Read at your own risk-- I might be losing my mind {9/16/13}

Another wonderful week in the great and marvelous OHIO!

A lot of you have been asking me if it's fall here yet. Well, last week my answer was NO WAY! It got so hot and humid. Yikes. It was pretty miserable. But I am pleased to announce that this week has been perfectly lovely and fall is surely on it's way to Cincinnati!! Ah, I just love it. 

So, once again I am at a loss of where to start. My thoughts are so scattered trying to think about everything that's happened in a whole entire week. I think I'll tell you a little about my schedule. "A Day in the Life" if you will. Oh goodness this sounds incredibly boring but I'm literally sitting here staring at the screen at a loss for words so here goes nothing.

6:20 roll out of bed and pray/try not to fall asleep

6:30 pray with my comp and head outside to run. It's pitch dark when we run and it's so strange. It feels like the middle of the night! We either run around our neighborhood or cross the street to Avalon Gardens-- a magical forest somewhat like Narnia.

7:00 get ready for the day!

8:00 personal study, except not really because we're not studying for ourselves. We study with one of the investigators we're teaching that day in mind and in case you were wondering we study upstairs in Blackham territory (haha). Brother Blackham always tells us to have a good missionary day when he leaves for work and we love it. I don't actually believe I could have a good day without that it's such a part of our routine!

9:00 Companion study! We sing and pray and recite My Commission and our mission scripture and read out of the white handbook! Then we talk about the marvelous things we've studied, role play teaching our investigators, and read the Book of Mormon. We have become so Mormon nerdy! But it's okay because we're missionaries. Starting over the Book with our mission, highlighting it like I told you about, has given me this burning love for the Book of Mormon. Don't get me wrong, I always loved it, but now I am giddy to read it and ah I just can't even describe my feelings. I love it so so much. We are SO lucky to have the Book of Mormon and I'm so sad that I took it for granted for so long! It was literally written by prophets thousands of years ago specifically for US right here right now. Amazing.

10:00 Training! I learn how to be a really great missionary like my dear Sister Parker. We watch the District and read PMG and what not. 

11:00-9:00 teach the gospel!!! We get a lunch and dinner break of course but other than that we are going to appointments, knocking doors, doing service projects-- all that good stuff. I am not going to lie-- it is absolutely exhausting! But so worth it!

9:00 plan for tomorrow

9:30 get ready for bed/listen to conference call if there is one/write in my grateful journal

10:30 collapse in bed after praying of course. Honestly I don't think it's taken me longer than 5 minutest to fall asleep since I've been here.

Then it starts all over again! P Day starts the same until 10. 10-6 we do laundry, clean house, clean and vacuum car, grocery shop, go to the library to email, write letters, and anything else we might need to do! Then we teach all night. 

Now I get to tell you something exciting if you're still reading that is. I'm terribly sorry for all of that nonsense. Anyway, last night we were on conference call listening to all the zone and sister training leaders report their weekly numbers and guess what! Sister P and I had the most new investigators in the mission! Not that it's a competition or anything, but I was pretty excited because we've been working so hard on that since all of our investigators dropped off the face of the Earth. It's so neat listening to everyone's reports though. We get to listen to everyone's miracles. Wow. I wish I could just email you those. It is truly amazing what the Lord will do for his children so they will have opportunities to hear the Gospel.

Here's my funny/cute story of the week. A dear family that I love, the Hurst family, came to church with us yesterday (they're investigators). Their 8 year old Aurora and I are basically best friends and she calls me Ralphie. Not Sister or anything, just Ralphie. Haha. And she loves my "gold book" (my scriptures). She always tells me that when she grows up she's going to be a missionary too and that she's going to take good care of me!

Another quick one-- I forgot to mention in my schedule that we pray all the time for everything. In and out of the car and house etc etc. The other day I accidentally prayed that the people we were meeting with would feel fear instead of the Spirit. :) Oops!

Oh get this. Sister P and I chopped and hauled wood for a guy the other night. He was pretty impressed. Unfortunately, he's not too interested in the Gospel, but we will see about that. He was pretty shocked when we actually showed up at his house in our service clothes a week after we talked about it!

Oh goodness! I almost forgot my miracle story!! We were at the church for Ward correlation the other night. Our meeting was moved back an hour and that is the only time during the week we're at church aside from Sunday. This lady comes into the room and says I need them! (Pointing to sis P and I) so we go out in the hall with her and we know she looks familiar but honestly have no idea who she is. Turns out we are teaching her father in law. Anyway. She just found out she has cancer for the second time and she has to take a bus every day downtown to get treatment but she literally has no money. She had just found out that day and had been at her house crying all day when God told her to find us. She had never even offically met us--just seen us at her dad's house next door! So she found out where I church was and came exactly when we were there. Wow. The Elders gave her a blessing and we gave her some numbers and information for organizations that could help her. It was amazing but it gets more miraculous. When Sis P and I left later we realized that the door to the building was locked!! I have honestly no idea how she even got in the church-- oh and her car was on empty. God is a God of miracles! If he wasn't he would cease to be God!

Okay. I'm contemplating erasing this whole thing because It is so random but then you would get no email so hopefully you get something out of this. 

I LOVE YOU!
xoxo
Sister Kay Rolfe

We ate at the cutest cafe in Newtown. It was born the same year as me!

After church we had lunch with a sweet lady in our ward and her mom who we're actually teaching. The Blackhams were also there! Yay! We had pumpkin ice cream and it was delicious.

This is the WONDERFUL Martha!! I literally do not know how this woman does everything she does. Wow. She amazes me! Anyway, she is so very sweet and calls Ma and Pa!