Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission: Woah, Halfway There!

February 3, 2020

Hello!

I hit 9 months as a missionary this past week!! It goes by so so quickly. I hit halfway in a few days! I have learned so much, gained so many spiritual friends, strengthened my testimony, and I'm excited to make the last half even better

I said many goodbyes this week and avoided thinking about the leaving part so I wouldn't be too sad. Lots of driving happened with transfers and I am now 2.5 hours away from Neenah in the quaint humble town of Dodgeville! What a hoot it has been. The people in Dodgeville love missionaries even if they aren't interested, so we have many friends! The branch here is very teeny tiny, and we meet in the Masonic temple, for the Free Masons, which is a very odd atmosphere. They have all of their service and ritual items around the building as well, so enjoy a picture of a giant very old Bible, one of many like it. Most of what we do here in Dodge is super close to us, which I am not used to haha. So we leave the apartment and arrive at all of our friends homes within 5 minutes hahaha, whatttt. It used to take us 15-60 minutes in my last area. We do lots of service, so yay. We help at food kitchens and food pantries and play bingo!! We spilled corn. Wowow. It is colder than it was up north, which I am very excited about! We spent the first week meeting members, visiting our local friends, and deeply reorganizing and cleaning our apartment (if you couldn't tell by now, everything around me has to be very clean).

My new companion Sister Larson is in her last transfer, so I included a picture of her exhausted after working on planning her home life. Some of my new favorite people have a local paint shop attached to their home, and they had us over for a Sherlock Holmes game. They have 2 very old wheezing pugs and an aussie shepherd with more hair than me. They also gave us vegan chocolate so enjoy the picture with me and a chunk of it haha. I loooove spending genuine time with people. It truly is the way to have people be open and receptive! We teach the primary here in our tiny branch, singing time was in a tent (just like Lehi!) and we drew pictures of Nephi's bow and boat! One miracle we saw was stopping by a lady who's wanted to have us over for dinner (most people like feeding the missionaries whether they're interested or not) and she asked if she could give us her number so we could set up an appointment! People don't just hand over their numbers haha, so I'm super excited to see more miracles. I love everyone I meet instantly and I want to help all of them come to know their Savior's love for them!

I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in mind for this area! I love the Book of Mormon, I love Christ's Gospel, and I love the spirit of music.

I love you all

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