siswag: JUST ANOTHER WEEK IN PARADISE

PLAN OF SALV... WE HAD 2 PEOPLE COME TO CHURCH FROM THIS!

Dear Family,

hey hey hey holladay!!! How's everything going up there?? Here in the heart of texas things are beautiful! You could say I'm happier than a double wammy pina colada slurpdog from 7 11 wrapped in bubble tape! SOOO GOOD!!! i got an adjustable ctr ring stuck on my finger just barely oww. i didn't know that was even possible!

SO THIS WEEK IN PARADISE THINGS WERE CRAZY.... most people wouldn't call houston texas paradise for a couple of reasons that i personally prefer to think are beautiful becasue this place is my anything and my everything! It will forever be like my waters of mormon becasue this is where I have come to know my savior! TEXAS IS HOLY GROUND FAM! I kiss these filthy sidewalks every morning!

We've had a lot of flood clean-up like last year... CLAUDIA... oh bless her heart! The hoarder from last year yeeeppp the waters got er.. she got flooded again! She lives in our area so i give her a call and first thing she says, "IVE GONE DOWN UNDER! HELP!!" we run over there and i was terrified. I thought she was going to remember that I threw away her birth certificate and throw me in the black plastic sewer water from last year but I get there and she just wraps her little arms around my neck and wouldn't let go. she's like, "hna. i've missed you!!! I hate that floods make us come back together!" the whole afternoon she just had her arm linked with mine and we just worked side by side! My companions had never met her. They were a little scared... she's a fiesty little kitty cat. (her hoarder cat just had 4 babies.. she made me hold them all... sneezzess for days!)

Next, we hit up Jackie... hna. K and I stopped her on the streets on easter to show her a video of Christ. She wasn't interested but we got her info and she got ours. SHE'S OBSESSED with some teacher at byu steven jones. So she was like I like the mormons I just don't like church. any who the day of the floods she texts us and tells us she got flooded and all her apts that she rents out. so we were like don't you even worry we will have a army there tomorrow. We call up the Elders and hit the streets running to her. Jackie is nuts and loves shipleys donuts, crazy hair dos, and a good thing of bubble tape as do I! Elder Jorgenson my district leader was like, "hna. Wagstaff this has got to be your crazy mom. i fully picture your mom being just like this." then.... KENNY STORMS IN! ohhhh kenny i think he took 7 smoke breaks in 30 minutes and got out his little comb to comb his hair about every other second. but good news is HE OFFICIALLY HIRED ME AS HIS SIDE KICK. We had each other rolling. he kept acting like he knew exactly what he was doing and everything would go so wrong. I kept yelling, "Kenny come on get your back into it!" and he would yell, "sista it's not about the age it's about the milage!" needless to say we got all the sheetrock out and more.... ( things that probs shouldn't have been knocked out!)

so I went on an exchange to the english area... most embarrassing moment. The sisters were like ok hna wagstaff every saturday morning we go to crossfit.. i'm already like oh crap A. forgot workout clothes B. don't have the legs for crossfit C. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS D. English people are scary.....

We start getting ready for bed. mistake #1 I realize i didn't even bring pjs so sister crichton lends me some red candy cane pants with a red cross country shirt from 6th grade. #2 no tennis shoes... ok sister crichton is just a champ and has extras of everything but shoes 8 and i'm 6.. I'm feelin pretty good until i walk in there... OH BY GOLLY JEEPERS SAM HOUSTON WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?? I come walking in looking like a clown version of santa clause and everyone had these crossfit shirts and calves the size of julie cowleys bridge in her back yard... and they all just kind of took a quick breath when they saw me. I felt like a small smashed dog toy that you find after a long winter in the back yard. just all mangled and wrong! THEY MADE ME DO 100 TURKISH GETTUPS AND I WANTED TO DIEEEEEEEE. the black man instructor kept yelling at me and i kept telling him. "sir you stay over there! this is my first timeeeee!" "here at willowbend crossfit we don't believe in first time and we go past our goals." "ohhh do we now! thanks for the great quote. now leave me alone with this 10 pound thing you are making me lift over my head!" I HATE CROSSFIT I REFUSE TO EVER GO BACK!

last night I was out with Hna. Cantu we were on splits and we were just finishing a visit when she gets a call from her 92 year old mom who is hilarious! she's like, "HNA WE HAVE TO GO GET IN THE CAR!!" i'm like shoot is everything ok?? "My mom says there are 4 black men on her driveway with beer!!! they are coming inside the house to get her" I crack my neck get my keys between each knuckle, of course pray, and just hope that the little combat hannah durham taught me in college will suffice. We are speeding past gangs right and left just wondering what kind of moves or words i can pull out on these fellers. We come screeetttccching into the driveway so fast and the poor poor kids holding gatorade looked like deer in the head lights. Hna. Cantu: "ohhh my dear mother! these are her grandsons for heavens sakes!" HAHAHAHHAHAHA I WAS ROLLING!!! We walk inside and find the cute little grammy backed up in the kitchen scared to death! reminded me of HR!

We had the chance to go to the temple today! wow that place is incredible! It truly is like home to me! I had alot of time to reflect about just everything! and lately i have been thinking about the 2 questions sisters always ask me on exchanges.... 1. What made you come on a mission 2. How much time do you have left.

missionaries always have a big story of why they came out on missions and i've always tried to think of something cool to tell them. But honestly I never knew what made me come on a mission. One day i made the decision with the Lord the next thing i know i was laying top bunk in house 17 in Mexico wondering what the heck i had just done! little did i know i had so much i wanted to change! I now can see why i came on a mission. I was not the girl i wanted and knew i could be. I know i would have always been an active member of the church but i don't ever want to just been an "active" member of the church ever again! i want to be so much more! There was a hole in my heart that i didn't even know existed until i came to texas and my savior healed it. And now i feel like I'm becoming the girl i've always thought i would be. I always tell myself every morning, "be all that i can be" but to be honest i don't know all that i can be. Sitting in the temple today i just was thinking wow i can never be all that i can be just by being me. the lord will make of me all that i can be!

2. whenever i tell the sister how much time i have left most of them say... ohhh so now you just have to "endure to the end" and i was thinking about that in the temple today.... i don't want to endure to the end! I WANT TO ENJOY TO THE END! this is the greatest thing i've ever been a part of! and i never want it to end! i have to enjoy every single second!

family i love being a missionary!! tacos, bikes, book of mormon, bubble gum, ezra taft benson REPEAATTTTTTTT CAN I GET A WHAT UP WHAT UP??? I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ALL THE GUYS WITH GATORADE YOU FIND IN TEXAS!!!

HUGS AND KISSES ON THE CHECKS FROM TEXAS!

HERMANITA WAGSTAFF