Tuesday night we got a phone call that changed everything. Just as we were about to get ready for bed the Sister Training Leaders called and told us that we would be getting another sister missionary and become a tri. What?? There are only two and a half weeks left in the transfer and we are getting a new companion? Oh and it would take effect the next day. 

I guess there was a companionship of sisters that had to be emergency transferred because one of the sisters has a heart condition and they want her to serve in St. Louis where she can be closer to her heart doctor. So her companion would now be serving with us for the remainder of the transfer. Woohoo! Every person in our life is an opportunity to grow! Let the growing begin! :D

The next day we went to our zone leader training and I left early to drive down to St. Louis with the sisters that were being transferred to drop off the sister that would be serving in St. Louis. This was an all day thing and so Sister Herdman spent the day with the other university sisters so she wouldn't have to go. We drove the two and a half hours to St. Louis and took the sister to her new home. Then my new companion Sister Anderson had a doctors appointment. So we went to that. I did soooo much sitting that day! We didn't get home till nine o'clock at night that evening. It was nuts. 

Then Thursday we had exchanges! So we got in the car again and drove to meet up with our Sister Training Leaders halfway to St. Louis. Sister Herdman went back to O'fallon with Sister Woodward and Sister Felt went with us to serve in our area. That day was nuts! We went back and had an appointment with a new investigator named Mandy. It was our first lesson with her and my first time teaching with Sister Anderson and Sister Felt. It was a good lesson though. The spirit was there and our recent convert Jake was there to bare his awesome testimony. She said she would come to church and was totally going to but she ended up getting a really bad fever and texting us that morning. We will hopefully see her tomorrow if she is feeling better. 

We then had an appointment with Sister Anderson's investigator who will be getting baptized this weekend. Now we are working two areas- which is pretty tricky. Whitley is totally prepared and is really excited to be baptized. 

Then we had our final lesson with Qing where we finished up teaching her the commandments. At the end when we told her that she was ready for baptism she was SO excited. Jake was there helping with the lesson and she asked if he could baptize her. I will never forget the look on his face. I told her that he definitely could baptize her because he would be getting the priesthood on Sunday. He told her how honored he was to be able to do so. My convert is going to baptize my investigator!!!!! This is so cool!!!!! I love happiness. I love seeing people experience true joy... it's the best thing in the world! 

That night we went to Sister Anderson's apartment to get all of her stuff... she had a lot of stuff. But we got it all and moved her into our little apartment. :) 

At the end of the day, when I was writing in my journal before bed, I heard a knock at the door. Immediately we were all wierded out and wondering who on earth would be knocking on our door at 10:20 at night? I opened the door and there was this girl I had never seen before. "Sisters?" she smiled. "Yeah, how's it going?" I think is what I said back. She said she had a delivery for Sister Collett and gave me a teddy bear with a note. Now I was reaaalllyyy confused. What? Who are you? Where did this come from? What? ...Then I heard a familiar laugh and realized it was my brother Mason laughing. He was standing at the top of the stairs around the corner where I couldn't see him. 

"Mason! I told you not to come!" Was my first reaction because I had personally asked the Mission President if we could see each other even though I knew it was against mission policy and he said no. Mason just laughed... I stuck my head out to see him. "Hey Lex!" Oh man, I was so happy to see his face! But I felt like I was sinning so I told him he looked good and thanks for the bear and that I loved him. That was about it. Then I went back inside and told Lauren thank you. The next day I called the Mission President and told him what happened. He didn't care. Haha, I was nervous he would but he said to just punch my brother when I get home. Haha! Seeing Mason was definitely the best part of my week. :) I named the bear he gave me Miracle because of all the miracles that happened that day, including seeing him. 

Friday morning we got back in the car and drove back to the halfway mark to switch again. We got Sister Herdman back and resumed the adventures of our tri-panionship. We had an appointment with a member and then Sam drove us to go see a potential for Sister Anderson's area. The lady was super nice and said her and her husband are looking for a good church. Oh I love when people say those words. She became a new investigator for Sister Anderson- yeah!!

Then we got to go do service for a less-active member in Sister Anderson's ward. An older lady who needed help in her garden. It was a perfectly beautiful day and we had a great time helping her with her garden. We showed her a cool Mormon Message on forgiveness that is on the LDS.org website. If you haven't seen it yet, go for it. It's really good. I love Mormon Messages. 

Saturday morning we had a lesson with a former that Sister Smith and I had been teaching. Her name is Emily and she is from China. Her real name is Xi Chen but it's really hard to pronounce correctly... so she goes by Emily. She was the girl that invited Sister Smith and I over for an authentic Chinese meal. So memorable. We taught her the plan of salvation and she understood so well. We testified of how having this gospel and putting God first allows us to be successful in every way. She said she would come to church and she DID! :) It was awesome. 

Taira had to be interviewed for baptism twice because she was confused about the role of a prophet. ...It was weird. But she got it figured out and passed her interview and is now going to be baptized tomorrow night after institute... at 8:45 at night. Haha! She really wanted it to be on a Tuesday because she was born on a Tuesday. Cool! She's so funny! She's totally ready now. It's going to be a fun baptism. 

We met with her brother Alex Saturday night and we did an intro to the Book of Mormon. The spirit was definitely there and we think he is going to take it more seriously now. Hopefully seeing his sister get baptized tomorrow will help too. 

Church was awesome and Qing was interviewed after. She's ready to go! Things are going great. We hit or exceeded all of our goals this week and work well together in a tri. Sister Anderson is a wonderful addition to this companionship and has been such a blessing! I LOVE LIFE!!!!