Don't ask, because I will tell.: The Week That I Became a WVU Fan For Life!

Lets start with p-day. There's a regular group that gets together from the zone but it's not everyone. The Zone Leaders, University Elders, First Ward Elders, and us. It's a good-sized and lots of fun group. We played kick-ball in the church field and had lots of fun! But we all felt like we were running so slow like we were WAY out of shape. Then we realized first base was up hill........

BUT there's an awesome climbing tree on the property so we all had fun climbing the trees and getting scratches (the weather was 72 and slightly cloudy so we were all in t-shirts and barefoot!).

We got to teach Jeanne this week and it was such a powerful lesson. We've been really focusing on making sure we're saying what the Holy Ghost wants us to say, not just spouting information. So we've been focused on making sure the right person is saying the right thing. It's really helped because Sister Banks is very quiet and can "disappear" from the lesson if we're not careful. So this has helped her really open up and start talking more. It's been interesting to feel the urge to start talking and then realizing I'd just be talking to hear myself. So I don't. And one of my companions says something 10 times better. I love them. We're really learning how to work together.

Jeanne has a daughter with a dairy allergy, not intolerance. It is very severe so she never gets to eat cake or chocolate treats and it makes her really sad. It broke my heart to hear her talk about how sad she is when other kids are eating treats at school and she can't. So we went on a mission to find her dairy free recipes. This week we made her some brownies from scratch with modified ingredients. They were so good! Her face, was worth everything. When she first saw the brownies she looked at her mom and was so apprehensive, but when her Mom said yes she started squealing and then.......that chocolate tasted so good to her. It's been 5 years since she's had anything chocolatey. They didn't realize there were options.

I also felt inspired to make her some pulled taffy like Grandpa, but using vegetable oil instead of butter to keep it from sticking. It was the first time I've done it in years, let alone the first time by myself. But it worked! And it was yummy. And I felt like he was laughing at us the whole time. We weren't strong enough to pull it as far as we should, but what can you do?

St. Patrick's day was nuts. By noon the streets were filled with drunk students dressed stupidly....... So we spent lots of time indoors. Frat row looked like a bunch of green ants crawling everywhere. Everyone just walked from house to house because everyone had drinks, music, and food. It was definitely interesting. Apparently Morgantown is FAMOUS for burning couches. We found a few burnt up the next day so it must have happened when we were long asleep.

I've been getting bad headaches again so we thought it was allergies from the weather getting warmer. I took some of my medicine Thursday morning and we went to Ruth's house for our lesson. I got very tired right before and they all laughed at me, then realized I was serious. I fell asleep. Absolutely and completely asleep. A trio can be a big blessing sometimes :) I woke up at one point and felt like I needed to talk about how no other church on the earth holds the power and authority to act in Christ's name. I had no idea what they had been talking about but I went for it (the prompting was that strong). That happened for a minute or two, and then I don't remember anything else until we got up to leave. So I guess I fell back asleep. We were laughing as we drove away. I said exactly what was needed. And they were going back and forth not knowing how to say what was needed and felt like I needed to say it. And that's when I woke up and started talking! MIRACLES!

Luckily Ruth has been meeting with missionaries for years now, and I'm sure she's seen weirder things :)

Friday we all got very sick. I got the cough, Sister Banks got the runny nose, and Sister Wonnacott got the aches and pains. We're so unified! It's been rough and we're still feeling it but we're getting better. It was just hard because no one wants us to come over and we don't have the energy to do it anyways. Just dead tired. So we've been creative with our time and making sure we're still doing SOMETHING.

But Friday night we got to drive to Teays Valley for the conference in Charleston the next morning. We all slept terribly, but Saturday was worth it.

We were so excited to meet Elder Christofferson. He had us all come up one at a time and shake his hand. So us three used lots of hand sanitizer before going up. So if he has a cold at Conference you know where it came from. He was accompanied by Elder Kacher and Elder Gerard. They were all wonderful speakers, but I'm running out of time and can't put it all down here.

My favorite thing talked about was how we can serve with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. Our heart is our desires. We must have our desires be towards God and doing his work. Our might is our physical strength. Our mind is devoting our intelligence to studying the Gospel. Our strength is our talents and quirks that make us, us!

He also talked a lot about Eternal marriage then said, "Write that down. Then put it away and don't think about it." It was funny :)

IT WAS SO FUN TO SEE EVERYONE AT ONCE. It was also weird though because it seemed like such a small group.....

We are all out of money already this month. It's been expensive! One of the hardest things is budgeting your money. Especially when you have to pay for laundry. That's a pain. So we'll do better next month. So many times you just don't control how many times you eat out. And the members don't feed you at all for a spell. And then people invite you out to eat and you really need to see them. Ugh. We're figuring it out. But having enough money always feels like a struggle.

Also, I'm working on making sure everyone gets the attention they need. I always complain when people don't email me, and I haven't been emailing anyone. Sorry. This library has a time limit and will lock you out when it's up. It stresses me out. And I'm running out of time right now! I'm working on being better. Sorry if my responses are lame and short.

-Sister Packard

Not sure if she meant for this one to be included, but oh well :)

Best:

1. The Sisters in the University Ward told me I'm just like Elder Cowley but shorter and prettier. I made him take a picture with it, without him looking. It's pretty great!