good bye swensie (Sister Swenson)

By last Monday Sister Swenson and I were convinced that we were going to be together for one more month because we had received no word about transfers- but... Swenson is headed up to NORRLAND! I am staying here and my new companion will be Syster Anderson.  Swenson and I have until Tuesday before she heads from the very South to the very North. Syster Anderson came in the same MTC group as me but I don't know her very well because she is a BOSS at Swedish and was in the advanced program- so she was only in the MTC for 2 weeks. She will be awesome for me to help me with the language because we will probably speak it a lot more. That was too hard for Swenson and I because we are too good of friends and we always just had so much to talk about haha. I don't think there is one topic that we have not covered.

The past couple of days have been pretty tender- knowing that we will be leaving each other soon. We truly have become so close but we both know that it is time for a change with a companion when you wake up in the morning and feel like you are rooming with a friend from home and not a companion on a mission haha. But we really have worked so well together in this area for the past three months and it will be weird to have a change.

 On Saturday we went over to Bonnie's house for lunch and she helped us make matching necklaces to wear throughout our missions. She is the absolute sweetest. So many people in this branch have told us that we are one of the best companionships they have seen work together- we have been blessed.

Paradise

At one in the morning last night I got up and hung signs all over our kitchen for Sister Swenson's birthday today and set the table for breakfast- its really hard to do any kind of suprises for someone when you are with them 24/7. We had french toast with Nutella and smoothies for breakfast. (We have wanted to eat nutella for so long together but we have been eating so healthy that we haven't had the opportunity to, so I surprised her & bought it for her the other day:))) For her present I got an old bottle that used to hold my vitamins and I decorated the front which says her name, raw food, totally natural, peace signs etc. and I filled it with nuts and dried fruit for her to take around with her. I also got her some new pens because we are obsessed with pens and Isam is throwing a party for her tonight!

 

Well, this week did not go exactly as planned... After talking to the Branch President and Mission President, we were sure that all would be well with Alexandra but of course something always goes wrong! Alexandra said that she talked to her mom about it last night and her mom said this is too stressful right now and that she needs to wait another YEAR. We were pretty discouraged but I still have faith that we can get something worked out before her real baptismal date on August 31st if we talk to her mom about it and make it not so stressful for her.

This week I am so grateful for the atonement. I am grateful for it every week and every day but this week as I read Alma 42, it made so much sense to me of why we need the atonement every single day, how we can apply it to ourselves, and what a beautiful thing it is that we can be forgiven of our sins. Our flaws. Our imperfections. The wrong things we say and the way we react to certain situations. It can all be washed away. We have been given a second chance. I love verses 14 & 15- in my scriptures (I had written in my scriptures that mom said to me that these are some of the best scriptures on the atonement). It says

"And thus wee see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice, yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence. And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made, therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the PLAN OF MERCY, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also." 

We all need the plan of mercy. It is the perfect plan to give us the only hope of becoming better people and becoming the person that we want to become.

Bonnie made us some homemade vanilla

I LOVE YOU MY DEAR FAMILY! Dad go vegetarian! Seriously I was so happy to read that!! haha You were supposed to go vegetarian with me two years ago so its about time! haha. Please tell the kiddos to write me! I miss them! And mom thank you so much for the stories you shared with me from your mission. I already can't wait to tell you how things go with my new companion next week!

love adelide