As a zone we have been working to make our "Standard of Excellence" for the categories of member lessons, referrals, and member referrals taught. We decided to give ourselves a bit of an incentive and say that if we make our goal for 2 out of 3 of them, then we get to go to Bequia, one of the Grenadine islands that is closest to us. If we get all three, then we get to have t-shirts made to wear when we go to Bequia. We made the challenge about 2 weeks ago, and the past two weeks haven't been the greatest. We haven't made our goal either week. So this week we will be striving to work extra hard and be extra diligent so that we get to go to Bequia on the 30th.
Our investigators weren't able to meet with us Thursday or Saturday for our scheduled appointments, but they did come to church on Sunday which was great! Plus, they brought his younger brother with them! So things there are still going well.
The Elders in our branch had a baptism this past Saturday (the day Kaden was born!). Two investigators were baptized, as was an 8 year old from our branch whose parents and older sister are all baptized already. It was a really cool experience to see all of them baptized one after another. They were all very excited; especially one of the investigators. She has been coming to church off and on for over 5 years and her two teenage daughters were baptized about that long ago. Due to certain things in her life, she hasn't been able to be baptized even though she had the desire and a testimony of the truthfulness of the church. Finally things in her life fell into place so that she was able to be baptized, and it was amazing to see the joy that she radiated. She definitely appreciates the experience even more because she had to wait so long for it.
Did I tell you that I live with Buddy the Elf? Haha! Sister Bennie is a bean pole yet she eats chocolate syrup on her pizza (and basically anything else; see pictures for proof), soda in her cereal, and thinks that ice cream, chocolate, soda, and pepper sauce go with anything. She is so lucky that she gets to eat like that and not gain a pound! It makes it hard for me to not gain weight with her eating all that, but I love her anyway! I'm trying to eat healthy and exercise, but I can't seem to keep my weight under control no matter how hard I try.
So I don't know if the pictures will load today, but we met a cute family with three little girls (4,6, and 11) who are obsessed with playing with our hair. One of them calls me mom, and even the mom loves us. She is lonely I think and likes the company. She taught us how to make pilau, a local rice dish, as well as frying us up some french fries and hot dogs and making up homemade passion fruit juice, the first time we went over. They are really sweet.
So I had a pretty nasty fall the other day. We were going up to a house to call inside and contact, but I stepped off the path to let Sister Bennie and the member who was with us pass, and ended up on top of a cinder block that wasn't very stable. It ended up toppling over and I fell, in the process scrapping my shin on the block pretty good. I posted some pictures I think, but if not they will go on next week. It isn't as bad as it looks really. At first I didn't even know it was scrapped I was just muddy. Then I cleaned it off and it started bleeding so I went to a nearby members house and cleaned it with peroxide. Don't worry though, Sister Bird, as well as various members, are taking good care to make sure I am re-applying peroxide and neosporin. It will be better in no time!
Love you all,
Sister Bratt
