space to come home to after long days, and I often lose my appetite when I get overstressed. It's been hard with all of our desks crammed into the kitchen, and I haven't had the time or energy to parkour myself over the maze that has been our living room and kitchen to cook anything. I've just kind of been getting by on applesauce and fruit by the foot (not fruit roll-ups, fruit by the foot--there's a difference. To those that don't believe, you know who you are...). But we ate lunch with the wonderful Ortega family from Nicaragua yesterday afternoon, and they prepared an INCREDIBLE meal for us. It tasted amazing, and was so filling and nutritious. I wish I had taken a picture, because it literally looked like a piece of art! It lifted my spirits so much. Never underestimate the power of food.

 

 

Las Vegas is getting another temple!! WOOT WOOT!!! The Lone Mountain temple was announced in General Conference this weekend! It's across the valley from us, in the Las Vegas West Mission, and we're so excited! There were 18 new temples announced, and it's absolutely incredible! That was definitely a highlight of General Conference. I also loved Sister Yee's message about forgiveness! It was beautiful and really stood out to me. 

 

 

I think that's all I have for this week. I'm sorry it's a little chaotic and scrambled, it's a busy Pday today! Thanks for reading this! Have an amazing week!!

 

 

Love,

Sister Malmstrom

2110 Los Feliz St #1004, Las Vegas, NV 89156

 

 

Pictures:

- The Hermanas hanging the blankets we used to soak up carpet water on the tree in our yard to dry.

- Sitting outside Thursday night while our good friend Oven started to change out the water heater. He's the best!

- I forgot to add the finished products from our district painting activity last week! We were all assigned random verses from the Bible and Book of Mormon and had to paint them.

- Tommy, the most hyperactive dog you will ever meet.

- District picture after General Conference! The Elders banded together and wouldn't stand next to us for a picture, so we compromised and they made us sat in the boujee chairs. I'm not mad.